Trace-metal content of the Pueblo Viejo precious-metal deposits and their relation to other high-sulfidation epithermal systems

We provide here information on the distribution of copper, zinc, lead, gold, silver, barium, arsenic, antimony, mercury, selenium and tellurium in the Moore and Monte Negro high-sulfidation epithermal deposits in the Pueblo Viejo district, Dominican Republic. Moore and Monte Negro are funnel-shaped zones of advanced argillic alteration and precious-metal mineralization which extend to depths of about 350 m below the present surface. The uppermost part of the Moore deposit has been removed by erosion, whereas the Monte Negro deposit is covered by rocks containing low, but still anomalous gold grades. At Moore, concentrations of all elements except copper increase upward through the deposit. At Monte Negro, all elements except barium and zinc show a similar upward increase in concentration to a point near the top of the deposit from which they decrease upward. This difference reflects the fact that the top of the Moore deposit has been removed by erosion. Because the deposits are funnel-shaped and average metal concentrations increase by almost an order of magnitude upward, most of the metals are concentrated in the upper parts of the deposits. The upward increase in concentration of most metals is gradual and similar in magnitude to the prograde temperature dependence in solubilities of many metal complexes, suggesting that the metals were deposited by cooling. By contrast, concentrations of mercury and, to a lesser extent, tellurium increase more abruptly in the upper part of the deposits. This change probably reflects boiling of the hydrothermal solutions and partitioning of mercury and tellurium into a rising vapor phase, and it suggests that host rocks overlying the deposits will be anomalous in mercury and tellurium. Comparison to the Broadlands, New Zealand, hydrothermal system supports these inferred depositional processes. It shows that the behavior of arsenic and antimony at Broadlands was different from that at Pueblo Viejo, possibly because the elements were complexed differently in the two ore fluids. Comparison of trace-element abundances at Pueblo Viejo to other high-sulfidation epithermal systems shows differences in base-metal, arsenic and mercury abundances which may be related to the depths at which the deposits formed. The results of this study highlight the application and need for quantitative trace-element data from epithermal deposits.     

Mineralogy of telluride-bearing epithermal ores in the Kassiteres-Sappes area, western Thrace, Greece

Summary The Kassiteres-Sappes district represents a multi-centered, porphyry-epithermal system developed during the Oligocene to Miocene at a composite calc-alkaline to high-K calc-alkaline volcanic edifice. Precious and base metal mineralization postdates the emplacement of dacite and rhyolite porphyries and is partly superimposed on earlier microdiorite-related porphyry-style mineralization exposed at the Koryfes Hill prospect. A second mineralized porphyry-type system genetically related to a dacite porphyry body developed near the St Demetrios deposit. Tellurides occur mainly at the St Barbara prospect and the St Demetrios deposit. Based on petrographic, electron microprobe, and scanning electron microscope analyses, hessite, petzite, sylvanite, altaite, stützite and native tellurium occur in the St Barbara prospect. These tellurium-bearing minerals are hosted in intermediate-sulfidation type veins and accompanied by pyrite, chalcopyrite, tetrahedrite-group minerals, galena and native gold/electrum. The St Demetrios mineralization includes hessite, altaite, stützite, and tetradymite in close spatial relation to a high-sulfidation assemblage composed of enargite, chalcopyrite, goldfieldite, and native gold. Tellurides were deposited at logfTe₂ values of −8.5 to −7.1 and logfS₂ values of −10.7 to −7.9 (275 °C). The ore systems are characterized by Au, Ag, Te, Bi, and Mo, which suggests a magmatic contribution to the mineralizing fluids. Ore-forming components were likely derived from both the dacite and rhyolite porphyries.     

