FLUCTUATION ANALYSIS OF CHEMICAL ELEMENTS BACKGROUND VALUES IN LITHOCHEMICAL EXPLORATION UNDER TROPICAL WEATHERING (SOUTH AMERICA, GUYANA)
The relevance of the research is determined by informative improvement of lithochemical exploration on secondary scattering halos under humid tropical weathering. Widespread distribution of large weathering cover leads to limitations in study of basement rocks in natural outcrops. In such cases the role of geochemical methods increases when mapping the basement and exploration of ore deposits localized there. Specific feature of tropical hypergene redistribution of chemical elements is high intensity, general prevalence of removal with parallel accumulation of several components in the laterization process. Combination of these processes results in high variability of geochemical background and appearance of secondary anomalies of some metal elements that are not associated with ore deposits. As a result, landscape-geochemical mapping is very relevant. The mapping allows making the zoning of territories based on components distribution features in elementary landscapes and systematizing the prior factors of geochemical background variability. The values of chemical elements concentration contain data on all natural processes that have affected the composition of the studied material. Therefore, the investigation of lithochemical data by statistical analysis tools allows obtaining a mathematical model in the form of a typological landscape-geochemical map. The aim of the study is to differentiate the territory on geochemical background variability. Methods: multivariate factor, correlation and cluster analysis of multi-component data of lithochemical exploration on secondary scattering halos. Results. We obtained classification model of geochemical background that reflects relations between chemical elements accumulation levels, geomorphology and geology, taking into account the amplitude and spatial characteristics of geochemical field variability in second-dary scattering halos; we also determined trace elements associated with gold mineralization.