METALS, VAPOURS, AND VOLCANOES
This presentation reviews the history of a crazy idea, namely that metals can be transported by aqueous vapour (steam) in concentrations sufficient to form economic metallic mineral deposits. It starts with the work of Agricola in the 16th century, continues with the fight in the early part of the 20th century between the fathers of modern Economic Geology (USGS) and experimentalists, examines Krauskopf's nail in the coffin in the 1950s, and culminates with the rise of the phoenix in the 1990s and ongoing work to try and make sense out of insanity.