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）矿体是稀有且极具经济价值的硫化物矿物聚集体，从中生产重要的工业和贵金属，如锌、铜、银和金。它们形成于裂谷弧和弧后地球动力学环境中，在这些环境中，热的（约300℃）、演化的、含金属和含硫的海水（可能含有岩浆（岩浆流体）的流体成分）在古代和现代火山中被排放到海底，由于快速冷却，在海底及其下方沉积了硫化物矿物。本研究的目的是：1)通过对古代和现代海底火山的构造、岩浆、构造和火山演化的了解，确定可能对VMS沉积形成和位置负责的控制因素和过程，如破火山口的形成；2)评价利用铂族元素判别地球动力环境和成岩过程，确定硫溶解度在生成含金属岩浆热液中的潜在作用；3)培养高素质的人才，以取代老化的勘探工作队伍，和/或继续研究。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，它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成为这项研究的直接受益者，加拿大北部非城市采矿社区的生存、增长和繁荣与成功的勘探和负责任的采矿有关，也将间接受益。

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.