Greenstone belts and their mineral endowment: Preface

摘要

The granite-greenstone terranes nested in Archean cratonic nucleiof continents over the world are composed of variably metamorphosed igneous and sedimentary remnants of ancient ocean basins.These rocks preserve distinct geological and geochemical imprintsof mantle evolution and differentiation of primordial crust, varyingconditions of magmatism and fluid generation, plume-arc interaction, subduction-accretion, tectonic cycles of ocean closure and continent generation; hydrothermal fluid activity, remobilization andmineralization of precious metals over geological time. The notionof mineral endowment of Archean greenstone belts invokes aconjunction of magmatic, sedimentary and metamorphic processesthat operated in different geodynamic settings and collectivelycontributed towards the nature and diversity of mineralization.