McLean Trott

H+ is extremely reactive, can remobilize numerous other elements (Fe, Mn, Ca, and Mg) H+ diffuses through cover up to 10,000 times faster than other cations.

Alkaline soil conditions exist in most semi-arid to arid environments (Atacama desert). Oxidizing sulphides should produce a change in pH in the surface soil, and especially in the soil micro-layer where upward moving H+ accumulates. Survey noise may be produced by slope breaks or water-bearing structures. H+ concentration in soil, as well as Ca may be measured by creating a slurry, measuring the pH, and then adding a drop of HCl and measuring pH again (is Ca buffering the solution or not?).

An ideal anomaly in this scenario will show a low pH (high H+) anomaly surrounded by a ring of buffered soils (where the Ca has been remobilized and reprecipitated as CaCO3). Or the actual anomaly will be unbuffered whilst the country rock will generally show some buffering effects.

Acidified H+ in moles (calculated from pH 10^-pH = [H+]) is subtracted from the nonacidified H+. The least differences found using the above are areas of calcite precipitation. Plotting this least difference as an inverse (1/least difference) produces positive peaks in anomalous areas, known as IDH anomalies (Inverse Difference Hydrogen).

1 / [(10^[-N]) - (10^[-A])] = IDH value

Where N = Non-acidified pH (or the original pH measurement) And A = Acidified pH value (the pH value measured from each sample after adding 1 drop of HCl)

Where: C(x,t) is the concentration of diffusing substance at distance x (cm) from the interface and time t (seconds) from the start of diffusion, in M cm-3 Co is the initial concentration of diffusing ion (M cm-3). I is the distance from the initial diffusion boundary (ie base of overburden) to the upper diffusion boundary (ie soil surface or layer where ions are fixed by chelation or precipitation. De is the effective diffusion coefficient, determined by taking into account the media tortuosity, moisture content, ion stability in the Eh-pH regime and partition coefficient between particles and interstitial water for the ion in question and the soil substrate.

Mix approximately 1 teaspoon of surface soil with 50mL of distilled water for 2 minutes. Read the pH. Add 1 drop of 10% HCl solution to the slurry. Mix again for 2 minutes. Read pH again.

pH results should mimic the Ca profile (Ca is a proxy for CaCO3). In essence, acidic conditions above an oxidizing porphyry have remobilized calcium to the outer edges of the area of influence, where calcium buffers and reprecipitates. Rabbit Ear Anomaly in profile, or Donut Anomaly in plan view.