Textures paragenesis and zoning of ores

and their significance

Textures
Ore microscopy involves not only the identification of individual mineral grains
but also the interpretation of ore mineral textures, that is, the relationship
between grains. Ore mineral textures may provide information on:

a. Process of initial ore deposition

b. Post-depositional re-equiliberation or metamorphism
c. Deformation
d. Annealing
e. Meteoric weathering

The recognition and interpretation of textures is thus an important step in

understanding the origin and post-depositional history of an ore. The extent to
which the ore minerals retain their composition and textures formed during initial
crystallization varies widely:

a) Oxides, disulfides arsenides and sphalerite are the most refractory ore minerals
and hence are more likely to preserve evidence of their original conditions of
formations.

b) Cu-Fe sulfides and pyrrhotite are less readily re-equilibrated.

c) Native metals, sulfosalte and argentite are among the most readily re-
equilibrated ore minerals, and are thus least likely to reflect initial formation
conditions.

The variability in terms of equilibration rates in terms of time for various

minerals is shown below:
 Fig. 1. Equilibration
times for various
sulfides involved in
solid-state
reactions. The field
widths represent
differing rates in
different reactions as
well as changes in rates
due to compositional
differences, and
experimental
uncertainty.

The textures observed in many polymetallic ores reflect the stages (sometimes
numerous) in their development and post-depositional history. Textural
information is also important in the milling and beneficiation of ores. Rarely
does a single texture provide unequivocal evidence regarding the origin or
history of an ore deposit. Commonly, a variety of textures representing different
episodes in the development and subsequent history of a deposit are
observed. With careful observation, common sense, and a little imaginative
interpretation, much can be learned about the origin and post-depositional history
of an ore from the study of ore textures.

Paragenesis of Ores

The term 'paragenesis' refers to the time-successive order of formation of a group

of associated minerals within a particular deposit. Since the great majority of ore
mineral occurrences have been formed by several distinct periods of
mineralization, the complete description of the paragenesis of a deposit involves
establishing the order in which the constituent minerals have been formed and the
sequence of resorptions and replacements that have occurred. In order to
establish the paragenetic sequence in a deposit, two broad approaches are useful:

1. the study of open-space fillings

2. the study of alteration reactions - replacement relations among the ore minerals
In near-surface regimes, rocks yield by fracturing rather than by flowage; open
channel ways develop and layers or crusts of minerals may be deposited from
successive pulses of fluid that pass through the fractures. By searching for
variations in mineral grain size, symmetrical banding, and certain diagnostic
structures (comb, cockade), one can recognize open-space filling and by studying
the composition of sequential crusts along the walls of the vein, one can
determine the paragenetic sequence. Three kinds of ore mineral deposition may
be considered:

a) simultaneous deposition (in which two or more minerals are formed from the
beginning to the end of the process) e.g., galena-sphalerite, tetrahedrite-
tennantite-pyrite

b) overlapping deposition (in which two or more minerals have formation periods that
overlap in part) e.g., sphalerite-pyrite

c) successive deposition (in which the formation periods of two or more minerals succeed
each other with practically no overlap) e.g., sulfide-carbonates

A full understanding of the sequence of deposition or PARAGENESIS can be

obtained from a study of ore mineral textures as seen in polished sections under the
microscope.
To determine the paragenesis of an ore, it is necessary to determine for each pair of
minerals present, whether they were deposited simultaneously or one after another.
Sometimes, when two minerals do not show any relationship, it becomes necessary
to establish their sequence of deposition indirectly.
Frequently the ninerals in an ore occur in groups, so that age relationships can be
established between members of an individual group, and between groups as a
whole.
The repitition of deposition of a group or groups of minerals does not necessarily
imply an interruption or pulsation of the process. In most cases it implies a
changing character of the mineralizing solutions.
This change in the character of the mineralizing fluids is also revealed in the
changing composition of the gangue minerals.

Zoning of Mineral Deposits

The time sequence of mineral deposition is known as the paragenesis of a

deposit; the spatial distribution is described as zoning. The paragenesis, or
chronological order of minerals, is determined by studies of mineral rela
ionships, with the emphasis on microscopic textural features. Zoning paterns
are manifested by mineralogical changes along both vertical and horiontal
traverses across mineralized areas. The zones may be defined by diferences in
mineral species, differences in types of metal, differences in sulfur content, or
 even subtle differences in the ratios between certain elements. But whatever the
relationship used to define a zone, in each case the zoning and the paragenesis
will be cogenetic, because they are merely two different aspects of the same
phenomenon.

The paragenesis of mineral formation in moving ore fluids produces changes in

ore mineralogy along the course of deposition. Such changes are described as
zoning, and are found in sedimentary deposits as well as in magmatic and
metamorphic ores. In the ideal case of a radiating hydrothermal or
pneumatolytic fluid, changes in chemistry, temperature and pressure along the
fissure result in the deposition of different minerals in conentric zones at
increasing distances from the magmatic source. Syngenetic deposits, however,
may be zoned parallel to a contemporaneous shore line or along a stream channel
leading away from the source rock. Any detection of a zonal pattern - epigenetic
or syngenetic - is important to economic geology, because it helps to predict
changes in mineralization as a deposit is developed and mined.

Zoning in ore deposits is conveniently divided into three intergradational classes,

based upon size but independent of the origin. These classes are:

1. Regional Zoning: Zoning on a very large scale, as exemplified by the Southern Piedmont
region of the southeastern United States and by the ore deposits associated with the Sierra
Nevada batholith.

2. District Zoning: Zoning shown by closely grouped mines, a category which includes the
well-known mining districts of Butte, Montana, Cornwall, England, and Bingham, Utah.

3. Orebody Zoning: Changes in the character of mineralization within a single ore body or a
single ore shoot. Many vein deposits in the volcanic rocks of Japan, as well as many single
ore bodies within zoned districts, are in this category.