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A “Weighted” Geochemical Variable Classification Method Based on Latent Variables

Natural Resources Research volume 31, pages 1925–1941 (2022)Cite this article

Abstract

Clustering of variables relies on relationships among them. The strength of those relationships is generally measured by the correlation coefficients between pairs of variables. This paper proposes specified variable weighted correlation coefficients and takes the clustering around latent variables (CLV) approach as an example to transform the common clustering method into a “weighted” clustering method. The aim is to eliminate factors that are unrelated to the variable that was adopted for weighting to ensure that the cluster centers are sufficiently different and have good correlations with the adopted variable. A log-transformed dataset was used to evaluate the proposed method. Three clusters were obtained under the restriction of the As element, and they represented three ore-controlling factors related to the Goldenville Formation, namely geologic features such as formation, fault contacts, and granitoid intrusions. Not only did the new cluster centers account for most of the variability related to the weighted element (As) but they also showed significant differences in spatial distributions.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the Foreign Aid Project of the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China (2021-28) and the China National Major Water Conservancy Project Construction Fund (0001212012AC50001).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wuhan Center, China Geological Survey, 69 Guanggu Ave, Wuhan, 430205, China

    Jiangtao Liu

  2. State Key Lab of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Qiuming Cheng

  3. Department of Earth and Space Science and Engineering, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3, Canada

    Jian-Guo Wang

  4. School of Computer Science, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Yusen Dong

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  1. Jiangtao Liu
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Correspondence to Yusen Dong.

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The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could affect the work reported in this article.

Data Availability

The data that supported the findings of this study are openly available in Department of Natural Resources and Renewables, Nova Scotia, Canada at https://novascotia.ca/natr/meb/geoscience-online/geochemistry.asp.

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Liu, J., Cheng, Q., Wang, JG. et al. A “Weighted” Geochemical Variable Classification Method Based on Latent Variables. Nat Resour Res 31, 1925–1941 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11053-022-10061-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11053-022-10061-8

Keywords

  • Variable clustering
  • Clustering around latent variables (CLV)
  • Weighted clustering
  • Geochemical factor extraction