Ultramafic massive sulfide deposit: Sulfide mineralization of the ultramafic hosted seafloor hydrothermal systems

摘要

The ancient VMS deposits and their modern analogs result from syngenetic accumulations of massive sulphides forming hosted by submarine volcanic successions. The modern seafloor hydrothermal systems, with their black smokers issuing hot metal-rich vent fluids, hosted in mafic or felsic volcanic rocks, represent modern analogs for the formation of VMS deposits (Tivey et al., 1995; Douville et al., 2002).In particular, sediment-free basalt hosted seafloor hydrothermal systems like TAG and Snake Pit share characteristics comparable to those of on-land mafic VMS deposits having Cu-Zn-(Co) sulfide mineralization with high Cu/Zn ratios(Rona et al., 1993; Herzig and Hannington, 1995; Lawrie and Miller, 2000).