Question

What are veins and lodes?

Answer 1

In the metamorphic rocks and igneous rocks minerals are found in cracks, joints. The small cracks are called veins and large cracks are called lodes. Examples are minerals like tin, copper, zinc, lead etc.

1. Veins form when mineral constituents carried by an aqueous solution within the rock mass are deposited through precipitation.
2. A great many valuable ore minerals, such as native gold or silver or metal sulphides, are deposited along with gangue minerals, mainly quartz and/or calcite, in a vein structure.
3. In geology, a lode is a deposit of metalliferous ore that fills or is embedded in a fissure (or crack) in a rock formation.
4. Lode deposits are distinguished primarily from placer deposits, where the ore has been eroded out from its original depositional environment and redeposited by sedimentary forces.