2005 - Franklin Et Al PDF

2005 Society of Economic Geologists, Inc.
Economic Geology 100th Anniversary Volume

pp. 523560
Volcanogenic Massive Sulfide Deposits

J. M. F RANKLIN,
Franklin Geosciences Ltd., 24 Commanche Dr., Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K2E 6E9, and
Mineral Exploration Research Centre, Department of Earth Sciences, Laurentian University , Sudbury, Ontario, Canada P3E 2C6
H. L. G IBSON,
I. R. J ONASSON,
Geological Survey of Canada, 601 Booth Street, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0E8
AND
A. G. G ALLEY
Geological Survey of Canada, 601 Booth Street, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0E8, and
Abstract
Volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits (VMS) are grouped into five lithostratigraphic types, using sequence
boundaries defined by major time-stratigraphic breaks, faults, or major (subvolcanic) intrusions: (1) bimodalmafic settings (e.g., Noranda, Urals) occur in incipient-rifted suprasubduction oceanic arcs, typified by flows
and <25 percent felsic strata; (2) mafic settings (e.g., Cyprus, Oman) occur in primitive oceanic backarcs, typified by ophiolite sequences with <10 percent sediment; (3) pelite-mafic (e.g., W indy Craggy, Besshi) settings
occur in mature oceanic backarcs, typified by subequal amounts of pelite and basalt (including mafic sills); (4)
bimodal-felsic (e.g., Skellefte, Tasmania) settings occur in incipient-rifted suprasubduction epicontinental arcs,
typified by 35 to 70 percent felsic volcaniclastic strata; and (5) siliciclastic-felsic settings (e.g., Iberia, Bathurst)
occur in mature epicontinental backarcs, typified by continent-derived sedimentary and volcaniclastic strata.
Deposits in the first three types are predominantly Cu-Zn, whereas the last two also contain significant Pb.
Each of these five may be further divided on the basis of the predominant lithofacies into flow-, volcaniclasticor sediment-dominated settings.
Ancient VMS deposits formed in collisional environments (ocean-ocean or ocean-continent convergence)
during periods of extension and rifting. As the result of rifting, subsidence, and thinning of the crust accompanied by the rise of hot asthenospheric mantle into the base of the crust caused bimodal mantle-derived mafic
and crustal-derived felsic volcanism. Magmatism associated with rifting, which manifests itself by the emplacement of cogenetic intrusions at shallow and mid-crustal levels, caused heating and modification of entrapped seawater within adjacent volcanic and/or sedimentary strata. Extensional arc environments are recognized by the change from a sequence of VMS-prospective primitive arc basalt and high silica rhyolite, intruded
by tonalite-trondjhemite sills and dike swarms, to an overlying succession of MORB basalt-dominated terrane
in oceanic back-arc basins, or alkaline basalt and MORB in mature continental back-arc basins.
Heat-induced water-rock reactions resulted in metal leaching and the formation of hydrothermal convection
systems within the lower semiconformable alteration zones of VMS deposits. Long-lived systems ultimately discharged fluid from deep-penetrating, synvolcanic faults onto the sea floor or into permeable strata immediately
below the sea floor, to form VMS deposits. In addition, in a few districts some of the metals may have been obtained directly from subvolcanic magmas (e.g., Cu, Au, and Sn).
The metal content of a deposit is controlled by the temperature, aS, and pH of fluids in the reaction zone,
adiabatic cooling of the fluid during its ascent (related to water depth), and the amount of subsea-floor fluid
mixing, and zone refining. Fluids formed by reaction with basalt typically have a maximum temperature of 350
to 400C and produce Zn-Cu deposits with minimal Pb. Fluids formed by the reaction with sedimentary or felsic volcaniclastic strata may have been of lower temperature and produced Zn Pb Cu deposits, usually with
higher (Zn + Pb)/Cu ratios than the former . The gold content of deposits in any setting is controlled by temperature, aS, boiling (related to water depth), and precipitation mechanisms, as well as redistribution (zone refining), plus input from magmatic sources. Subsea-floor replacement provides a more efficient mechanism to
trap a higher proportion of metals and may be responsible for forming larger , more tabular VMS deposits.
Some components of the hydrothermal fluid escape to be trapped in hanging-wall sediments and sea-floor precipitates. Silica (as chert) and conserved elements (Mn, Eu, P , Tl, base and precious metals) all accumulate in
these sediments, forming useful vectors to potential ore.
Corresponding
author: e-mail, jfranklin@franklingeosciences.com
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FRANKLIN ET AL.
Introduction
the regional-scale attributes of these deposits, features that

are most useful in predicting the presence of potential future
resources. The focus in the first part of the paper is on the
classification of VMS districts and deposits, based on their
lithotectonic settings (i.e., stratigraphic setting, volcanology,
and petrochemistry). The second part is a discussion of the
VMS hydrothermal system, including the internal characteristics of the deposits and alteration. The latter part is concluded by a discussion of the broad-scale tectonic and volcanic controls.
VOLCANOGENIC massive sulfide deposits (VMS) are a thoroughly researched deposit class. Following the discovery in
1979 of active hydrothermal vent systems in the present-day
oceans (Hannington et al., 2005), research on virtually all aspects of this deposit class has mushroomed. Since publication
of the VMS synthesis in the Economic Geology Seventy-Fifth
Anniversary Volume (Franklin et al., 1981), several reviews
and numerous summary volumes have been published (e.g.,
Lydon, 1984, 1988; Large, 1992; Franklin, 1995; Barrie and
Hannington, 1999). Since the 1981 review , information on
VMS deposits in China (Sun, 1992; Hou et al., 1999; Rona
and Hou, 1999) and the former Soviet Union (e.g., Prokin
and Buslaev, 1999) has become available, and many new deposits have been discovered, including some in regions where
few were previously known, for example, in the Cretaceous
volcanic domains of Peru and Mexico (Sherlock and
Michaud, 2000). Detailed updates have focused on Mount
Read, Tasmania (Large et al., 2001b), Kidd Creek, Ontario
(Hannington et al., 1999a), Bathurst, N ew Brunswick, and
northern Maine (Goodfellow et al., 2003a, b), and the Iberian
Pyrite Belt, Spain, and Portugal (Leistel et al., 1998a). Figure
1 and Appendix Table A1 provide basic information on VMS
deposits worldwide; these data and associated references are
the basis for this review. Each deposit in Table A1 has a reference, which will lead the reader to a deposit description.
In this review we examine recently published knowledge
that pertains to the genesis of this deposit type and emphasize
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120
Definition
Volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits are strata-bound accumulations of sulfide minerals that precipitated at or near
the sea floor in spatial, temporal, and genetic association with
contemporaneous volcanism. This definition encompasses
those used by Franklin et al. (1981), Barrie and Hannington
(1999), Large et al. (2001b), and most other reviewers of this
deposit class. The deposits consist of two parts: a concordant
massive sulfide lens (>60% sulfide minerals), and discordant
vein-type sulfide mineralization located mainly in the footwall
strata, commonly called the stringer or stockwork zone.
The term volcanogenic massive sulfide is used specifically.
This, and other common terms such as volcanic-hosted massive sulfide (VHMS; Large et al., 2001) and volcanic-associated massive sulfide (VAMS; Franklin et al., 1981) are not
completely interchangeable, as VMS refers to a genetic class
of deposits, whereas the others specify volcanic host rocks.
60
60
120
180
2
1
21
7
4
26
10
24
20
19
30
34
36
28
35
37
29
42
15
Mesoproterozoic
39
17
14
13
38
Neoproterozoic
33
27
11
16
40
41
Paleoproterozoic
Archean
60
60
Cenozoic
Mesozoic
U.Paleozoic
L. Paleozoic
Paleozoic
35
32
25
18
12
31
23
60
60
22
120
60
60
120
FIG. 1. Location of principal orogens containing VMS deposits, classified by Era. See Appendix Table A1 for list of deposits and ages. 1 = northern Cordilleran, 2 = Slave (Kenoran), 3 = western Trans Hudson, 4 = western Superior (Kenoran),
5 = Penokean (Trans Hudson), 6 = Superior (Kenoran), 7 = Labrador trough (Trans Hudson), 8 = Appalachian, 9 = Yavapai,
10 = Sudbury impact, 11 = central Cordillera, 12 = Caribbean arcs, 13 = southern Cordillera, 14 = Amazonian, 15 GariepDamara, 16 = Magondi, 17 = Barberton, 18 = Pan African (Arabian), 19 = Atlas (Alpine), 20 = Iberian (Hercynian), 21 =
Caledonides, 22 = Svecokarelian, 23 = Uralian (Caledonian; Hercynian), 24 = Pontides (Tethyan), 25 = Troodos (Tethyan),
26 = Bohemian (Variscan), 27 = Semail (Tethyan), 28 = Aravalli, 29 = Dharwar, 30 = Caucasian, 31 = Altaides (Hercynian),
32 = Baika-V itim (Caledonian), 33 = north Qilian (Caledonian), 34 = Indonesian platform (Tethyan), 35 = Sino-Korean
(Tethyan), 36 = Japan-Kurile Arcs (Tethyan), 37 = Philippines arc (Tethyan), 38 = Kalimantan arc (Tethyan), 39 = Banda arc
(Tethyan), 40 = Tasman, 41 = Yilgarn, 42 = Pilbara.
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VOLCANOGENIC MASSIVE SULFIDE DEPOSITS
We prefer the term volcanogenic, as we not only consider deposits that are hosted by , or occur in, a volcanic-dominated
environment but also those that are genetically related to volcanism, regardless of whether they are in successions dominated by either volcanic or sedimentary strata.
The relationship between VMS deposits and morphologically similar deposits that are assigned to a different genetic
classification is speculative. The closest apparent relationships are with the sedimentary-exhalative (SEDEX deposit
class; Lydon, 1995; Large et al., 2001b) and banded (Algomatype) iron formations (Gross, 1995). SEDEX deposits (see
Leach et al., 2005), including Broken Hill subtype, differ
from VMS deposits in their tectonic setting (continental margin rifts for the former , primarily rifted arcs for the latter),
composition (generally Pb-Zn Ag for the former , polymetallic for the latter), and more controversially, in their genesis. VMS fluids (modified seawater) carry the metals and sulfur, whereas SEDEX fluids (basinal brines) are purported to
carry predominantly metals, with an external sulfur source
such as reduced seawater sulfate or preexisting biogenic sulfides (L ydon, 1995). Chert-magnetite iron formations, although spatially associated with some VMS deposits (e.g.,
Geco), are products of distal or widespread unfocused lowtemperature hydrothermal discharge (Gross, 1995). Some
magnetite-bearing iron formations, such as those that directly
overlie the Bathurst 12 and 6 deposits, although interpreted
to be a product of a basin-wide, lower temperature exhalative
event, have trace element signatures related to the underlying massive sulfide deposits (Peter and Goodfellow , 2003).
Epithermal precious metal deposits (Sillitoe, 1977; Simmons
et al., 2005) form in subaerial volcanic settings but are characterized by phyllic and advanced argillic alteration zones that
have similarities to alteration types associated with some VMS
deposits (e.g., Poulsen and Hannington, 1996; Sillitoe et al.,
1996; Hannington and Herzig, 2000). There is a wide range
of evidence for either magmatic or meteoric fluid domination
in epithermal deposits, depending on individual deposit style
(Simmons et al., 2005). In contrast, the dominant fluid in
VMS systems is modified seawater, although a magmatic fluid
component has been proposed for some deposits (deRonde,
1995; Poulsen and Hannington, 1996; Hannington et al.,
1999b, 2005; Yang and Scott, 2003). Some deposits, usually in
continental margin settings, are difficult to classify and may
well be hybrids of two or more of the above types.
525
provide a better basis for establishing exploration criteria, as

the geologic characteristics of VMS deposits and districts are
indicative of the processes that produced the deposits.
We classify VMS districts using a lithostratigraphic scheme
based primarily on the principal volcanic and sedimentary
lithological units that formed concurrently with the deposits
in a given district. Our lithostratigraphic classification builds
upon and expands the lithological composition-based classification scheme of Barrie and Hannington (1999), who classified VMS deposits according to the composition of volcanic
rock types (up to 3 km distant in the footwall and 5 km along
strike). Inconsistencies arose when the criteria used to classify
individual VMS deposits were the same as those used to classify VMS districts. For example, the Kidd Creek and Potter
deposits (Abitibi belt, Canadian Shield) occur within the
same volcanic assemblage, yet they are classified as belonging
to the bimodal-mafic and mafic types, respectively (Barrie
and Hannington, 1999; Fig. 2). Similarly, the Horne and Mobrun VMS deposits in the N oranda district, Quebec, would
be classified as bimodal-felsic, yet VMS deposits in the Noranda district were included within the bimodal-mafic type
(Barrie and Hannington, 1999; Fig. 3). The lithostratigraphic
subdivision of VMS districts used here is based on a larger
stratigraphic interval, which has the advantage of more confidently relating VMS types to geodynamic setting, a comparison that should not be made on deposit-scale characteristics
alone. Thus, although we have modified the way in which
VMS settings are defined, we have modified the terminology
used by Barrie and Hannington (1999) only slightly , to more
accurately reflect the relative (and relevant) amounts and
compositions of volcanic and sedimentary strata.
This modified classification scheme is based on the entire
volcano-sedimentary cycle or assemblage within a district;
this may encompass a few hundred to more than 20,000 km 2.
The principles of sequence stratigraphy, the study of rock relationships within time-equivalent depositional successions
bounded by surfaces of erosion or nondeposition, are used to
identify the boundaries of the main geologic elements of the
entire VMS-hosting lithostratigraphic assemblages that were
produced immediately before and after the formation of the
VMS deposits (cf. Ruffell et al., 1998). This approach was first
considered by Sangster (1977). A sequence that defines the
VMS setting is bounded by major discontinuities, such as
transgressive surfaces, disconformities, or unconformities
that signify a major gap in the stratigraphic record. Rarely, the
Classification of VMS Districts and Deposits and
defining sequence may cross a time-stratigraphic boundary in
Their Lithotectonic Settings
the footwall succession, as in the Bathurst district (Lentz,
The spectrum of VMS deposits has been subdivided on the 1999). Because footwall strata are most important (as either
source rocks or representative of source magmas), we include
basis of their composition (e.g., Cu-Zn-Pb ternary diagram:
these strata down to the contact with a distinctive time-stratiFranklin et al., 1981; Au-rich deposits: Hannington et al.,
graphic, structural, or intrusive break in the footwall. This
1999b; Poulsen and Hannington, 1996; Sillitoe et al., 1996),
may be an unconformity , a major fault, or a subvolcanic inby geologic setting (e.g., tectonic regime: Sawkins, 1976;
trusion. Rocks that are part of the same time-stratigraphic seEremin et al., 2000), or host-rock composition, (e.g., Divi et
al., 1979; Morton and Franklin, 1987; Barrie and Hannington, quence in the hanging wall are similarly included.
Deposits in a single camp or district formed within time1999). The classification system of Franklin et al. (1981),
limited (typically <2 m.y .) volcanic episodes or stratigraphic
based on reported copper , lead, and zinc contents, although
intervals (Franklin, 1995). The geologic delineation of the sequantitative and easy to use, neither describes the deposits
and their settings nor provides any predictive capability. Clas- quence boundaries can be determined in most mapped areas.
sification schemes based on broadly defined geologic settings, For example, in the Archean Sturgeon Lake district of
Canada the base of the hosting succession is defined by the
although more subjective than the compositional approach,
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FRANKLIN ET AL.
Massive and stringer sulfide zones
POTTER MINE
KIDD CREEK MINE
UPPER
KOMATIITIC
UNIT
Pre-tectonic - syntectonic intrusions (plutons)

Post- tectonic intrusions (plutons)
Flow (intrusion) Lithofacies
Rhyolite flow / dome / cryptodome
Basalt - andesite flow

Basalt - andesite sill / dike
2711.5+1.2 Ma
Ultramafic flows (sills)

Volcaniclastic Lithofacies
2714 Ma
Felsic pumice-rich deposits ( crystals, lithics)

Felsic lithic-rich deposits ( crystals, pumice)
MIDDLE THOLEIITIC UNIT
Dacite
75 m
Mafic scoria to lithic-rich deposits ( crystals)
Plane bedding
2714.3+1.2 Ma
Cross bedding
Sedimentary Lithofacies
Mudstone, argillite
Siliciclastics
Carbonate
200 m
LOWER KOMATIITIC UNIT
Ash-sized and crystal-rich deposits (felsic)
FIG. 2. Composite stratigraphic section of the bimodal-mafic, Kidd Creek, and Potter mine areas, Kidd-Munro assemblage, Abitibi belt, illustrating the flow and volcaniclastic lithofacies associated with both deposits. Note the absence of rh yolitic flow and volcaniclastic facies at Potter , which is associated with basaltic volcaniclastic strata of pyroclastic origin (Gibson and Gamble, 2000; geochronology from Bleeker et al., 1999).
syn- to postvolcanic Beidelman Bay intrusion; the top of the

sequence is marked by a thrust fault which places the older
VMS-hosting succession on younger volcanic rocks (Fig. 4;
Morton et al., 1991; Galley et al., 2000). Similarly , the Devonian, rift-related volcano-sedimentary succession that hosts
VMS deposits in the Rudny Altai district of Kazakhstan and
Russia is tightly constrained by fossil ages (388407 Ma), and
the base and top of the rift sequence are marked by regional
unconformities (Popov , 1995, 1998; Distanov and Gaskov ,
1999; Fig. 5). In the Bathurst district the hydrothermal convective systems responsible for the formation of the deposits
extended into prevolcanic, rift-related terrigenous sedimentary strata of the Miramichi Group that disconformably underlies the volcanic succession and VMS deposits. Subvolcanic intrusions, a manifestation of the heat source for
convective hydrothermal systems, also occur within these
sedimentary strata (van Staal et al., 2003). Sulfide deposition
predominately occurred in the overlying, rift-related volcanic
(and minor sedimentary) strata, but the hydrothermal system
(including alteration pipes; Lentz, 1999) extends below the
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disconformities, and thus sedimentary strata below the

immediate disconformity are included when assigning these
deposits to a specific type association (siliciclastic-felsic).
The five lithostratigraphic types of VMS districts that we
recognize are (1) bimodal-mafic, (2) mafic, (3) pelitic-mafic,
(4) bimodal-felsic, and (5) siliciclastic-felsic (T able 1). Although most VMS districts may be classified into one of the
principal types, inevitably there are some that are transitional.
In addition, a small group of VMS deposits are associated
with bimodal basalt-subalkaline and/or peralkaline felsic volcanic rocks and terrigenous clastic sediments; these are commonly interpreted to have formed within intracontinental
rifts (e.g., Laochang deposit, People s Republic of China:
Yang et al., 1999).
Lithofacies association of VMS host rocks:
Defining the spectrum of environments
VMS deposits within the five lithostratigraphic types occur
within a compositionally well-defined set of volcanic and sedimentary associations, but within each type, the lithofacies
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CALDERA SEQUENCE
HORNE
Horebodies
200 m
500 m
NORANDA
CAMP
2700 Ma
FIG. 3. Stratigraphic sections through the intracaldera flow-dominated lithofacies succession and the rhyolitic, volcaniclastic-dominated, lithofacies succession that hosts the Horne deposit along the south structural margin of the Noranda caldera. Note that the intracaldera VMS deposits occur at several stratigraphic levels, but most occur at or near one
stratigraphic interval marked by the C and Main contact tuffs (exhalites; modified after Gibson, 2005). Refer to Figure 2
for legend.
(defined on their physical attributes) vary extensively. For example, although the overall setting of the deposits within the
Mount Read volcanic complex is consistent with the characteristics of the bimodal-felsic type, different volcanic facies
host the Hercules-Rosebery and Hellyer deposits (Fig. 6).
The footwall and immediate hanging-wall strata to the Hercules and Rosebery deposits consist of massive to crudely
graded, rhyolitic, pumice-rich, volcaniclastic strata that attain
a thickness of more than 800 m in the footwall (Allen and Cas,
1990; Allen, 1994; Large et al., 2001a; McPhie and Allen,
2003). In contrast, the footwall to the Hellyer deposit consists
of andesitic and basaltic flows and sills, associated autoclastic
breccia and peperite, and the immediate hanging wall consists of numerous basalt sills and flows intercalated with black
mudstone (Waters and Wallace, 1992; Large et al., 2001a).
In the N oranda district, Quebec (bimodal-mafic), the
Horne and intracaldera VMS deposits are also hosted by distinctly different lithofacies (Fig. 3). The pericaldera Horne
deposit occurs near the top of a >900-m-thick felsic succession dominated by rhyolitic flows and domes and associated
volcaniclastic units, including minor pyroclastic rocks. Rhyolitic volcaniclastic rocks dominate the upper part of the section and host the massive sulfide lenses (Kerr and Mason,
1990; Kerr and Gibson, 1993; Gibson et al., 2001). The intracaldera deposits have a distinctly different setting, within a
3,000-m-thick succession dominated by basaltic-andesitic and
subordinate rhyolitic flows and domes, associated autoclastic
breccias, and minor (< 5%) volcaniclastic rocks of pyroclastic
origin (Gibson, 1990; Gibson and W atkinson, 1990; Kerr and
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Gibson, 1993). Thus, within the Mount Read and N oranda

