Global distribution of sediment-hosted metals controlled by craton edge stability
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Hoggard, M J; Czarnor, Karol; Richards, Fred D.; Huston, D L; Jaques, Alan; Ghelichkhan, Siavash
Description
Sustainable development and the transition to a clean-energy economy drives ever-increasing demand for base metals, substantially outstripping the discovery rate of new deposits and necessitating dramatic improvements in exploration success. Rifting of the continents has formed widespread sedimentary basins, some of which contain large quantities of copper, lead and zinc. Despite over a century of research, the geological structure responsible for the spatial distribution of such fertile...[Show more]
dc.contributor.author | Hoggard, M J | |
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dc.contributor.author | Czarnor, Karol | |
dc.contributor.author | Richards, Fred D. | |
dc.contributor.author | Huston, D L | |
dc.contributor.author | Jaques, Alan | |
dc.contributor.author | Ghelichkhan, Siavash | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2022-06-07T01:48:08Z | |
dc.identifier.issn | 1752-0894 | |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/1885/267170 | |
dc.description.abstract | Sustainable development and the transition to a clean-energy economy drives ever-increasing demand for base metals, substantially outstripping the discovery rate of new deposits and necessitating dramatic improvements in exploration success. Rifting of the continents has formed widespread sedimentary basins, some of which contain large quantities of copper, lead and zinc. Despite over a century of research, the geological structure responsible for the spatial distribution of such fertile regions remains enigmatic. Here, we use statistical tests to compare deposit locations with new maps of lithospheric thickness, which outline the base of tectonic plates. We find that 85% of sediment-hosted base metals, including all giant deposits (>10 megatonnes of metal), occur within 200 kilometres of the transition between thick and thin lithosphere. Rifting in this setting produces greater subsidence and lower basal heat flow, enlarging the depth extent of hydrothermal circulation available for forming giant deposits. Given that mineralization ages span the past two billion years, this observation implies long-term lithospheric edge stability and a genetic link between deep Earth processes and near-surface hydrothermal mineral systems. This discovery provides an unprecedented global framework for identifying fertile regions for targeted mineral exploration, reducing the search space for new deposits by two-thirds on this lithospheric thickness criterion alone. | |
dc.description.sponsorship | M.J.H. acknowledges support from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (grant NNX17AE17G) and the Donors of the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund (59062-DNI8). F.D.R. acknowledges support from the Schmidt Science Fellows program, in partnership with the Rhodes Trust. K.C. and D.L.H. publish with permission of the CEO of Geoscience Australia. Geoscience Australia eCat ID 132624. | |
dc.format.mimetype | application/pdf | |
dc.language.iso | en_AU | |
dc.publisher | Nature Publishing Group | |
dc.rights | © 2020 Nature Publishing Group | |
dc.source | Nature Geoscience | |
dc.title | Global distribution of sediment-hosted metals controlled by craton edge stability | |
dc.type | Journal article | |
local.description.notes | Imported from ARIES | |
local.identifier.citationvolume | 13 | |
dc.date.issued | 2020 | |
local.identifier.absfor | 040307 - Ore Deposit Petrology | |
local.identifier.absfor | 040301 - Basin Analysis | |
local.identifier.absfor | 040407 - Seismology and Seismic Exploration | |
local.identifier.ariespublication | a383154xPUB14127 | |
local.publisher.url | http://www.nature.com/ngeo/ | |
local.type.status | Published Version | |
local.contributor.affiliation | Hoggard, M J, Harvard University | |
local.contributor.affiliation | Czarnota, Karol, College of Science, ANU | |
local.contributor.affiliation | Richards, Fred D., Harvard University | |
local.contributor.affiliation | Huston, D L, Geoscience Australia | |
local.contributor.affiliation | Jaques, Alan, College of Science, ANU | |
local.contributor.affiliation | Ghelichkhan, Siavash, College of Science, ANU | |
local.description.embargo | 2099-12-31 | |
local.bibliographicCitation.issue | 7 | |
local.bibliographicCitation.startpage | 504 | |
local.bibliographicCitation.lastpage | 510 | |
local.identifier.doi | 10.1038/s41561-020-0593-2 | |
local.identifier.absseo | 970104 - Expanding Knowledge in the Earth Sciences | |
local.identifier.absseo | 840100 - MINERAL EXPLORATION | |
dc.date.updated | 2022-08-07T08:16:36Z | |
local.identifier.scopusID | 2-s2.0-85087373783 | |
local.identifier.thomsonID | WOS:000544997400012 | |
Collections | ANU Research Publications |
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