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Regional metallogenic structure based on aeromagnetic data in northern Chile

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Abstract

Chile is a very important country that forms part of the Andean metallogenic belts. The Atacama and Domeyko fault systems in northern Chile control the tectonic–magmatic activities that migrate eastward and the types of mineral resources. In this paper, we processed and interpreted aeromagnetic data from northern Chile using reduction to pole, upward field continuation, the second derivative calculation in the vertical direction, inclination angle calculation, and analytical signal amplitude analysis. We revealed the locations and planar distribution characteristics of the regional deep faults along the NNE and NS directions. Furthermore, we observed that the major reasons for the formation of the tectonic–magmatic rocks belts were the nearly parallel deep faults distributed from west to east and multiple magmatic activities along these faults. We ascertained the locations of volcanic mechanisms and the relationships between them using these regional deep faults. We deduced the spatial distributions of the basic–intermediate, basic, and acidic igneous rocks, intrusive rocks, and sedimentary sequences. We showed the linear positive magnetic anomalies and magnetic anomaly gradient zones by slowly varying the background, negative magnetic anomaly field, which indicated the presence of strong magmatic activities in these regional deep faults; it also revealed the favorable areas of copper and polymetallic mineralization. This study provides some basic information for further research on the geology, structural characteristics, and mineral resource prospecting in northern Chile.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the reviewers for their constructive comments and suggestions! The authors thank all the people who joined in the acquisition of the aeromagnetic data in the north of Chile!

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing, 100037, China

    Xiao-San Zhu & Min-Jie Lu

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  1. Xiao-San Zhu
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  2. Min-Jie Lu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Min-Jie Lu.

Additional information

This work was jointly supported by the National Science Foundation of China (No. 41404070) and China Geological Survey (No. DD20160102-02).

Zhu Xiao-San, Ph.D., associate researcher. He received a bachelor’s degree from China University of Mining and Technology in 2002, a master’s degree from China University of Petroleum (Beijing) in 2005 and a Ph.D. degree from Peking University in 2010. His main research interests are acquisition, processing and interpretation of geophysical data and mineral deposits in the Andean metallogenic belt. Contact information: Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences. Email: zhuxiaosan@yahoo.com

Lu Min-Jie Ph.D., he graduated Ph.D. degree from Changchun Geological College in 1985. Now he is a Director of Research Center of 3D geology; Institute of geology; Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences. His main research interests are mineral geology and mineral deposits.

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Zhu, XS., Lu, MJ. Regional metallogenic structure based on aeromagnetic data in northern Chile. Appl. Geophys. 13, 721–735 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11770-016-0593-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11770-016-0593-6

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