Summary
An exploratory study on C- and O-horizon samples from a low-density regional survey (1 sample per 36 km2) was carried out in the Møre and Romsdal county. Principal component and cluster analyses were implemented to identify samples signaling potential Cu-Zn-Pb, and Fe-Ti-V base metal anomalies. Clustering of the samples (Q-mode) and variables (R-mode) permitted to construct several maps that were used as indicators to identify geochemical anomalies. To complement the multivariate analysis, a percentile-based filtering of the dataset was further used to identify areas with high Fe-V-Ti values. Results from both methods were then contrasted against airborne magnetics. Anomalous samples contained within 4 areas of interest were then selected based on the convergence of two or more anomaly indicators and its coincidence with areas having moderate to high magnetic anomalies. However, further assessment of the magnetic map and the known base metal occurrences show that often, there is not a consistent spatial correlation between the latter and magnetic anomalies. The biggest limitation of this study is the coarse sampling scale of the geochemical survey compared to the much smaller size of lithological units that host or can potentially host base metal mineralization (e.g., mafic, and ultramafic intrusions are as small as 0.04 km2). Despite the later, this work can be used as first order criterium to identify zones suitable for future and more detailed geoscientific surveys (e.g., geochemistry, geophysics, bedrock, and structural mapping)