districts, which are characteristic of the bimodal-felsic and mafic types, respectively , VMS deposits are associated with
markedly different lithofacies. Overall, although the Mount
Read district is felsic dominated and the Noranda district is
mafic dominated, the Hercules-Rosebery and Horne deposits
occur within volcaniclastic dominant lithofacies, whereas the
Hellyer and Noranda intracaldera deposits occur within flowdominant lithofacies. As discussed below , the morphology of
these VMS deposits and their associated alteration zones, as
well as growth mechanisms for the sulfide bodies, differ between these two lithofacies.
To facilitate discussion of the criteria for classification of
VMS deposits and introduce the influence of the form and
composition of volcanism on the formation of VMS deposits,
the five lithostratigraphic types are further subdivided on the
basis of their occurrence in successions dominated by one of
three end-member lithofacies: flow , volcaniclastic, and sedimentary. Although a particular lithofacies association may be
dominant within a lithostratigraphic type or VMS district
(Table 2), the lithofacies association does not infer a particular tectonic environment. The lithofacies association bears a
close relationship to the deposit as the footwall (and immediate hanging-wall) strata record the environment in which the
deposit formed and the environment that influenced the deposit morphology, mechanisms of sulfide accumulation and
composition, and the geometry and mineralogy of alteration
assemblages. Hanging-wall strata record the duration and termination of the mineralization event and indicate how the
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FRANKLIN ET AL.
LENINOGORSK
DISTRICT
Thrust Fault
Siliclastics
388 Ma
ZYRYANOVSK
DISTRICT
Shubin
Rhyolite Siliclastics
500
Riftin g Events
Mattabi
Deposit
392 Ma
Maleev
1 Km
2735.5 Ma
395 Ma
395 Ma
Zyryanovsk
Tishin
Rhyolite Basalt
0
400 Ma
Ridder Sokol
Rhyolite Siliclastics
Meters
F-Group
Deposit
407 Ma
407 Ma
0
ity
rm
fo
on
Un
FIG. 5. Stratigraphic sections from Altay-Sayan orogen, showing the positions of some of the major deposits that are characteristic of the siliciclasticfelsicdominated environment in the Leninogorsk and Zyryanovsk regions
(modified after Popov, 1995). Refer to Figure 2 for legend.
district, Finland: Loukola-Ruskeeniemi, 1999; Kholodnina

district, Russia: Kovalev et al., 2000).
Flow lithofacies association: Essential elements of the flow
lithofacies association include coherent ultramafic, mafic,
and/or felsic lava flows and domes and their associated autoclastic deposits (autobreccia, hyaloclastite, and their redeposited equivalents; Figs. 2, 3, 6). They are host to synvolcanic intrusions such as dikes, sills, and less commonly
,
cryptodomes (and associated peperite). V olcaniclastic rocks
FIG. 4. Composite cross section of the Mattabi deposit in the Sturgeon
Lake district, Canada, illustrating the dominant, pumice-rich, felsic volcaniare a minor component and typically consist of redeposited
clastic lithofacies that host the VMS deposits within the Sturgeon Lake
autoclastic breccia (hyaloclastite) and volcaniclastic rocks
caldera (modified after Hudak et al., 2003). Refer to Figure 2 for legend.
(e.g., Kidd Creek district, Ontario: Prior et al., 1999; Fig. 2)
and some primary pyroclastic deposits (e.g., Corbet: Gibson
et al., 1993). Sedimentary rocks, also a minor component, typdeposit was preserved. Thus, the lithofacies subdivision proically consist of carbonaceous argillite and immature volcanicvides a context for the description of the deposit-scale volcano- derived wacke (e.g., Kidd Creek), minor carbonate (e.g.,
sedimentary environment.
Chisel) and, as discussed later, minor chemical sediments reThe three lithofacies subdivisions are end members and
ferred to as exhalite (e.g., N oranda district: Knuckey et al.,
some deposits may straddle lithofacies and environments.
1982; Kalogeropoulos and Scott, 1983) or tuffite (Matagami
This is particularly true for the boundary between volcanidistrict, Quebec: Liaghat and MacLean, 1992). The domiclastic- and sediment-hosted successions (e.g., deposits of the nance of glass-rich, coherent lava flows, domes, and synvolBergslagen district, Sweden: Allen et al., 1996a; Rudny Altai, canic i ntrusions in this lithofacies indicates an origin
Russia: Popov, 1998; the Iberian Pyrite Belt: Carvahlo et al.,
through predominately effusive eruption processes and an
1999; Golden Grove district, Yilgarn block, Western Autralia: architecture dominated by the construction of volcanic comSharpe and Gemmell, 2001). There is also some controversy
plexes composed of single or composite, submarine shieldregarding some deposits in the pelite-mafic type; some of
like volcanoes.
these have been attributed to either the SEDEX or VMS
In some districts the VMS deposits have been interpreted
deposit types (e.g., Besshi, Japan: Sawkins, 1976; Soucy 1 Cu- to occur within synvolcanic grabens and calderas within the
Zn deposit, Labrador trough, Canada: Barrett et al., 1988;
upper portions of the volcanoes. Bimodal-mafic examples inGreens Creek, Alaska: T aylor et al., 1999; Outokumpu
clude the N oranda district (Gibson and W atkinson, 1990),
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TABLE 1. Rock Types and Major Districts Typical of the Five Lithotectonic Types
Type
Typical deposit lithological unitss and tectonic setting 1
Examples (Fig. 1)
Bimodal-mafic
Incipient-rifted bimodal volcanic arcs above intra-oceanic subduction

(oceanic suprasubduction rifted arc); basalt dominant but up to 25%
felsic volcanic strata; pillowed and massive basaltic flows, felsic flows,
and domes predominate; subordinate felsic and mafic volcaniclastic rocks;
terrigenous sedimentary rocks are dominantly immature wacke, sandstone,
and argillite with local debris flows; hydrothermal chert common in the
immediate hanging wall to some deposits
Archean: Abitibi, western Wabigoon, and East Slave,

Canada; East Yilgarn, Australia; Murchison Range,
RSA ; Sino-Korean platform, PRC
Paleoproterozoic: Eastern Fennoscandia;
Flin Flon, Canada; Prieska belt, RSA
Paleozoic: Mid and South Urals, Russia and
Kazakhstan; North Qilian, PRC
Mesozoic: Sanjiang-Tethyan, PRC;
Tambo Grande, Peru; Zacatecas, Mexico
Mafic
Mature intra-oceanic backarc, some transform fault related (oceanic

mature backarc); ophiolite and ophiolite-like assemblages, dominated by
MORB-boninite arc tholeiitic successions predominately pillowed and
massive basaltic flows, minor felsic flows and/or domes(including
subvolcanic plagiogranite and icelandite), minor ultramafic flows and/or
intrusions; synvolcanic mafic dikes and/or sills up to 50%; prominent
altered mafic synvolcanic intrusions; sedimentary rocks are minor; sulfidic,
reduced or hematitic-oxidized argillite, chert and/or tuff; less common
alkaline basalt (locally bimodal) in oceanic island or late-stage continental
backarc seamount environments
Paleoproterozoic: Konuto, Canada

Paleozoic: South Urals (Orenberg), Russia;
Caledonides, Norway; Central Newfoundland,
Canada Mesozoic: Troodos, Cyprus; Semail, Oman;
Pontides, Turkey and Albania
Cenozoic: Sabah, Malaysia
Pelitic-mafic
Mature, basalt-pelite backarc successions in juvenile and accreted arc

assemblages (oceanic mature backarc); basalt and pelite subequal, or
pelite dominant; mafic sills up to 25% of the succession; felsic volcanic
rocks (volcaniclastic, sills, flow and/or domes) absent or <5%; sediments
include carbonaceous argillite, subordinate siltstone, wacke, and sandstone;
mafic-ultramafic sills and flows in sedimented mid-ocean ridge and
transform or backarc basins
Paleoproterozoic: Outokumpu, Finland;

Labrador trough, Canada
Neoproterozoic: Pan African, Arabia; North Africa
Paleozoic: Windy Craggy, BC, Canada; Mid and
South Urals, Russia; Tarim-North Qilian, PRC
Mesozoic: Besshi district, Japan
Bimodal-felsic
Continental margin arcs and related backarcs (continental suprasubduction

rifted arc); felsic volcanic rocks constitute 35 to 70% of the volcanic strata,
basalt 20-50%, and terrigenous sedimentary strata ~10%; submarine
felsic volcaniclastic rocks are most common with basalt and/or basaltic
andesite flows dikes and sills common; some portions may be subaerial;
includes deposits in submarine continental rift settings
Archean: Pilbara, Australia; Western Slave Canada

Paleoproterozoic: Skellefte, Bergslagen, Sweden
Paleozoic: Finlayson Lake, Canada;Dunnage zone,
Canada; Caledonides, Norway; Central Kazakhstan;
Tasman orogen, Australia
Myra Falls Group, Canada
Mesozoic: Eskay Creek, Canada
Cenozoic Hokuroku, Japan; Pontides, Turkey
Siliciclastic-felsic
Mature epicontinental backarcs; siliciclastic rocks dominant (continental

mature backarc); siliciclastic strata constitute ~80%; felsic volcaniclastic
rocks with minor flows, domes, and their intrusive equivalents form
much of the remainder (~25%); mafic (tholeiitic to alkaline) flows, sills,
and minor volcaniclastic rocks (~10%) typically in the hanging-wall
succession; Fe-, Mn-, Ca-, Ba-rich chemical and argillaceous sedimentary
rocks in the hanging wall
Archean: Murchison (Golden Grove), W. Australia

Paleozoic: Rudny Altai, Kazakhstan and Russia;
Iberian Pyrite Belt, Spain and Portugal; Jebilet
and Guemassa, Morocco; Bathurst, Canada;
Lachlan Fold Belt, Australia
Mesozoic: Campo Morado, Mxico; Altaishan, PRC
1 Not
inferred for Archean deposits
N ormetal district, Quebec (Lafrance et al., 2000), and Flin

Flon district, Manitoba, (Syme and Bailes, 1993). At N oranda, 14 deposits occur at several stratigraphic intervals
within the caldera and three deposits, including the giant
Horne deposit, occur along its southern structural margin
(Fig. 3). The deposits are associated with basaltic-andesitic
fissure systems and rhyolitic flows and domes within the
caldera, and with rhyolitic flow-dome complexes developed
along its margin. Most of the deposits occur at one of three
breaks in volcanism, which are marked by local or laterally extensive sulfidic, waterlain tuff, and/or chemical sedimentary
units that are locally referred to as contact tuff or exhalite
horizons (Comba, 1975; Knuckey et al., 1982; Kalogeropoulos
and Scott, 1983). The intracaldera deposits formed during the
onset of renewed volcanism following two periods of caldera
subsidence. There are numerous other examples of VMS
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00
deposits localized within synvolcanic subsidence structures

within flow-dominated successions, such as Hellyer and Que
River in Tasmania (bimodal-felsic); Kidd Creek, Kam Kotia,
Genex, Canadian Jamieson, and Izok Lake in Canada (bimodal-mafic; Table A1), Sibay , Gai, and Uchaly deposits in
the Urals (bimodal-mafic; Herrington et al., 1999).
Volcaniclastic lithofacies association:
The volcaniclastic
lithofacies association is dominated by a spectrum of volcaniclastic rocks with subordinate coherent mafic and felsic flows
and domes (autobreccia, hyaloclastite, and their redeposited
equivalents), cryptodomes (associated peperite and/or fluidal
breccia) and lesser synvolcanic dikes, sills, and clastic sedimentary rocks (Figs. 2, 4, 6, 7). The clastic sedimentary rocks
are typically carbonaceous argillite, immature epiclastic volcanic wacke, and carbonate units. The sedimentary strata
most commonly occur within the hanging-wall succession to
529
530
FRANKLIN ET AL.
example, pumiceous volcaniclastic deposits up to 1 km thick

and totaling some 50 km3 occur in the footwall to the Mattabi,
F-zone, and Sturgeon-Lyon Lake deposits, of bimodal-mafic
type, which occupy the Sturgeon Lake caldera (Fig. 4; Morton et al., 1990; Gibson et al., 1999; Hudak et al., 2003). Similarly, pumiceous volcaniclastic deposits up to 800 m thick and
<10 km3 that constitute the footwall strata to the bimodal-felsic Rosebery and Hercules deposits are interpreted to be
proximal units localized within a synvolcanic subsidence
structure or caldera (Fig. 6; Allen and Cas, 1990; McPhie and
Allen, 2003). Other examples of thick and extensive volcaniclastic deposits associated with subsidence structures and that
host VMS deposits include the bimodal-felsic Bald Mountain
deposits (Busby et al., 2003) and those in the Bergslagen district (Allen et al., 1993), and bimodal-mafic VMS deposits of
the Hunter mine group (Mueller and White, 1992; Chown et
al., 2000).
200 m
Sedimentary lithofacies association: The sedimentary litho100 m
facies association is dominated by terrigenous clastic sedimentary rocks, predominately wacke, sandstone, siltstone,
mudstone, and carbonaceous mudstone, with lesser chert,
carbonate, marl and iron formation. Mineral deposits in sedi502.63.5 Ma
ment-dominated terranes are spatially associated with subordinate coherent mafic and felsic flows, domes, cryptodomes,
FIG. 6. Composite stratigraphic sections of the bimodal-felsic, Rosebery ,
and Hellyer VMS deposits contrasting felsic volcaniclastic vs. flow lithofacies
and associated autobreccia, hyaloclastite, and peperite, or by
that host the two deposits (modified after Large at al., 2001). Refer to Figure voluminous felsic volcaniclastic units with subordinate felsic
2 for legend.
flows, domes, and cryptodomes. Synvolcanic dikes, sills, and
cryptodomes may represent the dominant component of the
volcanic facies. The deposits may or may not be hosted by
sedimentary rocks, but the host succession is dominated by
the VMS deposits, such as in the Bergslagen district where
100s of meters of epiclastic sediments. The sedimentary lithoargillite and intercalated argillite and carbonate units dominate the hanging-wall succession (Fig. 7; Allen et al., 1996b). facies association consists of two distinct facies, a siliciclastic
association composed predominately of wacke, sandstone,
The term volcaniclastic includes all clastic volcanic mateargillite, siltstone and locally iron formation or Fe-Mn rich
rials formed by any process of fragmentation, dispersed by
argillite and a pelitic lithofacies facies composed predomiany transporting agent, deposited in any environment or
mixed in any significant portion with non-volcanic fragments nately of argillite, carbonaceous argillite, siltstone, marl and
(Fisher and Schmincke, 1984, p. 89). Thus, the volcaniclastic carbonate (bioclastic and chemical). Siliciclastic-felsic deposits represented by those of the Bathurst district and Iberlithofacies includes primary pyroclastic deposits, those that
are syneruptive and redepositedin some cases reworked or ian Pyrite Belt typify the siliciclastic lithofacies association.
The Bathurst district contains 45 VMS deposits (T able A1)
intercalated with terrigenous sedimentand those that are
and 95 occurrences, with a resource of 470 Mt, including the
posteruptive. The dominance of volcaniclastic rocks in this
supergiant Brunswick 12 deposit (230 Mt; Goodfellow et al.,
lithofacies, many produced by voluminous pyroclastic erup2003a). The stratigraphic assemblages represented in the distions, indicates a volcanic architecture characterized by the
trict are complex; however , the Brunswick deposit is repreconstruction of central volcanic complexes composed of sinsentative of the lithofacies present. The Brunswick 6 and 12
gle or composite submarine volcanoes; the upper or central
parts contain thick successions of juvenile volcaniclastic rocks deposits occur at the top of a voluminous, quartz and feldspar
that, by their localized occurrence and thickness, indicate em- shard-rich, locally pumiceous, felsic volcaniclastic and local
placement within large subsidence structures or calderas. For flow-dome unit referred to as the Nepisiguit Falls Formation
HERCULES ROSEBERY
HELLYER
TABLE 2. Geometric Means of Metal Contents of the Five Principal T ypes of VMS Deposits
Geometric mean
Cu (%)
Pb (%)
Zn (%)
Au (g/t)
Ag (g/t)
Total sulfide ore (t)
Total metal (t)
N
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Bimodal-mafic
Mafic
Pelitic-mafic
Bimodal-felsic
1.24
0.30
2.32
0.81
21.14
3,421,075
128,515
291
1.82
0.02
0.84
1.40
10.62
2,699,466
63,035
76
1.23
0.68
1.58
0.75
19.29
4,721,093
132,968
90
1.04
1.14
4.36
1.06
56.35
3,320,784
198,461
241
0.62
1.09
2.70
0.59
38.54
7,139,305
324,748
106
530
531
SKELLEFTE, SWEDEN
Boliden
BERGSLAGEN, SWEDEN
Petiknas North
Zinkgruvan
Garpenberg
500m
500 m
200 m
500m
1.90 - 1.87 Ga
1.90 - 1.87 Ga
FIG. 7. Composite stratigraphic sections of the Skellefte district and of the Zinkgruven and Garpenberg deposits, Bergslagen district, contrasting the volcaniclastic lithofacies that are the dominant host rocks to VMS deposits in theses areas (modified after Allen et al, 1996a, b). Refer to Figure 2 for legend.
(Fig. 8). This formation is underlain by a thick, silicilastic

wacke-argillite succession (Miramichi Group) and is overlain
by coherent felsic flows, domes, and minor volcaniclastic strata
(Flat Landing Brook Formation) and interbedded argillite and
basalt (Boucher Brook Formation; Rogers and van Staal, 2003;
Rogers et al. 2003). A district-wide chert-magnetite iron formation directly overlies the Brunswick 12 deposit (Goodfellow
et al. 2003b). The Nepisiguit Falls Formation is interpreted to
be the product of a large, caldera-forming eruption within a
larger sedimentary basin that developed within a continental
margin, arc-backarc setting (Harley , 1979; Rogers and van
Staal, 2003). The pelitic-mafic W indy Craggy deposit in
British Columbia is representative of the pelitic lithofacies association (Fig. 9). This supergiant deposit occurs within a successor extensional basin dominated by argillite, carbonaceous
argillite, marl, and carbonate units. Basalt flows and synvolcanic sill complexes intercalated with carbonaceous argillite
dominate the middle to upper part of the succession and host
the massive sulfide mineralization (Peter and Scott, 1999).
These authors envisage a surface-subsurface volcanic edifice
consisting of numerous basalt sills and flows, emplaced into
argillite and carbonaceous argillite within a more restricted,
deeper water sedimentary basin.
In summary, within the sedimentary lithofacies association
the volcanic architecture is complex and varied. The volcanoes
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grew by effusive eruptions and subsurface emplacement

processes (e.g., in the Iberian Pyrite Belt; Fig. 8), via voluminous pyroclastic eruptions associated with caldera collapse
(Bathurst), or by the emplacement of lava as high-level sills,
dikes, and cryptodomes within unconsolidated sedimentary
strata below the sea floor , with subordinate, intercalated extrusions (Windy Craggy). However, in all sediment-dominated successions, the VMS deposits formed within volcanic centers in
smaller subsidence structures within a larger sediment-filled extensional basin (e.g., Bathurst; Goodfellow and McCutcheon,
2003). Other deposits that have a similar sedimentary lithofacies
association include those of the Moroccan Hercynides (e.g.,
Hajar, Draa Sfar, Kettara: Bernard et al., 1988; Lescuyer et al.,
1998), deposits of the Campo Morado district, Mexico (Oliver
et al., 1997), and the Ridder -Sokol, Maleev, Zyryanovsk, Belousov and Orlov deposits of Rudny Altai, in Kazakhstan and
Russia (e.g., Federov, 1993; Popov, 1995; Fig. 5).
Petrochemical association of VMS lithostratigraphic types:
Considerable effort has been made to relate the presence of
VMS deposits to specific petrochemically defined lithotypes;
it has already been well established that VMS deposits are associated with bimodal (basalt-rhyolite) magmatism (e.g.,
Campbell et al, 1981; Lesher et al, 1986; Kerrich and Wyman,
1996; Lentz, 1998; W yman, 2000; Hart et al., 2004). Petrochemical associations of basalt and felsic (rhyolite-rhyodacite)
531
532
Bathurst
No. 12
Flysch Group
Volcanic - Siliceous
Complex
Iberian Pyrite Belt

