1990 Volume 40 Issue 221 Pages 147-158
The "chalcopyrite disease" texture as found in the Kuroko ores, was experimentally reproduced under hydrothermal conditions using a temperature-gradient transporting method. The amounts of chalcopyrite crystals intergrown with sphalerite in the run products are similar to those in some sphalerite-rich Kuroko ores. These facts suggest that fine-grained blebs of chalcopyrite in low-Fe sphalerite have been generated in the process of coprecipitation. The results of thermodynamic calculations of the saturation indices for sphalerite and chalcopyrite under the experimental conditions indicate that the saturation index for chalcopyrite is more temperature-dependent than that for sphalerite. This explains a common texture found in the run products, which suggests that chalcopyrite precipitated first and served as heterogeneous nucleation centers for the growth of sphalerite.
