SELF.ORGANIZED BANDED SPHALERITE AND BRANCHING ALENA IN THE PINE POINT ORE DEPOSII NORTHWEST ERRITORIES

Botryoidal arrays of banded-acicular sphalerite are intergrown with dendritic and branching galena at the Pine Point deposit, Northwest Territories. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and electron-microprobe analyses (EMP) demonstrate that the banding in sphalerite is due to an alternation in Fe and...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Anthoi\y D. Fowler
Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
Format: Text
Language:English
Subjects:
Mississippi-Valley-type deposit
MVT
sphalerite banding
zoning
branching galen4 self-organization
nonlinear dynamics
reaction-diffirsion kinetics
Pine Point
Northwest Territories
Online Access:http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.521.2039
http://rruff.info/doclib/cm/vol34/CM34_1211.pdf
Description
Summary:Botryoidal arrays of banded-acicular sphalerite are intergrown with dendritic and branching galena at the Pine Point deposit, Northwest Territories. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and electron-microprobe analyses (EMP) demonstrate that the banding in sphalerite is due to an alternation in Fe and Zn content. A time-series analysis constructed from the measurement of band widths in a doubly polished thin section is consistent with the hypothesis that the bands are self-organized as a result ofthe operation ofa nonlinear chemical oscillator. The branching crystals ofgalena are shown to be another manifestation of far-from-equilibrium crystallization. Accordingly, a qualitative model is proposed that demonstrateb how the interplay of reaction and diffrrsion kinetics can lead to the banding and branching. Models wherein the banding in sphalerite in Mississippi-Valley-gpe (MVT) deposits is solely considered to be an artifact of bulk chemical changes in the fluid within the system need to be re-examined.

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