Flysch Group
(>3000m)
(FG )
Upper Devonian Lowe r Carboniferous
Tetagouche Group
Miramichi Nepiriquit Falls Fm Flat Landing Boucher Brook Fm
Brook Fm
Grou p
Cambrian
Ordovician
FRANKLIN ET AL.
Flysch Group
Complex
PQ
Complex
(100-1000m)
(VS)
Phyllite - Quartzite
Group
(PQ)
Campofrio
Intrusion
FIG. 8. Stratigraphic sections of the Bathurst camp and the northern and central members of the Iberian Pyrite Belt, illustrating volcaniclastic, flow and sedimentary lithofacies that characterize siliciclastic-felsic lithostratigraphic successio ns.
Note that Aguas T eidas is in the northern member , which is dominated by proximal felsic flows, pyroclastic rocks, and a
major subvolcanic intrusion. Modified after van Staal et al. (2003) and Carvalho et al. (1999). Refer to Figure 2 for legend.
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00
500 m
3100 - 5700 m
volcanic rock that host deposits are commonly used to charand rhyolite petrogenetic associations described below are
acterize volcanic terranes for their potential for VMS formadiscussed later.
tion. The tectonic controls on the generation of specific basalt
The composition of basalt is sensitive to the melt conditions that attend various tectonic regimes (e.g., Pearce,
1996). It is well established that VMS deposits occur in volWINDY CRAGGY
canic successions containing basalt that is petrochemically
similar to basalt in the present-day oceanic and continental
arc settings. For example, Swinden (1991), using petrochemistry of the mafic volcanic rocks in the Ordovician of N ewfoundland, demonstrated the propensity for VMS deposits to
form in proto-arc and rifted arc terranes. Syme and Bailes
(1993) and Syme et al. (1996a) refined the use of high fieldstrength elements (HFSE), in combination with detailed geologic mapping, to differentiate between VMS-favorable
primitive oceanic arc terranes from less fertile evolved arc
assemblages. They also showed that copper-rich deposits are
associated with primitive, bimodal (basalt-boninite-rhyolite)
flow-dominated assemblages, whereas zinc-rich deposits are
associated with more petrochemically evolved volcaniclasticdominated strata. Crawford et al. (1992) used HFSE to unravel the complex juxtaposition of tholeiitic, calc-alkaline,
and shoshonitic volcanic suites in the Mount Read volcanic
rocks to define an arc-continent collisional tectonic setting
for VMS formation. In all of the above examples, and in
many others, the location of VMS deposits commonly corresponds to a shift from basalt with an arc affinity to basalt
more typical of midocean ridge basalt (MORB) composition
FIG. 9. Schematic stratigraphic section through the pelitic-mafic, W indy
(boninite). Where continental crust underpins the backarc
Craggy deposit (Besshi type), illustrating carbonaceous argillite and basalt
extensional zone (e.g., in Bathurst; Rogers and van Staal,
flow-sill lithofacies that host the deposit (after Peter and Scott, 1999). Refer
2003), the mafic volcanic rocks commonly have an alkaline
to Figure 2 for legend.
532
affinity, within the immediate hanging-wall succession

(Piercey and Gibson, 2005).
An intriguing aspect of the petrochemical attributes of
mafic rocks associated with VMS deposits is the unusual presence of andesite near some deposits, particularly in strongly
bimodal (basalt-rhyolite) sequences associated with mafic and
bimodal-mafic districts. This was first noted by Embley et al.
(1988) and Perfit et al. (1999), and similar relationships have
been described for the San Nicolas deposit in Mexico (Johnson et al., 2000), the Tambo Grande deposits in Peru (Tegart
et al., 2000), and the Mattabi deposit (Franklin et al, 1975).
Based on lithogeochemical and isotopic arguments, Embley
et al. (1988) demonstrated that the andesite had not formed
through fractional crystallization processes but rather through
contamination of basaltic melt by a partial melt generated
from hydrated crust, indicating the presence of a high-level,
crustal magma chamber during basalt eruption and VMS
formation.
Rhyolite (and rhyodacite) associated with VMS deposits has
a distinctive composition that is referred to as FI, FII, and
FIII by Lesher et al. (1986), Groups I, II and III rhyolite
types by Barrie et al. (1993), tholeiitic, transitional, and calcalkaline rhyolite by Barrett and MacLean (1994), and as
Groups FI to FIV by Hart et al. (2004). In each case the lowest number represents the least favorable VMS-rhyolite association (i.e., calc-alkaline or alkaline), whereas the highest
number represents the least evolved, highest temperature,
tholeiitic to HFSE-depleted, high-silica rhyolite (Barrie,
1995; Hart et al., 2004). The high eruptive temperatures (at
or above liquidus for tholeiitic to HFSE-depleted rhyolite,
based on the zircon geothermometer), Sm-N d isotope evidence and the bimodality of the VMS-hosting volcanic succession all indicate an origin through low to moderate degrees
of partial melting of hydrated crust at a shallow (<15 km)
crustal level where the composition of the melt is a function
of pressure, temperature, composition of the source region
and, to a lesser extent, subsequent fractional crystallization
processes (Barrie et al., 1993; Lentz, 1998; Prior et al., 1999;
Hart et al., 2004).
533
Assignment is less certain for Archean terranes, as the role of

conventional plate tectonic systems in shaping the early earth
continues to be debated (e.g., N isbet and Fowler
, 1983;
Zegers and van Keken, 2001; A yer et al., 2002; van Kranendonk, 2004). Archean volcanic strata contain a substantial
number of VMS deposits. For deposits in this age, we use the
relative amounts of mafic, felsic, and sedimentary rock (following the sequence boundary constraints outlined above),
with no implication for tectonic regime to classify the tectonic
setting.
The first three types, bimodal-mafic, mafic, and politicmafic (Types 1, 2, and 3 in T able A1) are related to oceanocean subduction and represent an evolution from nascent
arc rifting (Type 1) to mature backarc development (T ypes 2
and 3). In Archean greenstone terranes such as Abitibi, Y ilgarn, Pilbara, and Barberton, T ype 1 environments also include mantle plume (komatiitic) environments. T ype 3 includes mafic alkalic terranes related either to seamount
construction or late backarc volcanism.
Bimodal-felsic and siliciclastic-felsic types (T ypes 4 and 5)
formed in ocean-continent margin to continental backarc environments. Type 4 occurs in the early suprasubduction arcrifting stage and T ype 5 in mature epicontinental backarcs.
Volcanic rocks dominate Types 1, 2 and 4. Types 3 and 5 have
a significant and, in some cases, predominantly sedimentary
component.
Petrochemical data for most of these indicate their formation during various stages of rifting as part of arc-backarc development (e.g., Lentz, 1999; Piercey et al., 2002). W e have
included midocean ridge VMS settings in T ype 2, as the deposits are virtually identical to those in the mafic-dominated
mature backarc settings, except for their petrochemical attributes (MORB vs. arc-tholeiite-boninite).
Abundance, composition, and time relationships of

VMS lithostratigraphic types
Size, composition, type, and age data for 805 deposits are
used to examine time relationships for the five VMS types
(Table A1). Currently , formal resources and reserves are divided into several categories based on the extent and certainty
Tectonic setting of VMS lithostratigraphic types
of the data and their economic implications. All of these are
Assigning VMS districts to a specific tectonic regime is eas- combined into a single grade-tonnage data set to provide a
ier in Proterozoic and Phanerozoic sequences, where tectonic fair representation of the geologic entity considered as an oreschemes have been developed following the W ilson Cycle. body; the economic entity is likely considerably smaller for
The general settings and compositions are summarized in Ta- some deposits. In some cases, several ore zones are grouped
bles 1 and 2 (and assigned to each deposit in T able A1). The into a single entity , for the same reason. Metal contents and
major divisions used here are arc-backarc systems related to
deposit sizes are lognormally distributed (Sangster , 1977).
inter-oceanic subduction systems; and arc-backarc systems
The geometric means for each subtype are summarized in
related to the transition from oceanic to continental and con- Table 2.
tinental margin-arc systems. Hannington et al. (2005) use a
Some observations about the grade and size of deposits are
similar division of tectonic environments, including intra(1) the contents of copper and gold are similar for all deposit
oceanic arcs, intra-oceanic backarc basins, transitional island
types, except those of the siliciclastic-felsic type, which conarcs, and related backarc rifts, and continental margin arcs
tain distinctly less copper; the mafic and pelitic-mafic types
and rifted continental margins, and they also describe miner- display slightly higher copper, and distinctly higher gold conalization environments in oceanic spreading-ridge environtents, but significantly lower zinc contents; (2) the lead conments. Such spreading-ridge environments are not commonly tents of the two felsic-dominated types are much higher than
preserved in VMS-related sequences. The position relative to in the mafic-dominated types (Franklin et al., 1981); (3) the
the type of subduction is bracketed in T able 1, and each de- silver contents of the felsic-dominated types are higher , parposit is assigned a number in T able A1 that corresponds to
ticularly for bimodal-felsic deposits; (4) the volcanic-domione of the five lithotectonic environments described below . nated types are all similar in size, although the deposits in the
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533
534
FRANKLIN ET AL.
mafic type (characterized by those in ophiolite terranes) are

significantly smaller; the deposits within the two types that
are associated with sedimentary strata (Pelitic-mafic and Siliciclastic-felsic) are larger; deposits of the siliciclastic-felsic
type are almost twice as large as those of the other types.
Variations with age are presented in Table 3. Interpretation
of these data requires knowledge of the abundance of submarine volcanic rocks through time. Compilation of this information is not practical, but using the digital map of world
geology prepared by the Geological Survey of Canada, some
rough estimates of the overall abundance of volcanic rocks
can be obtained (T able 3). Clearly the Paleozoic contains
more metal in VMS deposits than all of the others combined.
Major Paleozoic districts such as Bathurst, Iberia, Urals, the
Mount Read and Lachlan belts and the Rudny Altai contribute to this.
Figure 10 shows temporal relationships of the various types
of massive sulfide deposits. Six major periods of VMS formation are evident (Fig. 10A, B, H), the Archean, Paleoproterozoic, three Paleozoic intervals, two Mesozoic intervals (centered at 200 Ma, Early Jurassic, and 100 Ma, mid Cretaceous)
and the late Cenozoic. The relative paucity of VMS deposits in
the Meso- and Neoproterozoic is not because strata of these
TABLE 3. Distribution of Metal Contents (tonnes) by Age in VMS Deposits
Archean
Paleoproterozoic
Meso- and
Neoproterozoic
Paleozoic
Mesozoic
Cenozoic
621,000
990,000
4.9
7.8
50,301,000
43,427,000
673,000
1,189,000
4,279,00
4,948,000
5.3
9.4
33.7
39.0
8,473,000
203,104,000
64,965,000
18,971,000
Phanerozoic
80
150
100
60
Count
40
20
50
0
0
1000 2000 3000

AGE Ma
0
0
4000
AGE Ma
100
100
80
Count
60
100
40
60
40
20
20
0
0
1000
2000
3000
0
0
4000
1000
2000
3000
4000
100
80
Count
60
40
60
40
20
20
1000
2000
3000
4000
AGE Ma
0
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
AGE Ma
Mafic
Million s of Tonnes Cu+Pb+Zn
0
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
Bimodal - mafic
90
100
80
40
AGE Ma
Bimodal-felsic
Pelitic-mafic
60
20
AGE Ma
AGE Ma
80
Count
80
0
0
100 200 300 400 500 600
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
A
rc
he
an
Pa
le
oP
M
es
ro
ot
N
eo
P
L
ro
Pa
t
le
oz
oi
U
c
Pa
le
oz
oi
c
M
es
oz
oi
c
Ce
no
zo
ic
Count
Metal (Zn + Pb + Cu)
100
All Ages
200
Count
Total area
(%) (t)
time periods are poorly preserved but because submarine arcrelated sequences may be less common or underexplored.
Variations in abundance with deposit type (Fig. 10C-G)
show that deposits in the bimodal-mafic type are predominant
in the Archean and Paleoproterozoic and are important constituents of those in the Mesozoic and Cenozoic. The mafic
deposits are almost all Paleozoic or younger but dominate in
the small group of Paleoproterozoic deposits. The peliticmafic deposits are mainly Mesozoic. Bimodal-felsic deposits
are more evenly distributed but scarce in the Precambrian.
250
Count
Exposed volcanic
rocks (km2)
Eon
FIG. 10. Variations in numbers and size of deposits with age. A: Histogram of numbers of deposits with time, all ages. B.
Histogram of abundances of deposits in the Phanerozoic. C through G. Age distribution of the five main types of VMS deposit with time. H. Tonnes of base metal contained in the principal Eras containing VMS deposits.
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00
534
535
Conversely, bimodal-mafic deposits decrease in abundance

through time, but mafic and pelitic-mafic types are nearly absent in early Precambrian sequences. These variations may
reflect both a fundamental change in tectonic style through
time, as well as differences in preservation of some tectonic
elements. The paucity of both siliciclastic-felsic and bimodalfelsic types in the Precambrian suggests that ocean-continent
tectonic regimes were less prevalent during early Earth history. Overall, these systematic shifts in VMS types with time
are a reflection of crustal evolution and tectonic mechanisms.
The periodicity of abundance of all types of deposits may reflect the times of the breakup of major continental landmasses, such as Rodinia, Pangea, Laurasia, and Gondwana.
Franklin (1995). Figure 11 illustrates the main elements of

the model we favor; note that the scale is variable. The six
main elements of the model include (1) a heat source to drive
the hydrothermal convective system and potentially to contribute some metals; (2) a high-temperature reaction zone
that acts as a reservoir from which some metals are leached
from volcanic and sedimentary rocks by interaction with
evolved seawater; this zone includes an impermeable barrier,
cap rock or aquaclude that restricts and insulates the hydrothermal system; (3) synvolcanic faults or fissures that permit focused discharge of hydrothermal fluid from the reservoir; (4) footwall, and less commonly , hanging-wall alteration
zones produced by high-temperature fluid-rock reaction involving mixtures of ascending hydrothermal fluid and locally
heated ambient seawater; (5) the massive sulfide deposit itself, formed at or near the sea floor; and (6) distal products,
which represent a hydrothermal contribution to background
sedimentation. Each of these six elements and their variations
are described below.
VMS Hydrothermal Systems from Bottom to Top

General model
It is now well accepted that VMS deposits are syngenetic, a
product of volcanically generated hydrothermal systems. The
general hydrothermal models for the formation of VMS deposits are extensively reviewed in the papers mentioned earlier; the model presented here is drawn from more recent reviews, including L ydon (1984, 1988), Galley , (1993) and
Heat source and the role of subvolcanic intrusions

Subvolcanic intrusions are easily recognized in the field and
are considered to be heat sources for driving convective fluid
500-2000m
Mn,Ba?
smoke plumes
6
Fe
Zn
Si
300 C
Cu
recharge zone
H2O/rock >> 1
4
Upper
Upper Semiconformable
Semiconformable
Alteration
Alteration Zone
Zone
pH = 6
H2O/rock > 1
alteration/stringer zone
-Si
-Na
-Ca
fracture/fault zone
1-3 km
silicification
100s of
meters
impermeable barrier
-Cu
-Zn
-Fe
+Si
+Ca
+Na
H2O/rock < 1
10s to
100s of
meters
+Mg
+K
+SO4
Cu
Lower Semiconformable
Alteration Zone
pH = 3
+Si
+Mg
+CO2
Massive sulfide deposit
Disseminated sulfide
Alteration pipe
cal
400 C
pha
15-30
km
Upper Reaction Zone
Tw
o-
criti
uper
Talus, breccia
se f
ield
Host rock
Lower Reaction Zone
subvolcanic intrusion
Subvolcanic intrusion
FIG. 11. General model for the formation of VMS deposits, illustrating the basic components of a high-temperature VMS
hydrothermal system (after Galley, 1993; Franklin, 1995). Note variable horizontal and vertical scales. See text for numbers.
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FRANKLIN ET AL.
flow. They are one of the most important indicators of VMS

