A fractal (power-law) distribution is the only statistical distribution applicable to a scale-invariant process. One of the major problems in petrology is the distribution of trace elements in the Earth’s crust. Extreme values of this distribution result in ore deposits. There is accumulating observational evidence that tonnage–grade statistics of ore deposits are often fractal (powerlaw). Rayl...

The most important examples of magmatic ore deposits in volcanic rocks are Fe-Ni-Cu-(PGE) sulphides associated with Archean and Proterozoic komatiitic lava channels (Lesher, 1989). Komatiitehosted ores contain ~25% of the world’s nickel sulphide resource (≥ 0.8% Ni), including significant amounts of copper and platinum group elements (Ross and Travis, 1981). Field, experimental, and theoretical...