HyMap imagery for copper and manganese prospecting in the east of Ameln valley shear zone (Kerdous inlier, western Anti-Atlas, Morocco)

ABSTRACT

Eastern Kerdous demonstrates a polymetallic hydrothermal activity due its association with a paleorelief area. This study focuses on generating a Mineral Potential Map based on Fuzzy Logic Modelling and HyMap-Based input layers. The Relative Absorption Band Depth, Directed Principal Component Analysis, Line Density, and Mixture Tuned Matched Filtering techniques were implemented to perform 20 thematic layers. As a result, three new prospective zones were identified. Fieldwork, petrography, and XRD analysis verified the remote sensing results. Finally, this investigation highlights the significant potential of HyMap imagery for mineral exploration in inaccessible and remote parts of the western Anti-Atlas belt.

KEYWORDS:

• HyMap
• MTMF
• fuzzy logic modelling
• Mineral Exploration
• Western Anti-Atlas

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgment to the Geomatics, Georesources, and Environment (GGE) Laboratory of the Sultan Moulay Slimane University for the support. The authors are thankful to the National Office of Hydrocarbons and Mines (ONHYM) for providing the HSI HyMap data. We gratefully acknowledge the staff of Characterization and Analysis Center (CAC) of Cady Ayyad University for their valuable services. The authors gratefully acknowledge the support from Universiti Malaysia Terengganu and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia during editing and reorganizing the manuscript. Many thanks to the anonymous reviewers as well as the editor for their insightful comments and careful review.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/14498596.2023.2172085