Hydrothermal Processes and Mineral Systems

Hydrothermal Processes and Mineral Systems

Franco Pirajno

Geological Survey of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia

Foreword by Peter A. Cawood

The Earth is a complex and dynamic system that over 4.5 billion years has evolved to form the environment we live in and the resources we depend on. Franco Pirajno’s book ‘‘Hydrothermal Processes and Mineral Systems’’ provides an authoritative and comprehensive overview of hyrdrothermally controlled major mineral resources that have developed in this dynamic system, and where appropriate their links with the development of life and extraterres-

trial hydrothermal systems.

Discovery and recovery of mineral resources are fundamental to sustaining human society. Yet the discovery of world-class to giant mineral deposits has declined alarmingly over the last few decades. It is only through a comprehensive understanding of current systems that we can hope to find future deposits. This book provides an unparalleled overview of the principal features of the major mineral systems and the role of fluid circulation in their development, including: the variety of water sources that participate in hydrothermal circulation systems (Chapter 1), the alteration patterns associated with hydrothermal circulation in selected mineral systems (Chapter 2), the link with tectonic settings and interaction between the lithosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere (Chapter 3), the major mineral system types including intrusion-related (Chapter 4), porphyry and epithermal, skarn (Chapter 5), sedimentary exhalative (SEDEX) Mississippi valley-type (MVT)(Chapter 6), submarine (Chapters 7 and 8), amagmatic and other hydrothermal systems (Chapter 9) and uranium systems (Chapter 13). The book also looks the interrelationship between hydrothermal systems and life, detailing the ecosystems that develop (Chapter 10), the hydrothermal systems driven by the thermal energy from meteorite impacts (Chapter 11) and possible hydrothermal systems on other planets in the solar system (Chapter, 12). This is truly a comprehensive treatment of hydrothermal processes and mineral systems. Franco Pirajno commenced his academic studies in his native Italy where he obtained a Doctorate in Geological Sciences from the Vesuvius Volcano Observatory of Federico II University in Naples. He has had a diverse career in industry, government and academia that included 19 years in mineral explora- tion with the Anglo-American Corporation of South Africa, the Chair of Economic Geology at Rhodes University, South Africa, and since 1993, the Geological Survey of Western Australia. He has held visiting professorships at Peking University and China University of Geosciences and currently has honorary appointments at the Astrobiology Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, and the China University of Geosciences, Beijing. Franco Pirajno is the author of two books, authored or co-authored a monograph and more than 100 peer-reviewed papers and 19 geological maps in Western Australia, Namibia and Greenland. Throughout his career, which has included work in Europe, southern Africa, South East Asia, New Zealand, the southwest Pacific, China, Greenland and Australia, he has integrated experience in tectonics, ore deposit geology and mineral exploration. It is this wealth of firsthand experi- ence, including the little known mineral systems in China, which Franco Pirajno weaves with a distillation of relevant literature into his comprehensive overview of ‘‘Hydrothermal Processes and Mineral Systems’’. The University of Western Australia, Perth Peter A. Cawood May 2008

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