If we were to pinpoint Ma Shengming’s research area today, it would fall squarely within the discipline of exploration geochemistry. Yet, upon reviewing his resume, we find that he— 1984 Year 12 He graduated from Changchun Geological School and has been working at the Institute of Geophysical and Geochemical Exploration ever since. Throughout his career, he has never interrupted his studies—continuously pursuing education from technical secondary school all the way to a doctoral degree, spanning multiple specialized fields including mineral exploration, geochemistry, and water resources. Along this journey, he has broadened his perspectives on thinking and problem-solving from many different angles, opening up more opportunities and room for personal growth.

　　Ma Shengming, 1963 Year 6 Yuesheng, a native of Benxi, Liaoning Province, is a member of the Communist Party of China, a senior engineer at the professor level (Grade II), a PhD holder, and a doctoral supervisor. He has successively led projects including the Ministry of Science and Technology’s Science and Technology Support Program, the Ministry of Natural Resources’ special research projects for the industry, and geological and mineral survey projects. 20 Item, publish a paper 80 Several papers received the Second Prize in Science and Technology for Land and Resources. 1 Item. 30 Over the past several years, he has devoted himself wholeheartedly to research and persistent study, closely aligning his work with national needs and development requirements. He has achieved groundbreaking results in areas such as the mechanisms behind environmental geochemical anomalies, evaluation of mineralization potential in exploration areas, and geochemical exploration in covered regions.

　　 Propose the “Element-Related Relationship Method”

　　The results of the regional geochemical survey indicate that heavy metal elements exhibit anomalies in soils within and around urban areas, drawing widespread public and societal attention. This has also posed a series of questions for geochemists: How did these anomalies come about? What are their ecological impacts? Geochemists need to focus their research on methods and techniques for verifying and evaluating soil heavy metal anomalies. At the same time, they should broaden their perspectives and launch pioneering experimental studies to address the pressing issues currently facing environmental geochemical surveys and assessments.

　　In the vertical soil profile, anomalies typically manifest in two main forms: surface accumulation type and continuous type. The components of surface accumulation-type anomalies largely originate from products released by human activities, or at least partially so. Mercury The anomaly is associated with cinnabar minerals, which are formed under surface conditions with the involvement of soil microorganisms—partially. With you 、 Pb 、 Zinc 、 As Abnormalities in heavy metal elements are often associated with “microspherules” produced during coal combustion or ore smelting, as well as with minerals such as magnetite and pyrite. By contrast, continuous anomalies are mostly of natural origin and typically exhibit regional characteristics. Cadmium Abnormality as a representative, Cadmium The content is correlated with the composition of fine-grained materials in the soil.

　　Through systematic experimental research, Ma Shengming proposed a method for determining baseline values of environmental geochemical anomaly components—the “element correlation method.” This method leverages the correlation between heavy metal elements and the contents of major elements in soil to identify the type of anomaly origin. Based on this approach, the soil surrounding urban areas... Mercury The cinnabar mineral is associated with biological processes under anomalous and surface conditions.

　　The discovery of cinnabar and “microspherules,” among other findings, has provided new insights into the causes and formation mechanisms of geochemical anomalies in urban areas and their surrounding environments, thereby establishing a framework for understanding human activities. - Air pollution - The causal relationships among soil pollution have spurred progress and development in fields such as environmental geochemistry and environmental mineralogy. The results of studies on the evaluation of anomalous ecological effects indicate that the speciation of anomalous components is the fundamental factor governing these effects. Building on this insight, he developed regional soil ecological geochemical assessment standards, providing a reference benchmark for evaluating the ecological effects of heavy-metal anomalies in soils.

　　Meanwhile, based on his discoveries of cinnabar and “microspherules,” he proposed that “when heavy metal elements in contaminated soil exist in the form of ‘microspherules,’ they will not pose excessive harm.” He has been attempting to verify this hypothesis through various approaches. This finding also happens to corroborate a view put forth by Academician Xie Xuejin in one of his papers: In the history of exploration geochemistry, another major turning point is that the future goal of exploration geochemistry should no longer be limited to addressing mineral resource issues alone; rather, it should place greater emphasis on environmental monitoring and remediation—focusing not only on local mine environments but also on nationwide and even global environmental ecosystem surveys.

　　 Pioneeringly proposes a multi-dimensional anomaly framework.

　　Geochemical exploration involves the systematic measurement of the concentrations and distribution patterns of chemical elements and their isotopes in various natural media—including rocks, soils, fluvial sediments, lacustrine deposits, water, gases, and plants—and the study of their spatial distribution characteristics, evolutionary trends, migration and enrichment patterns, as well as their relationships with diverse geological processes, geological features, and regional mineralization. It primarily provides fundamental geochemical data for regional geological prospecting, mineral deposit prediction, and basic geological research.

　　The last century 70 ~ 80 Over the years, this discipline has developed several relatively sophisticated geochemical exploration procedures. The basic idea behind these procedures is to employ highly efficient geochemical exploration methods to conduct extensive surveys over large areas, thereby narrowing down the target zones for mineral exploration. Subsequently, less-efficient but more precise methods are used to delineate the mineralization zones with greater accuracy. This approach enables us to locate economically viable ore deposits while using the least possible human resources, material inputs, and time.

　　From 2006 Starting from the year [year], in order to better meet the demands of deep-sea mineral exploration, Ma Shengming led his team, taking the expansion of geochemical exploration indicators as the main focus, and... 40 In several (experimental) ore deposits, systematic studies have been conducted on the characteristics of elemental enrichment and depletion, the patterns of enrichment and depletion, the distribution of anomalies, and the geochemical conditions controlling ore formation.

