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Science 7 June 2002:
Vol. 296. no. 5574, pp. 1844 - 1846
DOI: 10.1126/science.1070139
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Reports

The Origin of Cu/Au Ratios in Porphyry-Type Ore Deposits

Werner E. Halter,* Thomas Pettke, Christoph A. Heinrich

Microanalysis of major and trace elements in sulfide and silicate melt inclusions by laser-ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry indicates a direct link between a magmatic sulfide liquid and the composition of porphyry-type ore deposits. Copper (Cu), gold (Au), and iron (Fe) are first concentrated in a sulfide melt during magmatic evolution and then released to an ore-forming hydrothermal fluid exsolved late in the history of a magma chamber. The composition of sulfide liquids depends on the initial composition and source of the magma, but it also changes during the evolution of the magma in the crust. Magmatic sulfide melts may exert the dominant direct control on the economic metal ratios of porphyry-type ore deposits.

Isotope Geochemistry and Mineral Resources, Department of Earth Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), ETH Zentrum NO, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: halter{at}erdw.ethz.ch

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Special Paper: The Composition of Magmatic-Hydrothermal Fluids in Barren and Mineralized Intrusions.
A. Audetat, T. Pettke, C. A. Heinrich, and R. J. Bodnar (2008)
Economic Geology 103, 877-908
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Hydrothermal Evolution of the El Teniente Deposit, Chile: Porphyry Cu-Mo Ore Deposition from Low-Salinity Magmatic Fluids.
L. M. Klemm, T. Pettke, C. A. Heinrich, and E. Campos (2007)
Economic Geology 102, 1021-1045
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Evolution of a Porphyry-Cu Mineralized Magma System at Santa Rita, New Mexico (USA).
A. AUDETAT and T. PETTKE (2006)
J. Petrology 47, 2021-2046
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The Fate of Magmatic Sulfides During Intrusion or Eruption, Bingham and Tintic Districts, Utah.
W. J. A. Stavast, J. D. Keith, E. H. Christiansen, M. J. Dorais, D. Tingey, A. Larocque, and N. Evans (2006)
Economic Geology 101, 329-345
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Gold and metal enrichment in natural granitic melts during fractional crystallization.
R. Mustard, T. Ulrich, V. S. Kamenetsky, and T. Mernagh (2006)
Geology 34, 85-88
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The formation of economic porphyry copper (-gold) deposits: constraints from microanalysis of fluid and melt inclusions.
C. A. Heinrich, W. Halter, M. R. Landtwing, and T. Pettke (2005)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 248, 247-263
   Abstract »    PDF »
Experimental determination of Au solubility in rhyolite melt and magnetite: Constraints on magmatic Au budgets.
A. C. Simon, A. C. Simon, T. Pettke, P. A. Candela, P. M. Piccoli, and C. A. Heinrich (2003)
American Mineralogist 88, 1644-1651
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Generation of metal-rich felsic magmas during crustal anatexis.
A. G. Tomkins and J. A. Mavrogenes (2003)
Geology 31, 765-768
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


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