DEPOSITIONAL TEXTURES

Textures vary among ore deposits, depending upon the nature of the mineralizing
fluids, the physical and chemical characteristics of the host rocks, and the mode
of emplacement. Textural interpretation can assist greatly in determining the
time relationships of successive mineral assemblages in a rock, the overall
environment of formation, and the manner of deposition. In epigenetic deposits,
textures can help define the sequence and nature of events as in the complex
vein shown in Figure 3-11, and they permit the distinction of mechanical and
chemical controls as mentioned earlier in this chapter. In syngenetic deposits
such as sedimentary, volcanic-hosted, and mafic igneous onestextures may
reveal accumulation rates and styles, cooling histories, and the nature of
precipitation. Resorption of early formed crystals may produce peculiar textures
in magmatic segregation ores (Figures 4-2, 9-3, and 9-4), and diagenetic changes
may modify the primary

Page 133

textures of sedimentary deposits. The textures of hydrothermal ores tend to be

diverse.

Replacement
As defined by Lindgren (1S33), replacement, or metasomatism, is . . .
the process of practically simultaneous capillary solution and deposition by which
a new mineral of partly or wholly differing chemical composition may grow in the
body of an old mineral or mineral aggregate. Replacement ordinarily implies
little or no change in the volume of the replaced rock, although in some rocks
considerable shrinkage or expansion takes place. The process of metasomatism
is of great significance in the emplacement of epigenetic ore deposits; many ores
are deposited almost entirely in this manner, and nearly all ores show some
evidence of replacement of preexisting materials. The process is especially
characteristic of deposits formed at high temperatures and high pressures where
open spaces are scarce and where communication with the surface is impeded.
The efficacy of replacement is often astounding. The intimate preservation of plant cell or growth-ring morphology in petrified wood is well known,
as is the fact that wooda fibrous substance composed of carbon, hydrogen,
oxygen, nitrogen, and minor elementscan be replaced by silica, even though
there is no apparent similarity between the two substances. The replacement of
one mineral or rock by another may be striking and clear; fossils, sedimentary
textures, and folded structures are commonly preserved in faithful molecule-bymolecule detail. A compilation of the minerals that can replace one another
indicates that there is practically no limit to the direction of metasomatism. As a
bold generalization, it might be stated that given the proper conditions, any
mineral can replace any other mineral, though natural processes usually result in
favored, commonly recurring reactions. The important factor seems to be the
chemical difference between the mineral or rock being replaced and the
replacement medium, be it liquid, gas, or a wave of diffusing ions. Hence merely
because quartz is stable at the Earths surface, we cannot conclude that quartz
will resist metasomatism. In fact, quartz and the silicates very commonly
undergo replacement. In contrast, a fluid that reacts with and replaces limestone
may be inert to quartz, or vice versa. As a result, selective replacement may be
of the most detailed character. Bastin and his colleagues (1931) proposed the
following general rules for replacement: (1) sulfides, arsenides, tellundes, and
sulfosalts can replace any rock, gangue, or ore mineral, (2) gangue minerals
replace rock and other gangue minerals, but do not commonly replace sulfides,
arsenides, tellurides, and sulfosalts, (3) oxides replace all rock and gangue
minerals but are rarely replaced by gangue minerals, and (4) oxides rarely
replace sulfides, arsenides, tellurides, and sulfosalts. These statements reflect
the normal course of ore deposition,

Page 134

whereby fluids carrying ore components typically invade and replace rocks
dominated by silicates. Statements (2) and (4) are correct because the gan-gue
and oxide minerals referred to are part of the ore deposition event and are
commingled with it rather than replacing it.
Although replacement has been generally recognized and described
for many years, the means by which the actual transfer of materials takes place
has been the subject of debate. One fundamental question is how the
tremendous volumes of the old replaced materials are removed by the same
solution that deposits the new minerals. Presumably the dissolved materials
are transported back from a replacement front through the aqueous ore solutions
by diffusion, as in wall rock alteration. In other words, different ions may be
diffusing down chemical gradients in quite different directions. The fact that
replacement generally appears to take place volume for volume (without
increasing porosity) raises another major problem: How can we write chemical
equations representing electrically and molec-ularly balanced reactions with
equal volumes of solid materials on each side? Ridge (1949, 1961) attempted to
illustrate replacement with equations that balanced molecularly, volumetrically,
and electrically. He found that he could write equations acknowledging nearsurface chemistry and geology but could develop only rough approximations for
deep-seated reactions.
In fact, the budget approach to metasomatism requires that atomic
structure, space, and valence all be conserved, but there is no real evidence that
all of those requirements must be met. Metasomatism can be molecule for
molecule, but it may also involve one structure growing while another decays,
with components being added and subtracted diffusionally from outside as
required by the relative rates of destruction and construction. In other words,
there may be no molecular-level structural inheritance at all. Barnes (1979)
describes the replacement of limestone by sphalerite in a brine medium as
involving etching and dissolution of calcite, especially along grain boundaries,
merely with the concomitant precipitation of sphalerite and iron sulfides in the
space thus created. The reactions were probably

