Abstract
The aim of the present study is to develop a knowledge-driven expert system for mapping the potential heavy mineral placer deposits along the coast using integrated Geographical Information System (GIS) and fuzzy logic techniques. The study has been carried out in Kalaigananpuram coastal stretch, southeast coast of India, where high-quality heavy mineral placers are deposited naturally. A total of six transects was laid perpendicular to the coastline, in which 36 samples per transect of 2 m interval per month was taken for analysis. Standard techniques were adopted for evaluating the beach profile, grain size, and heavy mineral weight percent. Moreover, the statistical results of these parameters were considered for mapping the heavy mineral placer potential zone in the study area. A fuzzy-based expert system model was developed through ArcGIS model builder to map the mineral potential zone. In this study, three evidential layers were fuzzified using the linear membership function. These evidential layers were further ranked based on expert knowledge from placer minerals exploration researchers. The analyzed results reveal that heavy mineral placer deposits are observed in the berm and high-tide region of the study area. The annual average weight percent of heavy mineral placer deposits in the study area range from 40 % to 60 %. The extracted heavy mineral placer potential maps can be used for sustainable mining and surveying purposes.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abdel-Karim AM, El-Shafey AM (2012) Mineralogy and chemical distribution study of placer cassiterite and some associated new recorded minerals, east Rosetta, Egypt. Arab J Geosci 5(4):807–816
Abdelmoty AI, Paton NW, Williams MH, Fernades AAA, Barja ML, Dinn A (1994) Geographical Data Handling in a Deductive Object-Oriented Database. Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Database and Expert Systems Applications, DEXA 94, Athens, Greece, September 7–9. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, pp 445–454
Abedi M, Norouzi GH, Torabi SA (2013) Clustering of mineral prospectivity area as an unsupervised classification approach to explore copper deposit. Arab J Geosci 6(10):3601–3613
Akgun A, Sezer EA, Nefeslioglu HA, Gokceoglu C, Pradhan B (2012) An easy-to-use MATLAB program (MamLand) for the assessment of landslide susceptibility using a Mamdani fuzzy algorithm. Comput Geosci 38(1):23–34
Al-Fugara AM, Pradhan B, Mohamed TA (2009) Improvement of land-use classification using object-oriented and fuzzy logic approach. Appl Geomater 1(4):111–120
Ali MA (1989) Studies on the beach placers of Ratnagiri Dist., Maharashtra, India. Expl Res At Miner 12:167–175
Anil Cherian, Chandrasekar N, Victor Rajamanickam G, Gujar AR (2011) An evaluation of major placer minerals along the Valinokkam–Tuticorin coast, southern Tamilnadu, India. Int J Earth Sci Eng 4(6):1031–1035
Arogyaswamy RNP, Panicker MRK (1971) Ilmenite bearing placers of Karaikal beach. Rec Geol Sur India 96:82–92
Bonham-Carter GF (1995) Geographic information systems for geo-scientists: modelling with GIS. Vol 13. Computer methods in the Geosciences, vol 13. Pergamon, New York
Bonham-Carter GF, Agterberg FP, Wright DF (1988) Integration of geological datasets for gold exploration in Nova Scotia. Photogramm Eng 54(11):1585–1592
Brown JC, Dey AK (1955) India's mineral wealth. Oxford University Press, London, 761 pp
Burrough PA, McDonnell RA (1998) Principles of geographical information systems for land resources assessment. Oxford University Press, New York
Carranza EJM, Hale M (2001) Geologically constrained fuzzy mapping of gold mineralization potential, Baguio district, Philippines. Nat Resour Res 10:125–136
Champati RPK (2000) GIS in Geosciences, GIS development. Online resource http://www.gisdevelopment.net/application/geology/mineral/geom0012pf.htm (Accessed on April 4, 2013)
Chandrasekar N, Anil Cherian, Rajamanickam M, Rajamanickam GV (2000) Coastal landform mapping between Tuticorin and Vaippar using IRS-1C data. Ind J Geomorphol 5(1&2):115–122
Chandrasekar N, Sivasubramanian P, Anil Cherian, Rajamanickam GV, Loveson VJ (2005) Provenance of beach placer deposits of Kallar Beaches in the Southeastern Tamilnadu Coast, India. Sustainable development of coastal placer minerals. Allied Publishers, pp 50–58
Chandrasekar N, Saravanan S, Anil Cherian, Immanuel L, Rajamanicakam M, Rajamanickam GV (2010) Features sustaining the formation of beach placers along the southern east coast of India. Mar Georesour Geotechnol 28(3):240–249
