A coprecipitation experiment on the chalcopyrite disease texture involving Fe-bearing sphalerite.

Abstract

Hydrothermal coprecipitation experiments were performed at 350 and 300°C, in order to reproduce the “chalcopyrite disease” texture involving Fe-bearing sphalerite. Sector-zoned chalcopyrite disease textures were obtained in some runs using a hydrothermal transporting method, and this shows that coprecipitation is responsible for formation of the texture in Fe-bearing sphalerite. These chalcopyrite disease textures with compositions similar to the run products occur in Fe-bearing sphalerite ores from the modern seafloor deposits at the Okinawa Trough and North Fiji Basin, suggesting a possibility that the chalcopyrite disease textures in the deposits were caused by the process of coprecipitation in short spans of time.