Vertical Extent of Hydrothermal Veins

Abstract

It is one of the important tasks of mining geologists to find a clue of the vertical extent of hydrothermal veins.The writer reviews many descriptions on the vertical extent of epithermal and xenothermal veins of gold-silver, mercury, copper and copper-lead-zinc veins of the Neogene epoch, especially in Japan.
There seems to be many controlling factors either structural that limit the vertical extent or physico-chemical, the zonal arrangement of ores at depth and the depth of veins with respect to the intrusive rocks or magmatic sources may give us some clues.
The writer believes, however, that the most effective factor of limiting the vertical extent is the level of ground water tables where the ascending ore-forming solution meets the circulating ground water. This is suggested by intimate occurrences of hot spring waters with numerous hydrothermal veins.