Marine Geodynamics and Ore Deposits

金属采矿业是全球经济中最大的行业之一，面临着日益难以找到的资源需求的挑战。目前世界上开发的许多金属矿床最初是在古代海洋中形成的，是大陆裂谷或增厚的洋壳形成的，在那里产生了富金属的熔体。对今天海洋的研究正在揭示形成矿床的地壳和地幔的复杂结构和成分不均质性，并为它们在过去地质历史中的可能位置提供新的线索。今天，地球上一些最富饶的地壳存在于西太平洋的俯冲带中，那里错综复杂的微板块动力学控制着地壳的生长，并为熔体和含金属流体提供了到达地表的途径。然而，对这些地区矿质元素的大规模岩浆和构造作用仍然知之甚少。在我的指导下，渥太华大学的学生正在使用最先进的深海技术来探测正在进行浓缩的洋壳，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，学生们正在收集前往马里亚纳弧、美拉尼西亚群岛(巴布亚新几内亚、所罗门、瓦努阿图)和汤加-克尔马德克弧以及地中海第勒尼安海和爱琴海的科学考察的样本和数据，以及前往大西洋中脊和冰岛的持续研究邮轮的样本和数据。他们的目标是测试能否像陆地上定义成矿省那样，在海洋中识别出肥沃的地壳区域。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实现的，这些合作伙伴提供使用科考船、海上基础设施和分析设施的机会。这些学生将海洋地质学、地球物理学和地球化学结合在一起，以一种独特的多学科方法来确定矿石元素通过地壳的来源和途径，并测试关于地壳生长和成矿之间关系的新假设。我的团队是世界上为数不多的将现代海洋研究与了解古代矿藏联系起来的科学团队之一，并直接实际应用于陆地资源发现。

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.