Chandrasekar N, Sheik Mujabar P, Rajamanickam GV (2011) Investigation of Heavy mineral deposits by using multi-spectral satellite data. Int J Rem Sens 32(23):8641–8655
Chandrasekaran CG, Navaneethakrishnan C, Varadankumar VVN, Muralidharan KV (1996) Textural and mineralogical study of beach sands between Ennore and Kovalam, Madras, Tamil Nadu. Proc 8th and 9th Convention, Indian Geological Congress, Department of Earth Sciences, Roorkee, 53–59 pp
Chung CF, Agterberg FP (1980) Regression models for estimating mineral resources from geological map data. Math Geol 12(5):473–488
Ghanbari Y, Hezarkhani A, Ataei M, Pazand K (2012) Mineral potential mapping with fuzzy models in the Kerman–Kashmar Tectonic Zone, Central Iran. Appl Geomater 4(3):173–186
Gujar AR (1995) Morphogenetic controls on the distribution of the littoral placers along central west coast of India. Proc Recent Res Geol W India, Oct. 29–31, 1995, pp 71–1803
Harris JR (1989) Data integration for gold exploration in eastern Nova Scotia using a GIS. Proc Rem Sens Explor Geol (Calgary, Alberta), pp 233–249
Harris JR, Wilkinson L, Broome J (1995) Mineral exploration using GIS-based favourability analysis, Swayze Greenstone Belt, northern Ontario. Proc Can Geomatics Conf (CD-ROM), National Defense
Harris JR, Wilkinson L, Grunsky EC (2000) Effective use and interpretation of lithogeochemical data in regional exploration programs. Ore Geol Rev 16:107–143
He B, Peterson CL, Mahler RL (1992) An expert system linked with a GIS Database for spatially variable fertilizer application. ASAE Int Winter Meet Pres, Tennessee, 15–18 December
Jacob K (1956) Ilmenite and garnet sands of Chowghat (west coast), Tinnevely, Ramnad and Tanjore coasts (East Coast). Rec Geol Sur India 82:567–692
Krishnan MS (1982) Geology of India and Burma, 6th edn. CBS Publ Delhi 604 p
Lafond EC, Rao RP (1954) Beach erosion cycles near Waltair on the bay of Bengal. Univ Mem Oceanogr 1:63–77
Magesh NS, Chandrasekar N, Vetha Roy D (2011) Spatial analysis of trace element contamination in sediments of Tamiraparani estuary, southeast coast of India. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 92:618–628
Mahadevan C, Das AS (1948) Monazite in the beach sands of Vizagapattanam district. Proc Ind Acad Sci 27:275–278
Malik TK (1972) Opaque minerals from shelf sediments off Mangalore, West Coast of India. Mar Geol 12:203–211
Mathes ES, Rasmussen TC (2006) Combining multivariate statistical analysis with geographic information systems mapping: a tool for delineating groundwater contamination. Hydrogeol J 14:1493–1507
Merdith AS, Landgrebe TCW, Dutkiewicz A, Müller RD (2013) Towards a predictive model for opal exploration using a spatio-temporal data mining approach. Aust J Earth Sci 60:217–229
Milner I (1962) Sedimentary petrography, vol 1–2. George Allen & Unwin, London, pp 643–715
Mohan PM (1997) Distribution of heavy minerals in Parangipettai beach, Tamilnadu. J Geol Soc India 46(4):401–408
Moufti AMB (2009) Mineralogy and mineral chemistry of auriferous stream sediments from Al Wajh area, NW Saudi Arabia. Arab J Geosci 2(1):1–17
Mujabar SP, Chandrasekar N (2013) Shoreline change analysis along the coast between Kanyakumari and Tuticorin of India using remote sensing and GIS. Arab J Geosci 6(3):647–664
Nayak GN (1997) Grain size parameters and heavy minerals as indicators of depositional environment—a case study of beach sediments from Goa. J Ind Assoc Sedimentol 16(1):127–139
Nykänen V, Groves DI, Ojala VJ, Eilu P, Gardoll SJ (2008) Reconnaissance-scale conceptual fuzzy-logic prospectivity modeling for iron oxide copper–gold deposits in the northern Fennoscandian Shield, Finland. Aust J Earth Sci 55:25–38
Pazand K, Hezarkhani A, Ghanbari Y (2012) Fuzzy analytical hierarchy process and GIS for predictive Cu porphyry potential mapping: a case study in Ahar–Arasbaran Zone (NW, Iran). Arab J Geosci 1–11. doi:10.1007/s12517-012-0774-4
Petro BC (1989) A study of heavy mineral sands of Gopalpur beach, Orissa. J Geol Soc India 33:243–252
Pourghasemi HR, Pradhan B, Gokceoglu C (2012) Application of fuzzy logic and analytical hierarchy process (AHP) to landslide susceptibility mapping at Haraz watershed, Iran. Nat Hazards 63(2):965–996
Pradhan B (2013) A comparative study on the predictive ability of the decision tree, support vector machine and neuro-fuzzy models in landslide susceptibility mapping using GIS. Comput Geosci 51:350–365
