Abstract

CAMPRUBI, Antoni. Criteria for mining exploration by means of microthermometry of fluid inclusions. Bol. Soc. Geol. Mex [online]. 2010, vol.62, n.1, pp.25-42. ISSN 1405-3322.

The microthermometry of fluid inclusions is an analytical technique that has numerous applications in both academia and mining exploration. This technique, when based on sound petrographic studies, allows determination or estimation of (1) the formation temperatures of a mineral deposit, (2) the salinity and contents of several solutes in mineralizing fluids, (3) the evolution in time and the spatial variations in temperature and salinity, (4) the occurrence of various mechanisms of mineral deposition, (5) the occurrence of hydrothermal brine pulses, various in nature, (6) the presence of feeder channels in hydrothermal deposits and their relationship with the distribution of economic mineralization, (7) the migration of brines through a sedimentary basin and the association of such phenomena with the maturation of petroleum or the formation of certain types of ore deposits, (8) the interaction between fluids of contrasting chemical composition, (9) the position of paleosurfaces or the paleowater table under hydrostatic pressure, and (10) the type or subtype of ore deposit to which a given deposit may belong, as well as many other metallogenic issues. Consequently, the use of this technique potentially provides key information on the genesis of most ore deposits, and cannot be replaced by other techniques as a guide for mineral exploration or for deciding against exploitation of a mineral deposit or mining district.

Keywords : fluid inclusions; mining exploration; temperature; salinity; thermal zonation; epithermal deposits; skarns; MVT deposits.

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