CHAPTER XVI

CLASSIFICATION OF MINERAL DEPOSITS

Classification by Form and Substance. —A genetic classification of

deposits of useful minerals is really equivalent to the classification of
geological bodies’’ as defined in Chapter I; and is, therefore, naturally
beset with all the difficulties connected with an imperfect knowledge of
geological processes. The early attempts in the way of systematic
treatment, however, avoided this troublesome path by the simple expedi-
ent of classifying by substance or uses, or by form. These schemes are
followed in many textbooks, even among those of recent date; undoubt/-
edly they have some advantages, esp)ecially for the miner, the industrial
chemist, and the metallurgist, who are principally inteitjsted in the form
of the deposit or in the study of ores of certain metals.
By substance and uses mineral deposits may be classified as follows:

1. Htructuml maioriaLs glaas Hand, cement rock, clay,

asphalturn.
2. Fuels Coal, petroleum, natural gtis, peat.
3. Abrasives Ck)runduin, garnet.
4 Fertilizers Potash salts, phosphates, green-saiids.
5. Precious stones Diamond, opal, tourmaline,
G, Various industrial uses . . Craphit.e, bariU\ borax, asbestos, sul-
plnir.
7. Metallic ores Iron ores, copper ores, gold and silver
ores, tin ores, aluminum ores, etc.

However convenient, it is evident that this classification cannot lead

to a thorough appreciation of the manifold processes by which mineral
deposits are formed in nature.
The early and not yet entirely abandoned schemes refer to the form
of the geological bodies. But form is closely connected with genesis
and even in one of the earliest classifications on this basis, that of Bern-
hard von Ootta,^ the difficulty of avoiding genetic conceptions is felt in
his definition of a vein as a filled fissure.” He divided ore deposits
as follows:
1. Regular deposits.
A. Beds.
B, Veins,
. Ordinary fissure veins (true fissure veins).
. Bedded veins.
‘ Die Lehre von den Lagerstiitten, Freiberg, 1869.
203
m MmMBAl DMPOBITB

c* Conta^ct veins.
d. Ijenticular veins.
11. Irregular deposits.
C. Stocks (irregular masses with distinct limits).
. Recumbent.
. Vertical.
Impregnations (irregular masses, fading into country rock).
Z>.

With variations this plan of classification is followed in many of the

older textbooks. Not unlike it is a classificaiion by J. A. Phillips in his
treatise on ore deposits, revised in 1896 by H. Louis.
L. de Launay^ arranges the deposits according to the principal ele-
ments contained. This logical, though not genetic, plan presents diffi-
culties, and it seemed wise to avoid it.
Form and structure, though highly important, are largely accidental
and offer no safe basis for a scientific classification.
—
Genetic Classifications. A genetic classification is the most desirable
both theoretically and practically. In exploring and exploiting ore
deposits, the miner is almost forced to form an idea of its origin in order
to follow up the ore-bodies to best advantage. Von Groddeck and
Stelzner were really the first mining geologists who appreciated and
applied the genetic principle in classification. Of course, the time was
hardly ripe for its introduction until the conceptions of genesis had
crystallized into fairly definite form. Stelzner remarks, wit h good reason,
that it is only by standing upon the ground of a genetic theory that the
miner finds courage to sink deep shafts or drive long tunnels.
We are still in doubt as to the true mode of origin for many deposits.
But, as von Groddeck and Stelzner have pointed out, this applies to
any classification; and this very uncertainty is a stimulus to further
investigations.
The different classifications proposed will not be given here in detail.
An excellent account is found in Kemp’s ‘*Ore Deposits of the United
States and Canada/’ Appendix 1. Von Groddeck, Stelzner, Posepny,
Wadsworth, Monroe, Kemp, Crosby, Hoefer, Spurr, Van Hise, Weed,
and several others have more or less successfully attacked the problem
of a consistent genetic classification.
Von Groddeck, followed by Stelzner and Beck, makes the primary
distinction, whether the useful minerals were originally formed in or
with the rock in which they now occur or whether they were introduced
into pre-existing rocks. Stelzner called the former syngenetic, the latter
epigenetic.
J. F. Kemp divides the deposits into (I) those of igneous origin, (II)
^hose precipitated from solutions, and (III) those deposited from suspen-

^L. de Laanay, Gltee Min^aux et M^talliferes, 3 vols., Paris, 1913.

