02/12/2016 -03/12/2016 BARCELONA STUDENT CHAPTER’S WORKSHOP: SKARN DEPOSITS
Due to the high rate of participation in the previous activities organized by the Barcelona Student Chapter, we were more than devoted to the organization of our 5th workshop dedicated to skarn deposits, which was held on the 2nd and 3rd of December at the Faculty of Geology of the University of Barcelona. It counted with the total participation of 29 assistants, some of them even coming from the University of Oviedo, Asturias. The aim of this workshop was to provide an approach of these types of deposits regarding: their structure and genesis, their geochemistry, petrology, mineralogy and a review on the diverse techniques used in their exploration to undergraduate, master and PhD students, as well as for other professionals interested in these typology of deposit.
Morning of day 2nd December consisted of a cycle of conferences in which the followings were imparted: Albert Soler Gil (University of Barcelona) opened the session with an introductory lecture entitled Skarn-type deposits: genetic models in the Iberian Hercynian in which members were enlighted with the different complex processes responsible for the formation of these deposits, their structure, petrochemistry and classification. Proceeding into detail, Abigail Jiménez Franco (PhD student from the Polytechnical University of Catalonia- EPSEM) explained a particular example of skarn deposit with her lecture entitled The Velardeña (Zn-Pb-Cu) Skarn: new data on the mineralogy, fluid inclusions and isotopic geochemistry. Finally, Lluís Boixet Martí (Country Manager; Minería de Corcoesto S.L – Edgewater Exploration Ltd) treated the assistants to a memorable lecture entitled Prospection of auriferous deposits in the Iberian Peninsula. An example: the Carlés Skarn, Asturias in which members were provided not only with academic information but also with a business-exploration point of view.
In the same afternoon, assistants were invited to a 3-hour practical session imparted by Albert Soler that included hand-sample observation of numerous skarn samples and the visualization of the ores of these ones under reflected light microscope . During this session, assistants recognized various mineralogical assemblages of different types of skarns and familiarized with those samples belonging to the deposits visited on the fieldtrip.
The Barcelona Student Chapters one-day fieldtrip, leaded by Albert Soler, took place on the 3rd of December. It consisted on the observation and study of a few distal and proximal skarns located in the Axial Pyrenees, closely related to the magmatic intrusions of the late Hercynian orogeny, which included: an idiocrase skarn, a hedenbergite skarn, a pyrrhotite skarn and an arsenopyrite skarnoid (Fig.6). Assistants were deeply involved and had great pleasure in listening to all explanations regarding the processes associated to the genesis of each of these deposits and had the opportunity to acquire exceptional hand samples.
We gratefully acknowledge all lecturers: Albert Soler Gil, Abigail Jiménez Franco and Lluís Boixet Martí for their overwhelming speeches. In addition we express our most true gratitude to the SGA for the economic support offered, which allowed us to develop and carry out successfully all our activities as well as to the Faculty of Geology for their logistic and equipment provided.
