Ass.-Prof. Dr. Clifford Patten
Mineral resources and ore geology
Mineral resources are essential for achieving the energy transition away from fossil fuel. Ore deposits, however, are harder and harder to find and new research approaches are needed to understand how they form. Our research focuses on the geological processes which lead to the formation of ore deposit. We look from large scale to small mechanisms by combining various field of geosciences such as tectonics, structural, petrography, mineralogy and geochemistry.
Volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposits in unconventional oceanic tectonic environments represent potential new targets for mineral resources such as Cu, Co, Ni, Zn, Au and Ag. Among these are the so-called ultramafic-hosted VMS deposits which form along low angle detachment faults in a variety of tectonic settings such as ocean-continent transition, mid-ocean ridge and supra-subduction. Such deposits have high potential in the Tethyan ophiolites, especially in the Alps, but their genesis remains poorly understood.
Understanding the fluxes of Au and other trace metals (As, Sb, Ag, Cu, Co, Ni) during Barrovian and blueschist metamorphisms is paramount for improving the geological models of orogenic Au deposits. Gold mobilisation, however, remains poorly understood in certain terranes such as Paleoproterozoic and Archean greenstone belts. During blueschist metamorphism Au behaviour is even less well understood. The driving hypothesis is that Au and other elements are partially mobilised in subduction zones during slab dehydration, leading to Au enrichment in the metasomatised mantle with far reaching implication on a large suite of ore deposit.
The Kolumbo active volcano, in the vicinity of Santorini in Greece, forms on a thin continental crust and host a Zn-Pb-Ag-Au epithermal-like mineralization. The Kolumbo volcano is a unique site where both source and sink mechanisms can be simultaneously studied and compared. The tight interplay between magmatism and hydrothermalism allow to better understand metal fluxes during arc magmatism, with important implications for the formation of VMS, epithermal and porphyry deposits.