Hydrothermal mineral deposition is the process by which hot waters circulating through fractures in the Earth's crust become concentrated in metals, turn supersaturated and precipitate ore minerals in a selected volume of rock. The deposits it builds fall into six main groups: porphyry, skarn, volcanogenic massive sulfide, sedimentary exhalative, epithermal, and Mississippi Valley-type deposits. They differ in structure, age, size and grade, and take their names from how they formed, where they were found or distinctive features. Porphyry deposits, for example, form in hydrothermal circulation around felsic to intermediate magma chambers or cooling plutons, while volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits form when magma at depth drives convective circulation of seawater through oceanic crust.
Facts
Driving Force
Driving Force (category) Driving Force (category) Connections
Causes
Source EBSCO Research Starters: Hydrothermal solutions and mineralization
Source EBSCO Research Starters: Hydrothermal solutions and mineralization
Source EBSCO Research Starters: Hydrothermal solutions and mineralization
Source Elbaite (Wikipedia)
Source EBSCO Research Starters: Hydrothermal solutions and mineralization
Additional Source Fluorite (Wikipedia)Occurrence and mining
Opal, Minerals Source EBSCO Research Starters: Hydrothermal solutions and mineralization
Source Orthoclase (Wikipedia)
Source Pyrite (Wikipedia)
Source EBSCO Research Starters: Hydrothermal solutions and mineralization
Additional Source Quartz (Wikipedia)Occurrence
Source EBSCO Research Starters: Hydrothermal solutions and mineralization
Source Turquoise (Wikipedia)
In Discipline
Source Hydrothermal mineral deposit (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Hydrothermal mineral deposit (Wikipedia)
Lead
Volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits form when mafic magma at depth, (perhaps a few kilometers beneath the surface), acts as a heat source, causing convective circulation of seawater through the oceanic crust.
Formation
Porphyry mineral deposits are formed when two plate tectonic plates collide in an advanced subduction zone, then cools off reacting with existing rocks and finally forming a copper deposit.
View the Source2. EBSCO Research Starters: Hydrothermal solutions and mineralization
EBSCO Research StartersOrigin of hydrothermal solutions
Most hydrothermal solutions are exhalations from magmas, but some hydrothermal deposits have no identifiable magma source.
Causes: Aragonite, Hydrothermal deposit types and gangue minerals
Gangue minerals include barite, fluorite, chalcedony, opal, calcite, and aragonite.
Causes: Calcite, Hydrothermal deposit types and gangue minerals
Calcite, fluorite, and barite are also common as gangue minerals.
Causes: Chalcedony, Hydrothermal deposit types and gangue minerals
Gangue minerals include barite, fluorite, chalcedony, opal, calcite, and aragonite.
Causes: Fluorite, Hydrothermal deposit types and gangue minerals
Calcite, fluorite, and barite are also common as gangue minerals.
Causes: Opal, Hydrothermal deposit types and gangue minerals
Gangue minerals include barite, fluorite, chalcedony, opal, calcite, and aragonite.
Causes: Quartz, Hydrothermal deposit types and gangue minerals
Quartz is the most common nonore, or gangue, mineral deposited.
Causes: Topaz, Hydrothermal deposit types and gangue minerals
Hypothermal or high-temperature and high-pressure mineral assemblages include the minerals cassiterite (tin), scheelite and wolframite (tungsten), millerite (nickel), and molybdenite (molybdenum), associated with gangue minerals quartz, tourmaline, topaz, and other silicates.
View the Source Ore genesis (Wikipedia)
Part Of: Ore Genesis, Ore genesis processes, Hydrothermal processesQuote, Part Of: Ore Genesis, Ore genesis processes, Hydrothermal processes
These processes are the physicochemical phenomena and reactions caused by movement of hydrothermal water within the crust, often as a consequence of magmatic intrusion or tectonic upheavals.
Beryl (Wikipedia)
Causes: Beryl, DepositsQuote, Causes: Beryl, Deposits
Beryl is often associated with tin and tungsten ore bodies formed as high-temperature hydrothermal veins.
Elbaite (Wikipedia)
Causes: Elbaite, LeadQuote, Causes: Elbaite, Lead
Elbaite forms in igneous and metamorphic rocks and veins in association with lepidolite, microcline, and spodumene in granite pegmatites; with andalusite and biotite in schist; and with molybdenite and cassiterite in massive hydrothermal replacement deposits.
Fluorite (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationCauses: Fluorite, Occurrence and miningQuote, Causes: Fluorite, Occurrence and mining
It may occur as a vein deposit formed through hydrothermal activity particularly in limestones.
Orthoclase (Wikipedia)
Causes: Orthoclase, Formation and subtypesQuote, Causes: Orthoclase, Formation and subtypes
Adularia is a low temperature form of either microcline or orthoclase originally reported from the low temperature hydrothermal deposits in the Adula Alps of Switzerland.
Pyrite (Wikipedia)
Causes: Pyrite, OccurrenceQuote, Causes: Pyrite, Occurrence
It also forms as a high-temperature hydrothermal mineral, though it occasionally forms at lower temperatures.
Quartz (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationCauses: Quartz, OccurrenceQuote, Causes: Quartz, Occurrence
While the majority of quartz crystallizes from molten magma, quartz also chemically precipitates from hot hydrothermal veins as gangue, sometimes with ore minerals such as gold, silver and copper.
Turquoise (Wikipedia)
Causes: Turquoise, FormationQuote, Causes: Turquoise, Formation
However, a typical turquoise deposit begins with hydrothermal deposition of copper sulfides.
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