Ascendant (geology)
In the geoscientific context, ascendant denotes rising solutions and waters. Rising waters are of great importance in diagenetic processes , in soil formation , in the ascent of thermal waters and in the formation of hydrothermal ore deposits .
By squeezing rock and pore water during diagenesis, these can be enriched with minerals and precipitate again in the upper rock layers in the form of crusts or impregnations. Similar processes, in connection with fluctuating groundwater levels and evaporation, lead to characteristic soil horizons when soils are formed . Ascending, ore-containing solutions from deeper parts of the earth's crust - also referred to as hypogenic in the literature - are a prerequisite for the formation of almost all hydrothermal deposits.
The counterpart, i.e. the descending water that follows gravity , is called descending . Descending, mineralized waters are often involved in the formation of weathering deposits and ore deposits in the cementation zone .
Individual evidence
- ^ Author collective: Lexicon of Geosciences. Volume I, Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg / Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-8274-0299-9 , p. 141.