Hypogene Deposits

(magmatic deposits, endogenous deposits), deposits of useful minerals involved in geochemical processes occurring deep in the earth’s crust and subcrustal layer. These deposits are localized in underground geologic structures that determine the conditions whereby mineral substances accumulate, as well as the form and structure of the bodies of mineral resources.

Hypogene deposits are formed from magmatic melts or from gaseous sublimates and hot-water solutions in conditions of high pressures and temperatures. There are five main genetic types of hypogene deposit: magmatic, pegmatite, carbonatite, scarn, and hydrothermal. Magmatic deposits are formed from the cooling of melts that contain valuable elements such as chromium, titanium, iron, platinum, copper, and nickel. Pegmatite deposits are flakes of the end products of cooling magma. They contain feldspar, quartz, muscovite, fluorites, precious stones, compounds of lithium, and compounds of beryllium. Carbonatite deposits are formed by accumulations of carbonates of calcium, magnesium, and iron; they are associated with ultrabasic alkaline magmatic rock and include the ores of iron, copper, niobium, apatite, and phlogopite. Scarn deposits arise under the action of hot vapors on intruding rock near heated contacts of magmatic rock (the ores of iron, copper, wolframite, lead, zinc, and boron). Hydrothermal deposits consist of ores representing precipitations circulating at the bottom of hot-water solutions (ores of nonferrous, rare, precious, and radioactive metals).