Earth:Chilean Iron Belt

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Chilean Iron Belt
Stratigraphic range: Cretaceous
~132–84 Ma
TypeMining district
Location
Coordinates [ ⚑ ] : 27°21′59″S 70°25′59″W / 27.366389°S 70.433056°W / -27.366389; -70.433056
RegionAtacama Region, Coquimbo Region
CountryChile
ExtentAtacama Fault System
Chilean Iron Belt is located in Chile
El Carmen
El Carmen
Cerro Negro Norte
Cerro Negro Norte
Los Colorados
Los Colorados
El Romeral
El Romeral
Chilean Iron Belt (Chile)

The Chilean Iron Belt is a geological province rich in iron ore deposits in northern Chile. It extends as a north-south belt along the western part of the Chilean regions of Coquimbo and Atacama, chiefly between the cities of La Serena and Taltal.[1][2] The belt follows much of the Atacama Fault System and is about 600 km long and 25 km broad.[2][3]

Iron oxide-apatite, iron oxide copper gold ore deposits (IOCG) and manto-type copper and silver are the main types of deposits.[1][2] Iron-apatite and IOCG are considered to have different origins.[4] Manto-type deposits are concentrated in the northern part of the belt and are chiefly emplaced on rocks of La Negra Formation.[1] The belt host also significant resources of cobalt which were deemed by 2017 to have the potential to be extracted as by-products of iron and copper mining along the belt.[5]

The ores of the Chilean Iron Belt formed in separate pulses in the Cretaceous period as result of magmatic and hydrothermal processes.[1] At least part of the iron oxide-apatite rock originated from molten iron in the form of lava, tephra.[3] and intrusions.[4] Thus iron oxide apatite magma cooled into rock variously from surface volcanoes to depths of 10 km over even more.[4] Various deposits are covered by continuous sheets alluvial sedmients that form plains on surface.[6]

Some geologists have speculated that a large meteorite impact in the Pacific during the Cretaceous period may have set in motion a series of tectonic changes that led to the formation the ores.[7]

Systematic survey of the iron ores of the belt for economic exploitation begun with civil engineer Carlos Vattier in the late 19th century[8][9] and continued with Juan Brüggen who published a report on them in 1913.[10][11] Mining engineer C. Linnemann took over government-commissioned studies at the recommendation of Brüggen and surveyed southern part of the belt in 1917 and 1918.[11] Various ore deposits of the belt were studied by Carlos Ruiz Fuller and co-workers for aspects of their economic geology in the mid-1940s publishing a report in 1946.[12] Studies on ore genesis in the iron belt were published by Ruiz Fuller and his co-workers in 1967 in Spanish and in 1968 in English.[13]

Iron mines along the Chilean Iron Belt

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Chilean Iron Belt is located in Coquimbo Region
Dominga
Dominga
El Tofo
El Tofo
El Romeral
El Romeral
El Dorado
El Dorado
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Active, closed and proposed mines in the iron belt in Coquimbo Region.
  • Santo Domingo (planned)
  • El Carmen
  • Cerro Negro Norte
  • Adrianitas (closed in the 1960s)
  • Cerro Imán (closed in 1980)
  • Los Colorados
  • Boquerón Chañar (closed in the 1960s)
  • Huantemé (closed in 1978)
  • El Algarrobo (closed in 1998)
  • Incahuasi
  • Dominga (planned)
  • El Tofo (closed 1974)
  • El Romeral
  • El Dorado (closed in 1971)

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Barra, Fernando; Reich, M.; Selby, D.; Rojas, P.; Simon, A.; Salazar, E.; Palma, G. (2017). "Unraveling the origin of the Andean IOCG clan: a Re-Os isotope approach". Ore Geology Reviews 81 (1): 62–78. doi:10.1016/j.oregeorev.2016.10.016. Bibcode: 2017OGRv...81...62B. https://dro.dur.ac.uk/20115/1/20115.pdf. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Simon, Adam C.; Knipping, Jaayne; Reich, Martin; Barra, Fernando; Deditius, Artur P.; Bilenker, Laura; Childress, Tristan (2018). "Kiruna-Type Iron Oxide-Apatite (IOA) and Iron Oxide Copper-Gold (IOCG) Deposits Form by a Combination of Igneous and Magmatic-Hydrothermal Processes: Evidence from the Chilean Iron Belt". in Arribas R., Antonio M.. Metals, Minerals, and Society. Society of Economic Geologists Special Publication. 21. pp. 89–114. doi:10.5382/SP.21. ISBN 9781629493084. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Travisany, Vinicio; Henríquez, Fernando; Nyström, Jan Olov (1995). "Magnetite lava flows in the Pleito-Melon District of the Chilean iron belt". Economic Geology 90 (2): 438–444. doi:10.2113/gsecongeo.90.2.438. Bibcode: 1995EcGeo..90..438T. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Tornos, Fernando; Hanchar, John M.; Munizaga, Rodrigo; Velasco, Francisco; Galindo, Carmen (2020). "The role of the subducting slab and melt crystallization in the formation of magnetite-(apatite) systems, Coastal Cordillera of Chile". Mineralium Deposita 56 (2): 253–278. doi:10.1007/s00126-020-00959-9. 
  5. ↑ Townley, Brian; Díaz, Alejandro; Luca, Rodrigo (2017). Exploration and mining potential for cobalt mineral resources in Chile (Report). https://www.corfo.cl/sites/Satellite?blobcol=urldata&blobkey=id&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobwhere=1475166637554&ssbinary=true. 
  6. ↑ Millán, Augusto (2006) (in es). La minería metálica en Chile en el siglo XX. pp. 153. 
  7. ↑ Oyarzún, J.; Oyarzun, R.; Lillo, J.; Ménard, J.J. (2012). "May a large asteroid impact in the Pacific have triggered a cascade of tectonomagmatic events leading to formation of the Mid-Cretaceous Chilean Iron Belt?". Geotemas 13: 1915–1918. https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=8214048. 
  8. ↑ Millán 1999, p. 21.
  9. ↑ Millán 1999, p. 23.
  10. ↑ Millán 1999, p. 192.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Millán 1999, p. 193.
  12. ↑ Millán 1999, p. 196.
  13. ↑ Ruiz, C.; Ortiz, F.; Moraga, A.; A., Aguilar (1968). "Genesis of the Chilean Iron ore Deposits of Mesozoic age". XXIII International Geological Conference. 7. Czechoslovakia. pp. 323–338. 
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Millán 1999, p. 95.
  15. ↑ "CMP" (in Spanish). https://consejominero.cl/nosotros/socios/cmp/. 
Bibliography
  • Millán, Augusto (1999) (in Spanish). Historia de la minería del hierro en Chile. Santiago de Chile: Editorial Universitaria. ISBN 956-11-1499-2. 

Template:Major South American geological formations



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