The hydrothermal environment

Hydrothermal mineral deposits are the products of crustal geochemical processes that extract metals from source regions and concentrate them at depositional sites. These processes and the regions in which they occur constitute mineral systems. Processes that occur within source regions define the characteristics (e.g. temperature, pressure, pH, salinity, redox, sulphur content) of hydrothermal fluids, which, in turn, determine the metal carrying capacity of the fluid. Mineral deposits that contain Cu, Zn, Pb, Ag and/or Au can be classified into three general groupings based on metal assemblages: (1) Zn-Pb-Ag±Au , (2) Cu±Au , and (3) Au±Ag. These groupings are predicted from fluid characteristics and the solubility of metals in the fluids. The hydrothermal geochemistry of Sn, W, U and Mo is not considered in this discussion. Mineral deposit diversity results from the complex interplay of processes in source regions and depositional sites. First-order processes that occur in source regions include devolatilisation and degassing, circulation of surficial fluids, and expulsion of connate fluids. These and second-order processes such as SO2 disproportionation result in hydrothermal fluids with diverse temperatures, acidities, salinities, redox conditions, and, hence, metal-carrying capacities. Many of the processes in the source region are directly or indirectly linked to geological characteristics of the source region, such as granitoid type and basinal lithology. Three first-order depositional processes cause metal deposition: phase separation, reaction with host rocks , and mixing with ambient fluids. The efficiency of metal deposition depends critically on the steepness of chemical gradients in the depositional environment. The interplay of source and depositional processes produces the observed diversity of mineral deposits, and placing these processes in a mineral system framework provides a powerful tool for understanding and, potentially, for discovering mineral deposits.

Simple

Identification info

Date (Publication)
1998-01-01T00:00:00
Citation identifier
Geoscience Australia Persistent Identifier/https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/81520

Cited responsible party
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Publisher

Australian Geological Survey Organisation

 Canberra
Author

Huston, D.L.

 1
Name

AGSO Journal of Australian Geology and Geophysics

Issue identification

17:4:15-30

Point of contact
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Custodian

Corp
Owner

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Custodian

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

 Voice
Topic category
  • Geoscientific information
Maintenance and update frequency
Unknown

Resource format

Title

Product data repository: Various Formats

Website

Data Store directory containing the digital product files

Data Store directory containing one or more files, possibly in a variety of formats, accessible to Geoscience Australia staff only for internal purposes

Keywords

  • GA Publication

  • Journal

Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)

  • Earth Sciences

Keywords

  • Published_External

Resource constraints

Title

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence

Alternate title

CC-BY

Edition

4.0

Website

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/

Access constraints
License
Use constraints
License

Resource constraints

Title

Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem

Edition date
2018-11-01T00:00:00
Website

https://www.protectivesecurity.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx

Classification
Unclassified
Language
English
Character encoding
UTF8

Distribution Information

Distributor contact
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Distributor

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

 Voice
OnLine resource

Journal article (pdf)

Journal article (pdf)

Distribution format

  • pdf

Resource lineage

Statement

Unknown

Hierarchy level
Non geographic dataset
Other

GA Publication

Description

Source data not available.

Metadata constraints

Title

Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem

Edition date
2018-11-01T00:00:00
Website

https://www.protectivesecurity.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx

Classification
Unclassified

Metadata

Metadata identifier
urn:uuid/fae9173a-71cd-71e4-e044-00144fdd4fa6

Title

GeoNetwork UUID

Language
English
Character encoding
UTF8
Contact
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Point of contact

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

 Voice

Type of resource

Resource scope
Document
Name

AGSO BMR Journal

Alternative metadata reference

Title

Geoscience Australia - short identifier for metadata record with

uuid

Citation identifier
eCatId/81520

Metadata linkage

https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/fae9173a-71cd-71e4-e044-00144fdd4fa6

Date info (Revision)
2018-04-20T06:06:59
Date info (Creation)
2014-06-03T00:00:00

Metadata standard

Title

AU/NZS ISO 19115-1:2014

Metadata standard

Title

ISO 19115-1:2014

Metadata standard

Title

ISO 19115-3

Title

Geoscience Australia Community Metadata Profile of ISO 19115-1:2014

Edition

Version 2.0, September 2018

Citation identifier
https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/122551

 
 

Provided by

Access to the portal

Associated resources

Not available