Ore Elements in Arc Lavas (Oxford Monographs on Geology and Geophysics, 29)

Most of the world's great volcanic massive suphide ore deposits, porphyry copper ores, and many of its richest gold veins occur in association with basalt-andesite-dactite-rhyolite laval suites that have erupted from ancient volcanic islands and their Precambrian equivalents. These volcanic arcs and their related aquatic-volcanic environments are now recognized as critical to an understanding of the evolution of the earth's crust and the origin of many important ore types. This book is concerned with the behavior of the 'ore elements'--copper, zinc, lead, cobalt, nickel, barium, and others--in young metamorphosed, volcanic arc lava suites, as these evolve from high-magnesium basalts to rhyolites. Using mostly the Pleistocene to recent lavas of the Solomon Islands younger volcanic suite, the author examines the patterns of abundance of these elements in rock constituents and describes the ways in which the metals may be enriched or impoverished in the residual melt as an arc lava series evolves from basalt to rhyolite. The book presents state-of-the-art information that will be indispensable to vulcanologists, geochemists, and mining geologists.