ORE SYSTEMS: TYPES, AND GEODYNAMIC SETTINGS FOR THEIR OCCURRENCE (EASTERN SIBERIA)

Abstract

The Mineralogy, Petrography and Minerals Department of the Irkutsk State Technical University (now the Irkutsk National Research Technical University) has been studying the structural, mineralogical and geochemical features of ore fields for over 30 years. We investigated more than 25 deposits of gold, uranium, rare, non-ferrous and ferrous metals, and published the prognostic metallogenic maps of the ore regions located in Eastern Siberia, Mongolia and Yakutia. Our experience shows that knowing only the genetic characteristics of ore objects is not sufficient for proper metallogenic studies. A complete set of deposit characteristics should include the data on structure, composition, localization conditions and other properties of ore objects and fields. We propose to introduce the “ore system” (OS) concept considering a combination of genetically (paragenetically) related and interrelated petrological, tectonic, metamorphic, mineralogical, geochemical and lithological elements formed during the pre-ore (preparatory) and ore-formation stages [Seminsky, 1990]. In contrast to the proposed OS concept, common terms, such as “ore-magmatic”, “oremetasomatic”, “ore-generating”, “ore-localizing” systems, usually consider only one aspect of the ore process or object [Russian Metallogenic Dictionary, 2003]. In our opinion, descriptions and typification of ore objects viewed as OS should refer to two groups of characteristics.