METALLOGENY OF CRYOLITHOGENESIS

Abstract

There is one type of ore-forming process undeservedly neglected by most metallogenists. This process is cryolithogenesis, which can be defined as the aggregate of thermophysical, physicomechanical and physicochemical processes that occur in freezing, frozen and thawing sediments, soils and rocks. To estimate and compare the extent to which chemical substances accumulate in residual aqueous solutions during their evaporation and freezing, we ran the following experiment. The following conclusions can be drawn. A whole series of elements of variable valence may form concentrations reaching the commercial level in permafrost regions. The 'cryogenic press' stimulates the development of false anomalies in areas of rocks specifically enriched in one metal or another. The concentration of large masses of metals at oxidation barriers (because of the comparatively high oxygen content of the hydrosphere) can be quite safely correlated with epochs of regional and global glaciation that have periodically occurred in geologic history.