Distance Measures in Mineral Potential Mapping: Squared L2, Shannon and Combination Families

As a complementary work to the first part of the non-Euclidean distance measures in the spatial data decision analysis for mineral potential mapping (MPM), three families of squared L2, Shannon and combination are examined in this research to evaluate the performance of fifteen distances in geospatial data integration. The TOPSIS method as a well-known outranking method in the multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) problem was utilized in the MPM, where its distance kernel was substituted by these new families to investigate the efficiency of different distances in final preparation of the synthesized indicator layers. For consistency with the previous work (i.e. distance measures in spatial data decision analysis), the North Narbaghi porphyry copper deposit in the Saveh, Iran, was revisited as a deposit-scale prospecting zone. The ultimate goal was to prioritize the favorable zones for borehole drilling. The geospatial datasets were derived from a multi-disciplinary survey comprising of geological, geochemical and geophysical criteria. It is indicated that some distances could partially promote the performance of the mineral potential maps in comparison to the traditional Euclidian-based TOPSIS outranking method in the studied case, which is of considerable importance that deserves more investigation in the future.