Golden plumes: Substantial gold enrichment of oceanic crust during ridge-plume interaction
Golden plumes: Substantial gold enrichment of oceanic crust during ridge-plume interaction
Mantle plume events are increasingly implicated as the source of gold (Au) in regions of the Earth that show a high Au endowment. However, the process of enriching oceanic crust in Au by plume activity is poorly understood and unconstrained. We present the first systematic study of Au concentrations in oceanic basalts as a function of distance from a plume center. We show that the influence of the Iceland plume on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge progressively enriches the oceanic crust in Au along the Reykjanes Ridge by as much as 13 times normal levels, over a distance of ?600 km, and that the enrichment can be attributed to specific plume components. This Au enrichment by the Iceland plume implies a genetic relationship between deep mantle upwelling and major gold mineralization.
87-90
Webber, A.P.
c9b7b1e3-ea40-4740-805e-914806eeaeb7
Roberts, S.
f095c7ab-a37b-4064-8a41-ae4820832856
Taylor, R.N.
094be7fd-ef61-4acd-a795-7daba2bc6183
Pitcairn, I.K.
fc7fc820-5cd9-4070-9623-23325563bc9f
January 2013
Webber, A.P.
c9b7b1e3-ea40-4740-805e-914806eeaeb7
Roberts, S.
f095c7ab-a37b-4064-8a41-ae4820832856
Taylor, R.N.
094be7fd-ef61-4acd-a795-7daba2bc6183
Pitcairn, I.K.
fc7fc820-5cd9-4070-9623-23325563bc9f
Webber, A.P., Roberts, S., Taylor, R.N. and Pitcairn, I.K.
(2013)
Golden plumes: Substantial gold enrichment of oceanic crust during ridge-plume interaction.
Geology, 41 (1), .
(doi:10.1130/G33301.1).
Abstract
Mantle plume events are increasingly implicated as the source of gold (Au) in regions of the Earth that show a high Au endowment. However, the process of enriching oceanic crust in Au by plume activity is poorly understood and unconstrained. We present the first systematic study of Au concentrations in oceanic basalts as a function of distance from a plume center. We show that the influence of the Iceland plume on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge progressively enriches the oceanic crust in Au along the Reykjanes Ridge by as much as 13 times normal levels, over a distance of ?600 km, and that the enrichment can be attributed to specific plume components. This Au enrichment by the Iceland plume implies a genetic relationship between deep mantle upwelling and major gold mineralization.
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Published date: January 2013
Organisations:
Geochemistry
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Local EPrints ID: 347065
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/347065
ISSN: 0091-7613
PURE UUID: 7afecdb1-d0d9-493c-aea2-990a4f5806b0
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Date deposited: 15 Jan 2013 16:55
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 02:50
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Author:
A.P. Webber
Author:
I.K. Pitcairn
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