A Special Issue Devoted to Porphyry and Epithermal Deposits of the Southwest Pacific: An Introduction

Abstract

The southwest Pacific is host to a number of mineralization styles, including numerous world-class porphyry Cu-Au and epithermal Au-Ag deposits (Cooke et al., 2005; Garwin et al., 2005). The majority of the giant porphyry and epithermal Au and Cu deposits were formed within a series of middle to late Cenozoic (25–1 Ma) arcs (Garwin et al., 2005; Maryono et al., 2018). These arcs form a complex boundary between the Eurasian, Pacific, and Indian-Australian tectonic plates, stretching from Japan in the northeast and Myanmar in the northwest, through the Philippines, Indonesia, New Guinea, and the volcanic island chains of the Solomon Islands, New Hebrides (Vanuatu), and Fiji (Fig. 1).