Geologia

BUllETIN OF THE SOCIETY OF ECONOMIC GEOlOGISTS

voL. 107

August

no. 5

A Special Issue on Archean Magmatism, Volcanism, and Ore Deposits: Part 1. Komatiite-Associated Ni-Cu-(PGE) Sulfide and Greenstone-Hosted Au Deposits Preface(1,2)
Patrick Mercier-Langevin,1,† MicheL g. houLé,1 Benoît DuBé,1 thoMas Monecke,2 Mark D. hannington,3 haroLD L. giBson,4 anD Jean goutier5
1 Geological 2 Department

Survey of Canada, 490 rue de la Couronne, Québec, Québec G1K 9A9, Canada

of Geology and Geological Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, 1516 Illinois Street, Golden, Colorado 80401 of Earth Sciences, University of Ottawa, 140 Louis Pasteur, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, Canada of Earth Sciences, Laurentian University, 935 Ramsey Lake Road, Sudbury, Ontario P3E 2C6, Canada

3 Department 4 Department 5 Ministère

des Ressources naturelles et de la Faune, 70 avenue Québec, Rouyn-Noranda, Québec J9X 6R1, Canada

Introduction the archean, which represents more than a third of Earth’s history, contains some of the largest and richest ore deposits of the world. Numerous cratons of variable size and age have been mapped (Fig. 1) and others are still being discovered or delineated largely due to the widespread use of high-precision U-Pb geochronology. One of the specific characteristics of Archean cratons is the coexistence and juxtaposition of different and major styles of base and precious metals deposits formed at different times and crustal levels (Poulsen et al., 2000; Groves et al., 2005a; Robert et al., 2005). It has long been recognized that Archean cratons are extremely well endowed in metals (e.g., Meyer, 1981; de Wit and Thiart, 2005), especially in komatiite-associated Ni-Cu(PGE), greenstone-hosted Au and volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposits. Most of these deposits were formed in periods of supercontinent(s) or supercraton(s) formation (e.g., ~2800−2500 Ma Kenorland: Williams et al., 1991; Aspler and Chiarenzelli, 1998; ~2600−2200 Ma Sclavia: