GEOCHEMICAL CORRELATIONS AND THE DYNAMICS OF SOLUTION-ROCK RELATIONS IN MINERALIZED FLUID SYSTEMS

Abstract

The ore mineralization at the Vernyi gold deposit in the Baikal-Patom area, eastern Siberia, was produced in two stages (metamorphic hydrothermal sulfide and quartz-vein stages). The compositions of the host and metasomatic rocks and pyrite ore mineralization were analyzed at the Pervenets vein zone, where the morphology of the gold and its distribution in the primary lithochemical aureole were also determined. Cluster analysis was used to reveal geochemical correlations between elements of the ore association with major oxides, and the dependences between the Au, Ag, As, and Sb concentrations were described by power functions. The hierarchical succession of statistically significant correlations reflects the evolution of the system, which is expressed as the ordering of the mineralogical composition: separation of pure phases and a decrease in their number in the ore-metasomatic zoning, which was related to the development of a dynamic structure of the fluid flow and is understood as an increase in the fluid (solution)/rock ratio in the permeable ore-hosting zone.