GIS-based Mineral Prospectivity Mapping of Seafloor Massive Sulfide on Ultraslow-spreading Ridges: A Case Study of Southwest Indian Ridge 48.7° – 50.5° E

With the depletion of mineral resources on land, seafloor massive sulfide deposits have the potential to become as important for exploration, development and mining as those on land. However, it is difficult to investigate the ocean environment where seafloor massive sulfide deposits are located. Thus, improving prospecting efficiency by reducing the exploration search space through mineral prospectivity mapping (MPM) is desirable. MPM has been used in the exploration for seafloor deposits on regional scales, e.g., the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and Arctic Ridge. However, studies of MPM on ultraslow-spreading ridges on segment scales to aid exploration for seafloor massive sulfide have not been carried out to date. Here, data of water depth, geology and hydrothermal plume anomalies were analyzed and the weights-of-evidence method was used to study the metallogenic regularity and to predict the potential area for seafloor massive sulfide exploration in 48.7°–50.5° E segments on the ultraslow spreading Southwest Indian Ridge. Based on spatial analysis, 11 predictive maps were selected to establish a mineral potential model. Weight values indicate that the location of seafloor massive sulfide deposits is correlated mainly with mode-E faults and oceanic crust thickness in the study area, which correspond with documented ore-controlling factors on other studied ultraslow-spreading ridges. In addition, the detachment fault and ridge axis, which reflect the deep hydrothermal circulation channel and magmatic activities, also play an important role. Based on the posterior probability values, 3 level A, 2 level B and 2 level C areas were identified as targets for further study. The MPM results were helpful for narrowing the search space and have implications for investigating and evaluating seafloor massive sulfide resources in the study area and on other ultraslow-spreading ridges.