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Spatial Distribution and Characteristics of Lineaments Using Fractal and Multifractal Analysis for Evaluating the Structural Controls on a Regional-Scale Gold Mineralization, Cameroon, Central Africa

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Salomon César Nguemhe Fils at Institute of Geological and Mining Research
Salomon César Nguemhe Fils
  • Institute of Geological and Mining Research
Carrol Hedwige Bekele Mongo
Carrol Hedwige Bekele Mongo
Carrol Hedwige Bekele Mongo
  • This person is not on ResearchGate, or hasn't claimed this research yet.
Mumbfu Ernestine Mimba at Institute of Geological and Mining Research
Mumbfu Ernestine Mimba
  • Institute of Geological and Mining Research
Aristide Clement Charly Mboua
Aristide Clement Charly Mboua
Aristide Clement Charly Mboua
  • This person is not on ResearchGate, or hasn't claimed this research yet.
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Abstract and Figures

This study describes faults/fractures to present them as one of the main factors controlling gold mineralization along the Eséka-Lolodorf-Bipindi corridor, an important gold mining site in the Southern Cameroon Plateau, Central Africa. The main objective was to investigate the spatial association between fault/fracture complexities and patterns of spatial distribution of mineral deposits for providing potential targets for deposit exploration in areas where basic geological information is very scarce. Accordingly, several GIS-based techniques, including rose diagram analysis, fractal/multifractal methods, and fry analysis, have been applied on extracted lineaments from Radarsat-1 image for understanding regional structural controls on gold mineralization along the study area. The main results show that (1) the lineaments in this area trend mainly NE-SW, with a secondary NS trending; (2) the box dimensions of all lineaments present mainly NE-SW and N-S trending lineaments which reveal high fractal values in two parts of the study area: the central part extending to the northeast-southwest corresponding to the Ngovayang massif, and the northeast part (Eséka), trending N-S; and (3) the lineaments have multifractal characteristics materialized by more than one regression line on the concentration-area (C-A) fractal models. Furthermore, the fry plots show alignments of deposits, confirming the control of gold mineralization by the identified structural trends (NE-SW and N-S) in this corridor. The obtained results are complementary to each other, through the methods used, and can be applied in other areas in the sub-region where gold mineralization likely exist.
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Vol.:(0123456789)
https://doi.org/10.1007/s41651-024-00183-3
Spatial Distribution andCharacteristics ofLineaments Using Fractal
andMultifractal Analysis forEvaluating theStructural Controls
onaRegional‑Scale Gold Mineralization, Cameroon, Central Africa
SalomonCésarNguemheFils1· CarrolHedwigeBekeleMongo1· MumbfuErnestineMimba1·
AristideClementCharlyMboua2· JeanBassahak1· PhilippeNjandjockNouck3· JosephVictorHell4
Abstract
This study describes faults/fractures to present them as one of the main factors controlling gold mineralization along the Eséka-
Lolodorf-Bipindi corridor, an important gold mining site in the Southern Cameroon Plateau, Central Africa. The main objective
was to investigate the spatial association between fault/fracture complexities and patterns of spatial distribution of mineral deposits
for providing potential targets for deposit exploration in areas where basic geological information is very scarce. Accordingly,
several GIS-based techniques, including rose diagram analysis, fractal/multifractal methods, and fry analysis, have been applied on
extracted lineaments from Radarsat-1 image for understanding regional structural controls on gold mineralization along the study
area. The main results show that (1) the lineaments in this area trend mainly NE-SW, with a secondary NS trending; (2) the box
dimensions of all lineaments present mainly NE-SW and N-S trending lineaments which reveal high fractal values in two parts
of the study area: the central part extending to the northeast-southwest corresponding to the Ngovayang massif, and the northeast
part (Eséka), trending N-S; and (3) the lineaments have multifractal characteristics materialized by more than one regression line
on the concentration-area (C-A) fractal models. Furthermore, the fry plots show alignments of deposits, confirming the control of
gold mineralization by the identified structural trends (NE-SW and N-S) in this corridor. The obtained results are complementary
to each other, through the methods used, and can be applied in other areas in the sub-region where gold mineralization likely exist.
Keywords Faults/fracture system· Gold mineralization· Fractal/multifractal analysis· Fry analysis· Structural control·
Eséka-Lolodorf-Bipindi
Introduction
Cameroon has a high potential for geological and mineral
resources (Milesi etal. 2006), but mineral exploration in
most regions of the country is still mainly artisanal and
semi-mechanized due to their socio-economic and envi-
ronmental contexts (Nguemhe Fils etal. 2018; 2020).
In its southern Adamawa plateau part, several artisa-
nal mineral exploitation areas are located in a geological
structural context characterized by a significant fracturing
* Salomon CésarNguemhe Fils
nguemhefils@gmail.com
Carrol Hedwige Bekele Mongo
bekelecarrol@yahoo.fr
Mumbfu Ernestine Mimba
mmimba2000@yahoo.ca
Aristide Clement Charly Mboua
aristideclement@yahoo.com
Jean Bassahak
jeanbassahak98@gmail.com
Philippe Njandjock Nouck
pnnouck@gmail.com
Joseph Victor Hell
jvhell2@gmail.com
1 Research Centre forSpatial Imagery, IRGM, P.O. Box4110,
Yaounde, Nlongkak, Cameroon
2 Department ofEarth Science, University ofDschang,
Dschang, Cameroon
3 Department ofPhysics, University ofYaounde I,
P.O. Box812, Yaounde, Cameroon
4 Institute ofGeological andMining Research (IRGM),
P.O. Box4110, Yaounde,Nlongkak, Cameroon
(2024) 8:21
J geovis spat anal
Accepted: 20 May 2024 / Published online: 8 June 2024
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
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