 CMBSmCAfTON OP MimBAt DEPOSITS 205

sion, or remduee after the decompo$itiOn of rooka. DiflSiculties appear

here too, for what are igneous magmas but solutions?
Beck's classification is in part based on that of Stelzner. In the first
edition of his handbook, '*Die Lehre von den ErajlagerstMien,” the syn-
genetic or epigenetic origin was made the principal basis of classification.
In the edition of 1909 this is changed and the deposits are classified as

follows, on the basis of the various phases of their genetic history:

1. Magmatic segregations.
2. Contact-metamorphic ore deposits.
3. Fissure veins.
]
4. Bedded deposits. > Morphologic facies of a single genetic group,
5. Stocks. )
6. Secondary alterations,
7. Sedimentary ore deposits.
8. Detrital deposits.
While this is a decided improvement upon the first classification
adopted by Beck, the description of the various deposits shows that
many genetically different types are forced into one and the same
subdivision.
Weed^ goes further and states the origin of the ore-forming solutions.
His first class includes igneous deposits, segregated in a magma; his
second, igneous emanations, including contact deposits, and tin veins;
his third, gas-aqueous or pneumato-hydato-genetic deposits formed by
magmatic waters mingled with ground waters. His fourth and smallest
division includes those mineral masses formed by surface waters.
Beyschlag, Krusch, and Vogt (1914) follow a scheme in which there
is little of a truly genetic classification. They divide deposits into (1)
magmatic; (2) contact (contact-metamorphic) (3) veins, cavity fillings
;

and metasomatic deposits; and (4) ore beds (mostly sedimentary).

Under each heading are numerous groups," not necessarily related.
The classification of Beck and Berg (1922) does not seem to differ very
much from the previous classification and still groups many incongruous
items under one heading, for instance under orc-“ stocks " and ore beds."
P. Niggli (1925) and Schneiderhohn (1925) divide the deposits of
magmatic affiliations as follows’*. (1) liquid magmatic; {2) plutonic,
pegmatitic to pneumatolytic to pyrometasomatic; (3) plutonic, hydro-
thermal, (4) volcanic (extrusive) deposits. This attempt to separate
the plutonic" from the extrusive" deposits will hardly stand, but the
plan is an improvement on the classifications just mentioned. Schneider-
hohn adds under (4) the new type of the submarine exhalation deposits
containing magnetite, pyrite, and siderite. He also extends his classifi-
cation to include the deposits of sedimentary and metamorphic derivation.
1 W. H. Weed in **Ore deposits, a discussion republished from the Eng. and Min,
Jour.y New York, 1903, pp. 20-23,
 —

206 MimBAL DEPOSITS

Mineral deposits must have been formed by geological processes.

Eecogniising this, Van Hise^ classifies ores as follows: Those produced
(!) by processes of sedimentation; (2) by igneous processes; (3) by
metamorphic processes. But he includes under this heading practically
all veins and allied geological bodies, conceiving them to be deposited

by the circulating ground water.

probably impossible to produce a classification which will win
It is
the approval of all. In the ultimate analysis by far the larger number
of mineral deposits have been formed by physicochemical reactions
in solutions, whether these were aqueous, igneous, or gaseous. According
to this view the only consistent division that can be made is that between
deposits formed by mechanical concentration of pre-existing minerals
and those formed by reactions in solutions.
A genetic classification should not be confined to a general indication
of the relative time of ore deposition —
whether at the same time or
later than the country rock. Nor should it confine itself to a statement
of the agents of ore deposition —
whether aqueous, igne(uis, or gaseous
solutions, or whether sedimentary, igneous, or metamorphic processevs.
The statement of the place of ore deposition™ -at the surface or below
it; in shallow watei^s or in deep seas — is important but not sufficient.
Some authors have attempted a classification by mode of deposition
whether by replacement or by filling of open cavitit's- bill all such
attempts have been failures, for the two processes are so (dosely asso-
ciated that separation is impossible.
The genetic classification should ultimately determine the limits of
ore deposition in each classby temperature and pressure. Each deposit
should be considered as a problem in physical chimiistry and the solution ;

