Subseafloor hydrothermal alteration during the Early Proterozoic at Garpenberg,Central Sweden

The Early Proterozoic sulfide deposit at Garpenberg is located in the metallogenetic province of central Sweden. It is a strata-bound massive sulfide deposit contained in a supracrustal sequence of mainly acid metavolcanic rocks. Stratiform Zn-Pb-Cu mineralization is underlain by Cu-bearing stockwork ore and an extensive alteration zone. The sulfide ores and their altered wall rocks were formed by subseafloor hydrothermal activity. The alteration pattern observed in the wall rocks of this deposit is consistent with a hydrothermal system where the fluid consists mainly of seawater and a high water/rock mass ratio predominates. The hydrothermal activity caused the destruction of the primary mineralogy, mainly feldspars, and a general redistribution of the chemical elements in the altered wall rocks which were principally depleted in Ca, Na and Eu and enriched in Mg. Eu was redeposited with the ore metals near or at the seafloor and Ca was deposited as limestone. Most of the major and trace elements show large mobility during the alteration; only Ti, Zr, Y and REE (excluding Eu) behaved as relatively immobile elements.