Copper into Gold: A discussion of a passage from the Kitab-i-Iqan and Gleanings.
If religious writ disagrees with Science, either the interpretation is wrong, or science is in for a surprise, or the religious writ is not so religious! (See "Harmony of Science and Religion" for more detail) The statements of religious adherents can be tested with science, but the statements of the Manifestations of God so often deal exclusively with issues of conscience that the interpretation offering a "scientific assertion" is out of context. The Manifestations do not come to wet nurse us through our scientific discoveries. There are usually more important issues, like keeping us from each-other's throats. Having said this, there is an interesting parallel in Geology with what Baha'u'llah says as follows:
"That copper can be turned into gold is in itself sufficient proof that gold can, in like manner, be transmuted into copper, if they be of them that can apprehend this truth. Every mineral can be made to acquire the density, form, and substance of each and every other mineral."
(Baha'u'llah: Gleanings, Page: 198)
"For instance, consider the substance of copper. Were it to be protected in its own mine from becoming solidified, it would, within the space of seventy years, attain to the state of gold."
(Baha'u'llah: The Kitab-i-Iqan, Page: 157)
Those with some knowledge of Economic Geology may have a better opportunity to grasp the physical reality of the example Baha'u'llah is using here (to demonstrate the more important spiritual point). How tempting to jump to the simplistic conclusion that this is a nuclear transformation when the term implying its non-solid state could be referring to any one of four separate states:
- Liquid
- Gas
- Plasma
- Solution or mobility
The last being the only one applicable in a "mine" or "potential mine". At the time and to my current knowledge there were and are no mines in non-solid material. As for the time period - This is a range between zero and seventy years (within the space of seventy years).
Under the right circumstances (equilibrium constant), gold and copper do replace one another in solution at varying rates (equilibrium) - I suspect within and without the specified seventy year period, making the liquid bear greater amounts of either the gold or the copper. Gold is quite mobile existing in varying amounts in solution in both seawater and groundwater. Likewise there are no completely pure deposits as all deposits contain at least trace amounts of other elements, by whose proportion the actively mined source can be identified. Most deposits are precipitated from solution as a result of a change in eh/ph, temperature, pressure or any combination of these three changes. Examples are to be found in the following section:
Porphyry Copper Deposits:
This section was written for the purpose of condensing modern [Back in 1995 that is!] knowledge of porphyry copper deposits, their tectonic setting, host rocks, structural controls, hydrothermal alteration, and multiphase mineralisation. This can then be used to derive a possible genesis model for these deposits.
Tectonic settings for porphyry copper deposits are nearly all convergent plate boundary. Isotopic data strongly suggests subducted sources for the magma from which this type of deposit is originally derived (Griffiths & Godwin. 1983) & (Sillitoe & Hart. 1984).
Host rocks comprise roughly cylindrical composite intrusions with a fine grained groundmass and porphyritic texture at the core and medium grained equigranular outer casing. While compositions are usually acid, they vary to include dioritic, calc-alkaline, intermediate, and basic. Also acting as host rocks are the surrounding country rock into which the intrusion occurs (Evans. 1993).
Structural control is defined by the cylindrical network of fractures that makes up the stockwork and some breccia pipes. The orebody may reside entirely within the host stockwork, entirely within the country rock or in both the country rock and host stockwork(Lowell & Guilbert. 1970).
Hydrothermal alteration associated with porphyry copper deposits usually occurs in four coaxial zones forming concentric but often incomplete shells (Lowell & Guilbert. 1970). From the inside going out: The first zone is the Potassic zone which is characterised by orthoclase, biotite, chlorite, sericite, and/or anhydrite that replace plagioclase and mafic minerals of the intrusion. This zone is not always present. Separated gradationally, the next is the phyllic zone which is characterised by quartz, sericite and pyrite with minor chlorite, illite, and rutile. The next zone of alteration, also separated gradationally, is the argillic zone which is characterised by clay minerals that go from montmorillonite rich compositions to kaolin rich compositions as the orebody is approached. This zone is not always present. The last is the propylitic zone which is never absent. This zone is characterised by chlorite and carbonate minerals. There may be some mafic minerals such as biotite and hornblende if these have not been completely altered. The country rock is separated gradationally from this zone.
Multiphase mineralisation, from the inside going out, has: Molybdenite as the first phase followed by chalcopyrite then pyrite throughout the phyllic zone. While poor mineralisation continues out into the propylitic zone it is usually altogether absent from the argillic zone. The bulk of the potassic zone is usually barren while copper mineralisation is strongest at or near the potassic/phyllic zone boundary.
