Positional Prediction of Undiscovered Seafloor Massive Sulfide Resources on Carlsberg Ridge, Northwest Indian Ocean

Increasingly more attention is being paid to the exploration of seafloor massive sulfide (SMS) resources because of the rich metal resources in them. Research has shown that the slow-spreading mid-ocean ridge is a hotspot for large-scale massive sulfide deposits, and should be prioritized in the future. Because of the complex technology and high cost of investigating the location of the mid-ocean ridge, it is necessary to narrow the prospecting space. In this study, a novel method is proposed that combines weights-of-evidence method and prospecting-information content method to quantitatively predict locations of undiscovered SMS resources on the typical slow-spreading Carlsberg Ridge. First, controlling factors were selected, which included topography, geophysics, and geology aspects. Then, the favorable value range of each controlling factor was determined to develop the prospecting prediction model. Finally, this study developed a mineral prospectivity map with four levels of likelihood for the occurrence of SMS deposits. Eight prospective targets were delineated, four of which were level A and four were level B (level A is better than level B). This research has great significance in guiding future research of SMS resources on the Carlsberg Ridge and similar ridges.