View allAll Photos Tagged VMS
VMS I , First Yr. Orientation
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN
Photo: Anne Rayner
JSC2011-E-040204 (2 March 2011) --- NASA astronaut Chris Ferguson, STS-135 commander, prepares for departure from Moffett Field in a T-38 trainer home to Houston after the crew of STS-135 trained in the Vertical Motion Simulator (VMS) at NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif. on March 2, 2011, Photo credit: NASA Photo/Houston Chronicle, Smiley N. Pool
Volcanogenic polymetallic massive sulfide rock from the Precambrian of Ontario, Canada.
This is a drill core sample from the Potter Mine area of Ontario. The mine's bedrock geology consists of very old, Late Archean-aged Kidd-Munro Assemblage rocks (2.711 to 2.719 billion years old). This unit consists of ultramafic and mafic volcanic rocks intruded by mafic to ultramafic dikes and sill-like bodies. Minor felsic volcanic rocks are also present. Polymetallic volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits occur in the Kidd-Munro Assemblage - these are the mining targets at the Potter Mine. Five to six million tons of orebodies are available here. The orebodies consist of seafloor-deposited massive sulfides and sulfide-mineralized sub-seafloor volcanic rocks.
Rocks in the Potter Mine area include a lower komatiite unit, a middle tholeiite unit, and an upper komatiite unit. The latter is well exposed at nearby Pyke Hill, a world-class komatiite locality. The volcanic succession was originally deposited more or less horizontally, but has since been structurally tilted. Volcanic beds are now nearly vertically oriented.
The Potter Mine has 8 levels that go down to 1,100 feet (~300 meters). It was shut down in 1972. The mine made copper concentrate. Recovered metals include copper (Cu) and a little silver (Ag). A drill hole study was done after the mine's shutdown and the subsurface geology has now been explored down to over 3000 feet. Massive sulfide mineralization occurs down to that depth, at least. Sulfides were encountered in the drill cores that contained cobalt (Co). The main mineralization is now recognized to be copper, zinc, and cobalt. The zinc is in the form of sphalerite (ZnS). There is also some silver and low-grade gold.
A volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposit should not be thought of as one ancient, shut-off, seafloor black smoker. The black smokers had to be long-lived, with multiple inputs of material. The Potter Mine area has stacked, stratiform VMS deposits. They were originally horizontal but are now nearly vertical. The deposits were originally on the seafloor, in an island arc basin environment. Eleven zones of sulfide mineralization have now been defined and 3-D visualized, within the limits of current exploration data (= drill holes).
Ore samples consist of sulfidic hyaloclastites, plus some massive sulfide samples. No pyrite is present - the ore rocks have sphalerite + chalcopyrite + pyrrhotite. The ores are dominated by pyrrhotite (Fe1-xS - imperfect iron monosulfide), which is grayish-brown to brownish-silver in color - it is not an ore mineral. Triclinic pyrrhotite and monoclinic pyrrhotite varieties occur at the Potter Mine - one of them is magnetic and the other is not. The sphalerite is brownish-colored to slightly reddish-brown. The chalcopyrite (CuFeS2) is brassy gold-colored and contains copper - it is the principal ore mineral at the mine.
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Description from Houlé et al. (2010):
Two main types of base metal mineralization have been recognized: 1) subseafloor-style and 2) seafloor-style mineralization. A third type of base metal mineralization occurs as fragments or veins within mafic and ultramafic intrusions. All the mineralization styles are characterized by an assemblage of sulfides dominated by pyrrhotite with minor sphalerite and chalcopyrite. Subseafloor-style mineralization appears to be the most volumetrically significant ore type at the Potter Mine deposit. It occurs within the matrix of the volcaniclastic rocks as disseminated to semi-massive sulfides that may replace an earlier carbonate matrix. In intensely mineralized areas, the matrix consists entirely of sulfides and the basaltic lapilli are partially replaced by sulfides. The seafloor-style mineralization consists mainly of massive sulfide lenses intercalated with graphitic argillite and carbonaceous mudstone within the volcaniclastic rocks. This style of minearlization was interpreted by Gibson (1998) to have formed by exhalative activity on the sea floor during volcanic hiatuses marked by the deposition of argillaceous sediments. Several of the ore lenses contain both styles of mineralization and their distribution and relationships are still under investigation.
