METALLOGENIC AND BIOGEOCHEMICAL SYSTEMATICS ON TRANSITION METALS

Abstract

The transition metals are largely siderophile elements. They became concentrated mainly in the liquid Ni-Fe core during the primary layering of the Earth, so that its primary silicate shell was sterile with respect to the transition metals. Magmatism originated and developed in this shell under the influence of core-derived metalliferous fluids controlling the geochemical specialization (with respect to the transition metals) of both primary magmas and all derivatives of the interaction with transmagmatic fluids. Therefore, the intrusions are commonly surrounded by aureoles of transition metals in country rocks. The metallogenic specialization of magmatism arises only under specific conditions of transition metal concentration by fluid-magmatic systems and the consequent processes of endo- and exogenic ore formation. Biological transformation and concentration of transition elements take place during the exogenic ore formation.