The Hällefors silver deposit is regarded as a volcanogenic-exhalative iron ore deposit with dispersed amounts of Ag-Pb-Zn (±Cu) which has undergone secondary remobilization leading to the concentration of sulphides and sulphosalts. Based on data from the iron oxides and sulphides, the sulphide-sulphosalt mineralization is believed to have been formed in two stages. The first is characterized by the ranges 573-473 K and 2.25–1.5 kbar, higher gradient of changes of log aS2 with temperature and mostly sulphide precipitation; the second by the ranges 473–443 K, lower gradient of changes of log aS2 and mainly sulphosalt deposition. Assuming the precipitation was from fluids and aqueous solutions, possible conditions of formation of some of the iron minerals have been determined.

The origin in rocks of the common iron sulphides, pyrrhotine, Fe1-xS and pyrite, FeS2 and their behaviour during geochemical processes is best considered using the simplified redox reaction: 2FeS ⇌ FeS2 + Fe2+ + 2e−.

Thus pyrrhotine is more reduced than pyrite and is the stable iron sulphide formed from magmas except where relatively high oxygen fugacities result from falling pressure or hydrothermal alteration. Pyrite, on the other hand, is the stable iron sulphide in even the most reduced sedimentary rocks where it usually forms during diagenesis through bacteriogenic reduction of sulphate; it is stable throughout the pressure/temperature range endured by normal sedimentary rocks. Pyrrhotine after pyrite or sulphate in metasediments of regional metamorphic origin results mainly from progressive reduction on metamorphism due to the presence of graphite-buffered fluids. Pyrrhotine and/or pyrite may be precipitated from hydrothermal solutions on epigenetic or syngenetic mineralization but pyrrhotine will only be preserved if protected from oxidation to pyrite or to more oxidized species. Exhalative pyrrhotine appears to have been more common in Precambrian times and/or in depositional environments destined to become regionally metamorphosed. FeS can be considered to be the soluble iron sulphide, rather than FeS2, in reduced aqueous systems although pyrite may precipitate from solution as a result of redox reactions. The relatively soluble nature of FeS explains the observed mobility of iron sulphides in all rock types.

This paper presents the results of a detailed rock magnetic and magnetostratigraphic study of the Lower Oligocene Rupelian unit-stratotype. Notwithstanding the relatively low intensity of the natural remanent magnetisation and the diverse and often unstable behaviour during demagnetisation, close-spaced sampling and accurate polarity determinations allowed us to determine the magnetic polarity zonation. The recognition of the characteristic magnetic polarity and the correlation with the standard magnetobiochronologic time scale yields an accurate chronostratigraphic dating of the Boom Clay Formation. The boundary between the geomagnetic chrons C12n and C12r nearly coincides with the lithostratigraphic boundary between theTerhagen and Putte Members. Rock magnetic techniques point to magnetite and probably also iron sulphides as the main magnetic remanence carriers. These magnetic minerals could, however, not be identified with classical mineralogical techniques performed on magnetic extractions. The failure to detect them may be due to the low concentration of these minerals, the small grain size, and the close physical relation with pyrite.