potential. Where the heat sources are shallow (2- to 5-km
depth) crustal intrusions, they may also be a direct source of
metal. To initiate and sustain a 400 to 300C convective hydrothermal system responsible for the formation of VMS deposits, a heat source(s) must be long-lived and located within
the upper part of the crust (<12 km), within the zone of brittle fracture permeability . Such shallow crustal-level subvolcanic intrusions have been interpreted as possible heat engines (e.g., Lesher et al., 1985; Cathles et al., 1997), although
recent work has questioned the specific role as heat or metal
sources for some of their intrusive phases (e.g., Galley , 2003;
Hart et al., 2004).
In rifted oceanic-arc environments the relatively anhydrous
nature of bimodal magmas and the thinness of the crust result
in the emplacement of gabbro-diorite-tonalite-trondhjemite
intrusive complexes within 2 to 3 km of the sea floor (Lesher
et al., 1985; Galley, 2003). These are the most common type
of subvolcanic intrusive suites associated with clusters of
VMS deposits and are comagmatic with the host volcanic
strata. Some of the best-described districts include the
Archean Panorama (Brauhart et al., 1998), Noranda (Goldie,
1976; Galley et al., 2002), Sturgeon Lake (Poulsen and
Franklin, 1981; Whalen et al., 2004), the Paleoproterozoic
Snow Lake (Bailes, 1987; Galley , 2003), Skellefte (W eihed
and Schberg, 1991; Hannington et al., 2003) and the Paleozoic Mount Read (Large et al., 1996). The intrusions have
similar deformational histories to their comagmatic host rocks
and lack significant hornfelsed contact metamorphic aureoles
(Franklin, 1996). The lack of significant hornfels is the result
of the convective heat transfer during crystallization (Cathles
et al., 1997). The result is the formation of well-defined metasomatic aureoles (reaction zones discussed below) both in the
margins of the intrusions as well as in the footwall strata to the
deposits, typically for hundreds of meters above the intrusion.
Their distinctive positive magnetic signature is due to a combination of the primary magnetite-series composition of magmatic suites and subsequent magnetite-enriched, high-temperature hydrothermal alteration mineral assemblages.
The level in the crust to which these primitive magmatic
suites rise is controlled by the magma driving force, lithostatic load, and thermal gradient. In most subvolcanic suites, the
intrusive complexes do not exceed 2,000 m in true width and
are commonly 15 to 25 km in strike length. The strike length
is commonly controlled by the width, or diameter, of the volcanic subsidence structure under which the shallow (<5-km)
intrusive complex was emplaced (e.g., Flavrian pluton-N oranda caldera: Gibson and W atkinson, 1990; Beidelman Bay
pluton, Sturgeon Lake caldera: Morton et al., 1991). These
intrusions consist of numerous sills, stocks, and dike swarms
(e.g., N oranda district) with the intrusive phases clustered
asymmetrically below the eruptive centers in the host comagmatic extrusive suites. The thickness of the intrusive complexes appears to be directly related to the thickness of the
overlying volcanic pile, although the presence of post-VMS
resurgent magmatic phases associated with the emplacement
of hanging-wall volcanic activity makes it difficult to quantify
this observation. If the thickness of the intrusion exceeded
that of the cover rocks (typically 23 km), lithostatic failure
would have occurred along faults, and magma erupted to
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surface (Johnson and Pollard, 1973; Corry , 1988; RomanBerdiel et al, 1995; Hogan et al., 1998).
In rifted oceanic arc and epicontinental margin and arc terranes there are fewer observed subvolcanic intrusive complexes within VMS-hosting volcano-sedimentary strata. Examples in these environments (granodiorite, quartz
monzonite, and granite) include the Bathurst, Iberian, and
Mount W indsor (Australia) districts (Thiblemont et al.,
1998; Doyle and McPhie, 2000; Whalen, 2003), the Murchison-Darwin granitoid suite in the Mount Read district (Large
et al., 1996) and at Mount Morgan, (Rockhampton district,
Australia: Messenger and Golding, 1996).
Factors explaining a paucity of subvolcanic intrusions may
include the level of erosion and exposure, thicker crust and
lower partial melting temperatures within more hydrous crust
resulting in wetter melts and a deeper level of emplacement
(Barker, 1979). In continental arc-caldera settings subvolcanic intrusions of the size required to generate district-scale
hydrothermal systems therefore tend to be emplaced well
below their comagmatic volcanic suites (typically >5 km).
This is more typical of subaerial examples of caldera environments such as V alles and Long V alley, where only late-stage
resurgent phases intrude comagmatic volcanic suites. The
presence of these deeper subvolcanic intrusions is commonly
manifested by the presence of small volume sill and/or dike
swarms and discrete rhyolite complexes within dominantly
volcaniclastic VMS-hosting successions (Boulter, 1993, 1994;
Doyle and McPhie, 2000).
Key to the interpretation that subvolcanic intrusions are the
primary heat engines responsible for hydrothermal systems is
the spatial relationship between subvolcanic intrusions, clusters of deposits, and large-scale footwall alteration systems
recognized in the N oranda, Matagami Lake, W est Shasta,
Snow Lake, and Mount Read districts (MacGeehan, 1978;
Gibson et al., 1983; T aylor and South, 1985; Bailes, 1987;
Large, 1992). These observations include (1) the volcanic
strata for several thousand meters above the intrusions contain regionally extensive, semiconformable alteration facies
defined by distinctive metasomatic mineral assemblages; (2)
in some, the most intense alteration lies directly above and
within the margin of the subvolcanic intrusions; (3) a relatively linear relationship between the size of the subvolcanic
intrusion and the known aggregate tonnage in the host VMS
district (Galley , 2003); and (4) whole-rock oxygen isotope
studies (light values relative to unaltered rocks) indicating
that reactions took place between the cooling intrusions and
evolved seawater, providing quantitative evidence that subvolcanic intrusions initiated and/or were emplaced within
large-scale, subsea-floor hydrothermal systems (T aylor and
South, 1985; Stakes and Taylor, 1992; Cathles, 1993; Fig. 12).
Within subvolcanic intrusions, structural, textural, and mineralogical evidence indicates their involvement in robust convective hydrothermal systems. For example, textural evidence
for rapid disequilibrium crystallization, a result of rapid cooling of the magmas in contact with a convecting external fluid,
is provided by complex zonation of feldspar compositions in
the more mafic phases (Franklin et al., 1977), myrmekitic textures, well-developed granophyre, acicular growth of pyroxene and amphibole, and the development of miarolitic cavities in the more felsic phases (Poulsen and Franklin, 1981).
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537
+ Si,Fe,Mn
5000 m
+ K,Mg,SO 4
Si,Ca, Na, Fe , Mn
+ Si,Ca, Na, Fe ,
Carbonatization
- K,Mg,SO 4
200
(Mafic volcanics)
(Felsi c volcanics)
18
O=6- ^10 (primary)

300
400
Deep Intrusion
SHALLOW CONVECTION
Si, Fe, S
2000 m
+ K, Mg,SO4,CO2
+ Na, Mg
200
Si,Na,Ca,Fe,Zn,Cu
300
18
O= 12-16 (heavy)
+ Si, Ca
400
18O= <6 (light)
+ Ca, Si
Shallow Intrusion
DEEP CONVECTION
Mn,Si,Ni,P,Eu,metals
Fe,Zn,Cu,Si
Zeolite
Mg metasomatism
Recharge zone
2000 m
+/-Carbonate
Spilitization
Greenschist
Impermeable
barrier
Silicification
Amphibolite
High temperature
Reaction Zone
Epidosite
Magmatic Component ?
FORMATION OF HYDROTHERMAL CELLS
Subvolcanic Intrusion
Upper, low-T reaction zone
Cap separating lower and upper

semiconformable alteration zones
Sulfide deposit
Lower, high- T reaction zone
FIG. 12. Formation of a high-temperature hydrothermal system. (A) illustrates the initial stages of alteration, (B) the compositional changes, and (C) the mineral assemblages. This example is most pertinent for a mafic-dominated system; similar
reactions occurred in the Middle Valley sediment-hosted, mafic-dominated system on the Juan de Fuca Ridge (Goodfellow
and Peter, 1994).
The development of magmatic-hydrothermal mineral assemblages within intrusive complexes is the result of the
introduction of seawater from external sources and devolatilization of the rapidly cooled magmas. Externally
sourced fluids are introduced into the cooling intrusion
through incorporation of previously hydrated wall rock (Castro et al., 1990; Russell et al, 1995; Galley , 2003) or by fracture propagation initiated as the result of thermal contraction
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of the rapidly cooling intrusion margin (Lister, 1972; Cathles,

1983; N ehlig, 1993). Evidence of this includes pegmatitic
coronas around xenoliths, an abundance of miarolitic cavities,
and/or an increased volume of magmatic-hydrothermal minerals, which includes quartz, albite, epidote, amphibole, and
magnetite. In some cases preexisting cooling fractures, such
as columnar joints, may have acted as passive channelways for
invasive fluids.
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FRANKLIN ET AL.
Magmatic volatile exsolution accompanying the rapid crystallization of subvolcanic intrusions may also result in internal
overpressuring and fracturing. Outward propagating fractures can facilitate the transport of magmatic-hydrothermal
fluids outside the intrusion environment, where they may
merge with a modified seawater convection system. This is especially true for more volatile elements such as As, Au, Sb,
Te, Ag, Bi, S, and Se. Metal enrichment in the magmatic fluid
may also supplement the metal content of the sea-floor convection system. The possibility of having magmatic porphyry
and VMS deposits within a single circulating fluid system is
contentious, given the different tectonic environments inferred for these deposits (Sillitoe, 1983; Hannington et al.,
1999b; Lang et al., 2000). However , Large et al. (1996) and
Brauhart et al. (1998) have documented intrusion-related
mineralization in the Murchison and Strelley granites of the
Mount Read and Panorama districts, respectively , that they
interpret to be temporally related to known VMS mineralization. The Mount L yell Cu-Zn district includes a spectrum of
magmatic-related Cu-Au manto-type deposits, as well as conventional Zn-Cu-Ag-Au VMS mineralization, as noted above.
The Bousquet district in Quebec contains a diversity of deposit types, including intrusion-hosted Au-Cu (Doyon) and
Cu-Au-Zn VMS deposits (Bousquet 2; LaRonde: Galley
,
2003; Lafrance et al., 2003; Dube et al., 2004). In the case of
the Beidelman Bay intrusion in the Sturgeon Lake camp, the
Flavrian-Powell intrusion in the Noranda camp and the Jorn
granite in the Skellefte district, porphyry-style Mo-Cu-Au
mineralization is associated with resurgent magmatic activity
up to 15 m.y . after formation of the spatially related VMS
mineralization (W eihed, 1991; Galley et al., 2000; Galley ,
2003).
Key questions pertaining to the role of subvolcanic intrusions in generating and sustaining hydrothermal systems relate to the timing of their emplacement relative to VMS formation, their mechanism of emplacement, their shape, and
the quantity of heat available (time-size relationships). Thermal models by Cathles (1981, 1983), Cathles et al. (1997) and
Barrie et al. (1999) indicate that the period of time that an intrusion is able to sustain a high-temperature hydrothermal
convective system is primarily a function of the mass of the intrusion, the temperature (and composition) of the magma,
and the temperature and permeability of the host rocks. The
last is related to the depth of emplacement. For example,
Cathles (1983) calculated that a magma chamber would have
to be at least 720 km 3 to form all of the Noranda deposits, a
volume that is in accord with that of the subvolcanic Flavrian
pluton (Gibson, 1990). However , these calculations all assume that the observed size of the subvolcanic intrusion is the
same as when emplaced, that the intrusion was emplaced at
one time, and that it cooled as a single magma chamber. This
is not the case. Galley (2003) has shown that the subvolcanic
intrusions at Noranda, Sturgeon Lake, and Snow Lake are not
single intrusions but were emplaced as high-level, sill-dike
swarms with multiple intrusive phases separated by chilled
contacts. This mode of emplacement is more typical of subvolcanic intrusions in rift environments (Morton and Sleep,
1985) and substantially reduces the amount of heat available
to drive a hydrothermal system. It is also in accord with new
research that suggests that many large plutons are generated
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by incremental additions of magma as separate intrusions

rather than emplacement as larger plutonic masses (e.g.,
Coleman et al., 2004; Glazner et al., 2004).
In addition, the timing of subvolcanic intrusion emplacement relative to VMS formation is suspect. For example detailed geological, geochemical, and geochronological studies
indicate that the latest phases of the Flavrian, Beidelman Bay,
Sneath, and Richard Lake plutons were emplaced into their
own volcanic edifices where they crosscut both earlier emplaced (commonly more mafic) intrusive phases and VMS-related discordant alteration zones, and that a major part of
these multiphase subvolcanic intrusions were emplaced postVMS formation (e.g., N oranda: Goldie, 1976; Gibson and
Watkinson, 1990; Galley , 2003; Hart et al., 2004; Sturgeon
Lake: Morton et al., 1991; Galley , 2003; Snow Lake: Galley ,
2003). Furthermore, rhyolite flows that are preferentially associated with many deposits are not a product of fractionation
within these subvolcanic intrusions but are related to deeper
partial melting processes (Hart et al., 2004).
In summary, the earliest synvolcanic phases of subvolcanic
intrusions contributed heat to the hydrothermal system,
whereas the more voluminous later phases may be responsible for the continued development of semiconformable alteration within the hanging-wall strata of many VMS districts
(e.g., Noranda). High and mid crustal level subvolcanic felsic
intrusions and associated rhyolite are interpreted to be a
product of crustal melting within a high heat flow, extensional
(rift) environment where the heat was obtained from mantlederived mafic magmas emplaced at high crustal levels (<12
km). As such they are indicative of environments favorable for
the development of long-lived convective hydrothermal systems and the formation of VMS deposits (Barrie et al., 1999;
Galley, 2003; Hart et al., 2004).
Regional semiconformable alteration zones
Lower and upper semiconformable alteration zones: Semiconformable alteration occurs as regionally extensive areas of
altered rock, up to hundreds of kilometers along strike (e.g.,
spilitization). These zones may extend down to and below the
subvolcanic intrusions and upward to the paleosea floor. They
are mineralogically zoned and may be difficult to recognize
because they share mineralogical features with zeolite and
greenschist metamorphic assemblages. They represent the
reservoir zone (Hodgson and Lydon, 1977), at least in part the
region within the subsea floor where high-temperature reactions occurred that produced the ore-forming metalliferous
fluids.
Semiconformable alteration has been recognized and documented in bimodal-mafic successions (e.g., Mattagami:
MacGeehan, 1978; N oranda: Gibson et al., 1983; Gibson,
1990; Snow Lake: Skirrow , 1987; Skirrow and Franklin,
1994), in mafic-dominated successions (e.g. Cyprus: Spooner
and Fyfe, 1973; Oman: Koski et al., 2003) and in bimodal-felsic successions (e.g., Kuroko and Skellefte: Ohmoto et al.,
1983; Allen et al., 1996a) but is poorly documented in siliciclastic-felsic- and pelitic-mafic-type successions. The five alteration assemblages that typically occur within the semiconformable category include diagenetic-zeolitic, carbonate
alteration, spilitization, silicification, and epidote-quartz alteration, with generally increasing depth (Fig. 12C, T able 4).
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539

TABLE 4. Mineral Assemblages in Lower and Upper Semiconformable Alteration Zones 1
Assemblage
Distribution
Textures
Mineralogy
Chemistry
References
Diagenetic
All subaqueous volcanic

rocks; Regional in extent
Glassy volcaniclastic rocks

most susceptible; massive
flows and cryptodomes
altered primarily at
margins
Leucoxene after
primary Fe-Ti oxides;
glass replaced by
secondary chalcedony,
chlorite, epidote. and
minor carbonate;
textural evidence
indicates former
palagonite, clays
Addition of H 2O; Fisher

loss of Si (felsic
volcaniclastic),
Na (all
compositions), Mg
gain; mass-balance
gains of other
elements; oxidation
of Fe
and
Schmincke (1984),
Humphries and
Thompson (1978),
Gillis and Robinson
(1988), Alt (1995,
1999), Pflumio (1991),
Gifkins and Allen
(2001), Gibson (1990)
Zeolite
All subaqueous volcanic

rocks; margins (upper and
lateral) to high-temperature
reaction zones; regional
in extent
Zeolites cement
volcaniclastic rocks and
infill amygdules; fibrous
and parallel orientation of
zeolite minerals
Chalcedony (replaces
amorphous silica); zeolite
minerals particularly
celadonite, analcime,
and laumontite
Hydration, gain of Mg,

minor gain and/or loss
or redistribution of
Na and Ca
Gibson (1990),
Alt (1999), Gifkins
and Allen (2001)
Spilitization
Pervasive in all subaqueous

volcanic rocks; prominent
at margins (upper and
lateral) to high-temperature
reaction zones; regional in
extent
Pseudomorphous albite
after plagioclase
phenocrysts and microlites,
chlorite after pyroxene;
groundmass glass replaced
by chlorite, quartz, epidote,
and carbonate in mafic
rocks, and sericite, quartz
and carbonate (trace
epidote) in felsic rocks;
primary volcanic textures
preserved
Greenschist assemblage:
chlorite-sericite-albiteepidote-quartz and
carbonate
Typified by a gain in Na
and loss of Ca (cation
exchange reaction);
minor Mg enrichment
(Mg hydrolysis)
MacGeehan (1978),
Gibson et al. (1983),
Gibson (1990),
Skirrow and
Franklin (1994),
Harper (1999),
Alt (1999),
Santaguida, (1999)
Carbonate
Patchy, semipervasive,
20100 m below sea floor;
regional in extent (occurs
in upper, lower temperature part of hydrothermal
system); massive carbonate
talc sea-floor mounds
may also occur
Patchy alteration; pore

space infilling in
volcaniclastic and
sedimentary strata and
occurs as amygdule, vein,
and fracture filling in
massive flows; may replace
glass in both volcaniclastic
rocks and flows
Varies with proximity to

VMS deposit; siderite
(near deposit)
ankerite
ferruginous dolomite
dolomite calcite
Gained: CO2, MgO,

CaO, and FeO T;
major loss: Na 2O in
upper part of zone
Franklin et al. (1975),

Baker et al. (1994),
Sharpe and
Gemmell (2001),
Allen et al. (1996a)
Silicification
Patchy (massive flows) to

pervasive (hyaloclastitevolcaniclastic and vesicular
units); extends for kilometers
along strike and up to 1 km
thick; occurs near the top,
within, or at the base of the
upper lower temperature
part of the hydrothermal
system; intensifies toward
synvolcanic intrusions and
structures
Occurs as discrete whitecolored patches to

ribbonlike forms; volcanic
textures are well preserved
as are albite microlites and
phenocrysts
Quartz-albite epidote,
primarily in mafic
rocks; albite is An0-10
SiO2, Na2O added:

Fe2O3, MgO, K 2O and
minor Zn, Zn, Cu lost;
CaO: Al2O3, TiO2, Skirrow
HFS Zr, Y,
REE all immobile
MacGeehan (1978),
Gibson, 1990,
and
Franklin, (1994).
Epidote-quartz
Regional in extent within

submarine mafic volcanic
strata; increase in
abundance adjacent to
subvolcanic intrusions,
faults, and VMS deposits;
defines higher temperature reaction zones
Distinct light green

patches in basalt-andesitic
flows, commonly around
amygdules, increasing in
abundance toward flow
tops; in pillows, patches
occur within the core and
margin, also within interpillow hyaloclastite;
texturally destructive
alteration; primary
volcanic textures and
minerals replaced by
granular epidote-quartz
Upper greenschist to
lower amphibolite
assemblage: epidotequartz and epidotequartz-amphibole
(higher temperature
assemblage) (Ca
hydrolysis reactions);
epidote: quartz ratio
from 1/1 to 2/1; Fe and
Al content of epidote
variable and more Al
rich defines higher
temperature alteration,
SiO2, Na2O, minor

