Hydrothermal ore deposits form when metals, often as sulfides, precipitate in abundance from aqueous solutions in Earth's crust. Much of our knowledge of the fluids involved comes from studies of fluid inclusions trapped in silicates or carbonates that are believed to represent aliquots of the same solutions that precipitated the ores. We used laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry to test this paradigm by analysis of fluid inclusions in sphalerite from two contrasting zinc- lead ore systems. Metal contents in these inclusions are up to two orders of magnitude greater than those in quartz- hosted inclusions and are much higher than previously thought, suggesting that ore formation is linked to influx of anomalously metal- rich fluids into systems dominated by barren fluids for much of their life.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	hydrothermal fluids, ore deposits, metal-rich fluids
Research Division:	Earth Sciences
Research Group:	Geochemistry
Research Field:	Geochemistry not elsewhere classified
Objective Division:	Mineral Resources (Excl. Energy Resources)
Objective Group:	Mineral exploration
Objective Field:	Mineral exploration not elsewhere classified
UTAS Author:	Wilkinson, JJ (Professor Jamie Wilkinson)
ID Code:	62050
Year Published:	2009
Web of Science® Times Cited:	138
Deposited By:	Centre for Ore Deposit Research - CODES CoE
Deposited On:	2010-03-09
Last Modified:	2011-02-07
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