Chronology of the Pueblo Viejo epithermal gold–silver deposit,Dominican Republic: formation in an Early Cretaceous intra-oceanic island arc and burial under ophiolite

The Pueblo Viejo deposit (production to 1996: 166 t Au, 760 t Ag) is located in the Dominican Republic on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola and ranks as one of the largest high-sulfidation/acid-sulfate epithermal deposits (reserves in 2007: 635 t Au, 3,648 t Ag). One of the advanced argillic ore bodies is cut by an inter-mineral andesite porphyry dike, which is altered to a retrograde chlorite–illite assemblage but overprinted by late-stage quartz–pyrite–sphalerite veins and associated low-grade Au, Ag, Zn, Cd, Hg, In, As, Se, and Te mineralization. The precise TIMS U–Pb age (109.6 ± 0.6 Ma) of the youngest zircon population in this dike confirms that the deposit is part of the Early Cretaceous Los Ranchos intra-oceanic island arc. Intrusion-related gold–sulfide mineralization took place during late andesite–dacite volcanism within a thick pile (>200 m) of carbonaceous sand- and siltstones deposited in a restricted marine basin. The high-level deposit was shielded from erosion after burial under a late Albian (109–100 Ma) ophiolite complex (8 km thick), which was in turn covered by the volcano-sedimentary successions (>4 km) of a Late Cretaceous–Early Tertiary calc-akaline magmatic arc. Estimates of stratigraphic thickness and published alunite, illite, and feldspar K-Ar ages and closure temperatures (alunite 270 ± 20°C, illite 260 ± 30°C, K-feldspar 150°C) indicate a burial depth of about 12 km at 80 Ma. During peak burial metamorphism (300°C and 300 MPa), the alteration assemblage kaolinite + quartz in the deposit dehydrated to pyrophyllite. Temperature–time relations imply that the Los Ranchos terrane then cooled at a rate of 3–4°C/Ma during slow uplift and erosion.     

The age and thermal history of Cerro Rico de Potosi, Bolivia

 Cerro Rico de Potosi, Bolivia, is the world’s largest silver deposit and has been mined since the sixteenth century for silver, and for tin and zinc during the twentieth century, together with by-product copper and lead. The deposit consists primarily of veins that cut an altered igneous body that we interpret to be a dacitic volcanic dome and its underlying tuff ring and explosion breccia. The deposit is compositionally and thermally zoned, having a core of cassiterite, wolframite, bismuthinite, and arsenopyrite surrounded by a peripheral, lower-temperature mineral assemblage consisting principally of sphalerite, galena, lead sulfosalt, and silver minerals. The low-temperature assemblage also was superimposed on the high-temperature assemblage in response to cooling of the main hydrothermal system. Both the dacite dome and the ore fluids were derived from a larger magmatic/hydrothermal source at depth. The dome was repeatedly fractured by recurrent movement on the fault system that guided its initial emplacement. The dome was extruded at 13.8±0.2 Ma (2σ), based on U-Th-Pb dating of zircon. Mineralization and alteration occurred within about 0.3 my of dome emplacement, as indicated by a ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar date of 13.76±0.10 Ma (1σ) for sericite from the pervasive quartz-sericite-pyrite alteration associated with the main-stage, high-temperature, mineralization. The last thermal event able to reset zircon fission tracks occurred no later than 12.5±1.1 Ma (1σ), as indicated by fission-tract dating. Minor sericite, and magmatic-steam alunite veins, were episodically formed around 11 Ma and between 8.3 and 5.7 Ma; the younger episodes occurring at the time of extensional fracturing at Cerro Rico and widespread volcanism in the adjacent Los Frailes volcanic field. None of these younger events appear to be significant thermal/mineralizing events; the exceptionally flat thermal release pattern of ³⁹Ar from sericite and the results of the fission-tract dating of zircon show that none of the younger events was hot enough, and lasted long enough, to cause significant loss of Ar or annealing of zircon fission tracks. U-Th-Pb dating of zircon cores indicates a Precambrian progenitor for some zircons, and REE analyses of dated samples of hydrothermally altered dacite show the presence of a prominent positive Eu anomaly, which constrains interpretations of the origin and evolution of the magmatic/hydrothermal system. Received: 14 October 1995/Accepted: 29 January 1996     

