Partitioning of zinc among common ferromagnesian minerals and implications for hydrothermal mobilization

In systems where metals are scavenging from crystalline rocks by through-flowing fluids, the important host minerals must be dissolved or must undergo cation-exchange reactions with the fluid. Whereas copper resides in sulfides, zinc resides in magnetic and, to a lesser extent, in biotite, clinopyroxene and olivine. Magnetite is known from petrographic studies to be more resistant to alteration than sulfides. For metals extracted from crystalline rocks, the Cu:Zn mass ratio may thus decrease with progressive alteration. In systems where metals are scavenged from cooling magmas by exsolving fluids, the metals are partitioned among melt, fluid and any crystals that have fractionated. For zinc, crystal fractionation may be an important sink if magnetite or biotite crystallize before fluid saturation. The zinc concentrations of magmatic fluids will thus be reduced. -from Author