Tracing fluids in basins to refine mineral exploration strategies

To trace the fluid history of sedimentary basins requires integration of relatively diverse sub-disciplines including sedimentology, stratigraphy, tectonics, structural geology, petrography, geochemistry and geophysics. These aspects of basin evolution are interrelated and thus all are required to understand the source, character and distribution of fluids associated with ore deposits hosted in basins. Fluids are strategically associated with both the formation and preservation of almost every type of economic ore deposit in basins. As such, knowledge of the geochemical and physical characteristics, timing, origin, reactivity and flow histories of fluids are basic to formulating effective exploration strategies.