黑龙江二十一站-宝兴沟( 铜) 金矿床特征及其热液成矿系统

二十一站-宝兴沟( 铜) 金矿床( 点) 位于上黑龙江断陷盆地的东南部。区域地质背景及典型矿床研究表明,矿床不仅受NE 向断裂构造控制,还受其同期的岩浆岩控制。对宝兴沟金矿床的流体包裹体测试结果、矿床围岩蚀变和与火山穹窿构造间的关系等研究,表明宝兴沟金矿可能是中硫型浅成低温热液型矿床,二十一站和十五里桥( 铜) 金矿床可能是高硫型浅成低温热液型矿床( 点) 。区域地质特征、遥感解译、航磁异常及Au、Ag、Cu 化探异常分布特征显示了本区可能存在两种环境的斑岩型--浅成低温热液型成矿热液系统。在此基础上,结合铜元素化探异常和火山穹窿等特征,提出了在十五桥金矿床、二十一站铜金矿一带寻找斑岩型铜钼矿化类型,在NW、NNE 向构造带内找寻与浅成低温热液系统有关的矿床。     

Pongkor (west Java, Indonesia): a Pliocene supergene-enriched epithermal Au-Ag-(Mn) deposit

The Pongkor gold-silver epithermal deposit with reserves of at least 98 tonnes of gold and 1026 tonnes of silver, average grades 16.4 g/t Au and 171.2 g/t Ag is one of the most recent and largest gold and silver discoveries in Indonesia, proven within a short period (1988–1991). ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating on adularia samples give an age of 2.05 ± 0.05 Ma. The deposit is of the low-sulfidation epithermal type and consists of four main mineralized quartz veins located close to the internal rim of a volcano-tectonic depression (caldera). This resulted from an explosive ignimbritic eruption that produced pyroclastic flows and accretionary lapilli with rare intercalations of epiclastic rocks. This volcanic unit unconformably overlies Miocene subaqueous volcanic andesitic rocks with interbedded epiclastic rocks. The mineralized bodies are thick (average 4.2 m), steeply dipping, quartz-carbonate-adularia veins with a very low sulfide content (<0.5 wt.%). Their genesis is related to an extensional episode within a tectonic corridor showing NW-SE and NNE-SSW conjugate strike-slip faults, the major vein being located on the inner rim of the caldera. The vein fill reveals four successive stages of deposition marked by a specific facies: (1) carbonate-quartz breccia with dominant quartz and calcite and minor kutnahorite, rhodochrosite, and rhodonite (CQ facies), (2) a network of banded quartz and former carbonate transformed into manganese oxides through supergene alteration (MOQ facies), (3) banded opaline milky quartz (BOQ facies), and (4) grey, locally banded, sulfide-rich quartz breccia cutting all the other types (GSQ facies). Adularia was deposited at the same time as the quartz. The mineralogy and internal structures of the veins (crustiform banding, vugs, collapse breccia) clearly indicate a dilational context, which is common in low-sulfidation epithermal systems. Gold and silver grades, as well as sulfide mineral abundances, increase steadily through stages 1 to 4, locally reaching 1 kg/t in the GSQ facies. The sulfides are dominated by pyrite, accompanied by common acanthite-aguilarite, polybasite-pearceite and electrum in which the gold content ranges from 48 to 74 wt.%. Sphalerite, galena, chalcopyrite and hessite are fairly rare, although present within the CQ facies. The fluid inclusions of the four facies show homogenization temperatures ranging from 150 to 382 °C, indicating boiling of a hydrothermal fluid with an initial temperature of around 205 °C; no marked difference is seen in the GSQ facies, which has the highest gold content. Salinities are low, generally below 1 wt.% eq. NaCl. Lead isotope compositions of the associated volcanic rocks and the mineralization are very similar, ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb between 18.706 and 18.814␣and between 18.744 and 18.801 respectively, demonstrating a genetic link between the Pliocene volcanism and the auriferous hydrothermal activity. The isotopic signature suggests that the source of the mineralization and associated volcanic rocks is an underlying ancient continental crust that melted and remobilized during the Pliocene volcanic and hydrothermal events. These conclusions seem applicable to the entire Bayah Dome. The existence of both a tectonic corridor and a caldera favoured channelling of the hydrothermal fluids and the deposition of primary ore in the veins. Late intense weathering of the ore deposit, to depths of 250 m below the surface, has given rise to manganese oxide layers, limonite zones, and silver micronuggets within the veins, as well as to gold enrichment. Received: 25 June 1997 / Accepted: 10 March 1998     

