Open Journal of Geology, 2018, 8, 606-622 http://www.scirp.org/journal/ojg ISSN Online: 2161-7589 ISSN Print: 2161-7570 DOI: 10.4236/ojg.2018.86035 Jun. 21, 2018 606 Open Journal of Geology Exploring Porphyry Copper Deposits in the Central Iran Using Remote Sensing Techniques Akram Mahan * , Ramin Arfania Isfahan (Khorasgan) Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran Abstract This study used the ability of remote sensing technology to identify alteration zones in porphyry copper mining and Iron oxides of area in south Nain dis- trict in Iran by using Lands at-8 data source. The band ratio of 3/2 derived from image spectra was used to indicate the distribution of iron oxides and 6/3 for identifying gossan. Hydrothermal alteration mineral zones associated with porphyry copper mineralization identified and discriminated based on two algorithms of target detection, MTTCIMF and OSP. Those techniques identified porphyry copper mineralization in study area and six points were diagnosed as the best location for ore exploration. For more accurate study and recognition between mineralization and tectonic structure of district, the lineament map of area was produced by applying Gaussian high-pass filter on IRS data. The Spatial distribution of hydrothermal alteration zones has been verified by inspection in field works and Fuzzy logic. Results showed that im- age processing techniques have a great ability to obtain comprehensive infor- mation for reconnaissance stage of porphyry copper exploration in the case study and assist researcher to explore porphyry copper and iron oxides re- gions before time-consuming and costly ground investigation. Keywords Fuzzy Logic, OSP, MTTCIMF, Lands at-8, Gossan, Porphyry Copper Exploration 1. Introduction Satellite Remote sensing is a useful tool for mapping lithology and surface mi- neralogy and exploring ore deposits [1] [2] [3] [4]. Multispectral remote sensing datasets which capture data in wide ranges of electromagnetic spectrum help re- searcher to identify minerals. Each mineral has specific chemical composition How to cite this paper: Mahan, A. and Arfania, R. (2018) Exploring Porphyry Copper Deposits in the Central Iran Using Remote Sensing Techniques. Open Journal of Geology, 8, 606-622. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojg.2018.86035 Received: May 23, 2018 Accepted: June 16, 2018 Published: June 21, 2018 Copyright © 2018 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY 4.0). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Open Access