CaO gain; major loss
of Cu, Zn, Ba, K;
all others constant
MacGeehan (1978),
Gibson (1990),
Franklin et al. (1993),
Skirrow and
Franklin (1994),
Harper (1999),
Alt (1999), Seyfried
et al. (1988, 1999),
Santaguida (1999)
1 Diagenetic, zeolite, spilitization, and carbonatization are assemblages in the upper semiconformable zone; silicification and carbonatization typically mark
the interface between lower and upper zones or cap the lower zone; the epidote-quartz zone is uniquely in the lower semiconform able zone
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FRANKLIN ET AL.
Semiconformable alteration, based on studies of both active (Hannington et al., 2005) and extinct occurrences, is temporally and spatially progressive. For example, consider a simple hydrothermal convective cell where progressive heating
of seawater drawn into the convective cell causes it to lose
Mg, forming Mg smectite, which replaces the glass-rich
mesostasis of the volcanic rocks, and in oxygenated oceans,
Mg hydroxysulphate (caminite) and anhydrite form (Mottl
and Holland, 1978). In some volcaniclastic-dominated areas
carbonate also precipitates from seawater , possibly due to its
retrograde solubility (Osterberg, 1982; Osterberg et al.,
1987). At the periphery of the alteration system, zeolite minerals form primarily in open spaces (e.g., amygdules, matrix to
breccia). As seawater evolves from its original composition
during circulation into higher temperature regions
(>150200C), the water/rock ratios decrease. Under such
conditions the evolved seawater reacts with the wall rocks to
form a spilitic assemblage that resembles a typical greenschist
assemblage and eventually, at higher temperatures (>300C),
an epidote-quartz assemblage (Seyfried and Bischoff, 1981;
Alt, 1999). The lower part of the convective cell becomes progressively insulated from the upper region, as the smectitezeolite carbonate (Mg hydroxysulphate and anhydrite)
mineral deposition self seals the system to form a low permeability cap or aquaclude (Alt, 1995). In addition, silica commonly precipitates at the top of the lower part of the convective system, and in some basalt-dominated systems,
quartz-chlorite alteration forms a seal for the lower part of the
system (described by Skirrow and Franklin, 1994). Such mineral deposition and self-sealing results in the separation of
lower and upper parts of the semiconformable system. Modified seawater in the underlying zone becomes further heated
and convects in one or more cells (Barrie et al., 1999, 2001).
At this point, there are two convective regimes, one with
larger volumes of seawater circulating through the upper
part, termed the upper semiconformable alteration zone, and
a second consisting of evolved or modified seawater circulating through the capped lower part, gradually mining heat and
metals from volcanic rocks, termed the lower semiconformable alteration zone (Cathles et al., 1997; Barrie et al.,
1999; Cathles and Adams, 2005).
In this simple model the alteration assemblages are distributed with depth from near -surface diagenetic and zeolite assemblages to a spilitic greenschist assemblage and eventually
to an epidote-quartz assemblage, analogous to the assemblages observed within semiconformable alteration zones of
the Troodos Ophiolite, Cyprus (Fig. 12; Heaton and Sheppard, 1977; Spooner, 1977) and on the present-day sea floor
(hole 514B; Alt, 1999). However, in long-lived convective hydrothermal systems, continued volcanism and subsidence results in progressive burial, and rocks that were initially altered
to diagenetic or zeolite assemblages in the upper part are
overprinted by a spilitic greenschist assemblage through progressive heating. Overprinting of alteration assemblages during progressive alteration and burial formed telescoped alteration assemblages. The following descriptions and those in
Table 4 are based on altered successions in mining camps that
display the integrated effects of progressive fluid/rock interaction; these assemblages have also been produced experimentally (Spooner, 1977; Alt, 1999; Harper, 1999; Seyfried et
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al., 1999). Of the five types of semiconformable alteration,

metal depletion, as indicated by a mass loss of Zn and Cu, occurs only in the silicified and epidote-quartz alteration assemblages that correspond to the highest temperature (lower
semiconformable) alteration (Seyfried and Bischoff, 1979;
Gibson et al., 1983; Zierenberg et al., 1988; Skirrow and
Franklin, 1994).
Lithofacies controls of regional semiconformable alteration
zones: The distribution and development of semiconformable
alteration zones are dependent on fluid movement and therefore on the primary permeability and porosity of the footwall
lithofacies. In successions dominated by flow lithofacies, regional semiconformable alteration mineral assemblages preferentially developed in volcanic facies containing a significant
proportion of glass and in areas of high permeability such as
amygdule zones or along flow contacts, flow breccias, and
synvolcanic faults (Gibson, 1990; Large et al., 2001b). For example, silicification and epidote-quartz alteration of basaltic
and andesitic flows are characterized by the development of
distinct alteration patches that increase in abundance along
flow contacts and adjacent to synvolcanic structures and synvolcanic intrusions. Mapping of alteration patches has been
used to define major fluid pathways and aquifers within footwall successions toward VMS deposits (Gibson, et al., 1983;
Gibson, 1990; Skirrow and Franklin, 1994; Brauhart et al.,
2001).
In successions dominated by more permeable volcaniclastic and siliciclastic sedimentary lithofacies, regional semiconformable alteration assemblages are more pervasive and
widespread and occur as both a matrix cement and preferential replacement of glassy juvenile fragments (Gifkins and
Allen, 2001). Variations in alteration intensity are difficult to
map except in areas of amphibolite-assemblage metamorphism, such as in the Bergslagen district (Allen et al., 1996a,
and references therein), Snow Lake (Bailes and Galley, 1999),
Thalanga, Mount Windsor district (Hermann and Hill, 2001),
and the Bousquet district (Lafrance et al., 2003).
Geochemical features of lower semiconformable alteration
zones: In lower semiconformable alteration zones, water/rock
ratios were lower (110) and reaction temperatures were
higher (300400C) than in the upper semiconformable
zone (Mottl and Seyfried, 1980; Seyfried and Janecky , 1985;
Seyfried and Ding, 1995; Seyfried et al., 1999). In addition to
their characteristic mineral assemblages described above,
they are distinguished by chemical exchange with seawater ,
leading to modest gains of Na and Ca and losses of metals, in
contrast to the near -isochemical effects of regional or burial
metamorphism.
The actual metal contents of VMS-forming fluids are discussed in Hannington et al. (2005), and Seyfried and Ding
(1995) illustrated the sensitivity of these metal contents to
temperature, S activity , pH, and redox potential (discussed
below). The lower semiconformable reaction zones are identifiable by the following:
1. Loss of metals: Many have lost as much as 90 percent of
their original Cu content and 70 percent of their Zn (see
Spooner and Fyfe, 1975). Most have lost K and Ba, particularly in the sediment-dominated reaction zones (MacGeehan
and MacLean, 1980; Skirrow and Franklin, 1994; James et al.,
540
541
2003). The chemical controls on metal loss and the amounts

of the various metals that enter into the hydrothermal fluid
are discussed below (see composition and form of deposits).
2. Gains in Ca (epidote): This occurs in pervasively epidote-quartz altered rocks (epidosite), mainly in the lower and
mid parts of the lower semiconformable zone but not in silicified rocks (Matagami Lake: MacGeehan and MacLean
1980; Noranda: Gibson et al., 1983; Middle Valley: Davis and
Becker, 1994; Snow Lake: Skirrow and Franklin, 1994).
3. Gains in silica (quartz): Silica addition occurs near the
top of the zone and possibly very near the paleosea floor , as
well as adjacent to subvolcanic intrusions (dikes) and structures that cut the reaction zone (Gibson et al., 1983; Skirrow
and Franklin, 1994).
4. CO2 (carbonate) addition: This is restricted to the top of
the semiconformable alteration zone. Carbonate species usually contain Ca or Mg but are progressively more Fe rich (ferruginous dolomite, ankerite to siderite) toward the discharge
zone. Manganese also increases in carbonate toward the discharge zone. Cations are usually added from either seawater
or the hydrothermal fluid, in contrast to carbonatization associated with orogenic gold deposits, in which CO 2 metasomatism occurred without addition of Ca, Mg, or Fe (see Ames et
al., 1991, as an example).
5. 18O variation: In the high-temperature reaction zone
the 18O values are unusually low (light), relative to unaltered
rocks of the equivalent stratigraphic units, whereas the upper
part is characterized by relatively heavy18O values (East Liguria district, Italy: Spooner et al., 1977; West Shasta area, California: Taylor and South, 1985; Noranda: Beaty and T aylor,
1982; Beaty et al., 1988; Paradis, 1990; Cathles, 1993; Kidd
Creek and Sturgeon Lake districts, Snow Lake, Manitoba,
and the Kristineberg area of the Skellefte district in Sweden:
Galley et al., 2002; Galley, 2003). The aforementioned studies
all suggest that the lighter isotopic values near the base of the
lower semiconformable alteration zones resulted from hightemperature exchange of oxygen between the rocks and
evolved seawater under relatively low (110) water/rock ratios. The heavier values recorded at the top of the lower semiconformable zone indicate exchange under high water/rock
ratio conditions, at relatively low (0200C) temperatures.
Localization and discharge controls
VMS hydrothermal systems preferentially develop within
volcanic centers localized within rift environments where
volcanism, high heat flow , and cross-stratal permeability are
focused. At the scale of a single volcanic complex and hydrothermal system, the pronounced structural control on the location of VMS deposits, as demonstrated by their preferential
alignment and proximity to volcanic vent areas, has long been
recognized (e.g., Hokuroku district, Scott, 1980). The study
of present-day sea-floor rifts and grabens indicates that the
orientation of synvolcanic faults is controlled by the directions
of least principal stress during the period of extension and
volcanism (e.g. Kappel and Franklin, 1989; Stakes and Schiffman, 1999; Davidson et al., 2004). In the simplest case, the
principal extensional direction is subhorizontal and perpendicular to the rift axis. However in more complex cases, such
as transtensional rifts, the extensional faults are oblique to the
rift axis (Kleinrock et al., 1997). The presence of oblique
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extensional structures may be particularly important as they

may have been the loci for magma migration and hydrothermal fluid discharge. In the Troodos ophiolite complex, maficdominated VMS deposits are clustered about several paleorift
zones (Moores et al., 1990; Bettison-V arga and Schiffman,
1992; Varga et al., 1999). Isotopic and mineralogical evidence
indicates that the normal listric rift boundary master faults
played an important role in providing fluid access to the hightemperature reaction zones (Fig. 13). The axial rift faults provided pathways for dike injection, hydrothermal fluid discharge, and massive sulfide formation. These axial fault
systems are also rooted in high-temperature hydrothermal reaction zones (Bettison-V arga and Schiffman, 1992). In more
mature, sedimented backarc basins, rift faults continued to
play a major role in localizing sill injection and hydrothermal
activity, resulting in the development of pelitic-mafictype
deposits.
Features useful in identifying synvolcanic faults include
local discontinuities in the stratigraphy where footwall, but
not hanging-wall strata, may be displaced; diachronous
wedges of talus (e.g., Sturgeon Lake); some talus blocks 10s
of meters long; debris flows, particularly those that thicken or
terminate over a short lateral distance; transgressive alteration zones, commonly silicified, intense phyllic alteration,
vein, and disseminated sulfides; synvolcanic dikes and dike
swarms, particularly those that terminate in either
cryptodomes or at intra-volcanic sedimentary horizons; and
the location of felsic flows, domes, and cryptodomes, and the
preferential alignment of volcanic vents.
Discharge alteration: footwall and hanging-wall alteration
Footwall alteration zones: The intensive alteration beneath
virtually all in situ VMS deposits has traditionally been called
the alteration pipe because many of the early-described
examples in the N oranda district (Price, 1953) formed
1
minimum principal
Discharge
stress
VMS Location
Subvertical
Rift Axis
Extensional Veins
3
maximum
principal stress
Fluid
Flow
Master
Fault
FIG. 13. Schematic diagram illustrating fluid discharge regime near extensional synvolcanic faults (after Cox et al., 2001, figs. 12, 19). Fluid is generated in the high-temperature reaction zone; discharge up the extensional
master fault (under lithostatic load). In the near -sea floor zone (~200 m),
subvertical extension fractures predominate. Here fluid transfers to fractures
at the lithostatic-hydrostatic boundary, rises vertically to discharge 100 to 300
m from surface expression of the master fault
541
542
FRANKLIN ET AL.
recognizably pipe-shaped zones that extended for hundreds

of meters below the deposits. As VMS deposits gained acceptance as a distinct class, these alteration zones became the
most-described feature of the deposits. It is now evident that
there are significant variations in the width, depth, mineral
assemblage, and metal content of these zones. Because some
have indistinct boundaries, we use the more general term
footwall alteration zones to describe this part of the VMS
system.
Table 5 provides a summary of the form and mineral content of footwall alteration zones for the main lithostratigraphic types. The principal differences are between those
associated with deposits in basalt flow-dominated oceanic-arc
and backarc settings (13 in T able 5) and those in epicontinental settings (4 and 5, T able 5). However, those in oceanic
arc systems dominated by volcaniclastic lithofacies are more
similar to those in the second group. Those in the first group
are well defined and extend to depths of hundreds of meters.
They also contain recoverable copper in their upper parts in
almost all cases. Their core zones are typically strongly chloritic (Fe chlorite) and are variably silicified. Outside of the
central copper-rich core, their margins are enriched in Mg
chlorite with an outer, less-well defined zone of sericite. Footwall alteration in the felsic-dominated deposit types, as well as
in the bimodal-maficdominated type are characterized by a
more pervasively silicified core, much less Fe chlorite and
variable amounts of Mg chlorite and carbonate.
Lithofacies controls on the morphology of footwall alteration zones: Differences in the primary permeability and
porosity of volcanic and sedimentary lithofacies that host
VMS deposits resulted in differences in the morphology of
their footwall alteration zones (Morton and Franklin, 1987;
Gibson et al., 1999). In all three lithofacies associations, hydrothermal fluid discharge was controlled by synvolcanic
faults and fissures. Where a fault transected relatively impermeable footwall strata, the fluid was likely confined to the
structure and the amount of cool seawater drawn down

around the discharge site minimized. This restriction of ascending hydrothermal fluids to controlling structures resulted
in a proximal, discordant alteration zone that is vertically extensive (hundreds of meters to a kilometer below the massive
sulfide and paleosea floor) but laterally restricted in cross section (Gibson, 2005). Examples that typify this deposit type include ophiolite-hosted deposits in mature backarc settings
(Galley and Koski, 1999), and intracaldera deposits of the Noranda camp (T able 1; Gibson and Severin, 1991; Gibson,
1993; Kerr and Gibson, 1993; Hannington et al., 1995).
In marked contrast, where ascending hydrothermal fluids
encountered strata composed of an unconsolidated volcaniclastic or siliciclastic lithofacies with higher permeability and
porosity, fluids may have initially diffused laterally away from
the controlling structure and discharge occurred over a large
area. Widespread subsurface cooling of unfocused ascending
hydrothermal fluid by interaction with trapped and entrained
seawater resulted in self-sealing by the precipitation of
quartz, smectite, and minor sulfides, and hydrothermal discharge was progressively focused to one or several conduits.
Sills or intercalated flows can also act as an aquaclude and, as
at Rosebery, may have restricted upwelling high-temperature
fluids, causing them to pond and to have been deflected to
faults that localized some of the sulfide lenses (Martin, 2004).
Poorly focused initial discharge may result in discordant,
broad and locally stratiform footwall alteration zones. These
are typically larger in surface area than their associated massive sulfide deposit or deposits. Examples include the Horne
and Mobrun deposits (N oranda district), the Mattabi (Sturgeon Lake) and Kidd Creek deposits, the Chisel Lake (Snow
Lake), Garpenberg, and Zinkgruven deposits (Bergslagen district), the W oodlawn (Lachlan district, Australia), Rosebery ,
and Mount Lyell deposits (Mount Read district).
Hanging-wall alteration: Visual recognition of hanging-wall
alteration is difficult, as the mineralogical, compositional, and
TABLE 5. Summary Characteristics of Alteration Pipes Associated with VMS Deposits in Each of the Main Lithotectonic Settings
Type
Footwall alteration
Bimodal-mafic oceanic arc

A. Flow-dominant
B. Volcaniclastic-dominant
Width to depth ~1:10; well-defined alteration pipe, cpy-po; Fe chlorite + sulfide (po-cpy) core, Mg
chlorite + sericite (py-sph) margin; local silicification; many contain pods of massive talc magnetite
Width to depth ~1:2; moderately to poorly defined pipe to stratiform alteration, cpy-po py; quartz +
sulfide core, sericite + aluminosilicate (sph) margin; some also have Fe carbonate at the margins
Mafic oceanic backarc
Width to depth 1:5; similar in (1A) above; chlorite-quartz core dominates, sericite less abundant
Pelitic-mafic mature oceanic backarc
Width to depth 1:3; well-defined alteration pipe, cpy + py + po, quartz-sericite chlorite core,
chloritic outer margin; some contain talc
Bimodal-felsic nascent or primitive

epicontinental arc and related backarc
A. Low sulfur
B. High sulfur
A. Width to depth 1:2; well-defined pipe to stratiform, defined, cpy + py; quartz + sulfide core,
sericite + Mg chlorite (rare talc) outer zone; smectite-zeolite margin, some also have Fe carbonate,
minor kaolin in the margins
B. Width to depth 1:2; poorly defined cpy-py-sph pipe-stratiform alteration zone; quartz-sericitealuminosilicate core; quartz-sericite-pyrite (argillic) outer zone
Siliciclastic-felsic epicontinental
mature backarc
Width to depth 1:1, poorly defined stratiform alteration, cpy-py: Mg-chlorite-sericite-quar tz core,
sericite outer margin
Bimodal alkaline, paleoplume (seamount,

and submarine epicontinental rift)
Footwall alteration-stratiform diopside-actinolite/tremolite-garnet-epidote

Hanging-wall alteration-stratiform quartz-carbonate-chlorite-albite-zeolite-sericite
Abbreviations: cpy = chalcopyrite, po = pyrrhotite, py = pyrite, sph = sphalerite

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textural changes are commonly less pronounced than in footwall alteration zones. The first systematic study of hangingwall alteration was conducted using mineral and whole-rock
oxygen isotope data to map alteration above deposits in the
Hokuroku district, Japan (Iijima, 1974; Shirozu, 1974; Green
et al., 1983). Since these early studies, lithogeochemical data
(Riverin and Hodgson, 1980; Gemmell and Fulton, 2001;
Tardif, 2003), mineral species (Date et al., 1983; Hannington
et al., 2003), and oxygen isotope data (Beaty and Taylor, 1982;
Cathles, 1993; Huston and T aylor, 1999) have been used to
define and map hanging-wall (and footwall) alteration zones.
If hydrothermal activity was long-lived, hydrothermal assemblages developed within the footwall may extend into the
hanging-wall strata (Tardif, 2003). This results in either blind
alteration zones that terminate in hanging-wall rocks (Corbet
and Ansil deposits, Noranda: Gibson et al., 1993; Galley et al.,
1995) or stratigraphically stacked VMS deposits that are connected by vertically contiguous alteration zones (e.g., Upper
and Lower A deposits, Noranda: Kerr and Gibson, 1993). If
the continued hydrothermal activity waned, the hanging-wall
alteration would differ in mineralogy and/or composition
from that in the footwall. For example, at Hellyer , Gemmell
and Fulton (2001) and Large et al. (2001) have shown that the
hanging-wall alteration is characterized by an increase in
CaO, K2O, Na2O, CO2, Ba, Ag, As, Mo, Sb, Cs, Cr, V, Ni, and
Tl relative to least altered host basalt. Similarly, Tardif (2003)
has shown that intercalated and interpillow volcanic-sedimentary rocks within the hanging-wall basalt succession are
sporadically enriched in Fe2O3, MgO, Na2O, K2O, Ni, Cu, Tl,
Mo, Sb, Hg, and Zn for up to 300 m above the 777 deposit
(Flin Flon district).
Alteration produced by hydrothermal reworking is only
rarely discussed, since element dispersion and mineralogical
changes produced by this process are subtle, localized to the
immediate area of the deposit and difficult to distinguish
from hanging-wall alteration produced by waning hydrothermal discharge during deposit burial (T ardif, 2003). For
example, zones of N a enrichment immediately above the

Fukazawa deposit may be a product of the interaction between the hanging-wall strata and heated seawater that was
drawn down from above the deposit (e.g. N a montmorillonite: Date et al., 1983; Green et al., 1983). Similarly, the occurrence of regional semiconformable epidote-quartz alteration within basaltic-andesitic hanging-wall strata above some
VMS deposits indicates that during burial these sulfide deposits must have interacted with a later, superimposed higher
temperature modified seawater that may have been responsible for mobilizing some elements into the hanging wall (e.g.,
777 deposit: Tardif, 2003).
Composition, growth mechanisms, and morphology
Numerous factors control the composition, size, and form
of the orebodies (T able 6). These include, from the base of
the hydrothermal system to the precipitation site at the top:
1. The amount of heat energy available to initiate and sustain the high-temperature reactions, as discussed above (rift
or extensional environment, subvolcanic intrusions, or lower
semiconformable alteration).
2. The possible input of metals directly from magmatic
generated fluid, presumably accumulated through fractional
crystallization and magma devolatilization processes (Fouquet et al., 1993; Moss and Scott, 2001).
3. Composition of the strata in the reaction zone: The components of the ore-forming fluid are determined in part by
the buffering of pore fluid by the mineral assemblage in the
reaction zone and possibly by the metal abundances and sulfur content (and species) in those rocks (Janecky and
Seyfried, 1982; Seewald and Seyfried, 1990; James et al.,
2003). The pH at the reaction site is controlled by the mineral
assemblage in the reaction zone and by temperature. Metal
solubility is pH dependent, so the equilibrium pH established
in the reaction zone is an important factor in establishing both
relative and absolute metal abundances.
TABLE 6. Characteristics of the Sulfide Deposits

Type
Massive ore form and composition
Stringer and/or stockwork zone extent, and composition
Bimodal-mafic
Oceanic arc
Bulbous, aspect ratio 4:1 to 2:1; Cu-Zn;

coarse-grained, well-zoned, Cu core common
Diameter <= massive sulfide; vertically extensive

(~20500 m+), well-defined, cpy-po core (ore), sph-rich fringe
Mafic
Oceanic backarc
Bulbous, aspect ratio 1:2, Cu-Zn; more

Au-rich; coarse-grained, some are zoned
Diameter <= massive sulfide; vertically extensive

(~100500m+), well-defined, cpy-po core (ore), sph-rich fringe
Pelitic mafic
Mature oceanic backarc
Tabular to bulbous, aspect ratio 3:1 to 50:1;

Cu-Zn-Co; fine-grained
Diameter < massive sulfide, tabular, po-cpy (ore?) py-sph,

(nonore); stratiform footwall alteration
Bimodal felsic Nascent or primitive

epicontinental arc and related backarcs
Bulbous, aspect ratio 2:1; Zn-Pb-Cu
Diameter = massive sulfide, tabular to conical; py-cpy po

core, py-sph rim
Siliciclastic felsic Mature

epicontinental backarc
Tabular, aspect ratio 5:1 to 20:1; Zn-Pb Cu
Diameter << massive sulfide; tabular-stratiform py-cpy-po

(ore); Disseminated py + quartz sph-ga rim
Bimodal alkaline, paleo-plume

(seamount, and submarine
epicontinental rift)
Lenticular, stratiform, 20:1.

