Mineral Deposit and Plate Tectonic Settings

There are three types of plate Tectonic

1. Convergent 

2. Divergent

3. Transform

At tectonic settings or boundaries such structures occur such as fault, fold, fracture.

Plate Boundaries (Marging)

Plate margins are site that are associated with mineral deposit they control of minerals deposit at boundaries and the fractures and other structure that are created at the boundaries.

The letter are good sites for mineralization. Most ore forming processes that occur at depth are closely associated with plate Tectonic settings.

For instance: sulphate deposit are concentrated at mid oceanic ridges and rift vallies by hydrothermal solutions. This deposit are swept up into the continental through plate subduction zone.

Divergent Boundaries Processes 

Are associate with sulphate deposit, mettalic ferrous sediments bad evaporate the hydrothermal activities that procduce veins at the kid oceanic ridges is a very important ore forming process. The fractures generated by the rift valleys allow cold water to enter and peculate dip into the crust. 

Here it is super heated by the magma beneath the rift valley. The hot water then expands , raises and escape through the fractures to the ocean floor. At mettalic rich black smokers.



The cold oxygen rich seabwater is initially only able to cold small quantity of water. As it is heated up it combine with silica in the crust to form low grade metamorphic minerals (chlorite, zeolite,talc) with the release of hydrogen veins.

These converts the sea water into accid solutions, the hot highly accidic sea water, that goes to works, dissolving accid sensitive metals in the crust e.g Cu, Co, Fe, Mn, Zn, Au. & Ag.

In this way metals re concentrated in the hot upwards moving hydrothermal sea water to the crusts and mine with them they deposit the metals in the fractures and Boles off the crusts.

This metals commonly combine with sulphur as they deposit forming metal sulphid ores. Such as chalcopyrite the brines that reach the surface of oxygen rich environment deposit the metals forming oxides, hydrocortisone and silicate ore minerals such as chromatess often the metals deposit round the rock fragments nor teeth or shales or any other fragments tonform magnase models. 

At divergent Boundaries where ocean circulation is restricted and there is high evaporation thicks salts are deposited at the rift valley floor such evaporate well contains gypsums, common salts ahydrorite e.g where we have such deposit are in the red Sea.

Convergent boundaries 

In the first instance the metals or best metals depsoited at the divergent Boundaries are carried away from the rich crust to the sub dicted  beneath island act or continent.

It' has been observed that silver of ophiolite on the land may contain in the island of Cyprus in the midterrain sea. Cu, fe, Ag, zn and may also produce hot green deposit on the size of volcanoes.
More to come keep reading.