Fluid-mineral equilibria in a hydrothermal system,Roosevelt hot springs,Utah

The availability of fluids and drill cuttings from the active hydrothermal system at Roosevelt Hot Springs allows a quantitative comparison between the observed and predicted alteration mineralogy, calculated from fluid-mineral equilibria relationships. Comparison of all wells and springs in the thermal area indicates a common reservoir source, and geothermometer calculations predict its temperature to be higher ($\text{288°C ± 10°}$) than the maximum measured temperature of 268°C.The composition of the deep reservoir fluid was estimated from surface well samples, allowing for steam loss, gas release, mineral precipitation and ground-water mixing in the well bore. This deep fluid is sodium chloride in character, with approximately 9700 ppm dissolved solids, a pH of 6.0, and gas partial pressures of O₂ ranging from 10^?32 to 10^?35 atm, CO₂ of 11 atm, H₂S of 0.020 atm and CH₄ of 0.001 atm.Comparison of the alteration mineralogy from producing and nonproducing wells allowed delineation of an alteration pattern characteristic of the reservoir rock. Theoretical alteration mineral assemblages in equilibrium with the deep reservoir fluid, between 150° and 300°C, in the system Na₂O-K₂O-CaO-MgO-FeO-Fe₂O₃-Al₂O₃-H₄SiO₄-H₂O-H₂S-CO₂-HCl, were calculated. Minerals theoretically in equilibrium with the calculated reservoir fluid at $\text{>240°C}$ include sericite, K-feldspar, quartz, chalcedony, hematite, magnetite and pyrite. This assemblage corresponds with observed higher-temperature ($\text{>210°C}$) alteration assemblage in the deeper parts of the producing wells. The presence of montmorillonite and mixed-layer clays with the above assemblage observed at temperatures <210°C corresponds with minerals predicted to be in equilibrium with the fluid below 240°C.Alteration minerals present in the reservoir rock that do not exhibit equilibrium with respect to the reservoir fluid include epidote, anhydrite, calcite and chlorite. These may be products of an earlier hydrothermal event, or processes such as boiling and mixing, or a result of errors in the equilibrium calculations as a result of inadequate thermochemical data.     

Mechanics of low-angle normal faulting: An example from Roosevelt Hot Springs geothermal area, Utah

Roosevelt Hot Springs geothermal area is located in the Mineral Mountains of southern Utah. The geothermal reservoir is formed by systems of faults and joints in Cenozoic plutonic and Precambrian metamorphic rocks. Low-angle denudation faults, dipping between 5° and 35° to the west, form an important component of the reservoir's structure. These faults developed simultaneously with steeply dipping faults that dissect the low-angle fault plates and merge into denudation faults at depth.Gently westward dipping joints provided planes of weakness along which the denudation faults nucleated. The average coefficient of sliding friction along the faults was less than 0.5 and probably ranged between 0.15 and 0.4. The maximum depth for formation of the denudation faults was estimated as 5 km. Hydrothermally altered cataclasite preserved in the fault zones indicates that faulting occurred under brittle conditions in the presence of chemically reactive fluids. The hydrothermal alteration may have significantly reduced friction in the fault zones.Hydrothermal alteration along fractures in the present geothermal reservoir is similar to that observed in the exhumed denudation faults, indicating that the frictional resistance along faults and joints in the reservoir could be significantly lower than along similar structures in unaltered granitic rock. Studies of the structural stability of the reservoir as a consequence of fluid withdrawal and reinjection should consider possible mechanical effects of this hydrothermal alteration.     

Behavior of mercury in the supergene zone of geothermal deposits,southern Kamchatka

Mercury distribution was determined in all types of solid materials from the supergene zone of geothermal deposits in southern Kamchatka: rocks, hydrothermally altered rocks (metasomatic rocks), soils, soil—pyroclastic cover, bottom sediments of perennial and intermittent streams, hydrothermal clays, artificial siliceous precipitates, and iron sulfides formed owing to thermal water discharge from a well. The mercury content varies from background values for the Kurile-Kamchatka region in fresh rocks to high and extremely high values in hydrothermal clays and monomineralic pyrite samples. The sources, migration conditions, and concentration mechanisms of mercury were evaluated. Mercury is supplied to the surface of geothermal deposits and thermal fields by a deep hydrothermal flow and is concentrated on thermodynamic barriers in hydrothermal clays, siliceous sinters (silica gel), and soils showing high salinity owing to the deposition in them of silica, sulfates, and other compounds from a vapor-water mixture. Newly formed clay minerals, iron sulfides (pyrite), silica gel, and biological materials (peat) can probably efficiently sorb mercury under geothermal conditions at atmospheric pressure and temperatures from 20°C to 120°C.     

