General geology and geochemical study of gold deposit using plant and soil sampling at Sokor, Tanah Merah, kelantan

The research is about geology and biogeochemical study by using a plant and soil samples. The objective of the research is to characterize the distribution of pathfinder elements in the root of M. malabathricum L. species and soil samples using geochemical analysis. Widely distributed plants of Melastoma malabathricum and soil samples were collected along with the offroad of the study area in Sokor, Tanah Merah. The elements such as copper (Cu), cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), aluminium (Al) and iron (Fe) concentrations were detennined by atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS). Besides the mineralogy of the rock in the study area also was observed thoroughly using optical microscopy and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The findings indicated that Al and Zn accumulated the most in a certain location which is location 6 and 1 respectively with the bioaccumulation factor (metal concentration in plant to metal concentration in soil) which for Al is 1.945 ppm at location 6 and Zn is 1.532 ppm at location 1. This is because the distance between both location is not far with the ex and active mining area. Besides, Melastoma malabathricum, also can be classified as a hyperaccumulator in accordance with the facts that said this plant can be a good hyperaccumulator for Al elements which also reflect the value of bioaccumulation factor which is more than 1. Meanwhile, Melastoma malabathricum also can be a pathfinder elements of a gold deposit in Sokor because all the pathfinder elements were detected just the readings is not high. As a conclusion, Melastoma malabathricum can be used as a medium to find gold deposit in Sokor, Tanah Merah, Kelantan.