Geology
The typical location for VMS deposits is at the top of the felsic volcanic sequence, within a sequence of volcaniclastic tuffaceous epiclastics, cherts, sediments or perhaps fine tuffs which are usually related to the underlying volcanics. The hangingwall to the deposit is broadly related to a more mafic sequence of volcanic rocks, either Andesite (examples being Whim Creek & Mons Cupri, Western Australia or Millenbach, Canada), or basalt (Hellyer, Tasmania) or absent or sediments only (Kangaroo Caves, Western Australia).
VMS deposits are associated spatially and temporally with felsic volcanic rocks, usually present in the stratigraphy below the deposit, and often as the direct footwall to the deposit. Sediments are usually contiguous with VMS deposits in some form or another and typically are present as (manganiferous) cherts, volcanogenic tuffaceous sediments and chemical sediments deposited within a submarine environment.
The hanging wall to the deposit can be volcanic units essentially contiguous and contemporary with the footwall rocks, indicating mineralisation was developed in an inter-eruptive pause; it may be volcanic rock dissimilar to the footwall volcanics in bimodal volcanic subtypes, or it could be sedimentary strata if mineralisation occurred toward the end of an eruptive cycle.
Hybrid VMS-SEDEX deposits of the siliciclastic associations (see below) may be developed within interflow sediments or within units of sedimentary rocks which are present discontinuously throughout a larger and essentially contiguous volcanic package.
Altogether, these geological features have been interpreted to show an association of VMS deposits with hydrothermal systems developed above or around submarine volcanic centres.
Read more about this topic: Volcanogenic Massive Sulfide Ore Deposit