The Behaviour of Metals in Magmatic-Hydrothermal Systems

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My research program is centered on understanding the processes that concentrate metals in magmatic-hydrothermal systems. Hypotheses originate from field observations, which are then constrained from experimental data, e.g., solubility and partition data. The iteration of these approaches leads to the development of criteria for recognizing which magmatic or hydrothermal process, or combination of processes, are responsible for concentrating metals to economic levels. The current proposal consists of five projects that address various aspects of magmatic-hydrothermal systems: i) determine the role of phosphorous on metal solubility in melts; ii) evaluate apatite as a window to metal concentrations in melts; iii) determine fluid-melt partition coefficients of high field strength elements and rare earth elements and specifically evaluate the role of fluorine in rare-metal transport; iv) develop the analytical protocol for analyzing trace elements in pyrite at the scale of microns to 100's of nanometers and determine the inter-relationship between Au and As solubility in pyrite, and; v) to evaluate whether the structural state of columbite-tantalite can be used to evaluate the degree of undercooling of pegmatite or granite melts. Each project will individually contribute to our fundamental understand of metals in magmatic-hydrothermal systems, and collectively will build toward a comprehensive model that explains how different groups of metals are concentrated by different mechanisms.