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Hot aqueous fluids, both vapor and saline liquid, are primary transporting media for metals in hydrothermal-magmatic systems. Despite the growing geological evidence that the vapor phase, formed through boiling of magmatic ore-bearing fluids, can selectively concentrate and transport metals, the physical-chemical mechanisms that control the metal vapor-liquid fractionation remain poorly understood. We performed systematic experiments to investigate the metal vapor-liquid partitioning in model water-salt-gas systems [H.sub.2]O-NaCl-KCl-HCl at hydrothermal conditions. Measurements show that equilibrium vapor-liquid fractionation patterns of many metals are directly related to the densities of the coexisting vapor and liquid phases. Despite differences in the vapor-phase chemistry of various metals that form hydroxide, chloride, or sulfide gaseous molecules of contrasting volatile properties, water-solute interaction is a key factor that controls the metal transfer by vapor-like fluids in Earth's crust. These findings allow quantitative prediction of the vapor-liquid distribution patterns and vapor-phase metal transport in a wide range of conditions. Our density model accounts well for the vapor-brine distribution patterns of Na, Si, Fe, Zn, As, Sb, and Ag observed in fluid inclusions from magmatic-hydrothermal deposits. For Au and Cu, the partitioning in favor of the liquid phase, predicted in a sulfur-free system, contrasts with the copper and gold enrichment observed in natural vapor-like inclusions. The formation of stable complexes of Cu and Au with reduced sulfur may allow for their enhanced transport by sulfur-enriched magmatic-hydrothermal vapors. Keywords: vapor, brine, partition coefficients, fluid density, magmatic-hydrothermal deposits, metals.

Hadean zircons, from the Jack Hills (Western Australia) and other localities, are currently the only window into the earliest terrestrial felsic crust, the formation of which remains enigmatic. Based upon new experimental results, generation of such early crust has been hypothesized to involve the partial melting of hydrated peridotite interacting with basaltic melt at low pressure (<10 km), but it has yet to be demonstrated that such liquids can indeed crystallize zircons comparable to Jack Hills zircon. We used thermodynamic and geochemical modeling to test this hypothesis. The predicted zircon saturation temperatures of <750 °C, together with the model zircon Th, U, Nb, Hf, Y, and rare earth element (REE) contents at 700 °C, δ18OVSMOW (Vienna standard mean ocean water) signatures, and co-crystallizing mineral assemblage were compared to those of the Jack Hills zircon. This comparison was favorable with respect to crystallization temperature, most trace-element contents, and mineral inclusions in zircon. The discrepancy in δ18OVSMOW signatures may be explained by hotter conditions of Hadean protocrust hydration. Our work supports the idea that felsic magma generation at shallow depths involving a primordial weathered ultramafic protocrust and local basaltic intrusions is indeed a viable mechanism for the formation of felsic crust on early Earth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]