History of the study and the principal features of the MVT-type lead-zinc massive sulfide deposits of the Priargunsk minerogenic zone

Abstract

Two types of ore deposits are distinguished within the Priargunsk minerogenic zone: the lead-zinc massive sulfide ore deposits in the Vendian-Cambrian carbonate sedimentary rocks (MVT type) and the polymetallic massive sulfide ones in the Mesozoic volcanogenic rocks (VMS type). The MVT-type deposits are confined to the volcanogenic-carbonate–terrigenous formation and comprise two genetic types of the ore bodies, the stratiform (stratified) beds and the stockwork-shaped hydrothermal-metasomatic zones in the feeding channels. The stratiform ore bodies occur concordantly with stratification of the host rocks in gentle paleodepressions; they are confined to the contacts of limestones with dolomites and carbonaceous siltstones or are controlled by interlayer tectonic deformations. Ore deposits of this type formed synchronously with sedimentation. At the same time, the mechanism of formation of stratiform or stratified ore bodies could be fundamentally different.