of this problem, with the ncccsvsary geological data, will suffice to fix
the mode of formation of the deposit.
We are far from having the complete material for such a classifica-
tion, but we have at least a few starting points. It is necessary to
determine, by experiment or by observation in nature, the limits of
existence of each mineral species. Some will be found to be “ persistent
under widely differing conditions of temjierature and pressure-- like
fluorite, quartz, or gold. For others a far more limited range will be
established. By collecting the data of mineral association, sequence
of deposition, and stability range of the component parts of the
deposit, it will be possible to ascertain the conditions prevailing at

the time of ore deposition.*

C. R. Van Hise, A treatise on metaraorphiKin, Afrm. 47, U S. GeoL Survey, 1904.

’

®T. Crook, The gcnietic classificatjon of rocks and ore deposits, Mineralog. Mag.,
Lpndon, 17, 1914, pp. 55- 85.
G. t'. Loughlin and C. H. Bchre, Jr., Classification of ore deposits, Lindgren
Volume, Chap. 4, Am. Inst. Min. Eng., 1933, in press.
 CLASSmCATION OF MINMRAL DEPOSITS 207

Perhaps it is much from physical chemistry,

well not to expect too
magnificent as have been. The complications, even in simple
its services

systems, become great when, besides temperature and pressure, con-

centration, mass action, and time must be considered. In multicom-
ponent systems the difficulty increases enormously. At the same time
it is believed that the direction indicated is the only safe one to take in

classifying the complex phenomena of ore deposition.

—
Geological Thermometry.^ In the classification here proposed the
temperature of origin of a deposit is thus a most important item. Some
minerals develop over a very wide range of temperature, but there are
others which are much more limited or which undergo identifiable changes
at certain temperatures. By such means the temperature of origin can
sometimes be determined, at least within given limits. Among such data
are the melting points which, ho’vvever, only indicate maxima. A crystal
of bismuth must, for iiistance, have been formed below 271°C. (the
melting point of the metal) More useful are the inversion points. Below
.

575°C., for instance, quartz changes to a fonu with a recognizably

different symmetry. Another inversion point is that between ortho-
rhombic and isometric chalcocite at 91°C. Conclusions as to temperature
may also be drawn from the change of color of minerals at certain tern-
j)eratures, or from the concentration of liquid inclusions determined from
relations of fluid and separated crystals, or from the disappearance of
^^unmixed material in certain minerals. Ramdohr gives a list of 49
minerals which offer significant temperature data.

OUTLINE OF PROPOSED CLASSIFICATION

Detrital and Sedimentary Deposits. —
In the scheme follow^ed in this
book tiiore are tw^o major divisions. The first includes deposits formed
by mechanical processes of concentration. This includes the detrital
deposits such as placers and quartz sand formed at moderate temperature
and presvsure.
The second division contains the great majority of mineral deposits
which have l)een produced by chemical processes of concentration.
Many important processes, such as those productive of iron ores and
phosphates, for instance, take place by interactions of solutions in bodies
of surface waters. These processes may be of inorganic origin or they
may take place through the medium of living bodies, almost always at
moderate temperatures. The products are usually mingled with detrital
^ N. L. Bowen, Geologic thermometry, in E. E. Fairbanks’s “The Laboratory
investigation of ores,” New York, 1928, pp. 172-199.
H. Seifert, Geologische Thermometer, Fortachritte d, Min, Krist. u, Petrog,^ 14,
1929, pp, 167-291. (Bibliography.)
Rtimdohr, Neue Beobachtungen ueber die Verwendbarkeit opakcr Erze als
P.
“Geologisehe Thermometer,” ZeitBchr, yrakt, QeoLy 39, 1931, pp, 65-73; 89-9L
(Bibliography.)
 MIUBRAL BEPOStW

