|
Epidosite is a highly altered epidote and quartz bearing rock. It is the result of extreme hydrothermal fluid alteration of basalt that occurs below the black smokers within mid-oceanic ridge spreading centers. Similar altered rocks have been identified within ophiolite complexes and associated sulfide ore deposits. Epidosites represent the zone of intense metal leaching below and lateral to the black smoker environment which is the result of convection of ocean water through the fractured basalts of the ridge flanks.
|