Advanced argillic lithocaps in the Bolivian tin-silver belt

Zones of advanced argillic alteration constituting lithocaps are commonplace in the shallow parts of porphyry copper systems. Similar lithocaps are also recognized in the shallowly eroded southern part of the Bolivian tin-silver belt, where mineralization typically is centred on felsic volcanic domes. A well-preserved lithocap at Potosí is dominated by vuggy residual quartz and contained the world's largest silver resource, whereas the basal remnant of a lithocap at Pulacayo is composed of barren quartz-alunite. Minor gold occurs in the structurally controlled roots of a lithocap at Tasna. The mineralization in these lithocaps is of high-sulphidation type and was generated in the epithermal environment. In contrast, the tin- and base metal-bearing massive sulphide veins and associated sericitic and quartz-tourmaline alteration that underlie the Bolivian lithocaps are typified by sulphides of low sulphidation state, but are dominantly mesothermal rather than epithermal in character. Magma chemistry is believed to account for the characterization of Bolivian lithocaps by silver-tin-antimony and porphyry copper lithocaps by gold-copper-arsenic. Low-grade, bulk-tonnage silver mineralization within Bolivian lithocaps and high-grade tin-bearing veins concealed beneath them both constitute attractive exploration objectives. Received: 13 February 1998 / Accepted: 11 March 1998     

安徽沙溪斑岩型铜金矿床成岩序列及成岩成矿年代学研究

沙溪矿床是长江中下游成矿带中典型的斑岩型铜金矿床,位于庐枞盆地北外缘、郯庐断裂内,矿床成岩成矿时代确定对该矿床成因研究及区域成矿规律的认识具有重要意义。在详细野外地质工作的基础上,采集沙溪矿床与成矿有关的主要岩浆岩样品(粗斑闪长玢岩、黑云母石英闪长玢岩、中斑石英闪长玢岩、细斑石英闪长玢岩和闪长玢岩)和与黄铜矿密切共生的辉钼矿,分别利用Cameca、LA-ICP-MS U-Pb和Re-Os同位素定年方法,获得矿床内主要岩浆岩的成岩年龄(130.60±0.97Ma、129.30±1.00Ma、127.10±1.50Ma、129.46±0.97Ma和126.7±2.1Ma)以及成矿年龄(130.0±1.0Ma),并重新厘定了沙溪岩体从早到晚岩浆的侵位序列。通过区域对比,提出长江中下游存在两阶段斑岩型铜金矿化,沙溪矿床为长江中下游成矿带第二阶段形成的斑岩型矿床,沙溪矿床的成岩成矿作用既不同于庐枞盆地,也不同于断隆区第一阶段的斑岩矿床,而是受郯庐断裂和长江断裂动力学演化联合作用的产物。     

SHRIMP U–Pb dating of the Antucoya porphyry copper deposit: new evidence for an Early Cretaceous porphyry-related metallogenic epoch in the Coastal Cordillera of northern Chile

