Bayesian statistical analysis of hydrogeochemical data using point processes: a new tool for source detection in multicomponent fluid mixtures

Abstract : Hydrogeochemical data may be seen as a point cloud in a multi-dimensional space. Each dimension of this space represents a hydrogeochemical parameter (i.e. salinity, solute concentration, concentration ratio, isotopic composition...). While the composition of many geological fluids is controlled by mixing between multiple sources, a key question related to hydrogeochemical data set is the detection of the sources. By looking at the hydrogeochemical data as spatial data, this paper presents a new solution to the source detection problem that is based on point processes. Results are shown on simulated and real data from geothermal fluids.