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Bismuth‐melt trails trapped in cassiterite–quartz veins
Author(s) -
Guimarães Frederico Sousa,
Cabral Alexandre Raphael,
Lehmann Bernd,
Rios Francisco Javier,
Ávila Moisés Augusto Bacellar,
de Castro Marco Paulo,
Queiroga Gláucia Nascimento
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
terra nova
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.353
H-Index - 89
eISSN - 1365-3121
pISSN - 0954-4879
DOI - 10.1111/ter.12391
Subject(s) - cassiterite , greisen , bismuth , geology , quartz , tin , fluid inclusions , vein , geochemistry , mineralogy , inclusion (mineral) , metal , materials science , metallurgy , paleontology , psychology , psychiatry
Native bismuth in the form of metallic melt has been considered instrumental to the formation of some metallic ore deposits via a mechanism dubbed the “Liquid Bismuth Collector Model.” Here, we provide petrographical documentation of trail‐forming, μm‐sized blebs of native bismuth in cassiterite–quartz veins from the Santa Bárbara greisen Sn deposit in the Rondônia tin province of northern Brazil. These inclusions suggest the trapping of a Bi melt that took place during vein formation, in a mechanism similar to the entrapment of fluid inclusions.