"Ore-Forming Processes and Metasomatism"

Organizers: Alex Gysi (New Mexico Tech, USA), Dan Harlov (GFZ Potsdam), Dan Miron (PSI, Switzerland), Dmitrii Kulik (PSI, Switzerland), Nicole Hurtig (New Mexico Tech, USA), and Ruiguang Pan (New Mexico Tech, USA)

This workshop held in advance of the Goldshmidt 2023 event will bring together a broad community interested in the interpretation of crustal metasomatism and ore-forming processes. This two-day, in-person workshop includes hands-on tutorials, lectures, and discussions about current thermodynamic modeling methods, the databases required, and the experimental approaches used to study metasomatism and element transport associated with hydrothermal fluid-rock interaction in the crust. Short discussion sessions will be included in order for the audience to find connections between the content of the workshop and their own particular interests in crustal fluid-rock interaction, including examples from both nature and experiments.

The workshop is intended for graduate students, researchers, and professionals who want to learn how to apply the GEMS code package coupled to the MINES thermodynamic database to geochemical modeling, as well as learn about how to use current experimental methods regarding fluid-rock equilibria to interpret the evolution of natural ore-forming systems at elevated P-T conditions.

The workshop will cover: 1) fundamentals of the GEM-Selektor code package and thermodynamic databases for simulating fluid-rock systems; 2) the GEMSFITS parameter optimization tool for optimizing thermodynamic properties against experimental data; 3) an overview of experimental advances in the study of aqueous complexes and mineral solubilities in hydrothermal fluids; 4) the stability and mobility of metasomatically induced and altered REE mineral phases in crustal rocks (e.g. monazite, xenotime, apatite, allanite, and titanite); 5) insights from field case studies of critical mineral deposits.