Page 135

with the H+ generated in Equations (4-6) and (4-7) aiding in the dissolution
expressed by Equation (4-5). Ridge (1961) showed the same reactions
summarized as

CaC03 + Zn+2 + S= -* ZnS + Ca+2 + (C03) =

(4-8)
and was able to balance it to within 0.01 vol % as
20CaCOs + 31Zn+2 + 31S= 31ZnS + 20Ca+2 + 20(CO3) =
(4-9)
Volume = 1220.6 cubic angstroms * 1220.47 cubic angstroms

Such careful treatment shows that volume for volume space can be conserved.
Limestone replacement at low temperature and pressure was studied
by Garrels and Dreyer (1952). They were able to produce replacement textures
similar to natural ones under controlled laboratory conditions. Many variables
were examined, and it was concluded" that the major control of replacement was
the pH of the mineralizing fluid, which in turn controlled the solubility of the
carbonate host rock. Garrels and Dreyer suggested that dissolving limestone
changes ore-bearing solutions in the direction of ore-mineral precipitation.
Accordingly, they consider the solubility of the host to be the key factor in
metasomatism. Ames (1961) proposed that the principal factor is the solubility of
the replacement product relative to the solubility of the host rock in the same
solution, rather than merely the solubility of the host. In any case, the

importance of simultaneous dissolving action and precipitation from a single

solution is well established.
Garrels and Dreyer also found that numerous small, closely spaced
openings and a slightly higher secondary permeability create ideal conditions for
replacement. They concluded that the mineralizing solutions are carried along
these zones of secondary permeability, but that the solutions move from the
channels to the replacement front mainly by diffusion rather than by mechanical
flow. It seems clear that replacement is far more important as a mechanism at
higher temperatures, and that high pressure inhibits replacement by closure of
permeability.
Interpretations of mineral textures tc give unique and positive
information are difficult. In spite of the great amount of work done on mineral
textures and structures, the causes of many textural relationships are poorly
understood. Although many textures are clear and unequivocal enough for
positive statements, others may have several interpretations. For example,
textures such as the one shown as Figure 3-5 have been attributed to the
process of exsolution (Schwartz, 1931), replacement (Loughlin and Kosch-mann,
1942), eutectic crystallization, or, if the two minerals are chalcopyrite and
bornite, the removal of part of the iron from chalcopyrite by hot water or steam
(Park, 1931). Brett (1964) found that many exsolution textures were deceptive
because they look as if they were formed by replacement.
Page 136

He was able synthetically to produce replacement-type textures by

exsolution, and vice versa. Barton and Skinner (1967) showed that textural
equilibration times for many sulfide pairs were so short that homogenization of
mineralsor at least modification of primary depositional textures in most sulfide
ore depositsis inescapable. However, ores in most types of ore deposits do
show repetitive, characteristic, and reasonably interpretable textures. Most
microscopists and mappers place reliance upon a broad spectrum of textural
interrelationships, all the while recognizing the need for cautious interpretation
of some of them.
Excellent treatises on the textures of ore minerals are available and
should be studied by serious students of ore deposits (Van der Veen, 1925;
Schneiderhohn and Ramdohr, 1931; Schouten, 1934; Bastin 1950; Edwards,
1952, 1954; Ramdohr, 1955, 1980; Craig and Vaughan, 1981; and Picot and
Johan, 1982). Textures may be studied megascopically in mine openings or in the
field, in place or in hand specimens in the laboratory; they can be evaluated
mesoscopically in rough, sawed, or polished pieces with binocular microscope or
hand lens; or they can be examined microscopically with finely polished
specimens in reflected light.
As established earlier, ores may be deposited by either open-space
filling or replacement. Ores deposited in openings probably followed dominantly

textural or structural controls; those that replaced preexisting rocks were

probably guided structurally and then controlled chemically. Accordingly it is of
fundamental importance for the understanding, evaluation, and development of
an ore deposit to ascertain whether the minerals originated by replacement or by
open-space filling. It should be recalled that a deposit formed by either
mechanism alone would be an exceptionopen-space filling is likely to be
accompanied by some replacement, and vice versa. These two major types of
texturesreplacement and open-space fillingare discussed separately below,
but the student must be aware of their interaction.
Replacement Textures
A great deal has been written about textural criteria for recognizing
replacement. Pseudomorphs and relict textures are considered diagnostic, but
most others are only suggestive and may be formed in other ways. Except for a
few diagnostic criteria, it is unwise to base conclusions upon single indications;
confidence in any determination is directly proportional to the number of criteria
available. A list of 19 of the more reliable criteria is given below. Although the
scale of the accompanying illustrations is microscopic, most relationships can
also be used megascopically in the field ( Bastin et al., 1931; Schouten, 1934).
1. Pseudomorphs (Figure 4-6). If the form of a preexisting mineral is preserved,
especially if the internal structure is also discernible, a replacement origin is
indisputable. The preservation of original structures
Page 137

