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

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.