Ore deposits

Abstract

Metallic ore deposits constitute the largest geochemical anomalies within the crust. Their study has been critical to understanding the behavior of elements and isotopes in mineral‐ and rock‐ forming processes, as well as to deciphering the geochemical differentiation of the Earth through time. The study of ore deposits therefore influences and draws upon virtually every subdiscipline in the Earth Sciences. The four‐year research review presented here cannot be comprehensive, given the editor's limit of citing less than 100 research papers by U.S. authors or authors from U.S. institutions. Instead, the intent is to provide the reader with synopses of a representative spectrum of papers containing important advances in U.S. research on ore deposits. In cases where difficult citation choices had to be made the more recent papers on a particular subtopic are usually cited, because they lead the reader back to earlier papers within the 4‐year review period. Judicious use of the selected citations in conjunction with standard literature searching tools should allow any reader to quickly find most of the relevant literature on each subtopic.