Volcanic, tectonic and magenetic processes, their control on VMS deposits and the architecture and evolution of submarine volcanoes

火山成因块状硫化物（VMS）矿体是稀有的、具有极高经济价值的硫化物矿物堆积，从中可生产锌、铜、银和金等重要的工业金属和贵金属。它们形成于裂谷弧和弧后的地球动力学环境中，在这些环境中，热的（>300 C）、演化的、含金属和硫的海水，可能含有来自岩浆（岩浆流体）的流体成分，被排放到古代和现代火山内的海底，由于快速冷却，在海底和海底下沉积了硫化物矿物。本研究的目的是：1）通过了解古代和现代海底火山的结构、岩浆、构造和火山演化，确定可能负责VMS矿床形成和定位的控制因素和过程，如破火山口的形成; 2）评价铂族元素在区分地球动力学环境和成岩过程中的应用，并确定硫的溶解度在产生含金属的岩浆热液中的潜在作用; 3）培训高素质的人员，以取代老化的勘探工作队伍中的人员，和/或继续进行研究。 这项研究的结果将有利于那些研究古代和/或现代海底火山的人，并将影响地壳生长模型。在加拿大和全球范围内勘探VMS矿床的加拿大采矿业将直接受益于这项研究，间接地，非城市的北方加拿大采矿社区也将受益，这些社区的生存，增长和繁荣与成功的勘探和负责任的采矿有关。

Volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) ore bodies are rare and incredibly valuable economic accumulations of sulphide minerals from which important industrial and precious metals such as zinc, copper, silver and gold are produced. They form in rifted arc and back-arc geodynamic settings where hot (>300 C), evolved, metal- and sulphur-bearing seawater, perhaps with a fluid component derived from magmas (magmatic fluid), is discharged onto the seafloor within ancient and modern volcanoes and, due to rapid cooling, deposited sulphide minerals at, and immediately below the seafloor. The objectives of this research are to: 1) determine controls and processes, such as caldera formation, that may be responsible for the formation and location of VMS deposits by understanding the architecture, magmatic, tectonic, and volcanic evolution of ancient and modern submarine volcanoes; 2) assess the use of the platinum group elements to discriminate geodynamic environments and petrogenetic processes, and to determine the potential role of sulphur solubility in generating metal-bearing, magmatic hydrothermal fluids; and 3) train highly qualified personnel to replace those in an aging exploration work force, and/or continue in research.  Results of this research will benefit those who study ancient and/or modern seafloor volcanoes, and it will impact on crustal growth models. The Canadian mining industry who explore for VMS deposits in Canada, and globally, will be a direct beneficiary of this research and, indirectly, so will the non-urban, northern Canadian, mining communities whose survival, growth, and prosperity are linked to successful exploration and responsible mining.