GEOBOTANICAL

TOOLS
for
Mineral
EXPLORATION
 Introduction
• Plants have close relationships with the
underlying regolith substrate.
• Plant roots: extend tens and even hundreds of
metres.
• Develop both physical and chemical
associations with subsurface regolith materials
• Thus, ground organs of a plant may be
connected with underlying regolith materials.
• Expressed at the land surface by changes
in plant communities, species distribution
and abundance, biogeochemical
characteristics and morphology of plants
and plant organs (eg stunted tree growth
associated with shallow regolith
thickness).
Geo-botanical Anomalies
• Remote sensing has been utilized to map
geobotanical anomalies associated with
mineral deposits.
• Bio-geochemical prospecting techniques
are useful for mapping geologic substrate
and mineral anomalies.
• Bio geochemical techniques have also
been utilized to prove mineral uptake,
including gold,in several species of plants.
• Soil –geochemical, bio-geochemical, and
vegetal-spectral anomalies have been
detected in U.S.
¾Certain elements are toxic to vegetation
and their presence in underlying zones of
mineralization can cause stress, if
accessed by the root system.
¾The stress manifests morphological and
mutational changes in the plant
(geobotanical anomalies)
 Geo-botanical guides and features
revealing anomalies

• The observed structural and physiological

expressions may include dwarfism, gigantism,
or chlorosis.
• Dwarfism and gigantism are relatively easy to
spot in the field. On the other hand, chlorosis
and other changes at the cellular level, may
cause subtle changes not readily apparent to the
unaided human eye.
.
• Shift in the spectral position of chlorophyll
bands have been found in the forests
affected by metal induced stress.

• The metal affect causes the infrared

chlorophyll edge to shift towards the short
wavelength end of the spectrum, (the blue
shift).
• Salts of copper, zinc, and nickel in
concentrations of 100 ppm metal in the
soil appear to retard the development of
chlorophyll in the laboratory plants.
 Geo-botanical sampling and
mapping
• A particular plant species in the area of
mineralization works as a guide to locate ore.
• The growth and distribution of a particular plant
is influenced by sub-surface geology.
Geo-botanical survey involves-
• study of the nature of the vegetative cover,
• plant distribution,
• the presence of indicator plants,
• mutational or morphological changes in species
due to mineral enrichment.
 For mapping purpose:
¾ generally plots of 5 sq km are chosen.
¾ the plant species found in them, their
growth, density of growth, new species,
rare species etc are marked.
¾ A species which shows special affinity to
the area is chosen by a process of
progressive elimination.
¾The association of these species with any
known mineral occurrence in the area is
established if such a correlation exists.
¾This correlation can be used for searching
adjacent larger areas.
 Indicator Plants
• Two types of indicator plants are recognized
1. Universal indicators
2. Local indicators

• Universal indicators grow only in a mineralized

terrain and are seen world over in similar setups.
• They are rare in their occurrence and distribution.
• The local indicators are more common but are
important only locally. eg In North Kanara district of
Karnataka, local prospectors believe that
manganese deposits show association with plants
like- ’nama’, ‘kundal’, ‘jamka’, and ‘karipatha’.
However this association is yet to be scientifically
established.
Element Universal indicators Local indicators
1. Cobalt Crotalaria cobalticola, --
Silene cobalticola
2. Copper 1. Acrocephalus - 1. Armeria meritima,
robertii, 2. Elsholtzia –
2. Astragalus – haichowensis,
declinatus, 3. Eschscholtzia –
3. Becimum homblei, mexicana,
4. Gypsophila patrini, 4. Polycarpaea glabra,
5. Merceya latifolia, 5. Polycarpaea -
6. Merceya lingulata, spriostylis,
7. Mielichhoferia – 6. Polygonum posumbu
macrocarpa,
Element Universal Local indicators
indicators
Copper 1. Mielichhoferia - --
…. Mielichhoferia,
2. Tephrosia sp.,
3. Viscaria alpina
3. Iron -- 1. Betula sp.,
2. Clusia rosea,
3. Dacrydium -caledonicum,
4. Damnara ovata,
5. Eutessa intermedia
 Element Universal Local indicators
indicators
4. Lead -- 1. Baptisia - bracteata,
2. Erianthus giganteus
3. Tephrosia polyzyga
5. Manganese -- 1. Digitalis purpurea
2. Fucus vesiculolus
3. Trapa natans
4. Zostera nana
6. Molybdenum -- 1. Astragalus - declinatus
 Element Universal Local indicators
indicators
7. Nickel -- 1. Alyssum –bertolonii,
2. Asplenium -
adulterium,
3. Pulsatilla - patens
8. -- 1. Convolvulus -
Phosphorus althaeoides
9. Selenium 1. Aster venusta, 1. Neptunia -
2. Asteragalus spp., amplexicanlis
3. Oonopsis spp.
4. Stanleya spp.
 Element Universal Local indicators
indicators
10. Selenium 1. Astragalus --
& Uranium (certain spp.)
11. Silver -- 1. Eriogonum -
ovalifolium,
2. Lonicera -
confusa
12. Vanadium 1. Astragalus-
bisulcatus
Element Universal indicators Local indicators

