Robert G. Eppinger David L. Fey Karen D. Kelley S. A. Giles Steven M. Smith 2009 <p><span>Soil samples were collected in 2007 and 2008 along three traverses across the giant Pebble Cu-Au-Mo porphyry deposit. Within each soil pit, four subsamples were collected following recommended protocols for each of ten commonly-used and proprietary leach/digestion techniques. The significance of geochemical patterns generated by these techniques was classified by visual inspection of plots showing individual element concentration by each analytical method along the 2007 traverse. A simple matrix by element versus method, populated with a value based on the significance classification, provides a method for ranking the utility of methods and elements at this deposit. The interpretation of a complex multi-element dataset derived from multiple analytical techniques is challenging. An example of vanadium results from a single leach technique is used to illustrate the several possible interpretations of the data.</span></p> application/pdf en Association of Applied Geochemists An orientation soil survey at the Pebble Cu-Au-Mo porphyry deposit, Alaska text