(a) Carbonate

(.b)
Figure 4-6. (ft) Pseudomorphism. Bementite (crosshatched) has replaced most
of a rhomb of preexisting carbonate. Bementite, a manganese silicate, is
monoclinic and could not form a rhombohedron by itself. Olympic Peninsula,
Washington. 60 x. (6) Fluorite ha replaced a fossil (circled) in Doctores
Formation limestone at the Las Cuevas fluorite deposit, Mexico. The original form
of the fossil is obliterated where replaced by fluorite. Replacement is irrefutable
since no CaF2 shells are known. (From Ruiz et ah, 1980.)
and textures in sedimentary, igneous, or metamorphic rocks, as well as organic
remains, may be pseudomorphic. For example, preore fold structures or oolites
now pseudomorphed by sulfides are conclusive evidence of replacement.
2. Widening of a fracture filling to an irregular mass where a fracture crosses a
chemically reactive mineral grain or rock (Figure 4-7). If a
Page 138

Figure 4-7. Widening of a fracture filling to an

irregular mass where the fracture crosses chemically
reactive mineral grains or rock layers. Here digenite
in the fracture that cuts eovellite (cv) and
chalcopyrite (cp) has expanded into the eovellite and
left
the
chalcopyrite
almost
unreplaced.
Replacement of the eovellite is indicated. Cananea, Mexico. 40 x. See also Figure
4-30.

veinlet widens across only one variety of mineral, it suggests that this mineral
was receptive to replacement and that replacement occurred. Mineralization
spreading laterally into a single limestone unit in a sequence of varied
sedimentary layers is a large-scale example.
3. Irregular or vermicular intergrowths at wide places along fractures or at

grain boundaries not related to crystallographic directions (Figure 4-8).

The vermicular intergrowths represent a leading edge or front of
replacement, not completed. Replacement is not the only mechanism by
wdiich vermicular intergrowths are formed; they also develop during
crystal growth in a eutectic mixture and by exsolution during the slow
cooling of some solid solutions, and they are typically related to crystallographic directions. Only the nonoriented irregular intergrowths
pictured can be considered criteria of replacement.
4. Islands of unreplaced host mineral or wall rock (Figure 4-9). Isolated,

seemingly suspended relict bits of one material in another, especially if

Figure 4-8. Vermicular irregular intergrowths at wide
places along fractures or at grain boundaries; not
related to crystallographic directions. Skutterudite (sk)
and niccolite (ni) have replaced native silver (Ag). The
vermicular
diffuse
intergrowths
of
skutterudite
extending irregularly into the silver are evidence of
replacement. The niccolite is probably an intermediate
reaction product. The entire field once was presumably
all silver. Cobalt, Ontario, Canada. 30 x. (After an
unpublished photo by D. E. Eberlein.)

Page 139

Figure 4-9. (a) Oriented islands of one mineral in another. In this texture, pyrite
relict fragments form an atoll structure, a common texture in Cu-Fe-S vein ores.
An early pyrite cube, the outline of which is preserved, has been almost
completely replaced by bomite. Chalcopyrite is an intermediate reaction product.
Bisbee, Arizona. 40 x. (6) Photo-micrographic example of oriented relict islands
of a replaced mineral. Clusters of pyrite relicts (white) in chalcopyrite (light gray,
within pyrite) and bomite (medium gray, external to pyrite) clearly reflect earlier
grain forms. Dark gray is quartz; black is holes in polished surface. Butte,
Montana. (Photo by Geological Research Laboratory, Anaconda Company.)

Page 140
an earlier form or common orientation is perceptible, require a replacement
relationship, one that did not carry to completion.
5. Concave surfaces into the host, the cusp and caries texture (Figure 4-10).
The diffusion of ions at the replacement front goes on at different rates, so that
some parts of the front form concave reentrants as if the replacing mineral had
bitten into the host. The cusp and caries designation is a dental analogycaries
are cavities in teeth, clearly

Figure 4-10. (a) Concave surfaces of one mineral

into another, the cusp and carie texture.
Chalcopyrite (cp) has replaced tetrahedrite (tt). By
analogy with dental effects, the bites are caries,
the points between them cusps. Coeur dAlene,
Idaho.
45 x. (b) Excellent example of cusp and carie
textures. Hessite (h) (AgTe2) is replacing altaite (a)
(PbTe). Ben Butler mie, Red Cliff, Colorado.

