isocon
Isocon is a term used in economic geology to describe a graphical mass-balance method for evaluating ore deposits. The concept centers on tracking how the concentration of a target metal relates to a reference immobile element across ore and gangue samples. An isocon diagram is constructed by plotting the concentration of the metal of interest against that immobile reference element for multiple samples. The resulting pattern typically forms a straight line, the isocon, whose slope represents the original ore-to-host-rock ratio and whose intercept helps estimate the initial metal content.
The isocon method is used to distinguish primary deposition from secondary processes such as enrichment, dilution,
Applications include ore-reserve estimation, post-depositional alteration assessment, and exploration targeting. It is particularly useful in metal
Limitations include sensitivity to sample quality, the choice of a truly immobile reference element, and the
See also: isocon diagram, mass balance, economic geology, ore deposit analysis.