ABSTRACT

The accuracy of area estimations was evaluated for the ore fields within the East Pacific polymetallic nodules deposit licenced to the Interoceanmetal Joint Organization (IOM). The ore fields were contoured using various cut-off values of nodules abundance. It was found that accuracies of both the contouring and the area estimations of high-grade ore fields are low, if based solely on the results of ocean floor sampling. Comparison was made of ore fields areas estimated using two parameters: the minimum abundance of nodules and the minimum abundance of nickel equivalent. An attempt was made to apply the geostatistical methods to evaluate the accuracy of estimations of ore fields areas. The difficulties were highlighted of the usage of geostatistical methods in exploration of polymetallic nodules deposits due to irregular sampling grids.

Keywords:
polymetallic nodule ore field, cutoff value, geologic modeling, polymetallic nodule deposit, area estimation, polygon, upstream oil & gas, nickel equivalent, nodule abundance, contour map
Subjects:
Reservoir Characterization, Geologic modeling
This content is only available via PDF.
2013. The International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers
You can access this article if you purchase or spend a download.