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Undiscovered Phanerozoic Porphyry Copper Deposits—A Global Assessment
Author(s) -
HAMMARSTROM Jane M.,
LUDINGTON Steve,
ROBINSON Gilpin R.,
BOOKSTROM Arthur A.,
ZIENTEK Michael L.,
MIHALASKY Mark,
ZÜRCHER Lukas,
BERGER Byron B.,
DICKEN Connie L.,
GRAY Floyd
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
acta geologica sinica ‐ english edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.444
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1755-6724
pISSN - 1000-9515
DOI - 10.1111/1755-6724.12374_18
Subject(s) - geological survey , library science , geology , archaeology , geography , paleontology , computer science
Porphyry copper deposits represent the principal source of global copper supply. To address the questions of where future copper supplies are likely to come from and how much copper could exist within the upper kilometer of the earth’s crust, the USGS led a cooperative international effort to assess the world’s undiscovered Phanerozoic porphyry copper deposits using a geologybased, probabilistic form of mineral resource assessment (Singer and Menzie, 2010). Globally, 175 tracts permissive for porphyry copper deposits were defined to include volcanic and intrusive rocks of specified ranges of age and composition. The rocks represent: (1) magmatic arcs that developed on continental crust above subducting oceanic plates, (2) island arcs that formed on oceanic crust, and(or) (3) postconvergent magmatic belts within continents. Quantitative assessments of undiscovered resources were done for 155 of those permissive tracts.