We're in Nature's Top 100 Articles of 2022!
We’re happy to say that Dr Lawrence Carter’s 2022 paper using high voltage fragmentation to unlock the secrets of the timing of porphyry ore body formation has been added to a collection of Nature Communication’s 100 most downloaded articles of last year, published on 12th March 2023. This is no mean feat, considering the article was published in October!
Learn more about the article in Dr Carter’s guest blog post where he discusses the need for, and impact of the work.
Despite it’s late entry, the article generated so much interest it managed to place 30th out of the top 100, racking up more downloads than others published much earlier in the year - Go Lawrence, and congratulations to his coauthors Simon Tapster, Ben Williamson, Yannick Buret, David Selby, Gavyn Rollinson, Ian Miller and Daniel Parvaz.
Article Title - click to be taken to Nature Communications to download the research.
The abstract for the article is presented below, and the article can be accessed on Nature Communications by clicking the images, or on this link: A rapid change in magma plumbing taps porphyry copper deposit-forming magmas.
Abstract
Porphyry-type deposits are a vital source of green technology metals such as copper and molybdenum. They typically form in subduction-related settings from large, long-lived magmatic systems. The most widely accepted model for their formation requires that mantle-derived magmas undergo an increase in volatiles and ore-forming constituents in mid- to lower crustal reservoirs over millions of years, however, this is mostly based on observations from shallow, sporadically exposed parts of porphyry systems. To examine this paradigm, we have evaluated the timeframe and geochemical signatures of magmatism in a ~ 8 km palaeodepth cross-section through plutonic and volcanic rocks of the classic Yerington magmatic system, Nevada. We show that the magmas in the upper parts of the system (< 8 km) underwent a major and rapid change in chemistry over a period of < 200 kyrs that is coincident with the initiation of ore formation. We attribute this change to a shift from extraction of quartz monzodiorite and quartz monzonite magmas evolving in mid-crustal reservoirs, and that had relatively poor ore-forming potential, to extraction of volatile-rich granitic magmas from greater (~ 30 km) depths. As the granites crystallised, late stage melts were intruded through the carapace as aplite dykes which contain traceable expressions of the porphyry deposit-forming fluids. The rapid nature of the shift in ore-forming potential narrows the temporal-geochemical footprint of magmas associated with porphyry mineralisation and provides new constraints for exploration models.
We’re really proud to have made the list, and this is another step towards normalising electric pulse fragmentation technology in the geosciences, giving us exceptional recovery and preservation of minerals such as the zircons used in this study.
Electric pulse Fragmentation (EPF) also known as electric pulse disaggregation (EPD) or Electrical Disintegration (ED) uses tiny, highly energetic discharges of lightning that travel through rocks and break them apart along the boundaries between minerals, disaggregating the rock at it’s natural mineral size with no abrasive crushing, grinding or excessive size reduction, making it perfect to acquire samples for geochronology.
Contact us now to get prices for electric pulse sample treatment service and for Lab system sales.