W.C. Pat Shanks III, et al., report that Volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposits, also known as volcanic-hosted massive sulfide, volcanic-associated massive sulfide, or seafloor massive sulfide deposits, are important sources of copper, zinc, lead, gold, and silver (Cu, Zn, Pb, Au, and Ag). These deposits form at or near the seafloor where circulating hydrothermal fluids driven by magmatic heat are quenched through mixing with bottom waters or porewaters in near-seafloor lithologies. Massive sulfide lenses vary widely in shape and size and may be podlike or sheetlike. They are generally stratiform and may occur as multiple lenses.
VMS deposits range in size from small pods of less than a ton (which are commonly scattered through prospective terrains) to supergiant accumulations like Rio Tinto (Spain), 1.5 Bt (billion metric tons), Kholodrina (Russia), 300 Mt (million metric tons), Windy Craggy (Canada), 300 Mt, Brunswick No. 12 (Canada), 230 Mt, and Ducktown (United States), 163 Mt.
VMS deposits range in age from 3.55 Ga (billion years) to zero-age deposits that are actively forming in extensional settings on the seafloor, especially mid-ocean ridges, island arcs, and back-arc spreading basins.
The widespread recognition of modern seafloor VMS deposits and associated hydrothermal vent fluids and vent fauna has been one of the most astonishing discoveries in the last 50 years, and seafloor exploration and scientific studies have contributed much to our understanding of ore-forming processes and the tectonic framework for VMS deposits in the marine environment.
Massive ore in VMS deposits consists of >40% sulfides, usually pyrite, pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, and galena, plus non-sulfide gangue typically consists of quartz, barite, anhydrite, iron (Fe) oxides, chlorite, sericite, talc, and their metamorphosed equivalents may extend well beyond the primary VMS zone.
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