Introduction to geostatistics

Abstract

In the earth sciences in general, and, in particular, in the mineral deposits, the spatial continuity of the geological features, which can be grade of the valuable metals, concentration of the deleterious components or geotechnical characteristics of the rocks, represents natural phenomenon. Accurate estimation of these features in the unsampled location is important for evaluation the mining projects and their cost effectively exploitation. Geostatistics is a specialised scientific discipline which offers the methodology for modelling the spatial continuity of the regionalised variables. In this chapter, the basic theoretical foundations of geostatistics are introduced to the readers and explained using examples.