Page 141

later than the enamel; the cusps are relict protuberances between cavities. The
texture is a familiar one to microscopists.
6. Nonmatching walls or borders of a fracture (Figure 4-11). If replacement works
outward from a central fissure, the opposite fronts of replacement will almost
never match in detail and may differ radically.
7. Rims of one mineral penetrating another along its crystallographic directions
(Figure 4-12). Replacement may work outward from any small fissures or from
grain margins and boundaries, but has advanced preferentially along
cleavages. For example, galena may be replaced by covellite or cerussite that
penetrate it preferentially along directions that are obviously parallel to its
cleavages (see also Figure 3-3).
8. Oriented unsupported fragments (Figure 4-13). If a piece of one mineral is
completely surrounded by another mineral and still maintains its

Figure 4-11. Nonmatching walls or borders

of a fracture. The original fracture extended
between the arrows. Introduced galena (gn),
tetrahedrite (tt), and ehalcopyrite (cp) have
replaced sphalerite (si). Note the caries of
those mineralsthe metasomes
Arrows
show
the
veinlet
centerline.
Cananea, Mexico. 30 x. See also Figure 4-10.

Figure 4-12. Rims of one mineral penetrating

another along crystallographic directions. Here
the metasome bornite (bn) protrudes from fairly
continuous rims aiong preferred directions in the
ehalcopyrite (cp) host. Replacement along the
fracture echoes the preference. The replacement
proceeded from the volume now filled by gangue.
Cananea, Mexico. 40 x.

Page 142

Figure 4-13. Oriented unsupported fragments.

If cleavage, anisotropism, or other optical
characteristics, trains of inclusions, or any other
criteria establish that the island was once
continuous
with
the
mainland,
then
replacementhere
tetrahedrite
(tt)
by
chalcopyrite i,cp)is indicated. Coeur dAlene,
Idaho. 45 x. See also Figure 4-9.

orientation with respect to more of the same material on the outside, the texture
is practically diagnostic of replacement at any scale. The fragment may be any
size, and the orientation may be established by crystallographic directions,
cleavage, bedding, or foliation.
9. Selective association (Figure 4-14). Since replacement is a chemical process,
specific selective associations of pairs or combinations of minerals can be
expected. If the chemistry of a system changes, it will more likely reflect a
changed ratio of related constituents than a complete switch to different ones.
Chalcopyrite is more likely to replace bornite by virtue of a changed Cu/Fe ratio
or a different /(S2) than it is to replace quartz. Thus consanguinity of assemblages
is part of the diagnosis of replacement.
10. A. younger mineral that transects older structures (Figure 4-15). The
presence of a crystala metablast, for examplethat interrupts bedding or
foliation requires that the structure is older. If the crystal had

Figure 4-14. Selective association. Galena (gn)

(PbS) rather than calcite or quartz is invaded by
gratonite (gt) (Pb^AsjS^) when the activity of
arsenic in the fluids increased. Adapted from a
specimen from Darwin, California. 45 x.

Page 143

Figure 4-15. Metablasts of pyrite that cut foliation in schist from the Mother
Lode district, California. The pyrite cubes grew in the rock but do not bend or
displace the foliation. They must, then, have replaced the material that occupied
their space. About 0.9 x.
grown by any process other than replacement, it would have displaced or
deformed the structure.
A young phase deposited in obvious relation to microfractures, cleavage
planes, or grain boundaries (Figure 4-16). Ore-forming fluids can be introduced
along small fractures. If grains of a young phase grow athwart such fractures and
protrude into the walls, replacement is indicated.
11.

Disparity in size of one mineral in another. Large crystals in a finegrained

groundmass, or vice versa, suggest that the two grew independently or by
different processes that might include replacement.
12.

A mineral deposited along what was clearly an advancing alterationreaction front. If deposition took place by open-space filling, ore minerals should
stop abruptly at the wall of a fissure. Conversely, replacement is indicated by the
gradual enlargement and merging of meta- somes along a replacement front.
Such a zone should also be evident
13.

Figure 4-16. Young phase deposited in obvious

relation to microfractures, cleavage planes, or
grain boundaries. Pyrite (py) lies along an obvious
contact between siderite (sid) and galena (gn)
showing triangular etch pits. The pyrite must have
replaced both galena and siderite. Adapted from a
Pribram, Czechoslovakia, specimen. 150 x .