Improved Preproduction Conceptual-Numerical Model of the Roosevelt Geothermal Field using Geological,Geochemical and Structural Information

The Roosevelt Hot Springs Known Geothermal Resource Area (KGRA) is a Basin and Range-type geothermal resource, which is located in southwestern Utah. The integrated multicomponent geothermometry (IMG) approach is used to estimate the reservoir temperature at the Roosevelt Hot Springs KGRA. Geothermometric modeling results indicate the deep reservoir temperature is approximately 284.6°C. A conceptual model of the Roosevelt Hot Spring KGRA is provided through integrating the various pieces of exploration information, including the geological data, geothermometric results, temperature well log and field evidence. A two-dimensional cross-sectional model was thus built to quantitatively investigate the coupled thermal-hydraulic processes in the Roosevelt geothermal field. By matching the preproduction temperature log data of deep wells, parameters controlling flow and heat transport are identified. The method and model presented here may be useful for other geothermal fields with similar conditions.     

Geochemistry of hydrothermal alteration at the Roosevelt hot springs thermal area,Utah

Hot spring deposits in the Roosevelt thermal area consist of opaline sinter and sintercemented alluvium. Alluvium, plutonic rocks, and amphibolite-facies gneiss have been altered by acidsulfate water to alunite and opal at the surface, and alunite, kaolinite, montmorillonite, and muscovite to a depth of 70 m. Marcasite, pyrite, chlorite, and calcite occur below the water table at about 30 m.The thermal water is dilute (ionic strength 0.1–0.2) sodium-chloride brine. The spring water now contains 10 times as much Ca, 100 times as much Mg, and up to 2.5 times as much SO₄ as the deep water. Although the present day spring temperature is 25°C, the temperature was 85°C in 1950.A model for development of the observed alteration is supported by observation and irreversible mass transfer calculations. Hydrothermal fluid convectively rises along major fractures. Water cools by conduction and steam separation, and the pH rises due to carbon dioxide escape. At the surface, hydrogen and sulfate ions are produced by oxidation of H₂S. The low pH water percolates downward and reacts with feldspar in the rocks to produce alunite, kaolinite, montmorillonite, and muscovite as hydrogen ion is consumed.     

南阳膨胀土的工程地质特征和填筑适宜性

施工阶段的工程地质调查发现,宁（南京）西（西安）铁路内乡-镇平段南阳膨胀土成因类型上不仅有第四系冲积洪积粘土,而且发育上第三系湖相沉积粘土。不同成因的膨胀土具有不同的空间分布特征和工程性质,X射线衍射测试表明,南阳膨胀土的主要膨胀性粘土矿物是伊利石/蒙脱石混层矿物。物质组成和物理化学性质差异导致击实土在含水量变化条件下膨胀力和膨胀变形有明显的差别;对同一种膨胀土材料,其击实含水量越小,膨胀性越强,甚至含水量降低1 %～2 %,膨胀力就可以增加到200 %以上;击实膨胀土的直剪强度受到钙质结核含量的影响,对于膨胀势为高或强的膨胀土,结核含量小于15 % 时,经过干湿循环后直剪强度衰减量为40 %～65 %,结核含量为25 %～30 % 的强膨胀土直剪强度衰减量则低于30 %;对膨胀土的地质特征、工程性质、击实土的膨胀性和直剪试验结果进行分析,探讨其用于填筑铁路路基的适宜性,进行了填筑适宜性分级。依据研究成果制定的路基施工工艺取得了比较理想的工程效果     

Hydrothermal evolution of the Sar-Cheshmeh porphyry Cu–Mo deposit, Iran: Evidence from fluid inclusions

The Sar-Cheshmeh porphyry Cu–Mo deposit is located in Southwestern Iran (65 km southwest of Kerman City) and is associated with a composite Miocene stock, ranging in composition from diorite through granodiorite to quartz-monzonite. Field observations and petrographic studies demonstrate that the emplacement of the Sar-Cheshmeh stock took place in several pulses, each with associated hydrothermal activity. Molybdenum was concentrated at a very early stage in the evolution of the hydrothermal system and copper was concentrated later. Four main vein Groups have been identified: (I) quartz+molybdenite+anhydrite±K-feldspar with minor pyrite, chalcopyrite and bornite; (II) quartz+chalcopyrite+pyrite±molybdenite±calcite; (III) quartz+pyrite+calcite±chalcopyrite±anhydrite (gypsum)±molybdenite; (IV) quartz±calcite±gypsum±pyrite±dolomite. Early hydrothermal alteration produced a potassic assemblage (orthoclase-biotite) in the central part of the stock, propylitic alteration occurred in the peripheral parts of the stock, contemporaneously with potassic alteration, and phyllic alteration occurred later, overprinting earlier alteration. The early hydrothermal fluids are represented by high temperature (350–520 °C), high salinity (up to 61 wt% NaCl equivalent) liquid-rich fluid inclusions, and high temperature (340–570 °C), low-salinity, vapor-rich inclusions. These fluids are interpreted to represent an orthomagmatic fluid, which cooled episodically; the brines are interpreted to have caused potassic alteration and deposition of Group I and II quartz veins containing molybdenite and chalcopyrite. Propylitic alteration is attributed to a liquid-rich, lower temperature (220–310 °C), Ca-rich, evolved meteoric fluid. Influx of meteoric water into the central part of the system and mixing with magmatic fluid produced albitization at depth and shallow phyllic alteration. This influx also caused the dissolution of early-formed copper sulphides and the remobilization of Cu into the sericitic zone, the main zone of the copper deposition in Sar-Cheshmeh, where it was redeposited in response to a decrease in temperature.     