The Antucoya porphyry copper deposit (300 Mt at 0.45% total Cu) is one of the largest deposits of a poorly known Early Cretaceous porphyry belt in the Coastal Cordillera of northern Chile. It is related to a succession of granodioritic and tonalitic porphyritic stocks and dikes that were emplaced within Jurassic andesitic rocks of the La Negra Formation immediately west of the N–S trending sinistral strike-slip Atacama Fault Zone. New zircon SHRIMP U–Pb data indicate that the porphyries of Antucoya crystallized within the time span from 142.7 ± 1.6 to 140.6 ± 1.5 Ma (±2 σ), and late, unmineralized, NW–SE trending dacite dikes with potassic alteration and internal deformation crystallized at 141.9 ± 1.4 Ma. The Antucoya porphyry copper system appears to be formed after a change of stress conditions along the magmatic arc from extensional in the Late Jurassic to transpressive during the Early Cretaceous and provides support for an Early Cretaceous metallogenic episode of porphyry-type mineralization along the Coastal Cordillera of northern Chile.     

Geological setting and SHRIMP U–Pb geochronological evidence for ca. 2680–2660 Ma lode-gold mineralization at Jundee–Nimary in the Yilgarn Craton, Western Australia

The 7 million oz. Jundee–Nimary lode-gold deposit occurs in the northern portion of the Yandal greenstone belt in the northeastern part of the Archean Yilgarn Craton of Western Australia. Gold mineralization at Jundee–Nimary is similar in structural style, mineralogy, geochemistry and relative timing with respect to deformation and metamorphism, to other Western Australian Archean greenstone-hosted gold deposits, but is unusual in the fact that mineralized structures are crosscut by structurally late intermediate to felsic dykes. Within the Deakin South open cut, gold mineralization is hosted in brittle–ductile shear zones primarily developed within the dacitic Mitchell Porphyry. The Moore Porphyry, a broad dyke of porphyritic granodiorite, intrudes the Mitchell Porphyry, crosscutting and post-dating gold mineralization. Analytically indistinguishable SHRIMP U–Pb zircon ages of 2678 ± 5 Ma for the Mitchell Porphyry and 2669 ± 7 Ma for the Moore Porphyry require that gold mineralization at Jundee–Nimary occurred at ca. 2680–2660 Ma, approximately 40 million years earlier than the majority of published robust ages for gold mineralization in the Yilgarn Craton, which mostly overlap at ca. 2640–2630 Ma. The close spatial and temporal relationship between gold mineralization and felsic to intermediate magmatism at Jundee–Nimary also raises the possibility of a genetic link between hydrothermal and igneous activity. However, additional work is required to establish a firm connection. Current research on lode-gold mineralization in Archean, Paleozoic and Phanerozoic terranes suggests a model which postulates that these deposits formed during transpressional to compressional deformation in accretionary and collisional orogens and that their formation is intimately related to orogenic processes. Consequently, mineralization and regional metamorphism are expected to be diachronous, as terranes are accreted and the front of orogenesis migrates. Consideration of the new data presented in this paper in conjunction with previously published dates supports the hypothesis that gold mineralization, along with regional metamorphism, was generally diachronous from northeast to southwest across the Yilgarn Craton, over a period of approximately 40 million years from ca. 2680–2660 Ma to ca. 2640–2630 Ma. This is directly analogous to the accepted model for the timing of orogenic lode-gold mineralization in other provinces and therefore provides further support for a unified model for this style of deposit through geological time. Received: 17 March 2000 / Accepted: 8 September 2000     

