Hydrothermal environments during the genesis of silver deposits in the Northwest Territories of Canada: Evidence from fluid inclusions

1986 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Changkakoti ◽  
R.D. Morton ◽  
J. Gray
Keyword(s):  
Northwest Territories ◽  
Fluid Inclusions ◽  
Silver Deposits ◽  
Hydrothermal Environments

Electron microprobe analyses of native silver and associated arsenides from the Great Bear Lake silver deposits, Northwest Territories, Canada

1986 ◽  
Vol 23 (10) ◽  
pp. 1470-1479 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Changkakoti ◽  
R. D. Morton
Keyword(s):  
Northwest Territories ◽  
Electron Microprobe ◽  
Hydrothermal Fluids ◽  
Bear Lake ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Silver Deposits ◽  
Native Silver ◽  
Host Rocks

The Great Bear Lake silver deposits in the Northwest Territories of Canada occur within two separate domains, namely the Echo Bay sector and the Camsell River sector. In these deposits, native silver occurs in veins, associated with a wide range of Ni-, Co-, and Fe-arsenides, sulphides, and pitchblende in gangues of quartz, calcite, dolomite, rhodochrosite, and fluorite. The host rocks of the veins are for the most part Aphebian volcano-sedimentary roof pendants within the Great Bear batholithic complex. Native silver, nickeline (niccolite), maucherite, safflorite, rammelsbergite, pararammelsbergite, loellingite, skutterudite, cobaltite, gersdorffite, and arsenopyrite were analyzed on the electron microprobe to determine any local or regional chemical variations. Mercury and antimony were found to occur in significant quantities in the majority of the native-silver samples. The silver samples from the Camsell River sector were found to be generally more enriched in mercury than those of the Echo Bay sector. Nickeline, cobaltite, and gersdorffite were found to be enriched in arsenic in the ores of the Camsell River sector, versus those of the Echo Bay sector. Such variations are probably related to differing magmatic sources for the hydrothermal fluids or even to precursor metallo-organic associations and are not due to different rocks hosting the silver-bearing veins.

Characterization of submicrometer fluid Inclusions in minerals by Analytical/Transmission Electron Microscopy and electron diffraction

1990 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 424-424
Author(s):  
George Guthrie ◽  
David Veblen
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Transmission Electron Microscopy ◽  
Electron Microscope ◽  
Electron Diffraction ◽  
Light Microscopy ◽  
Fluid Inclusions ◽  
Energy Dispersive Spectrometer ◽  
Analytical Transmission Electron Microscopy ◽  
Transmission Electron

The nature of a geologic fluid can often be inferred from fluid-filled cavities (generally <100 μm in size) that are trapped during the growth of a mineral. A variety of techniques enables the fluids and daughter crystals (any solid precipitated from the trapped fluid) to be identified from cavities greater than a few micrometers. Many minerals, however, contain fluid inclusions smaller than a micrometer. Though inclusions this small are difficult or impossible to study by conventional techniques, they are ideally suited for study by analytical/ transmission electron microscopy (A/TEM) and electron diffraction. We have used this technique to study fluid inclusions and daughter crystals in diamond and feldspar.Inclusion-rich samples of diamond and feldspar were ion-thinned to electron transparency and examined with a Philips 420T electron microscope (120 keV) equipped with an EDAX beryllium-windowed energy dispersive spectrometer. Thin edges of the sample were perforated in areas that appeared in light microscopy to be populated densely with inclusions. In a few cases, the perforations were bound polygonal sides to which crystals (structurally and compositionally different from the host mineral) were attached (Figure 1).

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