The Potter Mine area was affected by low-grade regional metamorphism (lower greenschist facies) that is most likely responsible for widespread chlorite found within the basaltic and komatiitic volcanic rocks. Hydrothermal alteration associated with the Potter Mine deposit occurs in the Middle Tholeiitic Unit, where it is best developed and displayed within the volcaniclastic rocks that host the VMS deposit. Preliminary observations indicate that chlorite, albite, and carbonate are the main alteration minerals developed within the matrix of the volcaniclastic rocks that envelopes the deposit. East of the deposit, the alteration is dominated by wispy chlorite, whereas the deposit itself is marked by an increase in albite, carbonate, chlorite, with minor pyroxene and epidote. Proximal to the mineralization, Fe-rich chlorite and minor talc was observed in the fragments, which results in the wispy nature of the fragments, in a matrix of sulfides. These wispy chloritic fragments are interpreted to be the remnants of former basaltic lapilli. Local veins of carbonate are also associated with basaltic and ultramafic intrusions.
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Stratigraphy: Middle Tholeiitic Unit, Kidd-Munro Assemblage, Abitibi Greenstone Belt, lower Neoarchean, 2.711-2.719 Ga
Locality: Potter Mine (= Centre Hill Mine), north of Route 101, east-northeast of Matheson & south of the western end of Lake Abitibi & ~83 kilometers east of the city of Timmins, Munro Township, southern Cochrane District, eastern Ontario, southeastern Canada (48° 35' 57.39" North latitude, 80° 12' 39.81" West longitude)
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Reference cited:
Houlé et al., 2010 - Stratigraphy and physical volcanology of komatiites and associated Ni-Cu-(PGE) mineralization in the western Abitibi Greenstone Belt, Timmins area, Ontario: a field trip for the 11th International Platinum Symposium. Ontario Geological Survey Open File Report 6255. 99 pp.
VMS I , First Yr. Orientation
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN
Photo: Anne Rayner
VMS I , First Yr. Orientation
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN
Photo: Anne Rayner
JSC2011-E-040200 (2 March 2011) --- The landing approach to the Kennedy Space Center is seen in a heads up display as the STS-135 crew trains in the Vertical Motion Simulator (VMS) at NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif., on March 2, 2011. Photo credit: NASA Photo/Houston Chronicle, Smiley N. Pool
VMS I , First Yr. Orientation
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN
Photo: Anne Rayner
JSC2011-E-040201 (2 March 2011) --- NASA astronaut Doug Hurley pilots a simulated landing at the Kennedy Space Center as the STS-135 crew trains in the Vertical Motion Simulator (VMS) at NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif. on March 2, 2011. Photo credit: NASA Photo/Houston Chronicle, Smiley N. Pool
VMS I , First Yr. Orientation
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN
Photo: Anne Rayner
The Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games is launching a nationwide search to find a ‘Mascot Maker’ to design the official mascot for the Games and win tickets to the Opening Ceremony.
As part of the first stage of the journey to develop the new mascot, Denise Lewis OBE, President of Commonwealth Games England and TV presenter Radzi Chinyanganya hosted the world’s first ‘Virtual Mascot Summit’ to give children across the West Midlands the chance to develop characteristics, values and movements. The children developed ideas alongside athletes including gymnasts Mimi-Isabella Cesar and Dom Cunningham, sprinter and para athlete Katrina Hart, basketball player Kofi Josephs, and squash player Sarah-Jane Perry.
For more information or to submit an entry, please visit: Birmingham2022.com/Mascot