AbstractsEarth & Environmental Science

"The Sudbury nickel field, situated in the Province of Ontario, Canada, near the northern shore of Lake Huron, was practically discovered when building the Canadian Pacific Railway. The method of deposit is unusual in that it is not a vein filling but a true igneous deposition. The magma carried besides rock making constituents three principle sulphides, viz. - those of iron as pyrrhotite; of copper as chalcopyrite; and of nickel as pentlandite. These three sulphides, being heavier than the rock matter, and, favored by the slow rate of cooling of the magma, had sufficient time to settle into the lowest portions of the mass, thus forming an igneous deposition" – p. 1.