Page 144

from the progressive increase in size of metacrysts and from the gradation of
replacement from the wall rock into the vein. Figure 3-4 is an excellent example.
The presence of a depositional sequence in which minerals become progressively richer in one constituent (Figure 4-17). For example, if polybasite
(Ag16Sb2Sn) has been acted upon by more silver-rich solutions, the replacement
material should show a progressive enrichment in silver. A crystal or fragment of
polybasite may grade first to acan- thite (Ag 2S) and then eventually to native
silver, reflecting the gradual displacement of antimony and sulfur. An
intermediate-stage specimen might show relict cores of polybasite rimmed in
sequence by acanthite and native silver.
14.

Doubly terminated crystals (Figure 4-18). If a crystal grows within an open

cavity, it is normally attached to a wall and develops crystal faces only at the
free end. This restriction does not affect crystals growing by replacement, so that
doubly terminated crystals may indicate a replacement origin. This criterion is
limited because doubly terminated crystals may also develop within magmas
and, exceptionally, by unusual attachment in open spaces.
15.

Gradational boundaries. Replacement processes may produce either

abrupt or gradational contacts between the host rock and the orebody. Since
open-cavity filling usually forms abrupt contacts, at least on a microscopic scale,
a gradational boundary commonly indicates advancing replacement. (See also
Figure 3-4.)
16.

Figure 4-17. Depositional sequence in which

minerals become progressively richer in one
constituent. The intermediate phase commonly is
a reaction rim. Hypogene chalcocite always has a
selvage of bomite between itself and the
chalcopyrite that it replaces. The sequence of
CuFeS2-Cu6FeS4-Cu2S, in which the copper-toiron ratio is 1-5-00 and the eial-to-sulfur ratio 11.5-2. Adapted from a Tsumeb, Namibia,
specimen. 45 x. See also Figure 4-8.

Page 145

Figure 4-18. Doubly terminated quartz crystal from the Stibnite Vein, Wolf
Creek, Fairbanks district, Alaska, containing stibnite crystals. The quartz is said to
be a replacement of gangue minerals in the vein, and probably overgrew and
enclosed the stibnite granules. 18x. (Collected by P. 0. Sandvik; photo by W. J.
Crook.)
Residual resistant minerals. Some minerals are refractory to most
mineralizing solutions and may be preserved even after the surrounding minerals
have been replaced. For example, zircon or corundum found in the same
proportions in the sulfides of an orebody as in a nearby schist would support the
argument that the ore had replaced some of the schist. The resistant minerals
are special types of islands or unreplaced fragments of host rock (criterion 4).
17.

No offset of an intersected linear fracture (Figure 4-19). When a vein is

opened laterally, any intersecting feature is also translated. But if a linear or
planar feature projects straight across a vein filling, there can have been no
dilation, and filling must be the result of replacement.
18.

No offset along the intersection of fractures (Figure 4-20). Movement along

a fissure offsets any planar or linear feature that it intersects obliquely, but does
not commonly offset an intersecting fracture formed
19.

Figure 4-19. No offset of an intersected linear

feature. A veinlet of native silver (Ag) flanked by
skutterudite (sk) cuts across a straight joint (jt) in
calcite (cal). Were the silver and skutterudite openspace fillings in a dilatant opening, the joint would
have been spread from A to B and continue from B
to C. Replacement, or fortuitous movement, is
required. Cobalt, Ontario. 30 x. See also Figure 426.

Page 146

Figure 4-20. Intersecting fractures showing no

offset at the intersection. The fractures were
probably part of a cognate joint set and show
enlargement by replacement rather than by
dilational opening. Tetrahedrite (tt), chalcopyrite
(cp), and siderite (sid). Coeur dAlene, Idaho. 30
x.

at the same time. Both fractures may be enlarged by replacement of their walls
and tend to cross one another without any change in course, but only a
coincidence of displacement would permit a rematch of intersecting veins that
had been spread apart and open-space-filled.

