Common Tri-State Minerals

Sphalerite

Jack

Zinc sulfide

Galena

Lead

Lead sulfide

Marcasite

Mundie

lrdn sulfide

Hemlmorphtte

Calamine

Zinc silicate

Smlth8onlte

Turkey Fat

Zinc c:arbon.te

Cen.lssite

Dry Bone

Lead carbonate

Calcite

TI1J

Calcium carbonate

Dolomite

Spar

Calcium magneetum
awbonate

Chert

Flint

Silicon dioxide

Quartz

Quartz

Silicon dioxide

[Angleslte

Bone

Lead sulfate

Origin of Tri-State
Minerals
Huge beds of shale and
limestone laid down in
Pennsylvanian time (300 mya)
in shallow seas of the midcontinent
- Shale rich in silica and
magnesium
-Trace elements of iron, copper,
lead, and zinc (insoluble)

Some limestone as oolitic sand

lies 100ft above Tri-State ore
deposits (Short Creek Oolite or
the Fish Egg Lime)

Early Geology
Mississippian time (350 mya)
large shallow sea covered
much of North America.
Limestone and chert
precipitated from ocean water
- Laid down in beds 2000 ft thick
-Contain large amounts of chert
in both bedded and nodular
forms

Karst Landscape
Over next 200 million years, Karst
develops
- Carbonated waters dissolve out caves
and water channels in Mississippian
limestones
- Water circulation increases porosity of
chert

Lateritic erosion of overlying

Pennsytvanian shales
- Tropical climate cause massive
chemical weathering a region slowly
uplifts
- Trace elements of lead, iron, copper,
and zinc are concentrated in solution
and precipitated and accumulated in
the underlying limestone and chert
- A 400 ft thick shale layer covering 20
square miles would contain enough
trace elements to account for the
Tri-State minerals.

Chemical Precipitation
Mixing of different solutions caused
rapid deposition of highly insoluble
compounds (such as lead sulfide)
- Sulfur may have come from organic
compounds in the shales or from deep
"connate waters" In underlying
sedimentary rocks

Calcium and Magnesium were

completely leached from the
overtying shale and limestone
- Less soluble dolomite crystallized first
- Large calcite crystals (3 to 4 ft)
indicate slow uninterrupted growth

Evidence for Cold Water

Precipitation of
Tri-State Minerals
All Tri-State minerals found as
stalactites
-Contains low temperature crystal
forms
- No high-temperature minerals

No indication of igneous
activity or geothermal waters
Beds of red clay support
lateritic erosion
Karst features indicate massive
chemical solution and erosion

Rainwater Attack!

Jasperoid Formation

Shallow deposits of lead, zinc,

and iron sulfides attacked by
rainwater

Lateritic erosion of silica-rich

shale and limestone left behind
residues of insoluble silica
Silica residue carried in
colloidal suspension

- Rainwater is chemically active

because contains carbonic, nitric
and sulfuric acids

Sulfides converted to
carbonates, sulfates, and
silicates
-Some crystals completely
converted
- Some crystal surfaces coated

Accumulated and consolidated

as large chert beds
Cracks in older chert filled with
younger chert deposition called
jasperoid

Continued Uplift

Changing Waters
Most ore minerals deposited in
originally porous layers that
appear as ore-enriched
"sheets or associated with
jasperoids
Conditions continually changed
- Reactions reversed ... some
minerals are etched and eroded
- Sequence of minerals varies by
location
- Periods of no solution
- Periods of solution of previously
precipitated minerals.

Mining Terms
Dirt
- The rocky material hoisted to the
surface from the mine

Ore
- Lead and jack if they occurred in
sufficiently high concentrations

Continual uplift resulted in the

Ozark plateau
Relatively flat area converted
into hills and valleys by
increased rainfall
Karst continues to develop

Occurrence of Ore Deposits

Runs: elongated zones formed in

Host rock
-The rock surrounding the ore
minerals

Gangue
- The waste rock occurring with
the ore minerals

vertical fractures enlarged by

solution
Chimneys: vertical pipe-like zones
formed by solution
Circles: zones in collapsed
sinkholes
Breccia Fillings: ore deposited
have filled gaps between broken or
crushed host rock (broken from
internal bed collapse)
Sheet Ground: ore occupies the
narrow space along bedding planes
Disseminations: crystals
scattered within shaley material
that has been altered to jasperoid
or isolated crystals scattered in
recrystallized limestone