Mineral resources are of great significance in the development of the national economy. Prospecting and forecasting are the key to ensure the security of mineral resources supply, promote economic development, and maintain social stability. The methods for prospecting prediction have evolved from qualitative to quantitative prediction, from empirical research to mathematical analysis. In recent years, deep learning algorithms have gradually entered the attention of geologists due to their robust learning and simulation ability in the application of prospecting prediction. Deep learning algorithms can effectively analyze and predict data, which have great significance in improving the efficiency and accuracy of mineral exploration. However, there are not many specific examples of their application in mineral exploration prediction, and researchers have not yet conducted a comprehensive discussion on the advantages, disadvantages, and accuracy of deep learning algorithms in mineral prospectivity mapping applications. This paper reviews and discusses the application of deep learning in prospecting prediction, highlighting the challenges faced by deep learning in the application of prospecting prediction in data preprocessing, data enhancement, system parameter adjustment, and accuracy evaluation, and puts forward specific suggestions for research in these aspects. The purpose of this paper is to provide a reference for the application of deep learning to researchers and practitioners in the field of prospecting prediction.

Remote sensing (RS) technology has significantly contributed to geological exploration and mineral resource assessment. However, its effective application in vegetated areas encounters various challenges. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the challenges and opportunities associated with RS-based lithological identification in vegetated regions which includes the extensively reviewed prior research concerning the identification of lithology in vegetated regions, encompassing the utilized remote sensing data sources, and classification methodologies. Moreover, it offers a comprehensive overview of the application of remote sensing techniques in the domain of lithological mapping. Notably, hyperspectral RS and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) have emerged as prominent tools in lithological identification. In addition, this paper addresses the limitations inherent in RS technology, including issues related to vegetation cover and terrain effects, which significantly impact the accuracy of lithological mapping. To propel further advancements in the field, the paper proposes promising avenues for future research and development. These include the integration of multi-source data to improve classification accuracy and the exploration of novel RS techniques and algorithms. In summary, this paper presents valuable insights and recommendations for advancing the study of RS-based lithological identification in vegetated areas.

Accurate estimation of crop area is essential to adjusting the regional crop planting structure and the rational planning of water resources. However, it is quite challenging to map crops accurately by high-resolution remote sensing images because of the ecological gradient and ecological convergence between crops and non-crops. The purpose of this study is to explore the combining application of high-resolution multi-temporal Sentinel-1 (S1) radar backscatter and Sentinel-2 (S2) optical reflectance images for maize mapping in highly complex and heterogeneous landscapes in the middle reaches of Heihe River, northwest China. We proposed a new two-step method of vegetation extraction and followed by maize extraction, that is, extract the vegetation-covered areas first to reduce the inter-class variance by using a Random Forest (RF) classifier based on S2 data, and then extract the maize distribution in the vegetation area by using another RF classifier based on S1 and/or S2 data. The results demonstrate that the vegetation extraction classifier successfully identified vegetation-covered regions with an overall accuracy above 96% in the study area, and the accuracy of the maize extraction classifier constructed by the combined multi-temporal S1 and S2 images is significantly improved compared with that S1 (alone) or S2 (alone), with an overall accuracy of 87.63%, F1_Score of 0.86, and Kappa coefficient of 0.75. In addition, with the introduction of multi-temporal S1 and/or S2 images in crop growing season, the constructed RF model is more beneficial to maize mapping.

Landslides are pervasive geological hazards that pose significant risks to human life, property, and the environment. Understanding landslide susceptibility is crucial for predicting and mitigating these disasters. This article advocates for a comprehensive review by systematically compiling and analyzing 146 relevant studies up to 2024. It assesses current progress and limitations and offers guidance for future research. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the diverse challenges encountered by machine learning models in landslide susceptibility assessment, encompassing aspects such as model selection, the formulation of evaluation index systems, model interpretability, and spatial heterogeneity. The construction of an evaluation index system, which serves as the foundational data for the model, profoundly influences its accuracy. This study extensively investigates the selection of evaluation factors and the identification of positive and negative samples, proposing valuable methodologies. Furthermore, this paper briefly deliberates and compares classical machine learning models, offering valuable insights for model selection. Additionally, it delves into discussions concerning model interpretability and spatial heterogeneity issues. These research findings promise to enhance the precision of landslide susceptibility assessments and furnish effective strategies for risk management.

The extraction of lithological information in areas with high vegetation coverage presents numerous challenges, particularly in identifying concealed lithological features. This study focuses on a typical high-vegetation coverage area in Taiwan Province, China, utilizing multi-source data from Sentinel-2, Sentinel-1, and DEM, and using the Random Forest algorithm for lithological mapping. The results demonstrate that the optimal combination of Sentinel-2 and DEM significantly enhances the classification performance, achieving an overall accuracy (OA) of 84.30% and a Kappa coefficient of 0.83 in the validation set. Geological conditions have specific limiting effects on ecosystems, as spectral features (such as B2 and NDBI) and topographic features (such as elevation) contribute significantly to the classification results. This study provides valuable reference information for lithological information extraction in areas with high vegetation coverage.

Coal is the main mineral resource, but over-exploitation will cause a series of geological disasters. Interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) technology provides a superior monitoring method to compensate for the inadequacy of traditional measurements for mine surface deformation monitoring. In this study, the whole process of mining a working face in Huaibei Mining District, Anhui Province, is taken as the object of study. The ALOS PALSAR satellite radar image data and ground measurements were acquired, and the ISK-DPIM-InSAR deformation monitoring model with the dynamic probabilistic integral model (DPIM) was proposed by combining the probabilistic integral method (PIM) and the improved segmented Knothe time function (ISK). The ISK-DPIM-InSAR model constructs the inversion equations of InSAR line-of-sight deformation, north–south and east–west horizontal movement deformation, vertical deformation, inverts the optimal values of the predicted parameters of the workforce through the particle swarm algorithm, and substitutes it into the ISK-DPIM-InSAR model for predicting the three-dimensional dynamic deformation of a mining face. Simulated workface experiments determined the feasibility of the model, and by comparing the level observation results of the working face, it is confirmed that the ISK-DPIM-InSAR model can accurately monitor the three-dimensional deformation of the surface in the mining area.