Pb > = Zn > Cu
Stratiform py-ga-sph stockwork
Notes: Aspect ratio is paleohorizontal length (measured along strike or parallel to major syndepositional structure) to thickne
paleosea floor; abbreviations: cpy = chalcopyrite, ga- = alena, po = pyrrhotite, py = pyrite, sph = sphalerite
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ss (maximum height above
FRANKLIN ET AL.
4. The solubilities of metals in the ore-forming fluid are a

function of the temperature of the fluid and the concentration of complexing ligands (comprising Cl, S, H, O, organic
species).
5. The oxidation state and activity of sulfur in the fluid, in
particular, will place limitations on the solubility and thus
amount of metal in solution and on the forms of the sulfur
species that complex with metals and facilitate their transport.
6. The thermodynamic state of the fluid is critical; fluids
that have been heated above their critical point separate into
two phases and the metals and ligands will partition between
them. Equally, the cooling (and remixing) history of the fluids
during their ascent will control the ratio of fluid to vapor
.
Many of the ore-forming elements will partition between the
two phases (Bischoff and Rosenbauer, 1984).
7. The near-surface permeability and porosity into which
the metalliferous fluid is discharging will largely dictate the
form of the deposits (mound vs. tabular , massive vs. disseminated vs. veins; see below).
8. The amount of protection from oxidation or physical destruction of the sulfide body on the sea floor is in large part, a
function of the ability of heated seawater to circulate through
the sulfide. If seawater circulation is prolonged by sustained
heat flow it may result in metal dissolution, modification of
the metal zoning pattern, and, in the extreme case, near complete removal of base metals resulting in a barren pyrite deposit (e.g., TAG: Petersen et al., 2000; Tambo Grande: Tegart
et al., 2000).
Precipitation chemistry: The metal concentration of fluids
forming VMS deposits on the present-day sea floor are reviewed by Hannington et al. (2005), who illustrate the sensitivity of metal contents to temperature, sulfur activity , and
equilibrium pH. Figure 14 illustrates the solubility of copper,
zinc, and gold as chloride complexes and as a function of pH
and temperature. Studies of numerous active sea-floor hydrothermal vent systems show that fluids formed in basaltdominated sequences have similar compositions (von Damm,
1995). All have moderately acidic pH values (typically
2.73.8, median 3.2). Although copper content correlates
with temperature, zinc content is related primarily to pH
(Fig. 14). The data from more felsic-dominated arc-related
sequences (Hannington et al., 2005) indicate that the higher
base metal concentrations are related to significantly lower
fluid pH (e.g., pH = 2.0 for V ia Lili in the Lau basin). For
every decrease of one pH unit, the metal contents of the fluids increase by an order of magnitude.
For conditions typical of VMS systems, the different solubilities of chalcopyrite and sphalerite require that almost all of
the former precipitated at no less than about 260C. Sphalerite precipitation is mostly driven by an increase in pH
(Bourcier and Barnes, 1987). Mixing with seawater will cause
rapid pH increase, but sphalerite will also precipitate through
cooling below 175C (Hannington et al., 1995). Copper is soluble under near-neutral to acid pH conditions and, although
somewhat affected by pH, it is the rapid drop in temperature
that results in the precipitation of chalcopyrite. The strong
temperature dependence of chalcopyrite versus sphalerite
and galena solubility is the basis for separation of these in
both the footwall stringer and disseminated zone and in the
massive sulfide precipitation zone.
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400
AuCl2 ppb
100
10Cu ppm
10
1.0
0.1
300
Temperature C
544
Base Metal
Contours in ppm
Cu
200
Zn
Boiling Path
0.1
100
Au(HS)
10 ppb
100
10
Au ppb
Cl=1.0m
S=10 m
1000
Zn ppm
-3
Cpy-Py-Mag-Sp-Ga
Assemblage
6
pH
FIG. 14. Solubility curves for Cu, Zn, and Au; these show the topology of
Zn, Cu, and Au solubilities under typical fluid conditions as measured for
sea-floor VMS systems (see Hannington et al., 2005). Thick lines represent
compositions of typical ridge-crest hydrothermal fluids. Numbers on curves
are ppm for base metals, ppb for gold. N ote that two sets of curves are
shown for Au. Those for the chloride complexed gold are in the upper left,
those for bisulfide-complexed gold are subvertical curves, to the right side
of the diagram.
Suprasea-floor sulfide accumulation mechanisms and

processes: Growth of an individual sulfide lens (vent) is dominated by processes of chimney growth and collapse, cementation and replacement of chimney debris, and renewed
chimney growth (L ydon, 1984; Hannington et al., 1995).
Growth by sulfide plume fallout is minimal. Large mounds
form through the coalescence of several individual vents,
which overgrow sulfide talus and may incorporate several
smaller mounds. These mounds are partially sealed by an
outer coating of amorphous silica, anhydrite, and fine-grained
iron sulfide and contain a large amount of high-temperature
hydrothermal fluid in their central parts. Mounds grow by inflation through internal precipitation (L ydon, 1988; Doyle
and Huston, 1999). Large thermal gradients, seismically induced fracturing, and periodic thermal rejuvenation disturb
this growth, causing it to be somewhat irregular
. W ithin
mounds, progressive heating caused outward displacement of
the lower temperature sulfide assemblage (pyrite-sphalerite)
by copper sulfide. This resolubilization and replacement
process, termed zone refining, is responsible for the center of
many sulfide mounds to be copper rich, with zinc (and lead in
some) displaced outward as first described by Eldridge et al.
(1983) for Kuroko deposits.
The zone refining replacement process may reflect a
change in the composition and temperature of the hydrothermal fluid with time due either to a change in fluid source or
through less interaction with cooler seawater due to self sealing. If hydrothermal discharge was long-lived, the zone refining process in VMS deposits hosted by a flow lithofacies will
eventually affect the entire massive sulfide lens as the upper
stockwork vein system essentially underlies the entire lens.
544
This results in a strongly zone refined, high-grade, polymetallic deposit typified by a Cu-rich core (above the stringer
zone), surrounded by more Zn-rich sulfide, in turn mantled
by a fringe of pyrite-rich sulfide; a metal zoning pattern typical of intracaldera deposits at Noranda (Knuckey et al., 1982).
In some flow-hosted deposits, hydrothermal discharge is inferred to continue even after burial by younger flows such
that the zone refining processes occur below the sea floor
(e.g., the Amulet Upper A and Ansil deposits at N oranda:
Gibson, 1990; Kerr and Gibson, 1993; Galley et al., 1995).
As very large sulfide bodies mature, they may have drawn
in and circulated hot seawater. This process may have further
destabilized the primary sulfide phases and contributed to
large scale recrystallization, evident in the TAG hydrothermal
mound (Petersen et al., 2000) and within the large massive
sulfide mound at Middle V alley (Bent Hill, ODP site 856),
converting a primary assemblage, of chalcopyrite isocubanite, Fe rich-wurtzite and pyrrhotite, to pyrite, magnetite, Fepoor sphalerite and chalcopyrite (Ames et al., 1993; Franklin
et al., 1994; Krasnov et al., 1994). Copper may have been removed, transformed, or displaced by this process, by redissolution as Cu bisulfide complexes. The consequence of these
postdepositional processes includes the removal of base metals from the central parts of sulfide bodies, displacing them
outward. Evidence of this is present in the pyritic core zones
of both the Tambo Grande (Tegart et al., 2000) and San Nicolas (Mexico; Johnson et al., 2000) deposits. At Tambo Grande,
Tegart et al. (2000) proposed that some of the copper in the
basal copper-rich zone was remobilized by a near-neutral pH,
possibly slightly oxidizing fluid (i.e., entrained, locally heated
seawater) and redepositing in the upper portion of the pyrite
core as a low-temperature copper sulfide assemblage of chalcocite, covellite and digenite. This is considered to be a seafloor supergene enrichment process. As a related part of this
process, the gold-barite zone at the top of the Tambo Grande
1 deposit may have formed either from conserved gold, transported as a bisulfide complex, or through sea-floor supergene
processes, similar to those described by Hannington et al.
(1998) for the TAG hydrothermal field.
Another mechanism proposed for the formation of seafloor VMS deposits is the precipitation of sulfides from a
dense brine pool, as in the Atlantis II Deep of the Red Sea.
The strata-bound character, low aspect ratio, fine-grained sulfides, absence of sulfide breccia, bedding, and replacement
textures of some deposits have been cited as evidence for
rapid supersaturation conditions and a quiescent setting typical of brine pools. The vertical zonation from a copper -rich
base to a more zinc-rich top reflects the relative solubility of
chalcopyrite and sphalerite during cooling and/or rapid sulfur
saturation due to bacteriological activity (T ornos and Spiro,
1999). The deposits may be distal to their hydrothermal vents
and thus not be underlain by sulfide stockworks. Deposits interpreted by some workers to be a product of precipitation
from brines pools include the Rosebery and Hellyer deposits
(Green et al., 1981; Solomon and Groves, 1994; Solomon and
Queseda, 2003) and some shale-hosted deposit of the Iberian
Pyrite Belt (Tornos and Spiro, 1999). However this interpretation is controversial and not universally accepted (Gemmell
and Large, 1992; Boulter, 1993; Leistel et al., 1998b; Large et
al., 2001b).
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Subsea-floor sulfide accumulation mechanisms and processes:

The recognition that massive sulfide deposits can form partly
or entirely below the sea floor is a relatively recent discovery.
Subsea-floor VMS deposits grow by the infiltration of hydrothermal fluid and precipitation of sulfide minerals within
the preexisting open space (pore spaces, inter- and intragranular porosity and fractures) of volcanic or sedimentary lithofacies and through the replacement of volcanic or sedimentary constituents or a chemically reactive host, such as
carbonate (Doyle and Allen, 2003, and references therein).
Once the volcanic or sedimentary strata are cemented by sulfides, fluid overpressure within the subsea-floor deposit may
result in hydraulic jacking, fracturing, and the formation of
bedding-parallel fractures that are sealed by massive sulfide
(Gibson et al., 1999). Subsea-floor VMS deposits in successions dominated by coherent flows or mudstone lithofacies
are not common and they are largely restricted to volcaniclastic units within such successions (Ansil deposit; Galley et
al., 1995) or to glass-rich, marginal breccias associated with
intrusions and cryptodomes (e.g., Highway Reward; Doyle
and Huston, 1999).
Most subsea-floor VMS deposits occur within lithofacies
dominated by volcaniclastic and/or terrigenous clastic sedimentary rocks (sandstone, wacke, and lesser mudstone). This
includes thick successions dominated by pumice-rich (Rosebery and Hellyer: Allen, 1994; Mattabi: Morton et al., 1991)
and to a lesser extent, nonpumiceous but glass-rich volcaniclastic rocks of both felsic (Horne: Kerr and Mason, 1990;
Kidd Creek: Hannington et al., 1999a) and mafic composition
(Corbet: Gibson et al., 1993; Potter: Gibson and Gamble,
2000). The greater primary permeability and seawater -saturated porosity of these glass-rich lithofacies make them favorable host rocks (Large et al., 2001b). In this environment,
hydrothermal fluid, channeled along synvolcanic faults, disperses laterally on encountering permeable volcaniclastic
strata. Mixing of hydrothermal fluid with cooler interpore or
downdrawn seawater causes sulfide precipitation and formation of a strata-bound lens- or sheetlike massive sulfide deposit enclosed within a widespread zone of hydrothermally altered volcaniclastic rocks (Gibson et al., 1999; Gibson, 2005).
In poorly compacted, porous (seawater -rich) volcaniclastic
rocks in the first ~100 m below the sea floor, the precipitation
of quartz, smectite, carbonate, anhydrite, barite, and sulfides
may have formed a sealed cap rock and perhaps a sea-floor
deposit. Carbonate units deposited at the sea floor or contained within the volcaniclastic succession may act as chemical traps that preferentially concentrated metals through dissolution and open-space filling and neutralization and/or
replacement processes (e.g., Errington and V ermilion deposits: Gray and Gibson, 1993; Stoness et al., 1993; Chisel
and North Chisel deposits: Galley et al., 1993; Lynne deposit:
DeMatties, 1994; Garpenberg and Nora deposits: Allen et al.,
1996a; Lewis ponds: Agnew et al., 2005). The cap rock may
force additional lateral flow of the hydrothermal fluid, resulting in the downward and lateral growth of the sulfide deposit
into progressively less porous and less permeable strata (Gibson and Kerr , 1993). Fine-grained argillite, carbonaceous
argillite, chert, flows, sills, and cryptodomes within the volcaniclastic succession may act as aquacludes that disrupted
subsea-floor fluid migration, impeded and trapped ascending
545
546
FRANKLIN ET AL.
hydrothermal fluid, and resulted in sulfide precipitation along

and below their lower contacts. The depth below the sea floor
at which sulfide precipitation and emplacement can occur efficiently is difficult to estimate, but precipitation is constrained by the ability of cool, downdrawn seawater to descend to depths of several hundreds meters (Doyle and Allen,
2003).
Subsea-floor deposition and replacement requires the upward and outward movement of a tremendous volume of hydrothermal fluid, some of which must escape to be vented on
the sea floor to form a metalliferous exhalite and/or a seafloor VMS deposit (e.g., Kidd Creek: Hannington et al., 1999;
Potter deposit: Gibson and Gamble, 2000) The rate of accumulation of volcaniclastic or sedimentary lithofacies may influence the relative amount of subsea-floor versus sea-floor
mineralization. If the rate of sulfide accumulation is exceeded
by the rate of sedimentation, perhaps due to the burial by numerous thick volcaniclastic deposits, then continued hydrothermal activity may result in a change from sea-floor to
subsea-floor deposition (Doyle and Allen, 2003).
Doyle and Allen (2003) suggested three criteria that are indicative of subsea-floor deposits: (1) relics of the host rocks
within the sulfide deposit (Horne: Kerr and Mason, 1990;
Kidd Creek: Hannington et al., 1999a); (2) facies characteristics that indicate rapid emplacement of the host lithofacies
(Hellyer: Allen, 1994); and (3) recognition of replacement
front between the sulfide deposit and host rocks (Ansil: Galley et al., 1995). Subsea-floor inflation, precipitation, and replacement provide a more efficient mechanism to trap a
higher proportion of metals, as compared to direct venting at
the sea floor.
Growth of sulfide deposits may also be affected by explosive hydrothermal or hydrovolcanic processes, as initially proposed by L ydon (1988). Self sealing may trigger hydraulic
fracturing that may potentially brecciate the sulfide lens
thereby increasing its volume and size. Hydrothermal or hydrovolcanic explosions may also provide a viable mechanism
to explain the morphology of footwall stringer or stockwork
zones and the volume increase that accompanies their development within flows (Gibson et al., 1986; Embley et al.,
1988). For example, growth of a sulfide mound through precipitation of sulfides at or immediately below the sea floor
may seal the vent and result in a concomitant rise in fluid
overpressure. Depending on hydrostatic pressure (water
depth) and the amount of fluid overpressure, the footwall
rocks may fracture or brecciate (mild hydrothermal explosion) resulting in the dislocation, rotation, and upward displacement of footwall breccia fragments. Once established,
sulfide precipitation occurred within the footwall fractures or
in the breccia matrix, resulting in the development of a classic sulfide stringer or stockwork zone (Embley et al., 1988;
Gibson et al., 1999).
Distal products
The distal products of submarine hydrothermal discharge,
exhalites, are thin but typically extensive (10s of km) units
composed of a terrigenous or tuffaceous component and a
chemical or hydrothermal component. The presence of exhalite units within a submarine volcanic succession is a firstorder indicator that hydrothermal activity took place during
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periods of volcanic quiescence (Spry et al., 2000). Exhalites

are particularly significant where they coincide with changes
in the composition of a volcanic succession, at abrupt changes
in volcanic facies (and composition), or at changes from a predominately volcanic to sedimentary lithofacies.
During submarine hydrothermal discharge not all of the
components are precipitated in the immediate environment of
the VMS deposits. In many, there is evidence of a very extensive, diffuse, low-temperature, unfocused hydrothermal venting that can precede deposit formation, be synchronous with
it, or postdate it. This low-temperature leakage may surround
the deposit site for hundreds of meters or more. Emanations
may simply disperse into seawater, but because they are commonly warm and H 2S rich, they may provide the energy and
nutrients for local bacterial blooms, which have been observed
around many active sea-floor vent sites (Jonasson and Perfit,
1999). In ore deposits these may be present in carbonaceous
pelite aureoles and hanging-wall rocks around deposit sites. In
addition, silica is typically oversaturated in low-temperature
fluids, as its precipitation is slow due to kinetic effects. Nucleation of dissolved silica on bacterial matte, particularly in the
presence of abundant Fe in solution (Y ee et al., 2003), may
lead to the formation of silica-rich chemical sediment that,
during diagenesis, forms chert or ferruginous chert (Juniper
and Fouquet, 1988). Barium, which is also conserved in VMS
hydrothermal systems, commonly forms a cap of barite on exhalation into oxic seawater but may also be retained in silicates
and clays in the subsurface (Y udovskaya, 1997). A second
process, discussed by Feely et al. (1987), is the fallout of ferromanganese particles, silica, and clays from hydrothermal
plumes. These rise as much as several hundred meters above
the vent sites (see Hannington et al., 2005), and minor local
fallout from them is dispersed in thin pelagic or turbiditic sedimentary layers that accumulate around VMS deposits.
Mixed with the products of these two processes is a variable, and in some cases a considerable amount, of epiclastic
detrital material depending on proximity to, and tectonic activity along, the arc. This may take the form of clay-sized particles, pelagic, or hemipelagic matter that settles from the
water column, forming a pelitic layer that may be organic rich
under an anoxic water layer . However, in proximal volcanic
environments such as those that are associated with bimodalmafic and bimodal-felsic VMS deposits, fine volcaniclastic
sediment will predominate. In environments that are intensely volcanically active, many hydrothermal systems are
severely impeded and exhalites may not have formed or are
restricted to the immediate hydrothermal vent sites (e.g.,
Corbet; Gibson et al., 1993). In pelitic-mafic and siliciclasticfelsic VMS settings many of the sulfide deposits formed
largely in the immediate sea-floor subsurface and therefore
may not be associated with extensive exhalative deposits.
The distal products of hydrothermal systems are important
for at least two reasons. First, they commonly act to cap and
protect the deposits, as mentioned above. In some cases
(Matagami Lake, Quebec, Manitouwadge, Ontario, and other
Archean deposits: Sangster , 1978; Bergslagen, N ew Brunswick, and Norwegian Caledonides: Grenne and Slack, 2003;
Iberia: Leistel et al., 1998a; Gacun, China: Hou et al., 1999;
Hokuroku district, Japan (termed tetsusekiei): Kanbara et al.,
1984; Shikazono, 1999), some of the deposits may actually
546
form under them, by lateral diffusion of hydrothermal fluid