　　Through his research, Ma Shengming discovered that in hydrothermal-origin nonferrous metal ore-forming systems, there exist multi-attribute geochemical anomalies—featuring not only trace elements but also major elements and even isotopes; encompassing not only ore-forming elements and associated elements but also mineralizing agent elements; including both lithophile dispersed elements and rare elements as well as rare earth elements; and exhibiting both positive and negative anomalies—all of which provide extraordinarily rich information about ore formation. This finding has significantly expanded the types of geochemical exploration indicators. By systematically sorting through, integrating, and summarizing the ore-forming indicative roles of these various multi-attribute geochemical anomalies, he innovatively elevated this concept to a foundational theoretical framework for deep ore prediction in geochemical exploration—known as the “Multi-dimensional Anomaly System.”

　　“According to existing research findings, the multi-dimensional anomaly system includes negative anomalies in elemental concentrations and elements serving as mineralization agents.” S ) Abnormalities, mineralizing agent elements ( S ) and Fe “Anomaly systems involving the synergistic balance of ore-forming elements, anomalies in ore-forming and associated elements, and inert components,” Ma Shengming explained.

　　In fact, to understand the research findings resulting from this complex theoretical integration, we might explain it in simpler terms: the results encompass both temporal and spatial localization of mineralization. Each anomaly in these attributes is composed of a series of single-element anomalies that are intrinsically interconnected.

　　The trial cases have confirmed that, guided by the theory of multi-dimensional anomaly systems, geologists can address the most critical core questions in mineral exploration—such as “Does the exploration area or the deep part of a known deposit have potential for ore formation? If so, where exactly are the ore bodies located, and how should we go about finding them?”—by acquiring geochemical information from multiple perspectives, including preconditions for ore formation, intensity of ore-forming processes, ore-forming materials, ore-forming mechanisms, and ore-forming environments. This approach enables a stepwise evaluation of the exploration area’s mineralization potential, predicts favorable exploration directions, and ultimately enhances the reliability and accuracy of exploration predictions.

　　The multidimensional anomaly system theory systematically explores the spatial distribution characteristics of various attribute anomaly systems within ore deposits and their mineralization-indicating roles, and has developed a pilot model for ore-related anomaly structures in experimental ore deposits. Taking the anomaly structure model as the core, this approach proposes a deep-seated geochemical exploration methodology for mineral deposits. By analyzing the characteristics of element mobilization—both outward and inward—and the spatial variation patterns of their migration amounts, the study investigates the direction of element migration, which corresponds to the flow direction of hydrothermal fluids, thereby providing guidance for mineral exploration.

　　The proposal of the multidimensional anomaly system theory and methodology has ushered in a new paradigm for geochemical exploration. To put it more intuitively, it enables faster and more effective guidance in mineral exploration.

　　Currently, the boundaries of hydrothermal ore-forming systems are defined by utilizing negative anomalies of elements, and... S Practical technologies for assessing mineralization intensity and exploration potential in prospecting areas—such as determining content levels and identifying anomalies—are undergoing field testing.

　 　Introduce a research and development method for measuring soil thermomagnetic components.

　　Mineral exploration in areas covered by alluvial deposits represents a critical bottleneck that the global mineral exploration community urgently needs to overcome. Against this backdrop, innovation in geochemical exploration theories and methods for alluvial-covered regions has become a research hotspot and frontier area, giving rise to the soil thermomagnetic component measurement approach.

　　Soil thermomagnetic component measurements were initially developed by the former Soviet Union. A.H. Pogorelov and others in the last century 70 Proposed by the era.

　　Among the constituent components of soil materials, there is commonly an amorphous iron-manganese (hydrogen) oxide. This substance is closely associated with ore-forming indicator elements. Moreover, this material has a unique property: after thermal treatment, it can transform into a crystalline iron-manganese oxide that exhibits strong magnetic properties and boasts a significantly higher magnetic susceptibility. By employing magnetic separation techniques, the crystallized iron-manganese oxide can be effectively isolated from the soil, along with the simultaneous separation of the ore-forming indicator elements. Analyzing and testing these separated materials can markedly enhance the geochemical anomaly contrast, thereby achieving the goal of intensifying the information on mineralization anomalies. This precisely constitutes the fundamental principle underlying the soil thermomagnetic component measurement method.

　　2007 In that year, the method was introduced and systematically tested by Ma Shengming. Ma Shengming conducted demonstration studies in landscape areas including the semi-arid low mountains of northern Hebei, the semi-arid grasslands of eastern Inner Mongolia, the arid Gobi desert of eastern Xinjiang, and the arid basins along the southern edge of the Qaidam Basin in Qinghai. The results showed that measurement of soil thermomagnetic components would reveal information about the overlying layers... With you 、 Pb 、 Zinc 、 Ag 、 Cadmium 、 As 、 Antimony 、 W 、 My The abnormal intensity of these elements more than doubled, and the anomalies exhibited remarkable stability and reproducibility, demonstrating the method’s broad applicability and effectiveness.

　　The thickness of the alluvial-proluvial layer in the Yemaquan experimental area of Qinghai is greater than... 100 The soil thermomagnetic component measurement yielded remarkably distinct anomalies within the known exploration area, demonstrating the effectiveness of this method. Meanwhile, larger-scale and more intense multi-element anomaly patterns were discovered in the peripheral areas of the exploration zone, providing valuable guidance for further exploration efforts. The soil thermomagnetic component measurement method has effectively advanced the resolution of mineral exploration challenges in covered regions.

　　After more than a decade of development and accumulation, under the leadership of Ma Shengming, the Institute of Geochemical Exploration has established a stable research team dedicated to the theoretical and methodological study of mineral exploration geochemistry and has trained doctoral researchers. 4 Person, Master's degree 17 People have made their due contributions to the cultivation of reserve geological talent. □