Raines GL (1999) Evaluation of weights of evidence to predict epithermal gold deposits in the Great Basin of the western United States. Nat Resour Res 8(4):257–276
Rajamanickam GV (1997) Provenance of the sediments inferred from transparent heavy minerals on the inner shelf of central Maharashtra. Geology in South Asia. In: Wijayananda NP, Coorey PG, Peter Mosley II (eds) Proc 2nd South Asia Geol Congr, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Geological Survey & Mines Bureau, Sri Lanka, pp 309–324
Rajamanickam GV, Gujar AR (1995) Transparent heavy mineral distribution in the bays of Jaygad, Ambawali and Varvade, Ratnagiri Dist. Maharashtra. J Ind Assoc Sedimentol 14:43–53
Rajganapathi VC, Jitheshkumar N, Sundararajan M, Bhat KH, Velusamy S (2012) Grain size analysis and characterization of sedimentary environment along Thiruchendur coast, Tamilnadu, India. Arab J Geosci 6(12):4717–4728
Ramasamy S (1996) Heavy mineral distribution around Manavalakuruchi Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu. J Ind Assoc Sedimentol 15:29–42
Rao N (1998) Density, mineralogy and textural studies of the beach and dune placer deposits of Andhra Pradesh Coast, India. J Ind Assoc Sedimentol 17(2):157–165
Rao GD, Setty BK, Raminaidu CH (1989) Heavy mineral content and textural characteristics of coastal sands in the Krishna-Godavari, Gosthani-Champavati and Penna River deltas of Andhra Pradesh, India: a comparative study. Exploration and research for atomic minerals, vol 2. Atomic Minerals Division, Hyderabad, pp 147–155
Rencz AN, Harris JR, Watson GP, Murphy B (1994) Data integration for mineral exploration in the Antigonish Highlands, Nova Scotia. Can J Remote Sens 20(3):258–267
Saravanan S, Chandrasekar N (2010) Grain size analysis and depositional environment condition along the beaches (South East India). Mar Georesour Geotechnol 28(4):288–302
Sengupta R, Khalil SM, Deb Roy DK, Mitra SK, Bhattacharya S (1992) Heavy mineral placers off Orissa coast—prospect and potential. Marine Wing Newslett Geol Surv India 3:7
Siddique HN, Rajamanickam GV (1979) Offshore ilmenite placer of Ratnagiri, Konkan coast, Maharashtra. Mar Mining 2:29–118
Sinha Roy S (1982) Grain size characteristics of Zircons of beach sands from the south west coast of India. J Geol Soc India 23:431–440
Soman K (1985) Origin and geologic significance of Chavara placer deposits, Kerala. Curr Sci 54:280–281
Tien Bui D, Pradhan B, Lofman O, Revhaug I, Dick OB (2011) Landslide susceptibility mapping at Hoa Binh province (Vietnam) using an adaptive neuro fuzzy inference system and GIS. Comput Geosci 45:199–211
Tien Bui D, Pradhan B, Lofman O, Revhaug I, Dick OB (2012) Spatial prediction of landslide hazards in Vietnam: a comparative assessment of the efficacy of evidential belief functions and fuzzy logic models. Catena 96:28–40
Tipper GH (1914) The monazite sands of travancore. Rec Geol Sur India 35:195
Wilkinson L, Harris J, Grunsky E (1999) Building a lithogeochemical dataset for GIS analysis: methodology, problems, and solutions. Geol Surv Can Open File 3788:44
Wright DF, Bonham-Carter GF (1996) VHMS favorability mapping with GIS-based integration models, Chisel Lake-Anderson Lake area. In: Bonham-Carter GF, Galley AG, Hall GEM (eds) EXTECH I: a multidisciplinary approach to massive sulphide research in the Rusty Lake-Snow Lake Greenstone Belts, Manitoba. Geol Survey Can Bull 426, pp 339–376
Yialouris CP, Kollias V, Lorentzos NA, Kalivas D, Sideridis AB (1997) An integrated expert geographical information system for soil suitability and soil evaluation. J Geogr Info Decis Anal 1(2):89–99
Acknowledgments
This research is financially supported by NRDMS division, Department of Science and Technology, India (Grant No: NRDMS/11/1548/2009). The authors thank Dr. Nisha Mendiratta, Scientist “E”/Addl. Director, NRDMS Division Department of Science & Technology, New Delhi, for her kind support to carry out this work.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
ESM 1
(TBX 1968 kb)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Magesh, N.S., Chandrasekar, N. & Kaliraj, S. Mapping of heavy mineral placers through marine GIS expert system: a case study in Kalaignanapuram coastal stretch, southeast coast of Tamil Nadu, India. Arab J Geosci 8, 195–206 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-013-1193-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-013-1193-x