Probable genesis of these deposits would involve the following processes. During the crystallisation of the intrusion (producing the medium grained shell) the magma becomes more volatile until vapour pressure exceeds confining pressure. At this point a rapidly boiling liquid (retrograde boiling) separates from the magma and rapidly increases the vapour pressure so that it overcomes the tensile strength of the rock resulting in "crackle" brecciation and rapid expansion through these new conduits. The widespread occurrence of liquid-rich and gas-rich fluid inclusions in the same thin section provides ample evidence of the occurrence of this process (Evans. 1993). Cooling due to this adiabatic expansion exceeds the heating due to crystallisation and as a result the uncrystallised core freezes to produce a fine groundmass. Copper, molybdenum, and/or gold are concentrated in the expanded fluid that causes potassic alteration without concomitant deposition of sulphides. Later meteoric fluids continue what the magmatic fluids started, transporting and precipitating the copper, molybdenum, and/or gold in association with the phyllic alteration (and in their respective phases). The meteoric fluid, once depleted by mineralisation, is also responsible for later propylitic alteration (Reynolds & Beane. 1985) and argillic alteration which from field and thin section evidence are seen to be superimposed (Evans. 1993). Copper is not leached out of already precipitated silicates but was present in the magmatic fluid as hydrothermal biotite contained up to 10 wt% copper while magmatic biotite contained less than 0.3 wt% copper. This implies that those sheet silicates in host rocks acted as traps and not sources for copper (Ilton & Veblen. 1988).
In summary, porphyry copper deposits occur in fracture and brecciation associated with the sudden chilling of a hypabyssal intrusive core due to retrograde boiling and adiabatic expansion of the volatile phase. The flow of meteoric fluids is responsible for further alteration and mineralisation. This type of deposit is closely associated with convergent plate boundaries and products of subduction.
References.
Evans A. M. (1993) "Ore geology and industrial minerals an introduction", 390 pages. Alden Press, Oxford, England. pp173-185.
Griffiths J. R. & Godwin C. I. (1983) "Metallogeny and tectonics of copper-molybdenum deposits in British Colombia". Canadian Journal of Earth Science, Volume 20, pp1000-1018.
Ilton E. S. & Veblen D. R. (1988) "Copper inclusions in sheet silicates from porphyry copper deposits". Nature, Volume 234, pp516-518.
Lowell J. D. & Guilbert J. M. (1970) "Lateral and vertical alteration mineralisation zoning in porphyry ore deposits". Economic Geology, Volume 65, pp373-408.
Reynolds T. J. & Beane R. E. (1985) "Evolution of hydrothermal fluid characteristics at the Santa Rita, New Mexico, porphyry copper deposit", Economic Geology, Volume 80, pp1328-1347.
Sillitoe R. H. & Hart S. R. (1984) "Lead-isotope signatures of porphyry copper deposits in oceanic and continental settings, Colombian Andes". Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta. Volume 48, pp2135-2142.
Considerations of Porphyry-Copper Deposits of Possible Relevance to the Kitab-i-Iqan
Copper and gold do coexist in the same fluids (paragraph 7 of "Porphyry Copper Deposits" section above) and wind up being deposited in the same Phyllic zone, but I suspect that gold or molybdenum is concentrated on the inside of the phyllic zone. The deposition of these minerals is the result of their depletion from the source fluids, and the copper/gold/molybdenum are no longer in a fluid state. I do not know of anyone identifying a porphyry copper deposit that is still in the process of emplacement, nor even in the process where meteoric water is continuing to drive the mineralisation. Neither have I heard of any that are younger than seventy years. However, a study to see if there is a relationship between age, composition, and phase distribution of such deposits might be interesting.
As far as porphyry-copper deposits are concerned, copper-gold deposits are concentrated in island arc settings, while copper-molybdenum deposition tends to occur where continental crust is present. While molybdenum/gold is only an accessory mineral, be warned, there are some notable exceptions to this and the above generalisation concerning the respective settings for the presence of gold or molybdenum in such deposits (Evans, 1993, p.177). The ages of such deposits range from ~500 million years to 20 million years old for copper-molybdenum, but Evans (1993, p.177-181) mentions no such copper-gold deposits older than 16 million years. If of interest, this could be worth a bit of digging. The following references might offer a starting point:
Sinclair, A. J., Drummond A. D., Carter N. C., & Dawson, K. M., 1982, "A preliminary analysis of gold and silver grades of porphyry-type deposits in western Canada", In Levison, A. A. (Ed.), Precious Metals in the Northern Cordillera, pp. 157-172, Assoc. Explor. Geochem., Rexdale.
Kesler, S. E., 1973, "Copper, molybdenum and gold abundances in porphyry copper deposits, Economic Geology, 68, 106-112
Hollister, V. F., 1975, "An appraisal of the nature of some porphyry copper deposits". Miner. Sci. Eng., 7, 225-233.
Amade, E., 1983, "Caracteristiques comparees des quatre principaux 'Porphyry copper' de niugini". Chron. Rech. Min., 472, 3-22
Jackson, R., 1982, "Ok Tedi: The Pot of Gold". University of Papua New Guinea.
