Sulfides of the Modern Kamchatka Hydrothermal Systems

ABSTRACT Sulfides pyrite, melnikovite-pyrite, marcasite, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, galena, cinnabar, coloradoite, metacinnabar are precipitating at the modern geothermal systems of Kamchatka: Kireunsky, Dvukhyurtochny and Apapel'sky in Central Kamchatka, Vilyuchinsky and Mutnovsky in Southern Kamchatka. Ore deposits are spatially associated with hydrothermal springs. Pyrite is the most common mineral precipitated at the discharge of hydrothermal style. It varies in mode of occurrence, size, inner structure, chemical composition and microstructure. Frequently pyrite occurs as framboids, idiomorphic crystals and their aggregates. By chemical composition, two varieties of pyrite are observed: homogeneous and heterogeneous. Heterogeneity of composition is due to impurities of As, Cu, Sb, Hg and Ag. Au as impurity in pyrite was relieved only in pyrite from Voinovsky hot springs in Southern Kamchatka. Cinnabar is the next most common occurring mineral at the modern hydrothermal systems in Kamchatka. Chalcopyrite, galena, sphalerite and gold are rare minerals. The modern hydrothermal systems in Kamchatka provide the opportunity to study sulfide typomorphism and physico-chemical conditions of the deposition mechanism. We suppose that some of them are the elements of the long-life ore generating hydrothermal systems