Exsolution
A near neighbor to replacement is the process of exsolution. In both
phenomena, migration of one or more components, commonly involving diffusion, results in the supplanting of a preexisting phase by a younger one.
Exsolution textures and their evaluation are normally only seen by the
mineragrapher (the ore microscopist). It is true that exsolution is not strictly
speaking a depositional feature, and perhaps should not be included in this
chapter. But there are enough situations in which exsolution textures and
distributions can be mistaken for those of replacement that their description is
justified.
Reexamine Figure 3-5. Were the process of exsolution to be carried
further, the miniscule blebs of chalcopyrite would migrate to cleavages and
crystallographic planes and collect there, leaving impoverished zones behind.
That process can be seen to have begun especially on the right side of Figure 35. Taken even further, the chalcopyritenow essentially all on planesmight
resemble a phenomenon of chalcopyrite from outside invading and replacing the
sphalerite. Taken to completion, the lowest free- energy state is for the exsolved
phase to form separate grains occupying texturally equivalent positions in a
mosaic with the original host phase. For many years, veinlets and grains of
pentlandite t(Fe,Ni)9S8] in pyrrhotite (Fe^a-S) in the Sudbury Complex (Chapter
9) were perplexing. Some considered them to be of replacement origin, with
pentlandite invading from outside the pyrrhotite. Others thought them to be
the product of well- developed exsolution. A careful textural study of scores of
polished pieces of ore sulfides has verified the latter explanation. It matters
because it

Page 147

means that pentlandite, a principal contributor of nickel to the ores,

can be expected virtually wherever pyrrhotite is found, and pyrrhotite occurs extensively along the floor of the complex. Were the pentlandite not integral to the
pyrrhotite, its distribution would almost certainly be more erratically subject to
unknown external controls. In general, replacement veinlets widen at
intersections, and exsolution veinlets become narrower. In the former case,
replacement attacks corners formed by two veinlets from two sides, replacement
is more complete, and the zone widens. In the latter, the host contributes the
exsolved phase into the veinlet. Close to a comer the exsolved ions are migrating
both ways, and the intersection becomes starved. Indeed, some microscopic
exsolution patterns involve exsolved crosses the arms of which narrow to a
pinpoint at the intersection.

Excellent lists of criteria for distinguishing exsolution and replacement are available in Edwards (1965), Ramdohr (1980), and Craig and Vaughan
(1981), but need not be reviewed here.

Open-Space Filling
Open-space filling is common in shallow zones where brittle rocks yield by
breaking rather than by plastic flow. The openings in these zones tend to remain
open because of low pressure transmitted through surrounding rock. At shallow
depths, ore-bearing fluids have relatively free circulation, and their open
connection with the surface permits deposition to be brought about by abrupt
pressure and temperature changesincluding retrograde boilingas opposed to
prolonged contact with surrounding rocks which undergo slow chemical changes
in deeper environments. Although ores deposited in vugs and open cavities are
generally readily distinguishable from replacement ores, criteria associated with
open-space deposition must nevertheless be used with caution because they are
sometimes inconclusive (Kutina and Sedlackova, 1961). As stated earlier, it
should also be stressed that many ore types show evidences of both replacement
and open-space filling and thus an overlap of the two processes. A list of
common criteria by which open-space filling may be recognized is given below.
Open-Space Filling Textures
Many vugs and cavities (Figure 4-21). If veins, breccias, and other partlyfilled openings contain many vugs and cavities that can be interpreted as spaces
left by incomplete filling of larger open spaces, then open-space filling is
indicated. The inward growth of ore and gangue minerals in an open fissure stops
when opposite walls meet. Since growth is not uniform along a fissure, the
progressively impeded circulation of ore-bearing solutions normally leaves
unfilled pockets. These crystal- lined centerline openings are called vugs.
1.

2.

Fine-grained minerals on the walls of a cavity with coarser minerals

Page 148

Figure 4-21. Quartz-crystal-lined vugs left by incomplete vein filling. Locality

unknown, but typical of scores of epithermal veins around the world. 0.9 x. See
also Figures 4-22 and 4-23.
in the center (Figure 4-22). The first crystals that form along the sides of an open
vein are usually fine-grained, probably because of heat loss to the wall rocks and
consequent rapid crystallization. Conversely, crystals that form in the centers of
such veins are inclined to be coarse and probably form from more dilute, cooler
solutions late in the vein history. Whatever the reasons, the phenomenon is
common enough to be distinctive of open-space filling.
3. Crustification (Figure 4-23). As ore-bearing solutions change in com-

position, or as environmental factors change, different minerals are

deposited along the walls of a vein or cavity. Early formed crystals become
encrusted with later minerals. The presence of small euhedral dolomite
crystals on top of large euhedral fluorite crystals is a common example.
Some veins have a banded appearance owing to crustification.
4. Comb structure (Figure 4-23). Along the junction of crystals that have

grown from opposite walls of a fissure, there is generally an interdigitated vuggy zone due to the merging of euhedral prismatic crystals.
Because this jagged zone of juncture resembles the outline of a roosters
comb, it is known as comb structure.
5. Symmetrical banding (Figure 4-24). Crystals deposited along a cavity or

fissure ordinarily grow symmetrically toward the center, in which case the
orientations, morphologies, and compositions of crystals on opposite sides
of a vein are mirror images. As the ore fluid or environment changes,
minerals deposited will differ in composition, forming crustification in a
bilaterally symmetrical pattern inward from vein walls. Such symmetrical
banding may involve mineralogical and color changes, and can produce a
banded vein diagnostic of open-space filling.
E. Matching walls. If an open fissure has been filled without replace-

