What does hypogene mean?
Definition of hypogene : formed, crystallized, or lying at depths below the earth’s surface : plutonic —used of various rocks.
What is hypogene deposit?
Hypogene ore deposits are formed under the influence of deep-seated endogene (=hypogene) geologic processes by the action of ascending solutions. Such solutions and conditions of ore formation are also called hypogene. The temperature and pressure are higher in hypogene than in supergene conditions.
What is the meaning of supergene?
Definition of supergene : a group of linked genes acting as an allelic unit especially when due to the suppression of crossing-over.
What are supergene minerals?
In ore deposit geology, supergene processes or enrichment are those that occur relatively near the surface as opposed to deep hypogene processes. Supergene processes include the predominance of meteoric water circulation (i.e. water derived from precipitation) with concomitant oxidation and chemical weathering.
What is Gossan mineral?
gossan, also spelled gozzan, rust-coloured oxide and hydroxide minerals of iron and manganese that cap an ore deposit. Gossans form by the oxidation of the sulfide minerals in an ore deposit and they thus may be used as clues to the existence of subsurface ore deposits, especially if distinctive boxworks are present.
What is Boxwork geology?
Boxwork is made of thin blades of calcite that project from cave walls and ceilings, forming a honeycomb pattern. The fins intersect one another at various angles, forming “boxes” on all cave surfaces. Boxwork is largely confined to dolomite layers in the middle and lower levels of Wind Cave.
What is supergene copper?
Chalcocite and covellite are copper rich minerals usually formed in the supergene zone of ore deposits where the primary copper mineral is chalcopyrite. The deposit at Bristol, Connecticut is known for the magnificent crystals of chalcocite found in the 1840’s.
What is oxidation and supergene enrichment?
supergene sulfide enrichment, also called Secondary Enrichment, in geology, natural upgrading of buried sulfide deposits by the secondary or subsequent deposition of metals that are dissolved as sulfates in waters percolating through the oxidized mineral zone near the surface.
What is Gossan and how do they form?
How is boxwork formed?
Boxwork is formed when dissolved calcium carbonate crystallized in cracks in surrounding rock. The surrounding rock then erodes away and leaves the boxlike calcite crystals.
Where is boxwork?
Here, we see boxwork in Wind Cave, South Dakota, which is the first cave national park and currently the 6th most extensive cave network in the world.
What is Gossan mean?
Gossan definition An exposed, oxidized portion of a mineral vein, especially a rust-colored outcrop of iron ore. noun. 1. (mining) Rusty iron deposits often occurring where the upper part of a vein has been weathered and oxidized.
Where is boxwork found?
Wind Cave is located in the southern Black Hills of South Dakota and is most famous for its large concentration of a fairly rare cave formation known as boxwork, of which more can be found in this park than in all other caves on Earth combined.
What is boxwork made of?
What is Gossen rock?
Gossan (eiserner hut or eisenhut) is intensely oxidized, weathered or decomposed rock, usually the upper and exposed part of an ore deposit or mineral vein.
What is a boxwork in geology?
What are hypogene processes in ore deposits?
In ore deposit geology, hypogene processes occur deep below the earth’s surface, and tend to form deposits of primary minerals, as opposed to supergene processes that occur at or near the surface, and tend to form secondary minerals. At great depth the pressure is high, and water can remain liquid at temperatures well above 100 °C.
What is an example of a hypogene mineral?
Examples of primary minerals formed in this way include the sulfide minerals pyrite (FeS 2 ), galena (PbS), sphalerite (ZnS), and chalcopyrite (CuFeS 2 ). The word hypogene is derived from the Greek roots hypo- ( ὑπο-) meaning ‘under’ and -gene ( -γενής) meaning ‘born’ or ‘produced’.
What is the root word of hypogene?
The word hypogene is derived from the Greek roots hypo- ( ὑπο-) meaning ‘under’ and -gene ( -γενής) meaning ‘born’ or ‘produced’. The terms hypogene and supergene refer to the depth at which they occur.
What is a supergene and how is it formed?
On the contrary the term supergene describes mineralization caused by descending fluids close to the Earth’s surface and is usually associated with weathering and alteration of the primary mineral assemblage (e.g., Ague and Brimhall 1989; Webb and Rowston 1995; Robb 2013 ).