Marine Geodynamics and Ore Deposits

金属采矿业是全球经济中最大的部门之一，对资源需求的挑战越来越难找到。世界上目前被开采的许多金属矿床最初是在古代海洋中形成的，是由大陆或增厚的海洋地壳的裂谷作用形成的，在那里产生了富含金属的熔体。对当今海洋的研究揭示了矿床形成的地壳和地幔的复杂结构和成分的不均匀性，并为它们在地质历史上的可能位置提供了新的线索。今天，地球上一些资源最丰富的地壳存在于西太平洋的俯冲带，在那里，复杂的微板块动力学调节着地壳的生长，并为熔体和含金属流体提供了通往地表的途径。然而，对这些地区成矿元素富集的大规模岩浆和构造作用仍知之甚少。在我的指导下，渥太华大学的学生们正在使用最先进的深海技术来探测正在富集的海洋地壳，并使用复杂的分析技术来追踪矿石元素及其同位素，以追溯到它们的地壳来源。为了开展这项研究，学生们正在对马里亚纳弧、美拉尼西亚群岛（巴布亚新几内亚、所罗门群岛、瓦努阿图）、汤加-克马德克弧以及地中海的第勒尼安海和爱琴海进行科学考察，收集样本和数据，并继续对大西洋中脊和冰岛进行研究巡航。他们的目标是测试是否可以在海洋中确定肥沃的地壳区域，就像在陆地上确定成矿区域一样。这一雄心勃勃的计划是通过与德国、美国、新西兰和澳大利亚合作伙伴的长期成功合作而实现的，这些合作伙伴提供了研究船、海上基础设施和分析设施。学生们将海洋地质学、地球物理学和地球化学以一种独特的多学科方法结合起来，以确定地壳中矿石元素的来源和途径，并测试关于地壳生长和矿石形成之间关系的新假设。我的团队是世界上为数不多的科学团队之一，将现代海洋研究与对古代矿床的了解联系起来，并将其直接应用于陆地资源的发现。

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