• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.689-699
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• 2022

The Ssangjeon tungsten deposit is located within the Yeongnam Massif. Within the area a number of hydrothermal quartz veins were formed by narrow open-space filling of parallel and subparallel fractures in the metasedimentary rocks as Wonnam formation, Buncheon granite gneiss, amphibolite and/or pegmatite. Mineral paragenesis can be divided into two stages (stage I, ore-bearing quartz vein; stage II, barren quartz vein) by major tectonic fracturing. Stage I, at which the precipitation of major ore minerals occurred, is further divided into three substages (early, middle and late) with paragenetic time based on minor fractures and discernible mineral assemblages: early, marked by deposition of arsenopyrite with pyrite; middle, characterized by introduction of wolframite and scheelite with Ti-Fe-bearing oxides and base-metal sulfides; late, marked by Bi-sulfides. Fluid inclusion data show that stage I ore mineralization was deposited between initial high temperatures (≥370℃) and later lower temperatures (≈170℃) from H₂O-CO₂-NaCl fluids with salinities between 18.5 to 0.2 equiv. wt. % NaCl of Ssangjeon hydrothermal system. The relationship between salinity and homogenization temperature indicates a complex history of boiling, fluid unmixing (CO₂ effervescence), cooling and dilution via influx of cooler, more dilute meteoric waters over the temperature range ≥370℃ to ≈170℃. Changes in stage I vein mineralogy reflect decreasing temperature and fugacity of sulfur by evolution of the Ssangjeon hydrothermal system with increasing paragenetic time.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.39 no.1 s.176
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• pp.9-25
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• 2006

Baekun gold-silver deposit is an epithermal quartz vein that is filling the fault zone within Triassic or Jurassic foliated granodiorite. Mineralization is associated with fault-breccia zones and can be divided into two stages. Stage I which can be subdivided early and late depositional stages is main ore mineralization and stage II is barren. Early stage I is associated with wallrock alteration and the formation of sulfides such as arsenopyrite, pyrite, pyrrhotite, sphalerite, marcasite, chalcopyrite, stannite, galena. Late stage I is characterized by Au-Ag mineralization such as electrum, Ag-bearing tetrahedrite, stephanite, boulangerite, pyrargrite, argentite, schirmerite, native silver, Ag-Te-Sn-S system, Ag-Cu-S system, pyrite, chalcopyrite and galena. Fluid inclusion data indicate that homogenization temperatures and salinity of stage I range from $171.6^{\circ}C\;to\;360.8^{\circ}C\;and\;from\;0.5\;to\;10.2\;wt.\%\;eq.$ NaCl, respectively. It suggest that ore forming fluids were cooled and diluted with the mixing of meteoric water. Also, Temperature (early stage I: $236\~>380^{\circ}C,\;$ late stage $I: <197\~272^{\circ}C$) and sulfur fugacity (early stage $I:\;10^{-7.8}$ a atm., late stage I: $10^{-14.2}\~10^{-l6}atm$.) deduced mineral assemblages from stage 1 decrease with paragenetic sequence. Sulfur ($2.4\~6.1\%_{\circ}$(early stage $I=3.4\~5.3\%_{\circ},\;late\;stage\;I=2.4\~6.1\%_{\circ}$)), oxygen ($4.5\~8.8\%_{\circ}$(quartz: early stage $I=6.3\~8.8\%_{\circ}$, late stage $I=4.5\~5.6\%_{\circ}$)), hydrogen ($-96\~-70\%_{\circ}$ (quartz: early stage $I=-96\~-70\%_{\circ},\;late\;stage\;f=-78\~-74\%_{\circ},\;calcite:\;late\;stage\;I=-87\~-76\%_{\circ}$)) and carbon ($-6.8\~-4.6\%_{\circ}$ (calcite: late stage I)) isotope compositions indicated that hydrothermal fluids may be magmaticorigin with some degree of mixing of another meteoric water for paragenetic time.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.289-301
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• 1997

The Boguk cobalt mine is located within the Cretaceous Gyeongsang Sedimentary Basin. Major ore minerals including cobalt-bearing minerals (loellingite, cobaltite, and glaucodot) and Co-bearing arsenopyrite occur together with base-metal sulfides (pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, pyrite, sphalerite, etc.) and minor amounts of oxides (magnetite and hematite) within fracture-filling $quartz{\pm}actinolite{\pm}carbonate$ veins. These veins are developed within an epicrustal micrographic granite stock which intrudes the Konchonri Formation (mainly of shale). Radiometric date of the granite (85.98 Ma) indicates a Late Cretaceous age for granite emplacement and associated cobalt mineralization. The vein mineralogy is relatively complex and changes with time: cobalt-bearing minerals with actinolite, carbonates, and quartz gangues (stages I and II) ${\rightarrow}$ base-metal sulfides, gold, and Fe oxides with quartz gangues (stage III) ${\rightarrow}$ barren carbonates (stages IV and V). The common occurrence of high-temperature minerals (cobalt-bearing minerals, molybdenite and actinolite) with low-temperature minerals (base-metal sulfides, gold and carbonates) in veins indicates a xenothermal condition of the hydrothermal mineralization. High enrichment of Co in the granite (avg. 50.90 ppm) indicates the magmatic hydrothermal derivation of cobalt from this cooling granite stock, whereas higher amounts of Cu and Zn in the Konchonri Formation shale suggest their derivations largely from shale. The decrease in temperature of hydrothermal fluids with a concomitant increase in fugacity of oxygen with time (for cobalt deposition in stages I and II, $T=560^{\circ}C-390^{\circ}C$ and log $fO_2=$ >-32.7 to -30.7 atm at $350^{\circ}C$; for base-metal sulfide deposition in stage III, $T=380^{\circ}-345^{\circ}C$ and log $fO_2={\geq}-30.7$ atm at $350^{\circ}C$) indicates a transition of the hydrothermal system from a magmatic-water domination toward a less-evolved meteoric-water domination. Sulfur isotope data of stage II sulfide minerals evidence that early, Co-bearing hydrothermal fluids derived originally from an igneous source with a ${\delta}^{34}S_{{\Sigma}S}$ value near 3 to 5‰. The remarkable increase in ${\delta}^{34}S_{H2S}$ values of hydrothermal fluids with time from cobalt deposition in stage II (3-5‰) to base-metal sulfide deposition in stage III (up to about 20‰) also indicates the change of the hydrothermal system toward the meteoric water domination, which resulted in the leaching-out and concentration of isotopically heavier sulfur (sedimentary sulfates), base metals (Cu, Zn, etc.) and gold from surrounding sedimentary rocks during the huge, meteoric water circulation. We suggest that without the formation of the later, meteoric water circulation extensively through surrounding sedimentary rocks the Boguk cobalt deposits would be simple veins only with actinolite + quartz + cobalt-bearing minerals. Furthermore, the formation of the meteoric water circulation after the culmination of a magmatic hydrothermal system resulted in the common occurrence of high-temperature minerals with later, lower-temperature minerals, resulting in a xenothermal feature of the mineralization.