through permeable strata that are sealed at the active sea
floor by relatively impermeable chert, clay-silica altered detritus, or pelite. Second, they are typically laterally extensive
and may contain chemical signatures, such as elevated concentrations of Eu, Tl, Mn, P , Ag, and the base metals that
identify proximity to a high-temperature discharge site
(Comba, 1975; Kalogeropoulos and Scott, 1983; Spry et al.,
2000; Gale et al., 2002; Peter and Goodfellow , 2003).
547
As described above, where reaction zones have been

mapped (primarily in basaltic terranes but also in the Middle
Valley sediment-dominated midocean ridge) vast quantities
of the base metals, along with K and Ba, have been removed.
The amount of metal available or removed from these zones
relative to that which is present in the massive sulfide deposits can only be examined semiquantitatively , as precipitation efficiencies are not well known and the size of the
reaction zone is not well constrained. Most major volcanicdominated districts, as defined by clusters of deposits, have
Metal and sulfur sources
strike lengths of 35 to 100 km, which would translate into seaThe metal contents of active sea-floor VMS fluids are well
floor surface areas of about 1,000 to 10,000 km 2; Cyprus, for
documented (Hannington et al., 2005). In principle, two
example, one of the less deformed, moderately sized mature
sources have been proposed. The most widely accepted
districts, occupies about 4,000 km 2 and contains about 1.2
source is a high-temperature reaction zone deep (>1 km)
million tons of base metal. A reaction zone underlying this
within the footwall strata to VMS deposits (e.g., epidotearea, about 2 km thick, contains over three times that amount
quartz alteration described above). In this model, the metals
of metal (Richardson et al., 1987). Obtaining sufficient metal
and sulfur are derived through high-temperature interaction
by hydrothermal reactions through the breakdown and transbetween modified seawater and rock. The second source is a formation of several sources described above is quite permissible. In addition, the dissolution of immiscible sulfides in
direct magmatic contribution, during devolitization, to account for all or some of the metals and sulfur in the deposits. basalt may be an important source of metals as well (Hannington et al., 1999b).
High-temperature reaction zones as a source of metals and
Magmatic sources of metals and sulfur: Metals may have
sulfur: Metal solubility is pH dependent, so the equilibrium
pH attained through the water-rock interactions within high- been obtained directly from magmatically generated fluid,
and even a small proportion of metal-rich magmatic fluid can
temperature reaction zones is controlled by the mineral assemblage and temperature (L ydon, 1984, 1988). James et al. significantly increase the metal budget of subsea-floor hydrothermal systems (Yang and Scott, 2003). A comprehensive
(2003) and Seyfried et al. (1980) have shown experimentally
review of the evidence for magmatic input for sea-floor hythat as pH decreases with increasing temperature, the soludrothermal systems is presented by de Ronde (1995) and
bilities of Ba and many other metal species (except Mg) increase rapidly, and concentrations similar to those observed in Hannington et al. (2005). Metals and other constituents may
sea-floor hydrothermal fluids at about 300C are attained. Ex- have been contributed to the subsea-floor hydrothermal system through magmatic degassing, in a manner similar to that
perimental work with evolved seawater and basalt (Seyfried
for porphyry Cu and high-sulfidation gold deposits. Such a
and Janecky, 1985; Seyfried and Ding, 1995; Seyfried et al.,
1999) indicates that at reaction temperatures of 375
to magmatic fluid may be delivered directly to the sea floor, mix
with fluids generated by convection, or be introduced as a
385C at 300 to 500 bars, the base metal contents of experilater, superimposed constituent. A direct contribution requires
mental fluids closely match those of the measured values for
special circumstances in a seawater-dominated hydrothermal
sea-floor fluids in basalt-dominated terranes, and that these
reactions produce an epidote-albiteactinolite-quartz assem- system, such as a shallow-level magma chamber (intrusion)
and deep penetrating faults that allow magmatic fluids and
blage, much like that observed in high-temperature reaction
zones within basaltic strata. Results of these experiments also metals to reach the sea floor relatively intact. Most arguments
for a magmatic contribution to VMS deposits center on the
indicate that seawater interaction with sedimentary strata,
and by analogy felsic strata, under low (<10) water/rock ratio following considerations:
conditions produce a metalliferous fluid at lower tempera1. Like their subaerial analogs, differences in the compositures (~250300C) than in basalt. For example, Seyfried et
al. (1980) and Thornton and Seyfried (1987) have shown that tion of sea-floor vent gases (particularly N2, Ar, He, and CO2)
at 300C and 500 bars the equilibrium pH of seawater react- reflect their association with different magma types, which
has been interpreted to link vent fluid volatile and perhaps
ing with illite-rich sediments is 3.87 and with smectite-rich
metal composition to magmatic volatiles and magmatic desediments is 3.02. At such low pH values (about the same as
those obtained at higher, ~380C temperature in basalt), met- gassing (deRonde, 1995).
2. The occurrence of fluid inclusions with salinities signifials are easily dissolved.
cantly greater than seawater has been used to indicate the
Given that zinc and lead are soluble at relatively low tempresence of magmatic fluids (e.g., W indy Craggy, 617 wt %
peratures (<300C) compared with copper , and that a hydrothermal fluid generated in equilibrium with sediment may N aCl equiv: Peter and Scott, 1993, 1999; Mattagami Lake,
2035 wt % NaCl equiv: Costa et al., 1983; Millenbach, 2747
attain a sufficiently low pH to leach metals from these sediwt % NaCl equiv: Lao, 1982). Fluid inclusions of similar salinments at this temperature (James et al., 2003), it is possible
ity, reported in gabbro and plagiogranite at midocean ridges
that fluids formed in sediments may have significantly lower
copper contents than those formed in basalt. Thus, very large are interpreted to be a product of supercritical phase separation at temperatures and pressures exceeding 600C and 600
reservoirs of Zn-Pbrich, Cu-poor fluid may form in the silibars that reflect near -magmatic conditions (Delaney et al.,
ciclastic-felsic environment and may underpin the explana1987; Kelly and Delaney, 1987; Vanko, 1988).
tion for the relatively large size of this deposit type.
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547
FRANKLIN ET AL.
3. Isotope studies (e.g., O, H, S, and Pb) indicate that magmatic fluids may have been an important component of VMSforming hydrothermal fluids (Urabe, 1987; Urabe and
Marumo, 1991; de Ronde, 1995).
4. The anomalous trace element composition of some
VMS ores, including the significant enrichment in Cu, Bi, Se,
and Co, and high Se/S ratio within the Kidd Creek bornite
zone, are consistent with input from felsic magmatic hydrothermal systems (Hannington et al., 1999a). Huston et al.
(1993) and Large (1992) have speculated that Cu, Bi, and Se
enrichment in VMS ores may indicate involvement of magmatic fluids.
5. Melt inclusions in the footwall rocks of actively forming
sulfide chimneys at P ACMANUS in the Manus basin and of
VMS deposits in the Bathurst camp (Y ang and Scott, 1996,
2003; Yang et al., 1997) contain significant amounts of base
metals (e.g., 2.3 wt % Zn, 7.2 wt % Cu, 2.7 wt % Fe, 1.15 wt
% Ni, and 2.7 wt % S; Y ang and Scott, 1996), indicating the
presence of a metal-rich fluid phase in preerupted magmas
that could have separated and contributed base metals and
volatiles to the hydrothermal systems that formed VMS deposits.
6. Gold-rich VMS deposits that are also characterized by
enrichment in Cu, Co, Bi, Te, In, and Sn and/or the presence
of advanced argillic alteration zones have been interpreted as
analogs to high-sulfidation Cu-Au deposits where the metals
and gold have a magmatic source (Hannington et al., 1999b;
Large et al., 2001a).
Stable and radiogenic isotopes: In examining the problems
of metal sources, Franklin et al. (1981) and Thorpe (1999)
showed that the lead isotope composition of VMS deposits
within a single district is commonly homogeneous but such
isotopic compositions are quite different between districts.
For example, within the Abitibi belt in the Superior province
of the Canadian Shield, the N oranda, Matagami, V al DOr,
and Timmins districts each have distinct compositions and are
disposed in two principal groups (Fig. 15). V ervoort et al.
(1993, 1994) determined that these differences are related to
compositional variations in the mantle source for the volcanic
assemblages that form the footwall sequences to each district.
Franklin and Thorpe (1982) noted that the Slave province
galena compositions form two distinct clusters, one which has
a significant contribution of lead from very old basement
rocks (Acasta region ~4.0 Ga) that underlie part of the
province, and the other a more primitive mantle-derived
source. The lead isotope compositions of galena from the
Bathurst camp (Franklin et al., 1981; Thorpe et al., 1981;
Hussein, 1996) indicate that each deposit is homogeneous,
but the compositions vary between deposits, forming a poorly
defined linear array , indicating a mid- to late- Precambrian
lead source consistent with the footwall sedimentary assemblage that was the product of weathering of an adjacent Precambrian terrane. In contrast, the lead isotope compositions
of the Iberian deposits, with the notable exception of Neves
Corvo, are all similar (Marcoux, 1998), relatively radiogenic,
and generated in U- and Th-enriched source rocks, indicating
that a well-mixed, giant (district-scale) source of sulfide-bearing fluid formed in continental crust. At Neves Corvo, Marcoux (1998) suggested that fluids originated from three
sources: (1) continental crustal, identical to the other Iberian
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0.0
0.5
1.0
Age (Ga)
548
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
3.5
20
10
30
40
S( )
34
FIG. 15. Sulfur isotope compositions of VMS deposits through time (after
Huston, 1999). Open squares are massive sulfide compositions; black squares
are for coexisting sulfate. For the post 1.0 Ga period, gray pattern is contemporaneous seawater. N ote the parallel distribution of sulfide and seawater
compositions for this time range.
deposits; (2) remobilized from an Eohercynian tin-rich source,

forming the tin-rich zones; and (3) deep Precambrian continental crust. This interpretation is consistent with the unique
generation of the Neves Corvo tin-copper zones. Finally Fehn
et al. (1983) noted that each deposit in the Kuroko district has
a unique lead isotope composition, although overall the
deposits have a narrow compositional range. They attributed
the source of metals primarily to the penecontemporaneous
548
volcanic strata that underlie the deposit, mixed with a significant contribution from the pre-N ishikurozawa rocks that
underlie the Hokuroku basin. Thus evidence from Pb isotope data suggest that the metal-rich fluid formed in a district-scale hydrothermal reservoir and that wholly volcanic
reservoir rocks of homogeneous source and composition produce tightly clustered Pb isotope data, whereas mixed volcanic and sedimentary reservoirs containing rocks of multiple origins and compositions produce heterogeneous Pb
isotope compositions.
Sulfur isotope data provide further insight on the hydrothermal fluid source. Huston (1999) summarized data on
the sulfur isotope composition of VMS deposits through time
(Fig. 16); the variability in S isotope composition of Precambrian deposits is much smaller than for those in the Phanerozoic, typically close to 0 per mil. As sulfate and sulfide minerals are never in isotopic equilibrium in Phanerozoic VMS
deposits, they must be interpreted separately. Sangster (1968)
and Huston (1999) noted parallel temporal distributions of
sulfur isotope values for seawater and sulfide minerals in
Phanerozoic deposits. On average, the sulfur isotope compositions of sulfides in these deposits are 17.5
2.5 per mil
lower than contemporaneous seawater , whereas sulfate minerals (barite, gypsum) typically have a composition similar to
contemporaneous seawater . Sangster (1968) proposed that
the sulfur was derived by biogenic reduction of seawater sulfate. Alternatively , Ohmoto et al. (1983), Solomon et al.
(1988), and Huston (1999) suggested that seawater sulfate reduction could also occur by the oxidation of ferrous iron (or
reduced carbon) in the hydrothermal cell. They noted that at
temperatures between 250 and 400C fractionation of sulfur
isotopes between aqueous sulfur and sulfide is 25 to 19 per
mil, close to the 17 per mil average, and that the addition of
volcanic sulfur directly, through magmatic devolatilization or
through leaching from volcanic rocks, would decrease the
34S of the ore fluid.
14.55
14.5
NORANDA
204
Pb
14.45
TIMMINS
207
Pb/
14.4
VA L D'OR
CONIAGAS
NORMETAL
14.35
14.3
SELBAIE
MATAGAMI
14.25
13.15
13.2
206
13.25
Pb/
204
13.3
13.35
13.4
Pb
FIG. 16. Lead isotope data for various districts within the Abitibi belt, Superior province, Canada. Note the distinct clustering of data for each camp
and extensive spread of data for deposits that all formed within a narrow
(27302698 Ma) time interval. Data from Thorpe (1999), and Franklin and
Thorpe (1982).
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549
Recent data indicate a relationship between the sulfur

isotope composition of sulfides and the geologic setting. Deposits of any age that occur in mafic-dominated settings (bimodal-mafic, mafic, and pelitic-mafic types, including deposits forming in modern spreading ridges) have values
slightly heavier (i.e., 02) than mantle sulfur (e.g., W indy
Craggy, ~1; Peter and Scott, 1999). Deposits in the more
felsic- or sedimentary-dominated settings, or any that formed
where basement rocks may include older crust, have sulfur
isotope values that are typically more variable and heavier .
Reservoirs that include a substantial content of older crust,
particularly those with a significant clastic sedimentary component, such as Bathurst and Iberia, contain sulfur that
formed predominantly by biogenic reduction of contemporaneous seawater. Others may have two sources, primitive mantle-derived volcanic rock and continental-derived sediments
or their melted, recycled products. Unfortunately , there are
few sulfur isotope data from potential source rocks to test
these hypotheses.
Broad-scale controls
Many of the parameters that determine distribution, composition, size, and morphology of VMS deposits are related
ultimately to their tectonic setting, as has been implicit in the
previous discussions. Features such as water depth (which
may directly control composition) and magmatic input (possibly overprinting hydrothermal systems with gold, e.g., Robert
et al., 2005) to some extent are related to the attributes of
subduction and related rifting.
Plate tectonic-scale controls: VMS deposits formed in collisional environments (ocean-ocean and ocean-continent convergence) during discrete periods of rifting that periodically
punctuate the dominantly compressive, collisional event.
Rifting due to slab rollback (and slab tearing) occur where the
slab is steep, due to the subduction of old, relatively cold, and
thus dense oceanic crust. This results in formation of a
backarc basin by ocean-ward retreat of the subduction zone,
asthenospheric uprise, and decoupling of underthrust and
overriding plates (Blundell, 2002), or by the slowing or cessation of subduction and tectonic collapse following collision to
form successor basins (e.g., Mount Read district; Crawford et
al., 1992). Rifting may also be induced by mantle plume development under either the subducting or overriding plate
(e.g., Kidd Creek; Wyman et al., 1999). Back-arc extension in
areas of more complex plate geometry may also be a product
of oblique plate convergence that results in transpression
during plate rotation and the development of large extensional transforms in the backarc environment (Manus basin;
Hannington et al., 2005). A consequence of extension and
rifting is subsidence, thinning of the crust, and the rise of hot,
asthenospheric mantle into the base of the continental or
oceanic crust. Underplating of the crust by ultramafic or
mafic magmas, derived through depressurization-induced
partial melting of the mantle, results in low-pressure partial
melting of the hydrated crust at a <15-km depth, and the generation of 800 to 1,000C tonalitic and trondhjemitic anhydrous melts (e.g., Barker and Arth, 1976; Hart et al., 2004).
The rapid ascent of hot rhyolitic melts, along with mantlederived basaltic melts, results in bimodal volcanism that
characterizes rift and VMS environments. The association of
549
550
FRANKLIN ET AL.
boninite, a high-temperature mantle melt, with some VMS

deposits is also indicative of a high-temperature environment
(e.g., Snow Lake: Bailes and Galley
, 1999; Kidd Creek:
Wyman et al., 1999; Betts Cove: Bedard, 1999; Fyre Lake:
Piercey et al., 2001).
Bimodal magmatism that accompanies rifting results in the
rapid and focused advection of magmatic heat within the rift
to the near -surface environment and the development of
long-lived, deep-penetrating, reactivated faults and fractures.
These conditions are required to sustain vigorous long-lived
VMS hydrothermal convective systems (Lentz, 1998; Hart et
al., 2004). Faults within rift environments may also allow seawater to penetrate into subvolcanic intrusions (Lister 1976)
and mix with magmatically generated metalliferous fluid or
allow a direct magmatic contribution from shallow crustal
level (312 km) magma chambers (Hart et al., 2004). Subsidence, and the generation of submarine basins that follows
initial uplift during rifting, along with burial, facilitates the
preservation of VMS deposits.
The shift from collisional to extensional regimes during collision is reflected by a change in basalt composition from
basalt with an arc affinity , reflecting a pronounced slab component during collision, to basalt with a MORB affinity , reflecting a direct mantle contribution, and in continental crust,
a shift to basalt with more alkaline affinity (Piercey and Gibson, 2005). The occurrence of high-silica, high-temperature
rhyolite (see above) and their intrusive equivalents, the
tonalitic and trondhjemitic subvolcanic intrusions, also are indicative of this shift in tectonic-magmatic regimes (Hart et al.,
2004).
VMS, porphyry copper , and epithermal deposits rarely
occur within the same accreted collisional terrane. In many
arc-backarc systems, the three deposit types are in close proximity (e.g., Tethyan belt in Turkey) because of terrane juxtaposition. However, the VMS deposits formed during separate
(typically earlier arc-splitting or backarc) tectonic-magmatic
events that accompanied plate convergence and arc development (Sillitoe, 1999). However , gold enrichment in some
VMS deposits may be related to overprinting by a penecontemporaneous epithermal event. For example, a return to a
compressional tectonic environment during convergence and
associated uplift may result in gradual emergence, shallower
water volcanism, and formation of high-sulfidation gold systems that may overprint only slightly older (<1 m.y.) VMS deposits that probably formed in deeper water (e.g. Wetar; Scotney et al., 1999).
Relationship to calderas: Sangster (1977) noted that VMS
deposits occur in clusters, districts, or camps and suggested
an underlying structural control. W ithin individual districts,
deposits are not randomly distributed but occur within restricted time-stratigraphic intervals or ore horizons defined
by any one or a combination of (1) an exhalative unit; (2) a
change in rock type or magma composition, and (3) a change
in depositional environment marked by a change in lithofacies association (e.g., a volcanic to sedimentary environment).
The pronounced stratigraphic control indicates that VMS deposits formed at a specific time or times during the late-stage
evolution of central volcanic complexes, and there is growing
evidence to suggest that the link between VMS formation and
the coupled tectonic and magmatic evolution of submarine
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volcanic complexes may be explained by processes that accompany caldera formation.