Intrusion-related gold deposits associated with tungsten-tin provinces

An under-recognized and economically important class of intrusion-related gold deposits, which occur within magmatic provinces best known for tungsten and/or tin mineralization, is described with reference to seven major deposits (Fort Knox, Mokrsko, Salave, Vasilkovskoe, Timbarra, Kidston and Kori Kollo). These gold deposits contain a metal suite that includes some combination of bismuth, tungsten, arsenic, tin, molybdenum, tellurium and antimony, and contrasts with that found in the more widely-developed gold-rich porphyry copper and related deposits. The gold deposits associated with tungsten and/or tin provinces are located in cratonic margins, in a landward or back-arc position relative to continental margin arcs (where recognized), or within continental collisional settings. The deposits are related genetically to felsic domes, stocks or plutons of intermediate oxidation state, both magnetite- and ilmenite-series magmas are represented. The intrusion-hosted gold deposits are most commonly of sheeted vein/veinlet type, although greisen-like, disseminated and breccia deposits are also described. Gold may also be concentrated more distally (1–3 km) with respect to the intrusions, where deposits may be of skarn, disseminated replacement or vein types. K-feldspar, albite and/or sericitic alteration assemblages, commonly including carbonate, accompany the gold mineralization. In sheeted vein deposits, alteration is normally restricted to narrow envelopes around veins, whereas more pervasive alteration occurs in greisen-like, disseminated and shallow (<3 km) deposits. The gold mineralization is commonly present with low total sulphide contents (<3%), mainly pyrite and lesser arsenopyrite. In several deposits, bismuth minerals are closely associated with gold, and bismuth-gold and tellurium-gold correlations exist. Most deposits contain tungsten, tin, molybdenum and antimony, although generally these do not correlate with gold; tungsten and molybdenum concentrations may increase with depth or may occur in separate zones. Base metals generally are present in minor amounts (e.g. <100 ppm Cu). The distinct spatial association with felsic intrusions, combined with the consistent metal signature, suggests a magmatic-hydrothermal origin. Fluid inclusions studies indicate the presence of high-salinity fluids in some deposits, and low-salinity and carbonic fluids in most deposits, similar to the composition of fluids in intrusion-related tungsten deposits. Variations in mineralization style largely reflect depth of formation and location relative to the intrusive centre. Several deposits in this class contain >100 tonnes (3 million oz) of gold, thereby highlighting the gold potential of intrusion-related deposits beyond the more traditionally explored gold and copper provinces in arc terranes. Received: 13 March 1998 / Accepted 14 January 1999     

山东平邑铜石地区金矿成矿地质特征及深部找矿讨论

归来庄金矿田金矿化类型较多,主要由隐爆角砾岩型、镁质碳酸盐岩微细浸染型、含铁夕卡岩上叠加型、斑岩型和破碎带蚀变岩型等多种类型的矿床（点）组成。在成因上均与铜石富钾碱性潜火山杂岩关系密切,岩浆活动为成矿提供了热液和热源。受潜火山穹隆的控制,它们生成于不同深度不同地质构造部位,赋存于不同的地质体中,是在铜石潜火山中低温热液成矿系统中生成的金矿类型组合。该区的金矿找矿,应以寻找隐爆侵入角砾岩型金矿及镁质碳酸盐岩微细浸染型为主,兼顾其他类型;找矿地域上应以潜火山杂岩体中—外环带为主,兼顾其他地段,尤其要注重归来庄—十字庄—西皋—卓家庄一带;归来庄金矿床主矿体深部（450 m以下）存在找到盲矿体的可能。     

Mineralogy and ore formation conditions of the Bugdaya Au-Bearing W-Mo porphyry deposit, Eastern Transbaikal Region, Russia

The Bugdaya Au-bearing W-Mo porphyry deposit, Eastern Transbaikal Region, Russia, is located in the central part of volcanic dome and hosted in the large Variscan granitic pluton. In its characteristics, this is a Climax-type deposit, or an Mo porphyry deposit of rhyolitic subclass. The enrichment in gold is related to the relatively widespread vein and veinlet gold-base-metal mineralization. More than 70 minerals (native metals, sulfides, sulfosalts, tellurides, oxides, molybdates, wolframates, carbonates, and sulfates) have been identified in stockwork and vein ores, including dzhalindite, greenockite, Mo-bearing stolzite, Ag and Au amalgams, stromeyerite, cervelleite, and berryite identified here for the first time. Four stages of mineral formation are recognized. The earliest preore stage in form of potassic alteration and intense silicification developed after emplacement of subvolcanic rhyolite (granite) porphyry stock. The stockwork and vein W-Mo mineralization of the quartz-molybdenite stage was the next. Sericite alteration, pyritization, and the subsequent quartz-sulfide veins and veinlets with native gold, base-metal sulfides, and various Ag-Cu-Pb-Bi-Sb sulfosalts of the gold-base-metal stage were formed after the rearrangement of regional pattern of tectonic deformation. The hydrothermal process was completed by argillic (kaolinite-smectite) assemblage of the postore stage. The fluid inclusion study (microthermometry and Raman spectroscopy) allowed us to establish that the stockwork W-Mo mineralization was formed at 550–380°C from both the highly concentrated Mg-Na chloride solution (brine) and the low-density gas with significant N2 and H2S contents. The Pb-Zn vein ore of the gold-base-metal stage enriched in Au, Ag, Bi, and other rare metals was deposited at 360–140°C from a homogeneous Na-K chloride (hydrocarbonate, sulfate) hydrothermal solution of medium salinity.     

