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Early Organic Evolution pp 478–482Cite as

On the Association of Ore Deposits with Stromatolites

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Abstract

Several stratiform ore deposits show the following characteristics: (1) close association with stromatolites; (2) occurrence along the borders of a sea with oxygen-poor bottom water; (3) (particularly in the case of Cu deposits) neighborhood of red beds and/or evaporites suggesting a marginal-marine, warm-arid environment. The combination of a warm-arid coast with an oxygen-deficient sea is reminiscent of the rainless deserts along oxygen-deficient seas in areas of strong upwelling.

Seawater may be the source of the metals. The total metal content (dissolved, in living plankton and in particulate organic matter) is relatively high in upwelling systems. Exceptionally high contents occur in slicks (smooth patches on the sea due to capillary wave damping) and foam developing particularly in highly productive, coastal waters. The following hypothesis is presented: metal-containing particulate matter of slicks and foam is trapped by the microbial mats. A high oxygen supply in the surface layer of a mat favors degradation of organic slick complexes, and release of metals as free ions, to be followed by precipitation of metal sulfides in the H2S-containing bottom layer.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Natuurhistorisch Museum, P.O. Box 9517, 2300 RA, Leiden, The Netherlands

    M. Brongersma-Sanders

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  1. M. Brongersma-Sanders
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. IGCP Project 157, Max-Planck-Institut für Chemie (Otto-Hahn-Institut), Saarstr. 23, W-6500, Mainz, Germany

    Manfred Schidlowski (Chairman) (Chairman)

  2. Biological Science Center, Boston University, Boston, MA, 02215, USA

    Stjepko Golubic

  3. Dept. of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695-8208, USA

    Michael M. Kimberley

  4. Department of Geology & Geophysics, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, S.A., 5001, Australia

    David M. McKirdy Sr. (Lecturer) (Lecturer)

  5. Division of Continental Geology, Bureau of Mineral Resources, GPO Box 378, Canberra, A.C.T., 2601, Australia

    Philip A. Trudinger

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© 1992 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Brongersma-Sanders, M. (1992). On the Association of Ore Deposits with Stromatolites. In: Schidlowski, M., Golubic, S., Kimberley, M.M., McKirdy, D.M., Trudinger, P.A. (eds) Early Organic Evolution. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-76884-2_38

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-76884-2_38

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-76886-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-76884-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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