Modeling Regionalized Variables with Asymmetrical Distributions in Geosciences
A special issue of Symmetry (ISSN 2073-8994). This special issue belongs to the section "Engineering and Materials".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 January 2027 | Viewed by 50
Special Issue Editors
Interests: applied geostatistics; statistics and machine learning applied to geosciences
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Regionalized variables in the earth sciences—such as metal and mineral grades, petrophysical properties, geochemical indicators, geophysical responses, and environmental attributes—often exhibit skewed (asymmetric) statistical distributions. While positive skewness is the most common (e.g., precious and base metal grades), negative skewness is also encountered, such as in certain iron deposits. These departures from symmetry may require specialized modelling strategies, including logarithmic, Gaussian, or more advanced transformations.
In multivariate settings, maintaining correlation structures and cross-dependencies after transformation is especially critical to ensure coherent modelling and avoid introducing artefacts.
In this Special Issue we focus on practical, modern, and theoretically sound approaches for modelling skewed regionalized variables, bringing together methods from statistical and geostatistical modelling, transformation-based frameworks, and compositional or multivariate analysis. We also welcome contributions that apply artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques for regression, classification, or cluster analysis to regionalized variables defined in Cartesian and/or angular spaces, provided that they explicitly address the challenges posed by asymmetry or heavy-tailed distributions.
We invite submissions addressing real-world datasets and applications, such as the following:
- Geochemical assays and element concentration mapping;
- Geophysical surveys;
- Petrophysical and well-log data;
- Remote sensing and spectral datasets;
- Hydrological and hydrogeological modelling;
- Environmental monitoring and contaminant plume characterization;
- Geotechnical and engineering geology investigations;
- Mineral resource estimation and orebody modelling;
- Petroleum reservoir evaluation;
- Soil science and agricultural geospatial analysis;
- Natural hazard assessment (landslides, subsidence, seismicity);
- Geomorphology and terrain modelling;
- Similar application domains.
The goal of this Special Issue is to collate high-quality original research and reviews articles that provide insights into the modelling, interpretation, and simulation of skewed regionalized variables across a wide range of geoscientific applications.
We look forward to receiving your contributions.
Dr. Pedram Masoudi
Dr. Dominique Tapsoba
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Symmetry is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- mineral resources
- static modelling
- geotechnics
- hydrogeology
- hydrology
- non-linear transformation
- probability distribution function
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