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The role of sulfur in the formation of magmatic–hydrothermal copper–gold deposits : The role of sulfur in the formation of magmatic-hydrothermal copper-gold deposits
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Cited 157 time in Scopus
- Authors
- Issue Date
- 2009-05
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Citation
- Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Vol.282 No.1-4, pp.323-328
- Abstract
- Essential resources of many rare metals including copper, zinc, molybdenum, silver and gold occur in natural sulfide mineral deposits. Understanding the origin of these metal resources has been limited by a lack of data about the geochemistry of sulfur, the most important and abundant element of ore deposits. We report the first directly measured sulfur concentrations in high-temperature fluids, together with their ore-metal contents, using a new method for sulfur quantification in fluid inclusions by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). Co-genetic brine and vapor inclusions from magmatic-hydrothermal ore deposits and granitic intrusions show an excess of sulfur over ore metals, as required for efficient ore-mineral precipitation. The results demonstrate that S, Cu and Au are highly enriched in vapor-like magmatic fluids, implying that such low-salinity fluids are the key agent for the formation of porphyry copper and epithermal gold deposits. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
- ISSN
- 0012-821X
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