Geology of Ontario's Ring of Fire
Ontario's Ring of Fire is a region containing valuable minerals, and the geology of Ontario's Ring of Fire came about when a layered igneous complex intruded into the ancient bedrock of Canada's Precambrian Shield.
Some kinds of lava is full of dissolved material, that forms bubbles, when it comes out of solution, when the lava is no longer under pressure. That kind of lava explodes, when it comes to the surface, spraying liquid rock.
However, liquid rock, that rises slowly, without exploding, will also cool slowly, and freeze slowly. The long cooling and long freezing period provides time for the densest compounds to sink to the bottom. Those dense compound are the most valuable, because they contain heavier metals, like gold and copper.
In the Ring of Fire molten rock did intrude into the older Precambrian Shield.[1] It did have time to stratigraphy, by density. Subsquent geologic processes rolled the intrusion into a tube, and then that tube twisted 90 degrees.
The result is an arc of valuable ores.[1] In many mines miners have to first dig deep tunnels to the depth where a vein of ore is found, before they can excavate their ore.
Miners may be able to access their ore using open pit mining. Or, if they do tunnel mine, much of their tunneling will be through their ore body itself, and they won't have to waste time and money on tunnels through the overburden.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Discoveries in Ontario’s Ring of Fire". Micon International. 2015-09-09. Archived from the original on 2022-06-25. https://web.archive.org/web/20220625145133/https://www.micon-international.com/discoveries-in-ontarios-ring-of-fire/. Retrieved 2022-11-29. "The tilting and subsequent erosion of the ROF complex to a sub-vertical position has resulted in the various mineralized horizons being brought to surface thereby giving a variety of mining options."