VMS-hosting calderas range from 1 to 2 km in diameter
(e.g., Myojin Knoll; Fiske et al., 2001), to 5 to 20 km (N oranda: Gibson and W atkinson, 1990; Sturgeon Lake: Hudak
et al., 2003; Flin Flon: Syme et al., 1996b; Joutel: Lafrance et
al., 2000, Hunter Mine: Mueller and Mortensen, 2002; Bald
Mountain: Busby et al., 2003), up to several tens of kilometers
(4050 km; Rosebery-Hercules, Bathurst: Rogers et al., 2003;
Hokuroku: Ohmoto et al., 1983). The possible relationship
between caldera-forming processes and VMS formation is illustrated using stages of the caldera cycle as a framework, as
described by Smith and Bailey (1968).
First, like VMS deposits, calderas formed late in the evolution of many volcanoes and their occurrence indicates that
magma was not erupted directly from the melt source, but
that some magma was emplaced into shallow-level subvolcanic magma chambers, the subvolcanic intrusions described
above, within the volcano. The precaldera stage was dominated by high heat flow and vigorous widespread hydrothermal convection focused directly above the magma chamber .
Second, the voluminous eruption of magma from a highlevel chamber , either via explosive pyroclastic eruptions
(Sturgeon Lake and Rosebery-Hercules) or outpourings as
flows and fire-fountain deposits (N oranda, Flin Flon), occurred as a geologically instantaneous event in the evolution
of a volcano. This ties VMS deposits to specific time and thus
stratigraphic intervals.
Third, during tumescence and collapse, large-scale crossstratal structural pathways were created. These include outward-dipping faults that formed during and immediately after
collapse and along inward-dipping faults during postcaldera
resurgence (Stix et al., 2003). This stage represents a time of
aerially restricted structural permeability and high heat flow
that facilitated the entry of abundant seawater into the system, promoted vigorous convection, metal leaching, and perhaps access to magmatic volatiles and metals from a highlevel magma chamber. Faults and fractures would also focus
discharge to coincident volcanic-hydrothermal vents within
and along the margins of the caldera, explaining variations in
proximal volcanic assemblages hosting VMS deposits within a
single district.
Fourth, in the postcollapse stage, volcanic quiescence allows VMS formation and the deposition of fine tuffaceous,
clastic or chemical sedimentary strata (exhalites) that define
the ore horizon in some districts. These ore-equivalent strata
may become metal enriched in the vicinity of deposits. If hydrothermal discharge continued during magma resurgence,
stratigraphically stacked deposits as at N oranda may have
formed (e.g., Upper and Lower A deposits; Gibson and
Watkinson, 1990). In a highly sedimented environment (continental backarc) the caldera may be filled or buried by sediments (e.g., Iberian Pyrite Belt).
In summary , caldera-forming processes are favorable for
the formation of VMS deposits. The focused high heat flow
and cross-stratal structural permeability that is restricted in
time and space to caldera development provides an explanation for the clustering of VMS deposits and their restriction to
specific time-stratigraphic intervals and structures in the evolution of submarine central volcanic complexes.
550
The significance of water depth: Water depth equates to hydrostatic pressure, which limits pyroclastic eruptions, and, in
VMS formation, hydrostatic pressure along with temperature,
fluid salinity, and gas content govern the depth of boiling of
an ascending hydrothermal fluid in a submarine hydrothermal system. This is particularly important with respect to gold
and base metal solubility (discussed above). Boiling and the
resulting phase separation can result in formation of a base
metal-poor vapor, enriched in volatiles, and a base metal-rich
residual fluid. The vapor and residual fluid may produce two
different types of deposits, both of which can be enriched in
gold but may have different gold-to-base metal ratios (Axial
Seamount; Butterfield et al., 1988; Hannington et al., 1999b).
Therefore, establishing reliable criteria for estimating
water depth has significance in targeting shallower water volcanic successions that may host gold-rich (and copper -poor)
deposits. It is erroneous to infer relative water depths for the
three lithofacies associations that host VMS deposits. For example, although the paucity of volcaniclastic (pyroclastic)
rocks in the flow lithofacies association may be consistent
with environments of higher hydrostatic pressure associated
with deeper water , the eruption and emplacement of flows,
domes, and cryptodomes are not constrained by water depth.
In VMS-hosting successions formed below storm wave base
there are few undisputed water
-depth estimates, except
where fluid inclusion data obtained from the deposit or fossils
can be used to constrain a minimum water depth (e.g., Bald
Mountain: Busby et al., 2003; Eskay Creek: Sherlock et al.,
1999). Even the occurrence of in situ pyroclastic rocks is not
a criterion. Many have suggested that pyroclastic eruptions
are shallow-water phenomena, and their presence precluded
in situ occurrence of VMS deposits because of boiling
(McBirney, 1963; Kokelaar , 1986; Cas, 1992). However , the
occurrence of VMS deposits in shallower water environments
on the present-day sea floor and in ancient volcanic successions, where in some cases boiling occurred, and the occurrence of in situ felsic and mafic pyroclastic deposits on the
present-day sea floor at water depths of 2,000 and 4,000 m,
respectively, has challenged this interpretation (e.g., Axial
Seamount: Butterfield et al., 1990; Palinuro: Hannington et
al., 1991; Desmos caldera: Sakai et al., 1990; Eskay Creek:
Sherlock et al., 1999; Boliden: Allen et al.,1996; Sumisu
backarc rift: Gill et al., 1990; Moyen Knoll: Fiske et al., 2001;
Kermadec arc: Wright et al., 2003; T onga arc: Stoffers et al.,
2003; Mid-Atlantic Ridge: Eissen et al., 2003; Clague et al.,
2003a,b). Pyroclastic eruptions at these depths require special
circumstances such as higher volatile contents (i.e., 35%
CO2 and H2O in alkaline to transitional tholeiitic magmas) or
the collection and concentration of magmatic volatiles in
dikes or in shallow magma chambers to form vesicular froths
(>90% by volume vesicles; Head and W ilson, 2003); they do
occur on the present-day sea floor and, in some cases, are associated with VMS deposits (Fiske et al., 2001).
Thus, the ability to confidently estimate water depths between storm wave base and 3,000+ m based on lithofacies
alone has been problematic. However, it may be that the composition of VMS deposits and their alteration assemblages ar e
better guides to water depth (Hannington et al., 1999b; Gibson et al., 1999; Huston and Cas, 2000). For example, boiling
may result in the development of aluminosilicate alteration
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551
assemblages (argillic alteration, possibly with alunite), complex mineral assemblages (sulfosalts), and enrichment in
elements typical of low- (Ag, As, Sb, Hg, Tl) and high-sulfidation (Co, Bi, Te, In, and Sn) epithermal systems (Hannington et al., 1999b). Thus, aluminosilicate (argillic) alteration assemblages observed with occurrences of anomalous
epithermal-like base and precious metal mineralization in
submarine volcanic successions may be useful in recognizing
shallower water successions with potential to host gold-rich
deposits.
Summary
There have been many advances in our understanding of
VMS systems since publication of the
Economic Geology
Seventy-Fifth Anniversary V olume. Research on active hydrothermal systems provided new information on the role of
high-temperature fluids in the crust, the details of sulfide precipitation and metal zoning mechanisms, primitive and possibly fundamental life forms, and some of the factors controlling the composition of ocean water. Research on old terranes
has added knowledge about compositional variations, alteration, volcanic-tectonic settings, subvolcanic intrusions and
provides insight into the role of the physical and chemical attributes of volcanism in effecting the formation of VMS deposits. We now have a broad perspective on the evolution of
volcanic successions that host VMS deposits and related
processes. Listed below , from larger to smaller scale, are
those that have had a significant impact on our knowledge
and understanding of, and exploration for, these deposits:
The timing of VMS formation is episodic and related to the
reassembly of major continents following the breakup of earlier supercontinents. For example, VMS-producing hydrothermal systems were most prolific just prior to the collision
of continental fragments that migrated away from Gondwana
and eventually impinged on Europe and Asia during the
Tethyan orogeny . In post-Precambrian times, prolific VMS
formation was associated with the onset of ocean-continent
collision.
Although VMS deposits occur in collisional environments
(ocean-ocean and ocean-continent), it was the onset of arc-related rifting (arc, fore-arc, and backarc), caused by the subduction of old, cold oceanic crust and slab rollback, mantle
plumes, or extension produced by transpression and rotation
of plates due to oblique convergence (e.g., the Manus Basin),
that provided the thermal and extensional structural setting
necessary to initiate and sustain long-lived, high-temperature
hydrothermal systems responsible for the formation of VMS
deposits. In most arc-related settings, peak extension or rifting was short lived and the deposits formed in less than 2 to 3
m.y. Rifting is recognized by a change in basalt composition
from primitive arc and arc to MORB, and in continental environments by the occurrence of alkaline basalt and MORB.
In all environments, rifting may be identified by the occurrence of high-temperature, high silica rhyolite, and its intrusive equivalent (tonalite-trondhjemite) in subvolcanic intrusions; the latter were emplaced at mid- to shallow-crustal
levels, and in some cases dike swarms.
Physical volcanological attributes affect the processes of
deposit morphology and location at both local and district
scales. Sulfide deposits form on and below the sea floor and
551
552
FRANKLIN ET AL.
this reflects differences in the primary permeability and

porosity of volcanic and sedimentary lithofacies that host the
deposits. Subsea-floor inflation, precipitation, and replacement provide a more efficient mechanism to trap a higher
proportion of metals, as compared to direct venting at the sea
floor. Thus, subsea-floor processes may be responsible for
forming larger VMS deposits, and volcanic successions dominated by volcaniclastic and/or siliciclastic lithofacies are preferred targets.
Traditional estimates of water depth limits on VMS formation, as provided by their association with pyroclastic eruptions, have been questioned. Such pyroclastic activity is now
known to extend to near 2,000-m water depth for felsic compositions and to >3,000 m for mafic compositions; conversely,
VMS deposits are now known to form in shallow-water environments (<500-m depths). Some gold-rich deposits with
mineralogical and metal attributes (Cu-Au enrichment, with
elevated Bi, Te, In, and Sn content), and aluminous (argillic)
alteration assemblages, may be a product of direct magmatic
input in shallower water (<1,500 m) environments. More research, using volcanological facies interpretations, sedimentological process indicators, and interpretations of pressure
from fluid inclusion studies, is required to define criteria indicative of water depth that can be used to confidently predict
compositional attributes.
VMS deposits formed at a specific time interval or intervals
in the evolution of submarine volcanoes that may be related
to times of focused, areally restricted, high heat flow , and
cross-stratal structural permeability.
Semiconformable alteration zones are subdivided into two
parts, a shallow, lower temperature zone (0<500 m), marked
by high fluid flux and a higher temperature, metal-depleted
deeper zone (typically 5002,500 m), marked by low fluid
flux. This has significant implications for the source of metals
in VMS deposits and for exploration. N ew field-based data,
together with fluid-dynamic modeling in the high-temperature reaction zones have enabled preliminary quantitative
modeling of VMS potential. Mapping of alteration assemblages and intensities within semiconformable alteration
zones now permits the identification of the caps to the
deeper, high-temperature parts of these zones, as well as synvolcanic faults (fluid conduits) and synvolcanic intrusions.
Recent research confirms that high-temperature, relatively
shallow crustal level (<12 km, typically ~24 km below the
paleosea floor) subvolcanic intrusions are produced in extensional environments favorable for the formation of VMS deposits. Early intrusive phases may have provided some of the
heat required to drive and sustain high-temperature convection. However, the later , more voluminous intrusive phases
were likely emplaced into their own volcanic edifices during
resurgent volcanism where they may define the limits of
calderas and VMS deposits.
High-silica rhyolite and related phases of subvolcanic intrusions are a product of low-pressure, relatively shallow (<15
km) partial melting of the crust due to mantle underplating
by mafic or ultramafic magmas in rift environments. This rhyolite, along with subvolcanic intrusions and high-temperature
semiconformable alteration zones define long-lived, thermal
and structural corridors favorable for initiating and sustaining
high-temperature hydrothermal systems responsible for VMS
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formation.
Recent studies of both active and extinct sea-floor hydrothermal systems illustrate the strong structural control on
the location of deposits and their association with steeply
dipping, possibly listric rift or graben-bounding master faults
and associated secondary structures that may occur within, or
are restricted to, the margins of larger subsidence structures,
such as calderas. The coincidence between volcanic and hydrothermal vents is attributed to the similar structural control
on magma emplacement and hydrothermal fluids.
Sulfide mineral solubility is constrained by the metal content, pH, temperature, and sulfur activity of the fluid, attributes that were set primarily at the reaction site but modified
during fluid ascent. Experimental work has shown that reaction zones developed in sedimentary or felsic strata may gain
metals and sulfur at significantly lower temperatures
(<300C) than in basaltic terranes (<380C). Data from sulfur
and lead isotopes support the contention that most of the
metals were derived by a leaching reaction from the rocks
present in the deeper semiconformable alteration zones.
A magmatic metal contribution to VMS ore fluids is a matter of current debate. The gold content, the enormous metal
content of giant deposits, and various trace metal enrichments (As, Sb, Hg, Ag, Te, Sn) that typify some deposits (e.g.,
Boliden, Eskay Creek, Laronde, Horne, N eves Corvo, and
Kidd Creek) argue for a magmatic contribution. Tellurium, in
particular, may be introduced from a magmatic source; the
remainder from either a volatile-rich (boiling) or magmatic
system. The high Au (>2 g/t) content of some deposits can result from a change of transporting ligand (sulfide vs. chloride), possibly induced by boiling that can result in an enhanced efficiency of precipitation by oxidation or some other
process that destabilizes the Au(HS) - complex.
Research on footwall alteration zones (alteration pipes) has
focused on better defining the controls on their morphology
and on using trace elements as vectors. The most significant
contribution, however, is the recognition of hanging-wall alteration zones that occur above many deposits. The chemical
and mineralogical characteristics of these alteration zones, related vectors for exploration, and the complex set of processes
that may be responsible for hanging-wall alteration require
further study.
Significant advances have been made in documenting the
geochemical attributes of exhalite deposits and establishing
vectors to mineralization. These include P , Eu, Tl, some K,
and Ca, and chalcophile and siderophile elements such as Cu,
Zn, Pb, Ag, Fe, and Mn. There is growing recognition that organic activity may be important in trapping the chalcophile elements in sulfide minerals and organic compounds.
Lastly, the shift from composition-based classification systems to classification schemes based on broadly defined geologic settings, including the five-fold classification system
proposed here, provides a better understanding of the geologic characteristics of VMS deposits and the processes responsible for their formation and aids in establishing exploration criteria.
Many questions remain. Of these, perhaps the most important to exploration is predictability. Why are VMS deposits located at specific time intervals during the evolution of submarine volcanic complexes? Is this time-stratigraphic
552
restriction related to the tectonic-magmatic evolution of volcanic complexes, perhaps to caldera development or a specific phase of evolution of an extensional rift, or to other
processes, and if so what are they and how do we recognize
them? Can we better resolve the role of direct magmatic contributions and establish predictive guidelines for these
processes? These will be answered by further field-based and
experimental research.
Acknowlegments
The authors have visited hundreds of deposits. At each, a
patient mine geologist has taken the time to guide us, provide voluminous data, and in many cases, encouraged research projects. We are indebted to all of them. Outstanding
explorationists, including Mike Knuckey , Gerald Riverin,
Dave Comba, Paul Severin, Dave Watkins, Sergio Cattalani,
Kelly Gilmor, and Jim Pickell have tested our research conclusions in their exploration programs; many of these conclusions have required modification and most, more work,
following these reality checks! Graduate students around
the world, and in particular at the University of T asmania
and numerous Canadian universities, have provided exceptional documentation and insightful research into the
processes that generate VMS deposits. Many have provided
data and discussions with us, and their ensuing publications
form an extensive base on which we build our review . Research colleagues, including Mark Hannington, Doreen
Ames, Earl Davis, Wayne Goodfellow, Jan Peter, Don Sangster, Ron Morton and students, Bill Normark, Randy Koski,
Pat Shanks, Bob Embley , Dave Butterfield , Peter Herzig,
Sven Petersen, Uli Schwarz-Schampera, Peter Rona, Ross
Large, Steve Scott, Dave W atkinson, Rod Allen, and Dick
Hutchinson have all provided insight and information
throughout the careers of the authors. Beth Hillary provided
assistance with references and in building T able A1, and
Lorraine Dupuis drafted most of the figures. Funding for
HLGs research from the National Science and Engineering
Research Council of Canada is gratefully acknowledged.
Finally, Economic Geology reviewers Steve Piercey and
Bruce Gemmell, along with George Hudak, Paul Jones, and
Bruno Lafrance, as well as editors for 2005, John Thompson
and Jeff Hedenquist, reviewed earlier drafts and greatly contributed to improving the manuscript.
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2005 Society of Economic Geologists, Inc.

Economic Geology 100th Anniversary Volume

Volcanogenic Massive Sulfide Deposits

author: e-mail, jfranklin@franklingeosciences.com

the regional-scale attributes of these deposits, features that

VOLCANOGENIC MASSIVE SULFIDE DEPOSITS

provide a better basis for establishing exploration criteria, as

Massive and stringer sulfide zones

KIDD CREEK MINE

Pre-tectonic - syntectonic intrusions (plutons)

Basalt - andesite flow

Ultramafic flows (sills)

Felsic pumice-rich deposits ( crystals, lithics)

MIDDLE THOLEIITIC UNIT

Mafic scoria to lithic-rich deposits ( crystals)

LOWER KOMATIITIC UNIT

Ash-sized and crystal-rich deposits (felsic)

syn- to postvolcanic Beidelman Bay intrusion; the top of the

disconformities, and thus sedimentary strata below the

VOLCANOGENIC MASSIVE SULFIDE DEPOSITS

Gibson, 1993). Thus, within the Mount Read and N oranda

district, Finland: Loukola-Ruskeeniemi, 1999; Kholodnina

VOLCANOGENIC MASSIVE SULFIDE DEPOSITS

Typical deposit lithological unitss and tectonic setting 1

Incipient-rifted bimodal volcanic arcs above intra-oceanic subduction

Archean: Abitibi, western Wabigoon, and East Slave,

Mature intra-oceanic backarc, some transform fault related (oceanic

Paleoproterozoic: Konuto, Canada

Mature, basalt-pelite backarc successions in juvenile and accreted arc

Paleoproterozoic: Outokumpu, Finland;

Continental margin arcs and related backarcs (continental suprasubduction

Archean: Pilbara, Australia; Western Slave Canada

Mature epicontinental backarcs; siliciclastic rocks dominant (continental

Archean: Murchison (Golden Grove), W. Australia

inferred for Archean deposits

N ormetal district, Quebec (Lafrance et al., 2000), and Flin

deposits localized within synvolcanic subsidence structures

example, pumiceous volcaniclastic deposits up to 1 km thick

VOLCANOGENIC MASSIVE SULFIDE DEPOSITS

(Fig. 8). This formation is underlain by a thick, silicilastic

grew by effusive eruptions and subsurface emplacement

Iberian Pyrite Belt

Upper Devonian Lowe r Carboniferous

VOLCANOGENIC MASSIVE SULFIDE DEPOSITS

affinity, within the immediate hanging-wall succession

Assignment is less certain for Archean terranes, as the role of

Abundance, composition, and time relationships of

mafic type (characterized by those in ophiolite terranes) are

TABLE 3. Distribution of Metal Contents (tonnes) by Age in VMS Deposits

1000 2000 3000

Million s of Tonnes Cu+Pb+Zn

100 200 300 400 500 600

Metal (Zn + Pb + Cu)

VOLCANOGENIC MASSIVE SULFIDE DEPOSITS

Conversely, bimodal-mafic deposits decrease in abundance

Franklin (1995). Figure 11 illustrates the main elements of

VMS Hydrothermal Systems from Bottom to Top

Heat source and the role of subvolcanic intrusions

Massive sulfide deposit

Upper Reaction Zone

flow. They are one of the most important indicators of VMS

VOLCANOGENIC MASSIVE SULFIDE DEPOSITS

O=6- ^10 (primary)