The Economic Aspect of GeologyLeith, C. K. (Charles Kenneth)
Science
The Economic Aspect of Geology
Leith, C. K. (Charles Kenneth)
Geology, Economic
The lead and zinc ores of the Mississippi Valley, Virginia, Tennessee,
Silesia, Belgium, and Germany (pp. 211-212, 216-219) are in sedimentary
rocks far removed from igneous sources. Lead and zinc were deposited in
more or less dispersed form with the enclosing sediments. It is supposed
that deposition was originally chemical and was favored by the presence
of organic material, which is a rather common accompaniment of the
sediments. It is supposed further that these organic participants were
originally localized during sedimentation in so-called estuarine
channels and shore-line embayments. When subsequently exposed to
weathering, the lead and zinc minerals were dissolved and redeposited in
more concentrated form in fissures and as replacements of limestone.
Agreement as to origin of these deposits, so far as it exists, does not
go beyond these broad generalizations. There is controversy as to
whether the original sources of the ore minerals were the sediments
directly above, from which the mineral solutions have been transferred
downward during weathering and erosion, or whether the original minerals
were below and have been transferred upward by artesian circulation, or
whether they were situated laterally and have been brought to their
present position by movement along the beds, or whether there has been
some combination of these processes. It is the writer's view that the
evidence thus far gathered favors on the whole the conclusion of direct
downward concentration from overlying sources which have been removed by
erosion, although this conclusion fails to explain why certain sulphide
deposits give so little evidence of important downward transfer from
their present position. This matter is further discussed on pages
216-219. The choice of the various alternatives has some practical
bearing on exploration.
Since these ores were brought into approximately their present
position, they have undergone considerable oxidation near the surface
and secondary sulphide enrichment below. The chemical and mineralogical
changes are pretty well understood, but the quantitative range of these
changes and their relative importance in determining the net result are
far from known. Undoubted evidence of secondary sulphide enrichment has
led in some quarters to an assumption of effectiveness in producing
values which is apparently not borne out by quantitative tests.
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