A Rough Overview of Some Other Copper Deposits:
Gold is quite mobile, and occurs in bauxites (Eg. Boddington, 130km Southeast of Perth) and confirmed secondary enrichment in laterites in such places as Coolgardie, Western Australia. The Cloncurry region of Queensland, Australia is an example of gold bearing bauxites where little or no basement gold mineralisation is known (Evans, 1993, p. 265).
Below the surface we have the possibility of oxidised ores just above the water table, and enriched "supergene" (usually sulphide) ores just below the water table. As this style of deposit is significant with regard to copper, do we see gold? Pueblo Viejo of the Dominican Republic is one of the world's largest open pit gold-silver mines wherein the gold-silver is taken from the oxidised zone of a supergene deposit (Evans, 1993, p. 268) [but is there copper in that mine?]. Nonetheless, supergene enrichment is an important process affecting porphyry copper deposits (Ibid.).
Stratiform deposits are also an interesting consideration. At White Pine, Northern Michigan, we have a significant copper deposit in the Precambrian "Nonesuch Shale". Here copper mineralisation is confined to individual lithological units while content changes with sediment variation. It was thought that the copper originated from fluids rising from the White Pine Fault, however, the deposit persists for many tens of kilometres along the base of the Nonesuch Shale strongly suggesting that the copper deposit shares the billion year age of the host sediment. Evans(1993, p. 195-196) make no mention of any gold in this particular deposit. However, trace amounts of gold (0.1g/ton) are found in stratiform copper deposits (2% Cu, 30-80g/ton Ag) at Lubin, Poland (Evans, 1993, p. 191).
An example of gold and copper occurring in vein association deposits is at Butte, Montana where from 1880 to 1964, 300 megatons of ore were produced from a very small area (6km by 3km) yielding:
Copper
7.3 megatons
Zinc
2.2 megatons
Molybdenum1.7 megatons
Lead
0.3 megatons
Silver
20 kilotons
Gold
78 tons
Not to mention bismuth, cadmium, selenium, tellurium & sulphuric acid. This particular deposit is in veins crosscutting a granodiorite intrusion radiometrically dated at 78 million years in age. It is significant that the porphyry-type mineralisation occurs here with respect to copper-molybdenum. Products of the various porphyry alteration zones have been dated at between 63 to 58 million years old (Evans, 1993, p. 217-218). However, the relationship (if any) between the gold and the copper in this deposit is not clearly documented by Evans(1993).
Considerations
1. These are processes that have occurred at sometime during a long period of geological history.
2. These processes are often slow, but can be clearly demonstrated in many examples to have terminated millions of years ago. This includes copper deposits up to a billion years old.
3. Finding references to both copper and gold is hard enough in dated old notes, reports, and textbooks (too specific). A good start would be a search for both copper and gold in the Science Citation Index (try your National, State, or university libraries for this one).
4. There are still plenty of questions concerning this copper-gold association which do not seem to be as well documented as the chromium-nickel-platinum-copper, gold-uranium, nickel-copper, or copper-zinc associations.
5. Be very careful with shares. This might not be the lawless eighties any more, but where there is a law, there is a loophole! That makes the stockmarket nothing more than an upper class casino!
6. A religious statement with more than one meaning (Such as Baha'u'llah's statement on this issue) cannot be tested scientifically, because the ambiguity is sufficient to rule out testability or falsifiability. This is what makes intellectual infallibility (as opposed to moral infallibility) an oxymoron (IE "Intellectual infallibility" contradicts itself in the same way as "conditional love" or "non-turbulent turbidity currents"). With regard to religious issues, whatever test is failed, it is the interpretation rather than the text that fails.
7. As detailed as all this material is, I still don't think it really relates to why Baha'u'llah made the statement on p. 157 of the Kitáb-i-Íqán. "Why?", is the all important question that leads to true context and meaning.
Conclusion
Now that examples of both parallels and conflicts with scientific findings have has been detailed, I would like to suggest that an interpretation with this parallel/conflict as its meaning is probably missing the point - especially when we consider that Baha'u'llah did not come to share with us the secrets of economic geology, He came instead to bring love and unity - See " The Purpose of Religion is for Love and Unity".
Having dispensed with the materialistic interpretation of the copper into gold passages from Gleanings and the Kitab-i-Iqan, we are free to pursue an understanding that is confined to the subject matter, namely, spirituality. It is noteworthy that Baha'u'llah uses a time span that approximates the perceived lifespan of a human being. This is suggestive of the potential for the transmutation of the meagre imitation of spirituality into the genuine article within seventy years, and suggestive of certainty given that the individual remains protected in her/his "own mine". What is this mine? And protected from what? Perhaps this contains a symbolic reference to the value of living within the bounds of conscience, wherein one is protected from wrongdoing and the subsequent guilt...
