Hydrothermal activity and metallogenesis in the Lau back-arc basin

Autor:	M. Wiedicke, Jean-Luc Charlou, Jean-Pierre Donval, U. Von Stackelberg, Yves Fouquet, Peter Herzig, S. Soakai, Hubert Whitechurch, Richard Mühe, Jörg Erzinger, Jean-Paul Foucher
Rok vydání:	1991
Předmět:	Volcanic rock geography Mineralization (geology) Multidisciplinary geography.geographical_feature_category Lau Basin Seafloor massive sulfide deposits Back-arc basin Andesite Breccia Geochemistry Mineralogy Hydrothermal circulation
Zdroj:	Nature. 349:778-781
ISSN:	1476-4687 0028-0836
DOI:	10.1038/349778a0
Popis:	IN 1989, the submersible Nautile discovered one of the most active hydrothermal fields on the modern ocean floor, in the Lau back-arc basin (Fig. 1). The field contains high-temperature white and black smokers, and as we report here, its characteristics contrast strongly with those of the hydrothermal fields found at normal mid-ocean ridges. The main differences are the acidity (pH as low as 2), chemistry and temperature (up to 400 °C) of the hydrothermal fluids, the composition of the ore deposits, and the volcanic and tectonic environments. The fluids also have very high concentrations of trace metals, and primary gold is present in the accompanying mineral deposits. Our data show that these back-arc deposits in the Lau Basin are intermediate between typical mid-ocean-ridge mineralization and massive sulphide deposits of the Kuroko type.
Databáze:	OpenAIRE
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