FOCUSED FLUID-FLOW AND OZARK MISSISSIPPI VALLEY TYPE DEPOSITS

Field relations confirm that a tectonic link exists between the Appalachian-Ouachita orogeny and the Mississippi Valley-type Pb-Zn deposits of the Ozarks. Fluids were expelled from both the Reelfoot rift and the Arkoma basin into structurally controlled hydrologic domains. These two source areas fed different fluids into at least six domains and account for regional differences in the ore deposits. Movement of fluids out of the Reelfoot rift also indicates that a foreland basin is not a prerequisite for the migration of fluids. Seismic pumping and distal fluid focusing along faults appears to be the most plausible mechanism to move hot, reactive fluids through a carbonate terrane to a site of ore deposition. © 1990 Geological Society of America.