| Abstract: | For many years the results of regional geochemical surveys in arid and semiarid regions of China were not satisfactory. Therefore, we selected eight areas in the middle and western part of Inner Mongolia and the northwestern part of Gansu Province to study this problem from 1982 to 1985. The contents of our study include: the migration and distribution of elements in an arid environment; the interference of aeolian sand; the applicability of different sampling mediums; and the development of effective sampling techniques. Pilot surveys were carried out covering several hundred or more than a thousand square kilometres in every test area after the orientation study.Very good results were obtained in the surveys carried out in mountainous and hilly regions. The only problem was to eliminate effectively the interference of aeolian sand. To accomplish this we collected elastics of −5 + 2 mm or − 10 + 0.9 mm coarse grain size in the dry valley. In the stony Gobi desert region and the eroded peneplain region, a rock survey and residual soil survey produced the results expected. However, we had to consider the following influencing factors: (1) the caliche in the loose soil layer forms a barrier, hindering the migration of most of the elements in a vertical direction. Only where the caliche was rather thin was the influence of little significance; (2) in the residual soil of the background area and non-mineralized zone, almost all trace elements are enriched secondarily. The enrichment factors are generally between 1.3 and 1.8. In the residual soil of the mineralized zone, almost all ore-forming elements are impoverished. The well-water geochemical survey and the deep-root system plant survey have a peculiar function in finding ore deposits in the arid region. These two methods are discussed elsewhere. |