民乐火山岩-次火山岩型铜矿

民乐铜矿产于中三叠统钙碱性、碱性系列火山碎屑岩、熔岩、次火山岩(英安斑岩)中。矿床形成与陆相火山活动及其后的火山热液、英安斑岩体侵入有关,明显受火山岩岩性、岩相、层位及构造控制。成因上与火山喷发、英安斑岩体侵入作用有关,具有斑岩铜矿的一些特征。矿床受后期火山热液,次生富集叠加改造明显。     

西天山达巴特火山岩的形成环境及对斑岩型矿化的制约

本文通过对西天山地区比较典型的达巴特斑岩铜钼矿床矿区范围内出露上的英安岩和花岗斑岩进行了系统的岩石地球化学分析,对英安岩和流纹斑岩中的锆石进行了SHRIMP U-Pb定年研究,分别获得了315.9±5.9Ma和278.7±5.7Ma。岩石化学、微量以及稀土元素特征表明从英安岩到花岗斑岩,岩体具有明显的分异演化特征和很好的继承性。火山岩和次火山岩的精确定年为准确厘定火山岩形成的时限和地球动力学背景提供了依据。结合已有的Re-Os法获得的矿化年龄,表明晚石炭世末-早二叠世初（278.7±5.7Ma）,西天山地区进入板块碰撞-板内伸展阶段,由于板内幔根的部分熔化,造成深源斑岩岩浆侵位,在达巴特矿区形成了由花岗斑岩、流纹斑岩和流纹质凝灰熔岩组成的椭圆形火山机构,并导致相关矿床的形成。     

ELA-ICP-MS U–Pb zircon geochronology of regional volcanism hosting the Bajo de la Alumbrera Cu–Au deposit: implications for porphyry-related mineralization

ELA-ICP-MS U–Pb zircon geochronology has been used to show that the porphyritic intrusions related to the formation of the Bajo de la Alumbrera porphyry Cu–Au deposit, NW Argentina, are cogenetic with stratigraphically well-constrained volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks of the Late Miocene Farallón Negro Volcanic Complex. Zircon geochronology for intrusions in this deposit and the host volcanic sequence show that multiple mineralized porphyries were emplaced in a volcanic complex that developed over 1.5 million years. Volcanism occurred in a multi-vent volcanic complex in a siliciclastic intermontane basin. The complex evolved from early mafic-intermediate effusive phases to a later silicic explosive phase associated with mafic intrusions. Zircons from the basal mafic-intermediate lavas have ages that range from 8.46±0.14 to 7.94±0.27 Ma. Regionally extensive silicic explosive volcanism occurred at ~8.0 Ma (8.05±0.13 and 7.96±0.11 Ma), which is co-temporal with intrusion of the earliest mineralized porphyries at Bajo de la Alumbrera (8.02±0.14 and 7.98±0.14 Ma). Regional uplift and erosion followed during which the magmatic-hydrothermal system was probably unroofed. Shortly thereafter, dacitic lava domes were extruded (7.95±0.17 Ma) and rhyolitic diatremes (7.79±0.13 Ma) deposited thick tuff blankets across the region. Emplacement of large intermediate composition stocks occurred at 7.37±0.22 Ma, shortly before renewed magmatism occurred at Bajo de la Alumbrera (7.10±0.07 Ma). The latest porphyry intrusive event is temporally associated with new ore-bearing magmatic-hydrothermal fluids. Other dacitic intrusions are associated with subeconomic deposits that formed synchronously with the mineralized porphyries at Bajo de la Alumbrera. However, their emplacement continued (from 7.10± 0.06 to 6.93±0.07 Ma) after the final intrusion at Bajo de al Alumbrera. Regional volcanism had ceased by 6.8 Ma (6.92±0.07 Ma). The brief history of the volcanic complex hosting the Bajo de la Alumbrera Cu–Au deposit differs from that of other Andean provinces hosting porphyry deposits. For example, at the El Salvador porphyry copper district in Chile, magmatism related to Cu mineralization was episodic in regional igneous activity that occurred over tens of millions of years. Bajo de la Alumbrera resulted from the superposition of multiple porphyry-related hydrothermal systems, temporally separated by a million years. It appears that the metal budget in porphyry ore deposits is not simply a function of their longevity and/or the superposition of multiple porphyry systems. Nor is it a function of the duration of the associated cycle of magmatism. Instead, the timing of processes operating in the parental magma body is the controlling factor in the formation of a fertile porphyry-related ore system.Electronic Supplementary Material Electronic supplementary material to this paper can be obtained by using the Springer Link server located at Editorial handling: N. White     

