Physical Processes in Magmatic-Hydrothermal Ore Systems: Highlights from Field, Experiment and Modeling Approaches

Dear Colleagues,

The magmatic-hydrothermal transition has been recognized as a major stage in the genesis of mineralizing fluids through the contribution of volatile phases exsolution from silicate melts. While many breakthroughs were realized in the chemistry and thermodynamics of such fluids and associated fluid-rock interactions (e.g., metasomatism, such as greisens, tourmalinites, skarns, etc.), petro-physical processes remain poorly understood and quantified. This impedes hydro-thermo-mechanical models to be accurate and predictive. For instance, dynamic permeabilities involved during greisenification or skarnization affecting a cooling magmatic intrusion and/or its hosting rocks, are still poorly quantified. In the same way, on natural mineralized objects, textural and structural gouges (e.g., miarolitic textures, sub-solidus shear zones and veins, etc.) diagnostic of fluids transfers during the magmatic-hydrothermal transition have to be accessed in terms of hydrodynamics. Finally, physical hydro-thermal fluid flow modeling of intrusion-related mineralization have to account for intrusion dynamics itself (e.g., solidified external part, sill stacking emplacement mode, etc.), supra-hydrostatic fluid pressures, the magmatic fluid source term and the reaction-driven dynamic permeabilities.

The goal of this Special Issue is to provide a platform for geoscientists dealing with mineralized systems related (directly or indirectly) to the magmatic-hydrothermal transition, in order to discuss new insights in hydrodynamic controls of such systems. Works that explore the following items are especially encouraged: (i) multi-scale structural and textural analysis with emphasis on fluid flow tracing and collecting/channelizing zones. Innovative approaches applied to metasomatism and hydrothermal alteration are expected; (ii) petro-physical properties of such systems through laboratory experiments or textural quantification; (iii) numerical modelling in which for instance, multi-scale innovative permeability laws are tested and supra-hydrostatic fluid pressures are made possible.

Dr. Yannick Branquet
Guest Editor

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• magmatic-hydrothermal mineralized systems
• petro-physical controls
• hydrodynamics
• field-based structural and textural controls
• dynamic permeability
• experimentation
• numerical modeling