Research progress of the Rammelsberg Cu-Zn-Pb-Ba deposit, Germany

Located in the Upper Harz of Rhenohercynian terrane, the Rammelsberg deposit is one of the most important SHMS (sediment-hosted massive sulfide) deposits of the Variscan period in Central Europe. The deposit is hosted by the Devonian Eifelian Wissenbach shale, and the orebodies were intensely deformed by the Variscan oregeny. The main orebodies are composed of the old orebody, new orebody and the barite-rich gray orebody. The principal sulfide minerals are pyrite, sphalerite, galena and chalcopyrite. The data of the sulfur isotopes show two sulfur sources for the Rammelsberg deposit, one was from the hydrothermal component, and the other was from the biogenic compontent bacterial reduction of sea water sulfate. The Pb isotopes show that the lead was de-rived from a homogeneous crustal source. Compared with the other SHMS deposits, the Rammelsberg deposit is relatively copperenriched.