matter. They may be enriched by secondary processes in the unconsoli-

dated strata or by processes of weathering after their exposure to air.
Another class of deposits is formed in bodies of surface waters by
their evaporation and consequent precipitation of the salts dissolved in
them; these are frequently termed the saline residues/’ Common salt,
gypsum, and borates are among the substances found in these deposits.
Concentration of Substances Contained in the Rocks. —Instead
of at the surface or in bodies of surface waters, the processes of concentra-
tion of useful substances may go on in the rocks themselves. We may
distinguish two cases; the substances were originally contained in the
same geological body in which the deposit is found, or they have been
introduced from the outside.
The apparent objection to this basis of subdivision, namely, the diffi-
culty of deciding the source of the mineral or metal, is met in many cases
by the knowledge acquired during late years. There may be deposits
for which the question cannot be decided, but I believe that in the near
future we shall in most cases have sufficiently good evidence. No
one seriously maintains that the gold in the quartz veins of California,
for instance, has been leached from the surrounding country rock; and
surely no one denies that the oxidized nickel silicate ores of certain perido-
tites were originally contained in minute distribution in these rocks.
.1ft the case of substances contained in the geological body itself,

ti»^ jfetOlKoentration may be effected by rock decay and residual weather*

(1)
ing~that is, by oxygenated surface waters; (2) by the ground water
of the deeper circulation; and (3) by processes of dynamic and regional
rnetamorphism.
—
Residual Weathering. Rock decay tends to destroy the rocks as
units; to break them down, mechanically and chemically, and to re-assort
their constituents in new combinations. In the decaying mass certain
constituents are concentrated or precipitated; its detritus is swept away

and deposited and oceans; its soluble constituents are

in rivers, lakes,
carried into the larger reservoirs and there perhaps precipitated in various
forms.
It is true that not quite all the sedimentary deposits are derived from
the decaying rocks; the fossil coals are indirectly made from the carbon
of the atmosphere; volcanic ashes contribute a share to the sediments;
the exhalations of eruptive magmas, as well as ascending waters, con-
tribute some dissolved matter from the lower part of the earth’s crust.
Processes of sedimentation and rock decay take place at moderate
temperatures and pressures and the new minerals formed are, as a rule,
characterized by high hydration. Below 0° C. mineral deposits do not
form, except in so far as freezing of water is retarded by rapid motion
or dissolved salts. Few of the deposits have been formed at tempera-
tures above 50°, aftd this only exceptionally during eruption, evaporation
 CtABSmCATlO^ m MINMBAL DMPOSITB 209

in eha^llow desert lakes, or oxidation of pyritic rocks. The pressure is in

general little different from that of the normal atmi^sphere, but in deposits
in deep seas or lakes considerably higher pressures prevailed. This
increased pressure, at low temperature, appears to have had little influence
on the mineral associations formed.
—
Deep Circulatiiig Waters. Under the influence of the ground water
of the deeper circulation many ore deposits are formed, concerning some
of which there may be room for differing opinions. Copper may be
leached from greenstones and the ores of the metal may be deposited in
veins in the same rock. Hematite, like that of the Lake Superior region,
may be concentrated from the surrounding low-grade “iron formation.^^
Barite, magnesite, and sulphur are other instances.
—
Regional Metamorphism. Again, the agency may be metamorphisra
under stress or regional metamorphism; in such cases the change takes
place with very little water and it is not considered probable that a great
concentration of the metals contained can be effected. Other materials
may form, such as slate from shales, or useful minerals like garnets,
cyanite, or graphite may develop in the rock. During static metamor-
phism, temperature and pressure are likely to be somewhat higher than
at the surface. Regional metamorphism takes place under heavy pres-
sure and at fairly high temperatures at great depth. It may merge
into igneous metamorphism.
Introduced Ores not Connected with Igneous Rocks. Much more —
common is the case where the valuable minerals have been introduced
into the rock from without, and to this class belong the majority of the
metal deposits. Deposits of this kind occur along fissures, or form replace-
ments along fissures, or are found in general where opportunity is offered
for vigorous circulation of the depositing waters. P'or a long time it was
held by many that the metallic contents of fissure veins were derived from
the surrounding rock, but it is now generally admitted that such a view
in most cases is erroneous.
Certain metallic ores occur apparently independent of igneous rocks;
the mineral associations in these indicate a deposition at moderate pres-
sure and temperature, the latter probably rarely reaching 100° C. Of
this kind are certain lead-zinc deposits in limestone or the copper deposits
in sandstonewhich are so common in various parts of the world. Most
have been formed by surface waters, at
geologists agree that such deposits
moderate depths; and that the metals have been leached from neighboring
strata and, after a comparatively short wandering, deposited in fractured
rocks in their present resting places. These deposits are generally poor
in gold and silver.

