Marine Geodynamics and Ore Deposits

海洋地球动力学和矿床

• 批准号: RGPIN-2018-03736
• 负责人: Hannington, Mark
• 金额: $ 3.72万
• 依托单位: University of Ottawa
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2019-01-01 至 2020-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=690257
• 关键词: Marine; Geodynamics; Ore; Deposits

Metal mining is one of the largest sectors of the global economy, challenged by demand for resources that are increasingly difficult to find. Many of the worlds presently exploited metal deposits were originally formed in ancient oceans, by rifting of continental or thickened oceanic crust, where metal-enriched melts are produced. Research in today's oceans is revealing the complex architecture and compositional heterogeneity of the crust and mantle where ore deposits are formed and providing new clues to their possible locations in the geologic past. Some of the most richly endowed crust on Earth exists today in subduction zones of the Western Pacific, where intricate microplate dynamics regulate crustal growth and provide the pathways to the surface for melts and metal-bearing fluids. However, the large-scale magmatic and tectonic processes responsible for enrichment of the ore elements at these locations are still poorly understood. Students under my supervision at uOttawa are using state-of-the-art deep-sea technology to probe the oceanic crust where this enrichment is taking pace, and sophisticated analytical techniques to trace the ore elements and their isotopes back to their crustal sources. To carry out this research, the students are gathering samples and data on scientific expeditions to the Mariana arc, the Melanesian Archipelago (PNG, Solomons, Vanuatu), and the Tonga-Kermadec arc, as well as the Tyrrhenian and Aegean Seas in the Mediterranean and on continuing research cruises to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and Iceland. Their goal is to test whether fertile crustal domains can be identified in the oceans in the same way that metallogenic provinces have been defined on land. This ambitious program is made possible by long-established and successful cooperation with German, US, NZ and Australian partners who are providing access to research vessels, sea-going infrastructure, and analytical facilities. The students are combining marine geology, geophysics, and geochemistry in a uniquely multidisciplinary approach to identify the sources and the pathways for ore elements through the crust and test new hypotheses about the relationship between crustal growth and ore formation. My group is one of the few scientific teams worldwide bridging modern marine research to the understanding of ancient ore deposits, with direct practical application to resource discovery on land.

金属采矿业是全球经济中最大的行业之一，面临着日益难以找到的资源需求的挑战。世界上目前开采的许多金属矿床最初是在古代海洋中形成的，是通过大陆或加厚的海洋地壳的裂谷而形成的，在那里产生了富含金属的熔体。当今海洋的研究揭示了形成矿床的地壳和地幔的复杂结构和成分异质性，并为它们在地质历史中可能的位置提供了新的线索。如今，地球上一些资源最丰富的地壳存在于西太平洋的俯冲带，那里复杂的微板动力学调节地壳生长，并为熔体和含金属流体提供到达地表的通道。然而，人们对这些地点矿石元素富集的大规模岩浆和构造过程仍然知之甚少。在我的指导下，渥太华大学的学生们正在使用最先进的深海技术来探测正在发生富集的洋壳，并使用复杂的分析技术来追踪矿石元素及其同位素的地壳来源。为了开展这项研究，学生们正在收集马里亚纳弧、美拉尼西亚群岛（巴布亚新几内亚、所罗门群岛、瓦努阿图）、汤加-克马德克弧以及地中海第勒尼安海和爱琴海科学考察的样本和数据以及继续前往大西洋中脊和冰岛的研究航行。他们的目标是测试是否可以像在陆地上定义成矿区一样在海洋中识别肥沃的地壳区域。这一雄心勃勃的计划是通过与德国、美国、新西兰和澳大利亚合作伙伴长期成功的合作而得以实现的，这些合作伙伴提供研究船、海上基础设施和分析设施。学生们以独特的多学科方法将海洋地质学、地球物理学和地球化学结合起来，以确定矿石元素穿过地壳的来源和途径，并测试有关地壳生长和矿石形成之间关系的新假设。我的团队是全球为数不多的将现代海洋研究与对古代矿床的理解联系起来的科学团队之一，并直接实际应用于陆地资源发现。