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Figure 4-22. Fine-grained quartz grading into coarser crystals in a vug. Locality
unknown. See also Figure 4-23.
ment, the outlines of opposite walls should match, that is, if the vein material
were removed, the unreacted wall rocks on opposite sides should fit together like
mated pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. The fit across many veins is readily apparent.
7. Cockade structure (Figure 4-25). Mineralization within the open spaces of a
breccia, or any other fragmental rock, commonly produces a special pattern of
symmetrical banding or erustincation known as cockade structure. Each opening
is a receptacle for sequential deposition. The overall rock pattern is one of hostrock fragments coated with layers of inward-radiating crystals, with triangular
patterns predominating.
8. Offset oblique structures (Figure 4-26). If a planar or linear feature is cut
obliquely by an open fissure, it is offset at right angles to the vein walls because
it was spread apart as the fissure opened. Replacement along a fracture would
cause no offset along such a preexisting structure; it would project straight
across. (See also Figure 4-19.)
9. Colloform structures. Colloform banding, composed of fine onionskinlike
successively deposited layers (Figures 4-27 and 4-28 and next section), can only
form in open space.

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Figure 4-23. Crustification, comb structure, and centerline vugs, (a) Veinlet of
aragonite through limestone and shale. Locality unknown. (b) Vein from latite
porphyry (top and bottom) through amethyst (medium gray) to centerline
inward-facing chalcedonic quartz. Commonwealth mine, Pearce, Arizona. The bar
scale is in centimeters. (Photo of b by W. K. Bilodeau.)

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Figure 4-24. Sketch of part of the reopened, symmetrically

banded complex Matkobozska Vein, Pribram, Czechoslovakia. An
early opening (A) was filled with orean intergrowth of
chalcedony and siderite with Ag-Pb-Zn suifosalts then quartz. A
second opening (>) was filled with minor sphalerite, then calcite,
siderite, and finally ankerite. See also Figure 3-11. (From Kutina,
1957.)

Figure 4-25. Cockade structure of quartz infilling the cavities in a breccia.

Locality unknown, but a typical epithermal structure.

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Figure 4-26. (a) Offset of an oblique structure. A and B were adjacent before
the vein opened; the two segments no longer lie in a single plane, and the
intervening material is open-space filling. Lateral wall movement can of course
complicate relationships. Compare with Figure 4-19. (6) Specimen from Silver
Bell, Arizona, in which the white quartz vein is 1 cm wide. (Photo by W. K.
Bilodeau.)

Colloidal-Colloform Textures
Amorphous minerals, such as opal, neotocite, copper pitch, wood
tin, and some garnierite, used to be thought to have been deposited from
colloidal suspensions. Moreover, it was believed that many cryptocrystal- line
mineralschalcedony, some manganese oxides, pyrite, marcasite, and
pitchblende, and the oxidation products of copper, lead, and zinc, such as
malachite, azurite, chrysocolla, anglesite, cerussite, and smithsonitewere
carried and deposited as colloids that aggregated and crystallized shortly after
deposition. Some geologists think that gold, especially in shallow lowtemperature deposits, travels short distances in the colloidal state. Most
geochemists now consider the existence of colloids in hydrothermal systems
highly unlikely.
A colloidal system consists of two phases, of which one, the dispersed
phase, is diffused in the other, the dispersion medium.. Colloidal particles range
in size between ions in true solution and particles in coarse suspension, the
general limits being defined at 10-7 and 10-3 cm. The colloidal material may be
solid, liquid, or gas, and may be dispersed in a medium of any of these same
states. In the study of ore transport, however, we are concerned essentially with
solids dispersed in liquid media. A colloidal system consisting of solid particles
dispersed in a liquid is called a sol. A given kind of colloidal particle may adsorb
cations and behave as a positively charged body, or it may adsorb anions and

become negatively charged. Since the particles of a sol all have the same
charge, they repel each other and prevent coagulation. If an electrolyte is added
to the sol, the colloidal particles become neutralized and flocculate, or deposit.
The result can be a

