在亚利桑那古老的前寒武纪岩石中已发现有1000多个块状硫化物矿床和矿化点。它们一直被认为是由于携带有硫和贱金属的热液流体对原有火山岩进行交代而形成的。然而近来对这种成因假说已有了新的看法,认为硫化物聚集体是同容矿火山岩和沉积岩同时沉积的。根据这种解释,贱金属矿床就是某一层状岩系整体的、固有的一部分,同时表明了该层序的沉积环境。因此,这些矿床可以用来识别亚利桑那州古老前寒武纪岩石 More than 1,000 massive sulphide deposits and mineralization sites have been found in ancient Precambrian rocks in Arizona. They have long been thought of as a result of the replacement of the original volcanic rocks by hydrothermal fluids bearing sulfur and base metals. Recently, however, there has been a new belief in this causal hypothesis that sulphide aggregates are deposited simultaneously with volcanic rocks and sedimentary rocks. According to this explanation, the base metal deposit is an integral part of the whole stratigraphic series and shows the sedimentary environment of the sequence. Therefore, these deposits can be used to identify ancient Precambrian rocks in Arizona