About this Research Topic
Many chalcophile and siderophile elements belong to critical metals for which demand already exceeds (or is expected to exceed) the offer. Critical metals are involved in high technologies and clean energies. The most outstanding example is undoubtedly the elements required for the transition to low-carbon emissions technologies and the electrification of transport. Besides, critical metals enter the composition of superalloys and other high-tech materials for the fabrication of high-technology applications in medicine, aerospace, and telecommunications.
Humanity faces serious problems such as global warming, pollution, and poverty, and a part of the solution may reside in earth sciences. Scientists have recently started investigating critical metal deposits' metallogenesis and related minerals' metallurgy, but the essential information is still missing. Chalcophile and highly siderophile metals fractionate in both magmatic and hydrothermal processes leading to the formation of different types of ores. The partitioning of metals between silicate melts, minerals, and fluids strongly depends on intensive parameters such as temperature, pressure, oxygen and sulfur fugacities, as well as the composition of melt, fluid, and sulfide phases, all of which may change significantly during the evolution of magmatic-hydrothermal systems. Hence, the partitioning behavior varies in tectonic settings such as mid-ocean ridges, oceanic islands, subduction zones, flood basalt provinces, and continental rift zones, leading to differences in metallogenic processes and ore type. Furthering our understanding of the metal speciation and partitioning behavior, has the potential for new insights into large-scale geodynamic processes and the concentration of strategic metals at a local scale.
We welcome contributions from a broad spectrum of fields related to this interdisciplinary topic. These include petrology, experimental petrology, mineralogy, geochemistry, ore geology, economic geology, metallurgy, and environmental policy, that contribute to understanding ore-forming processes, the extraction of critical metals from minerals, or related global economic and ecological problems.
Humanity faces serious problems such as global warming, pollution, and poverty, and a part of the solution may reside in earth sciences. Scientists have recently started investigating critical metal deposits' metallogenesis and related minerals' metallurgy, but the essential information is still missing. Chalcophile and highly siderophile metals fractionate in both magmatic and hydrothermal processes leading to the formation of different types of ores. The partitioning of metals between silicate melts, minerals, and fluids strongly depends on intensive parameters such as temperature, pressure, oxygen and sulfur fugacities, as well as the composition of melt, fluid, and sulfide phases, all of which may change significantly during the evolution of magmatic-hydrothermal systems. Hence, the partitioning behavior varies in tectonic settings such as mid-ocean ridges, oceanic islands, subduction zones, flood basalt provinces, and continental rift zones, leading to differences in metallogenic processes and ore type. Furthering our understanding of the metal speciation and partitioning behavior, has the potential for new insights into large-scale geodynamic processes and the concentration of strategic metals at a local scale.
We welcome contributions from a broad spectrum of fields related to this interdisciplinary topic. These include petrology, experimental petrology, mineralogy, geochemistry, ore geology, economic geology, metallurgy, and environmental policy, that contribute to understanding ore-forming processes, the extraction of critical metals from minerals, or related global economic and ecological problems.
Keywords: Critical metals, chalcophile metals, siderophile metals, volatiles, ore formation, hydrothermal processes, magmatic processes, resources, clean energy, high technology
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