AAPG Studies in Geology No. 48/SEG Geophysical References
Series No. 11, Chapter 1: Interpretation and Display of Surface Geochemical Data, by Ronald
W. Klusman, Pages 1 - 24
from:
AAPG Studies in Geology No. 48 /
SEG Geophysical References Series No. 11: Surface
Exploration Case Histories: Applications of Geochemistry, Magnetics, and Remote Sensing,
Edited by Dietmar Schumacher and Leonard A. LeSchack
Copyright © 2002 by The American Association of Petroleum Geologists and the
Society of Exploration Geophysicists. All rights reserved.
Chapter 1
Interpretation and Display of Surface Geochemical Data
Ronald W. Klusman
Department of Chemistry and Geochemistry, Colorado School of Mines
Golden, Colorado, U.S.A.
ABSTRACT
A review of the methodology for interpretation and display of surface geochemical data
is presented, and a discussion of direct and indirect methods for surface geochemistry is
reviewed. The interpretation of surface geochemical data must initially focus on
determining what is background, and which may be anomalous samples. The use of histograms
and probability plots for this separation is illustrated. Because surface geochemical data
are inherently noisy, a variety of smoothing techniques is used, including moving means
for line plots and moving cell means for grid data. Adequacy of sampling density is
assessed using an analysis of variance method. The data must be consistent with the
geological evaluation and must aid in the assessment of petroleum potential, as well as
being statistically significant.
