Correlation between compositions of ore and host rocks in volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits of the Southern Urals

Abstract

The geology and typification of volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposits of the Southern Urals are considered. The mineralogical-geochemical types of these deposits correlate with the composition of the underlying igneous rocks: Ni-Co-Cu deposits correlatedwith serpentinites (Ivanovka type); (Co)-Cu deposits, with basalts (Dombarovka type); Cu-Zn deposits, with basalt-rhyolite and basalt-andesite-rhyolite complexes (Ural type); and Au-Ba-Pb-Zn-Cu deposits, with basalt-andesite-rhyolite complexes with predominance of andesitic and felsic volcanics (Baimak type). The Ural-type deposits are subdivided into three subtypes: I, underlain by basalts (Zn-Cu deposits); II, hosted in felsic volcanic rocks of bimodal complexes (Cu-Zn deposits); and III, hosted in felsic volcanic rocks of continuously differentiated complexes (Zn-Cu deposits with Ba, Pb, and As). The above types and subtypes bearing local names are compared with global types of VMS deposits (MAR, Cyprus, Noranda, and Kuroko), to which they are close but not identical.