Quantification of the Disturbances of Phosphate Series Using the Box-Counting Method on Geoelectrical Images (Sidi Chennane, Morocco)

Abstract

The phosphate series of Sidi Chennane (Morocco) is frequently affected by sterile bodies called "disturbances" causing many problems during the mining operation. The quantification of these bodies is thus considered as a crucial step for the OCP mining engineers. In following this research, we propose the fractal dimension as a new and simple efficient tool to analyze the disturbed areas. The work was carried out on geoelectrical maps of a study area of 50 hectares located in the northern part of the Sidi Chennane deposit. Fractal dimension was used as a representative parameter for examining the disturbed areas by using the box-counting method. The end result shows a strong linkage between the rate of the disturbances and the corresponding fractal dimension. This may have an important implication to quantify the disturbances and get a precise phosphate reserves estimate.