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Hydrothermal deposits of economically valuable and recoverable minerals are generally considered scarce, meaning such deposits are very small relative to the total area of earth's surface. [ 2 ] Each of these deposit types is usually considered to represent a distinctive deposit group with common features and in a similar four-dimensional ...
Volcanogenic massive sulfide ore deposits, also known as VMS ore deposits, are a type of metal sulfide ore deposit, mainly copper-zinc which are associated with and produced by volcanic-associated hydrothermal vents in submarine environments. [2] [3] [4] These deposits are also sometimes called volcanic-hosted massive sulfide (VHMS) deposits
Epithermal — mineral ore deposits formed at low temperatures (50–200 °C) near the Earth's surface (<1500 m), that fill veins, breccias, and stockworks. [2] Telethermal — mineral ore deposits formed at shallow depth and relatively low temperatures, with little or no wall-rock alteration, presumably far from the source of hydrothermal ...
[28] [29] These are large, round, disseminated deposits containing on average 0.8% copper by weight. [5] Hydrothermal. A cross-section of a typical volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) ore deposit. Hydrothermal deposits are a large source of ore. They form as a result of the precipitation of dissolved ore constituents out of fluids.
Massive sulfide deposits are ore deposits that have significant stratiform ore bodies consisting mainly of sulfide minerals.Most massive sulfide ore deposits have other portions that are not massive, including stringer or feeder zones beneath the massive parts that mostly consist of crosscutting veins and veinlets of sulfides in a matrix of pervasively altered host rock and gangue.
Main ore minerals in SEDEX deposits are fine-grained sphalerite and galena, chalcopyrite is significant in some deposits; silver-bearing sulfosalts are frequent minor constituents; pyrite is always present and can be a minor component or the dominant sulfide, as it is the case in massive sulfide bodies; barite content is common to absent ...
The descending meteoric waters oxidize the primary (hypogene) sulfide ore minerals and redistribute the metallic ore elements. Supergene enrichment occurs at the base of the oxidized portion of an ore deposit. Metals that have been leached from the oxidized ore are carried downward by percolating groundwater, and react with hypogene sulfides at ...
SMS deposits form in the deep ocean around submarine volcanic arcs, where hydrothermal vents exhale sulfide-rich mineralising fluids into the ocean. SMS deposits are laterally extensive and consist of a central vent mound around the area where the hydrothermal circulation exits, with a wide apron of unconsolidated sulfide silt or ooze which ...