Experimental Modeling of Transport of Ore-Forming Components by Water-Salt Fluids at Elevated P–T Parameters

Abstract

Abstract —The modeling experiments were conducted to study transport of ore-forming components in the lithosphere, taking into account the possibility of ore matter remobilization under endogenous conditions. The experiments, which included temperature gradient-based ones, were conducted at T = 500–680 °C and P = 1.5–5.0 kbar on high gas pressure devices (HGPD) in highly concentrated water-salt solutions of alkaline specifics. The experiments consisted of two stages. During the first stage, we tested the possibility of recrystallization of the ore matter of “black smokers” in the presence of basalt at 500 ℃ and 5 kbar and water-salt fluids at a concentration of up to 5 wt.%. At the second stage, mechanisms of ore-forming components transport (P–T parameters: 450–650 ℃ and up to 5 kbar) were studied under conditions of a temperature gradient (0.3–0.4 °C/mm). The duration of the experiments was 14 days. The test products were: oceanic basalts, granite model mixtures (Fsp + Qz), as well as various sulfide minerals, oxides and noble metals (Au, Pt). It has been shown that at T 680–650 °C, intensive recrystallization and deposition of sulfide minerals (sphalerite, galena, chalcopyrite, pyrite, cooperite, etc.) along with feldspars, micas and quartz, takes place. Intensive transport of both the main petrogenic (Si, Ti, Al, Fe, Mn, Mg, Ca, Na, K) and ore-forming elements (Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Pb, Cd, Pt, Au, Hg, Bi), and a joint transport of silicate and ore matter is established. Some ore elements are either included into compositions of solid solutions or present as impurities in ore-forming minerals: Fe, Ni, Cu → pyrite, pyrrhotite; Pb, Au, As, Bi, Zn → galena; Zn, Cd, Fe, Mn, Cu → sphalerite; As → galena, orpiment, realgar, gold; Hg → gold. The obtained data attest to the possibility of modeling ore mineralization mechanisms. The experimental results apply to explain the genesis of the Zun-Kholba gold–quartz–sulfide deposit and describe the processes of epigenetic transformations of primary ores in polymetallic deposits, on the example of the Ozernoe Pb–Zn deposit. The discussed mechanisms can be extended to explain the genesis of other ore deposits occurring in the zones of tectonic-magmatic activation.