Economic geology articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Magnetite-apatite (MtAp) deposits are an important source of iron and critical metals, yet their ore genesis is poorly understood. Here, authors propose that the separation of multiple melts during magma ascent leads to the formation of MtAp deposits.

    • Dorota K. Pietruszka
    • , John M. Hanchar
    •  & Wyatt M. Bain

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Earth’s largest copper deposits form in continental arcs, yet it is not well understood what determines whether a magmatic system generates economic mineralization or not. Here the authors show that the abundance of chlorine and sulfur, rather than the abundance of ore metals controls magmatic ore fertility.

    • Carter Grondahl
    •  & Zoltán Zajacz

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors present novel observations providing insights into the formation of extraordinary gold-rich veins. We discovered metal nanoparticles associated with amorphous silica and carbon indicating their essential contribution to efficient gold deposition.

    • Laura Petrella
    • , Nicolas Thébaud
    •  & Sarah Gain

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Experiments show that when magma heats black shale wall-rock, fluids form and mobilize S and Cu, which can then concentrate and form base metal deposits. The fluids also attach to sulphide droplets and cause them to float in the host silicate melt.

    • Ville J. Virtanen
    • , Jussi S. Heinonen
    •  & Karina Moslova

  • Article
    | Open Access

    This paper reveals that potassic alteration can be triggered by Na-rich fluids, indicating that pervasive sequential sodic and potassic alterations associated with mineralization in some of the world’s largest ore deposits may not necessarily reflect externally-driven changes in fluid alkali contents.

    • Gan Duan
    • , Rahul Ram
    •  & Joël Brugger

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Tectonomagmatic conditions in the Precambrian were hypothesized to be unfavorable for porphyry Cu deposit formation. Here, the authors show that metallogenic processes typify Phanerozoic porphyry Cu deposits operated by ~1.88 Ga, reflecting modification of mantle lithosphere by oxidized slab-derived fluids at that time.

    • Xuyang Meng
    • , Jackie M. Kleinsasser
    •  & Richard A. Stern

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Magmatic systems play a crucial role in enriching the crust with volatiles and elements that reside primarily within the Earth’s mantle. Here, the authors show that carbon, as a buoyant supercritical CO2 fluid, could be a covert agent that may promote the physical transport of sulfides across the mantle-crust transition.

    • Daryl E. Blanks
    • , David A. Holwell
    •  & Elena Ferrari

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Magma storage zones are debated to either be crystal-dominated mush zones or large liquid-dominated magma chambers. Here, the authors discover fossilized solidification fronts of magnetitite in the Bushveld pluton, which indicate nucleation and crystal growth occurred at the magma chamber floor, precluding the existence of a thick crystal mush zone in this region.

    • Willem Kruger
    •  & Rais Latypov

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Hydrous and alkali rich magmas rise through the lithosphere and may host gold-rich ore deposits – a poorly understood process. Here, the authors present new chalcophile element data across a metallogenic section of the lithosphere and suggest a continuous or staged ascent of magmatic-hydrothermal settings from mantle to upper crust.

    • David A. Holwell
    • , Marco Fiorentini
    •  & Marek Locmelis

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The origin of giant Kiruna-type iron ores has been debated for nearly 100 years. This study employs extensive stable isotope data from Kiruna-type ores worldwide and magmatic and hydrothermal reference materials to show that iconic Kiruna-type ores originate primarily from ortho-magmatic processes.

    • Valentin R. Troll
    • , Franz A. Weis
    •  & Katarina P. Nilsson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ore deposits and nuclear reactors are greatly affected by the solubility and speciation of uranium at elevated (>100 °C) temperature. Here, the authors identify a new uranium chloride species (UCl40), which is mobile under reducing conditions, thereby necessitating a re-evaluation of uranium mobility.

    • Alexander Timofeev
    • , Artaches A. Migdisov
    •  & Hongwu Xu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Lithium is increasingly being utilized for modern technology in the form of lithium-ion batteries. Here, using in situ measurements of quartz-hosted melt inclusions, the authors demonstrate that preserved lake sediments within rhyolitic calderas have the potential to host large lithium-rich clay deposits.

    • Thomas R. Benson
    • , Matthew A. Coble
    •  & Gail A. Mahood

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Heavy rare earth elements (HREE) are an important global resource for many industries. Here, Xuet al. have discovered new REE minerals, which represent oxidized REE-rich fluids that metasomatized granites resulting in an enrichment of HREE, therefore contributing to our knowledge of global REE resources.

    • Cheng Xu
    • , Jindřich Kynický
    •  & Wenlei Song

  • Article
    | Open Access

    As shale and tight gas basins are increasingly used to extract natural gas, understanding how gas migrates is important. Wood and Sanei find that secondary migration in a tight-gas basin leads to up-dip transmission of enriched methane into surficial strata which may leak into groundwater and the atmosphere.

    • James M. Wood
    •  & Hamed Sanei

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