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

• 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

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.