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banded or finely layered, typically botryoidal or reniform aggregate of the type

that characterizes African malachite, for example, and is common in some
sphalerite from low-temperature deposits (Figure 4-27). However, we saw in
Chapters 2 and 3 that most hydrothermal fluids are indeed brines, or at least
saline enough to be the electrolyte that is anathema to colloids and colloidal
transport. We now perceive that at most temperatures and in most hydrothermal
fluids, at least, colloidal transport and deposition cannot be important. At low
temperature and in nonsaline groundwater, colloids can and do persist.
As a result of his study of colloform sphalerite specimens from many
of the worlds major geological districts, Roedder (1968) decided that most if not
all of these ores grew directly as minute druses of continuously eu-hedral
crystals that projected into an ore fluid that was a true solution, not a colloidal
dispersion. He found that all of the textural features believed to be diagnostic of
colloidal deposition were ambiguous, inapplicable, and therefore invalid as
criteria for the samples he studied, and perhaps of most other colloform mineral
samples as well. However, Roedder did not explain the fact that such colloform
minerals as the manganese oxides, garnierite, and opal at times do not reveal
any structural pattern even upon X-ray study; they are truly noncrystalline.
In a thoughtful discussion of Roedders paper, Haranczyk (1969)
concluded from his extensive studies in the Silesian-Cracovian lead and zinc
deposits of Poland that colloform textures might form from both true solutions
and sols. He proposed the term hemicolloids for solutions that are intermediate
between true and colloidal ones. The cryptocrystalline, white, claylike form of
sphalerite known as brunciie (Figures 20-12 and 20-13) was almost certainly
deposited as a colloid. Haranczyk later (1971) clearly showed that some of the
second-generation minerals in the Silesian-Cracovian ore deposits of Poland
could be of colloidal origin. He states that most of the second-generation sulfides
show hemicolloidal textures. This conclusion clashes

Figure
4-27.
Colloform
texture.
Globular
sphalerite with concentric banding, considered to
be of colloidal origin. Orzel Bialy mine, Katowice,
Poland. Natural size. Also see Figures 20-9 and 2010. (From, Kutina, 1957.)

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with the modern concept that these deposits were formed from warm electrolyte
brines; clearly, we need more experimentation and morphological data.
The terms colloidal texture and colloform texture should be used
carefully. The former should be used only where deposition from a true colloidal
system is demonstrable; colloform suggests a texture that resembles, and could
be, colloidal in origin, but cannot be determined to be so. A truly colloidal origin
can be postulated if the following are observed: (1) infinitesimal grain sizes in
banded textures as in some malachite (Figure 4-28) and most wad, (2) shrinkage
or dehydration cracks, as in opal and some limonites, (3) diffusion bands, or
Liesegang rings (Figure 4-29), (4) chaotic, amorphous noncrystalline structure of
component compounds, (5) the presence of unpredicted, possibly originally
adsorbed ions, such as barium in psilomelane, and (6) continuous spherulitic
textures demonstrably controlled by surface tension. Interrupted bands normally
deny the role of

Figure 4-28. Colloform banding in malachite from Kolwezi, Zaire. Some of the
bands can be traced through the whole specimen, but some lobes interfere with
others, perhaps as stalagmite-stalactite masses were filled in. Deposition can
have been either truly colloidal or as banded microcrystalline accumulations. The
bar scale is in centimeters. (Photo by W. K. Bilodeau.)

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Figure 4-29. Probable diffusion banding in an agate, quite possibly developed

while the silica was a colloidal silica gel. Note also the cockade pattern of the
later quartz filling in the central vug. Locality unknown. 1.7 x. (Photo by W. J.
Crook.)

colloids (Figures 20-9 and 20-10). Clearly, all colloform textures are open-space
fillings; they may or may not have involved colloids.

Even though the part played by colloids in ore deposition may be

trivial, it seems likely that under near-surface conditions and in dilute watery
solutions at comparatively low temperatures the role may be appreciable. Many
deposits have been described for which a colloidal origin is probable or in which
colloids have played a supporting role.
An unusual deposit of colloform magnetite was found in an igneous
metamorphic environment at the northern end of Vancouver Island, Canada
(Stevenson and Jeffery, 1964). The colloform magnetite possessed the textural
features usually ascribed to colloidal deposition, and the deposits ap-

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peaned to have been formed by a type of gel metasomatism of the limestone.

The iron, carried in acid solution, replaced limestone and appears to have been
precipitated colloidally during an intermediate state of aggregation between
ionic solution and the final precipitate.
Hosking (1964) pointed out the presence of opaline gels that are apparently forming in the deposits of Cornwall, England (Chapter 6). He described
the tin lodes of St. Agnes where almost perfect concentrically zoned spherules of
wood tinultrafine-grained colloform cassiterite are suspended in quartz.
These spherules are covered at places with acicular crystals of cassiterite whose
long axes are normal to the spherule surfaces. He considers these spherules to
have developed as the result of centripetal migration of tin-bearing fluids
through a silica gel.

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