—
Deposits Genetically Connected with Igneous Rocks. There is also
another and larger class which appears only in or near igneous rocks and
whose epoch of formation usually can be shown to have followed closely
210 MlNEUAt DEPOSITS

after the eruption* This class has been clearly recognissed by almost all
geologists. also general agreement that these deposits have
There is

been laid down by heated, ascending waters, although there is no una-

nimity as to the source of the water or the source of the metal To some,
the water and the dissolved metals are simply igneous emanations from
a cooling magma; to othei's, the waters are of atmospheric origin and,
heated by their passage through still warm igneous rocks, have dissolved
the metals contained in them. The majority hold to an igneous origin
with gradually increasing admixture of meteoric water and substances
dissolved on the upward path.
Nearly all metal deposits of the American Cordilleran region belong
to this division. It is subdivided into several groups, according to the
evidence of mineral association and geological relations. The first group
includes ores deposited at slight depth below the surface; the temperature
is here relatively low, perhaps from 50® to 200® (\, and the pressure will

scarcely exceed 100 atmospheres. Examples of this group are found in

the gold and silver veins of Tonopah, Nevada, the Crif>ple ("reek,
Colorado, gold telluride veins, and the California quicksilver veins.
These arc the epithermal d('posits. They are u(‘V(‘r found at great depths.
A second group comprises the deposits formed by hot ascending
solutions at moderate depths, say from 5,000 feet to 10,000 feet belt)w the
surface, at temperatures of perhaps from 200® to 300® C. and correspond-
ingly increased pressure. The present outcrops are exposed by deep
erosi<on and they almost always appear in or close to intrusive bodies.
The gold-quartz veins of California and the metasomatic pyritic deposits
of Leadville, Colorado, may servo as examples. These are the meso-
thermal deposits.
A third, doep-seatod group includes veins and replacement deposits.
During the genesis of these the temperature was high, but in most cases
below 575® (1, the crystallographic inversion point for quartz. The
pressure was probably very high. The cassilerite veins, some gold-quart z
veins of the Appalachian type, and the tourmaline-copper veins belong
to this group, which with great confidence maj^ be ascribed to emanations
from magmas. When occurring in limestone they carry lime-iron sili-
cates. These are the hypothermal deposits.^
The deposits unquestionably formed by direct igneous emanations
are the contact-metamorphic ores appearing in carbonate rocks along
igneous contacts. They contain oxide ores, such as magnetite and specu-

' L. C. Graion
a paper presented at the Tulsa meeting of the Geological Society
in
of America, 1931 emphasizes the great depth of the raesothermal and
(in press)

hypothermal zone. He also proposes to introduce a new term, ‘Hlie leptot hernia 1

zone,'’ to cover deposits intermediate between the mesothermal and the epithermal,
Tor the deposits formed very near the surface, above the epithermal ores, he proposes
the name of “teletherhiai.''
 CLAmmCATJON OF MlNMRAh DEPOSITS 211

