Lithospheric plate motions — One of the factors controlling distribution of ore deposits in some mineral belts
✍ Scribed by J. Kutina
- Publisher
- Springer
- Year
- 1976
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 685 KB
- Volume
- 11
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0026-4598
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✦ Synopsis
Determination
of paleolatitudes of ore deposits, based on the reconstruction of lithospheric plate motions and the absolute ages of deposits, provides a basis for a new kind of space-time analysis of structural control of ore deposition. Such analysis shows that the formation of two ore deposits of different ages, each occurring at a different latitude along a north-south trend within a mineral belt, may be controlled by the same transversal fracture zone in the substratum underlying the lithospheric plate if rotation of the plate took place in the time-span between the formation of the two ore deposits (Fig. 3). This mechanism controlling ore deposition has been elucidated using a model which assumes horizontal movement of lithospheric plates on a mobile layer that originated within solid basement that is penetrated by a system of fracture zones. The distribution of porphyry copper deposits of the Andes mineral belt is used to study this process.