江西银山铅锌铜矿化机制的讨论

本文分析了银山矿区所处的火山盆地边缘这一特定地质构造环境,火山活动的多阶段性以及蚀变矿化的基本特征,指出在银山发生过两期矿化作用,分别对应于两个阶段的火山-次火山活动。第一阶段的流纹英安质次火山活动产生铅锌银矿化,第二阶段英安质次火山活动则伴随铜(铅锌)矿化。因此,作者认为银山铅锌铜矿床是典型的次火山热液矿床,是两期矿化叠加的结果,从而对前人关于银山矿的成因模式和归类提出了异议。本文还对银山矿与德兴斑岩铜(钼)矿田的成因联系问题提出了独特的看法,并指出了银山式铅锌(铜)矿化的找矿方向。     

内蒙古苏尼特右旗毕力赫大型斑岩型金矿床辉钼矿Re-Os同位素年龄及其地质意义

内蒙古苏尼特右旗毕力赫大型斑岩型金矿的发现在华北板块北缘尚属首例.为了查明该斑岩型金(铜)矿化发生的时间,作者采集了斑岩体内6件辉钼矿样品进行铼-锇同位素测试,获得等时线年龄为(272.7±1.6)Ma(MSWD=0.57).毕力赫晚古生代金矿成矿地质事件的厘定,为华北板块北部晚古生代汇聚板块构造体系提供了新证据,促使...     

Submarine exhalative gold mineralization at the London-Virginia Mine,Buckingham County,Virginia

Low grade submarine exhalative gold mineralization occurs at the London-Virginia deposit in central Virginia Piedmont. The deposit consists of a series of localized but conformable units — basal garnetiferous-chlorite schist, magnetite schist, quartz-muscovite schist, ferruginous quartzite, and chlorite-biotite schist — which represent a mixture of submarine epiclastic volcanic debris and exhalative chemical sediments. Finely disseminated gold occurs dispersed with minor amounts of pyrite, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, galena, and tennantite in the ferruginous quartzite and quartz-muscovite schist. The deposit is believed to have formed by processes analogous to those currently active in the Atlantis II Deep of the Red Sea. Silicarich, hypersaline brines discharged through fractures in the sea floor and ponded in a local basin. Epiosodic influx of clastic debris and extensive deposition of hydrothermal silica diluted the concentration of sulfides and gold to produce a low-grade, siliceous mineralized zone. Emanation from the exhalative vent was terminated when the basin was capped by a lava flow. Subsequent regional greenschist grade metamorphism has recrystallized the silica into a granular quartzite and produced minor remobilization of the gold and sulfides.