https://youtu.be/2UbQTtNgi3c

Discover the remarkable journey of ore-forming fluids that led to the creation of economically vital porphyry copper (and associated gold and molybdenum) deposits in China's Sanjiang region. This video delves into groundbreaking research that has pinpointed the deep origins of these crucial fluids, revealing that they exsolved from magmas crystallizing at significant depths of 10 to 20 kilometers beneath the Earth's surface. Using cutting-edge techniques such as melt inclusion analysis and multiple geobarometers, scientists have tracked the crystallization pressures of minerals within these magmatic systems. The findings challenge previous models and demonstrate that these metal-rich fluids had to ascend an astonishing vertical distance of approximately 10 kilometers to reach their final deposition sites. Unravel the likely mechanisms of this immense fluid transport, from their initial release as bubbles within rising porphyry magmas to their subsequent percolation through an interconnected fluid network. Learn how the study's mass balance calculations quantify the significant extraction of chlorine, sulfur, and valuable metals from the source magmas by these exsolved fluids. Furthermore, the video explores why some regions became major ore deposits while others did not, highlighting that the sheer volume of exsolved fluid, likely dictated by the size of the deep magma reservoirs, played a more critical role than the initial metal content of the fluids themselves. This research provides new insights into the formation of these economically crucial ore resources and offers a fresh perspective on the classical model of porphyry copper deposit genesis. P. Geo. Ricardo A Valls, M. Sc. and Geo Gadfly Valls Geoconsultant ORCID ID- https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5421-0914 Scopus Author ID: 7003369619/35335510700 ResearcherID: S-6604-2018 If you like this content, please "buy me a coffee" https://www.buymeacoffee.com/goldendroplets