Mining in Manitoba
Bowen's Reaction Series
- Syngenetic
- Epigenetic
- Sedimentary
- Secondary Enriched
- Residual
Return to Geological Considerations
Bowen's Reaction series is Important in the understanding of ore body formation and rock-building processes. This cooling series is based on the mutual interaction which takes place in a cooling magma between the solid and liquid phases. This reaction may be continuous, giving homogeneous solid solutions, or discontinuous, taking place only at definite temperature intervals.
The history of the colling and crystallization of a magma can be divided into a number of stages, based largely on the dominance of the roles of temperatures and concentration of volatiles.
An understanding of the cooling series often helps to determine ore mineralization. As most sulphide minerals are heavy, they tend to sink to the bottom of a cooling magma due to gravity. This can be an important geological marker.