13. Zinc 1. Thlaspi - 1. Gomphrena -

calaminare, canescens,
2. Thlaspi - 2. Matricaria -
cepaeacfolium, americana,
3. Viola -calaminaria, 3. Philadelphus sp.
4. Viola lutea
• The presence of these plant species is
indicative of the corresponding elements.
• Some mutational effects caused by certain
elements on certain plants are also very
useful in recognizing them.
• In multi-spectral aerial photography, the
mutational effects can be recognized.
• Thus they provide an indirect evidence of
the possible presence of certain elements
in regional scale explorations.
 Mutational effect and their
causative elements
Element or Mutational effect
mineral
1. Chromium Chlorosis of leaves
2. Cobalt Increase of chlorophyll in some
species and chlorosis in others
3. Copper Chlorosis of leaves & dwarfism
4. Iron Darkening of leaves
5. Manganese Chlorosis of leaves with white
blotches
6. Molybdenum Formation of abnormally coloured
shoot
 Mutational effect and their
causative elements
Element or Mutational effect
mineral
7. Nickel Chlorosis and nacrosis in leaves
8. Serpentine Dwarfism, colour changes of flowers
9. Uranium & Variation in flower colour, presence
radioactivity of abnormal fruits, increase in
chromosomes of nucleus,
stimulation
10. Zinc Chlorosis of leaves, symptoms of
manganese deficiency
Geo-botanical prospecting in India
• Certain species of plants are seen in
mineralized belt and metal content of
plants growing in these areas is richly
anomalous than those growing in barren
tract.
• Some studies have been carried out using
certain indicator plants for the search of
mineralization in the extension areas of
the known mineralized belt.
 Different indicator plants identified in various
mineralized areas in India
• Luxuriant growth of Leucas aspera (family:
Labiatae) on mine dumps, slag heaps and
waste dumps of the sampling shed in Rajpura-
Dariba area.
• Samples of ashes prepared from the different
parts of the plant shows conspicuous
concentration of zinc and this plant can be
used as a local indicator of zinc in the Rajpura-
Dariba.
• A possible zinc indicator plant viz. Impatiens
balsania is identified in the Zawar Pb-Zn belt. A
large population of such plant species is found
to grow selectively on zinc dumps and in areas
of the mineralized belt.
• Growth of a species of plants with golden yellow
flowers (similar to sun flower) as observed in most
parts of the auriferous tracts of Karnataka, has been
noticed in abundance, all along the auriferous tracts
of Ramagiri- Penakacherla schist belt, Veligallu
schist belt.
• This plant is identified as Pulicaria Angustifolia of
Compositae family.
• The samples collected from this plant species
analysed up to 200 ppb Au.
• Polycarpae cormybos Lamk is seen in the
cupriferous area of Agnigundala. The same species
is recognized in Singhbhum copper district.
• The absence of this species in neighbouring Pb-Zn
mineralized zone assumes significance and the
growth shows preference for copper.
 Gold colloids precipitated along a fungal
hyphae isolated from soil samples from Gold
Mine, Australia
Fossilized colony of bacterial cells, Pedomicrobium
sp. australiensis, on a gold flake panned from soil
close to a gold mine, Australia