larite, tOf2:ether with sulphides of copper, zinc, and iron, and present an
association of other minerals characteristic of pyxometasoraatism.
The emanations from effusive bodies are deposited as sublimates of
littleeconomic importance.
It must be remembered that these classes arc connected by transitions;
also that high temperature is not always proportional to depth for by
igneous action the isothermal lines may be carried high up towards the
earth’s surface.
—
Products of Magmatic Differentiation. The last class is that of the
deposits formed by concentration in igneous magmas; of all types these
have formed a1 the highest temperature and pressure. They include
oxides or sulphides segregated in the magmas, like the iron ores of Kiruna
in northern Sweden, the titanic iron ores of the Adirondacks, or the
copper-nickel ores of Sudbury, Ontario. They also include the pegmatite
dikes, which contain many gems and rare melals and which are regarded
as segregations from cooling granitic magmas. The pegmatites were
—
formed at comparatively low temiieratures probably from 500° to
—
800° C. but during the differentiation of the other deposits mentioned
considerably higher temperatures probably prevailed. The pressure
must, of course, have been very high.
Metamorphism and Surface Enrichment of Deposits. In the pro- —
posed classification the mineral deposits are supposed to have suffered no
change from their original condition. This is, of course, rarely strictly
true, for chemical changes as a rule begin soon after the cessation of the
agency which caused the deposition. In sedimentary beds this is particu-
larly the case, for cementation and hardening and various chemical
reactions begin almost from the lime of deposition. It is, however, not
the custom to refer to these changes as metamorphism.
Many mineral deposits have undergone great changes from their
original conditions. They may have been reached by igneous metamor-
phism; and, thus, a coal bed transformed into anthracite or a bed of limo-
nite into magnetite. Or they may have been sheared or crushed during
regional metamorphism. Or, most common of all cases, they may have
been altered by surface waters. Such oxidizing surface waters, as well
as similar waters at somewhat greater depth, when they have parted
with their free oxygen, produce peculiar modifications and often most
important enrichments.

A CLASSIFICATION OF MINERAL BEPOSITSi

1. Df^posits produrtHl by mochanical proeessos of concentration (Temperature and
pressure moderate.)
TI. Deposits produced by chemical processes of concentration. (Temperature and
pressure vary between wide limits.)

^ Presented before the Geological Society of Washington, May 10, 1911.

212 UmSSAL DgPmiTS
A CLASSIFICATION OF MINERAL DEPOSITS.- -(Continued)
A. In bodies of surface waters.
h By interaction of solutions.
. Inorganic reactions. f Temperature, 0° to 70® C. ±
. Organic reactions. I
Pressure, moderate to strong.
2. By evaporation of solvents.
In bodies of rocks.
1. By concentration of substances contained in the geologic body itself.
. Concentration by rock decay and residuaH Temperature, 0®~100® C. ±
weathering near surface. } Pressure, moderate.
. Concentration by ground water of deeper (Temperature, 0®~-100® C. ±
circulation, ( Pressure, moderate,
c. (Concentration by dynamic and regionaH Temperature up to 400® C. i
metamorphism. (Pressure, high.
2, Concentration effected by introduction of substances foreign to the rock,
o. Origin independent of igneous activity.
By circulating atmospheric waters at Temperature, to 100® C. ±
j
moderate or slight depth. ( Pressure, moderate.

6. Origin dependent upon the eruption of igneous rocks.

a. By hot ascending waters of uncert.ain origin, but charged with igneous

emanations.
1. Deposition and concentration Temperature, 50®‘"200® C.
at
j
±
slight depth. Epithermal deposits. ( Pressure, moderate.
2 , Deposition and concentration at
vremperaUire, 200® -300® C.
intermediate depths. Meso-
J Pressure, high.
thermal deixisits.
3. Deposition and concentration at/
great depth or at high tempera- f Temperature, 300° -600° C.
ture and pressure. HypothermaU Pressure, very high,
deposits. \
b. By direct igneous emanations.
1. From intrusive bodies. Contact (Temperature, probably 500
rrietainorphic orpyrometasomatic \ 800® C. ±
deposits. / Pressure, very high.

2. From effusive bodies. Sublimates, (Temperature, 100®~600® C.

fumaroles. •{pressure, atmosplieric to
moderate.
C. In magmas, by processes of differentiation,
(Temperature, 700°-1600® C. ±
a. Magmatic deposits proper.
(Pressure, very high.
b. Pegmatites. { Temperature, about 575® C. ±. Pressure, very high.