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The metamorphism of pyrite and pyritic ores: an overview

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2018

James R. Craig  and
Frank M. Vokes
James R. Craig
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061, USA
Frank M. Vokes
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Mineral Resources Engineering, University of Trondheim-Norwegian Institute of Technology, 7034 Trondheim, Norway
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Abstract

Pyrite, the most widespread and abundant of sulphide minerals in the Earth's surficial rocks, commonly constitutes the primary opaque phase in ore deposits. Consequently, an understanding of the behaviour of pyrite and its relationships with coexisting phases during the metamorphism of pyritebearing rocks is vital to the interpretation of their genesis and post-depositional history. Metamorphism is commonly responsible for the obliteration of primary textures but recent studies have shown that the refractory nature of pyrite allows it to preserve some pre-metamorphic textures. Pyrrhotite in pyritic ores has often been attributed to the breakdown of pyrite during metamorphism. It is now clear that pyrrhotite can be primary and that the presence of pyrrhotite with the pyrite provides a buffer that constrains sulphur activity during metamorphism. Pyrite-pyrrhotite ratios change during metamorphism as prograde heating results in sulphur release from pyrite to form pyrrhotite and as retrograde cooling permits re-growth of pyrite as the pyrrhotite releases sulphur. Retrograde growth of pyrite may encapsulate textures developed during earlier stages as well as preserve evidence of retrograde events. Sulphur isotope exchange of pyrite with pyrrhotite tends to homogenise phases during prograde periods but leaves signatures of increasingly heavy sulphur in the pyrite during retrograde periods.

Keywords

metamorphismpyritepyrrhotitesulphur isotopes
Type
Research Article
Information
Mineralogical Magazine , Volume 57 , Issue 386 , March 1993 , pp. 3 - 18
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1993

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