Marine Geodynamics and Ore Deposits

金属采矿是全球经济中最大的部门之一，受到越来越难以找到的资源需求的挑战。目前世界上开采的许多金属矿床最初都是在古代海洋中形成的，是大陆地壳或增厚的海洋地壳断裂造成的，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异质性，并为矿床在地质历史中的可能位置提供了新的线索。地球上一些最丰富的地壳今天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地壳生长，并为熔体和含金属流体提供通往地表的通道。然而，大规模的岩浆和构造过程负责在这些位置的矿石元素的富集仍然知之甚少。在我的监督下，uOttawa的学生正在使用最先进的深海技术来探测海洋地壳，在那里这种富集正在进行，并使用先进的分析技术来追踪矿石元素及其同位素的地壳来源。为了进行这项研究，学生们正在收集样本和数据，对马里亚纳群岛，美拉尼西亚群岛（巴布亚新几内亚，所罗门群岛，瓦努阿图）和汤加-Kermadec弧，以及地中海的第勒尼安海和爱琴海进行科学考察，并继续对大西洋中脊和冰岛进行研究。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。学生们正在以独特的多学科方法结合海洋地质学，地球物理学和地球化学，以确定矿石元素通过地壳的来源和途径，并测试有关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床联系起来的科学团队之一，并直接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.