Crystal chemistry of clay-Mn oxide associations in soils, fractures, and matrix of the Bandelier Tuff, Pajarito Mesa, New Mexico

The upper 25 m of Bandelier Tuff at Pajarito Mesa, New Mexico, include soils, shallow fractures, deeper fractures, and tuff matrices in which clays provide a record of transport and alteration. The principal pathways within this system are fractures that penetrate the tuff. Large fractures that host deep root penetration provide a setting in which clay deposits accumulate through particulate or colloidal migration from the soil zone. Clays throughout the system are predominantly expandable interstratified illite/smectites (I/S), but clays of the tuff matrix at depth are distinctly Fe-rich and are not mixed with clays transported from the surface into fractures. Chemical alteration superimposed on clay particles transported into fractures results in clays with lower Al : Si ratios, higher Na, and higher lanthanide content with increasingly negative Eu anomalies with depth. These changes are accompanied by invasion and precipitation of Mn oxides, principally birnessite, within clay bodies. Investigation of the Mn oxides by synchrotron X-ray fluorescence (SXRF) shows that Mn is associated with Ba, Ce, Ni, and Pb. In addition, synchrotron X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectra show that Ce in Mn oxides occurs as Ce³⁺ and Ce⁴⁺, with average Ce oxidation state of ∼3.75. The Mn oxides intergrown with clays actively participate in removal of Ce from solution, accompanied by oxidation of Ce³⁺ to Ce⁴⁺. Other lanthanides are accumulated by the clays but are not concentrated along with Ce in the Mn oxides. Extraction of Ce from solution by Mn oxides is more effective than lanthanide accumulation in clay, a process that is variable and likely influenced by defects, extent of recrystallization, and particle sizes. This dichotomy in lanthanide interaction results in locally constant Ce content but either negative or positive Ce anomalies in the clay-Mn oxide system as a consequence of variability in the abundance of the other lanthanides. Nevertheless, the net lanthanide pattern for the sum of all clay-Mn oxide samples in either shallow or deep fractures has no Ce anomaly, indicating that other lanthanides segregated from Ce are not transported beyond the range of either the shallow or deep fracture systems. Evidence from Eu anomalies indicates that lanthanides accumulated in the fracture clays are acquired from the local tuff. The clay-Mn oxide assemblage is more effective than clay alone in accumulating of a wide variety of heavy metals.     

Gold metallogeny in the Birimian craton of Burkina Faso (West Africa)

Primary gold deposits in Burkina Faso occur in Paleoproterozoic Birimian belt formations (2.0 Ga). Mineralization was synchronous with regional metamorphism and deformation, and is either hosted within, or is adjacent to, quartz-bearing veins. These are classical characteristics of epigenetic gold deposits in Precambrian metamorphic terranes and permit to classify the mineralized sites from Burkina Faso as orogenic-type gold deposits. A review of data collected over the past decade by our team permits to recognize two main styles of gold mineralization: (1) Quartz-vein hosted; this style occurs in all lithologies, the veins are deformed and gold is principally concentrated within the veins, associated with either sulfides or tourmaline. (2) Disseminated; this style occurs exclusively in albitites (and to a lesser extent listvenites) with gold occurring mainly within alteration halos of generally undeformed quartz-albite-carbonate vein. Quartz-vein and disseminated styles of mineralization can be associated within the same deposit. Albitites and listvenites are alteration products of mainly calc-alkaline igneous rocks of felsic to ultramafic composition, respectively. The predominant alteration assemblage consists of chlorite, albite, carbonate, and pyrite. Sulfides occur as fine masses commonly in the alteration halos close to vein margins and consist mainly of pyrite and arsenopyrite, depending on host-rock composition. Gold occurs as free native metal and, locally, in form of tellurides, in fissures or as inclusions within pyrite and arsenopyrite. Two main populations of fluid inclusions are associated with the gold deposits, independently of the mineralization style: (1) carbonic inclusions consisting of up to 90 mol% CO₂ (plus N₂ and CH₄) and (2) aqueous-carbonic fluid inclusions with moderate salinities. Interestingly, the disseminated gold style deposits of Burkina Faso, which have the highest economic potential, show strong similarities with the world-class Ashanti deposit, in neighboring Ghana.     

藏东芒康县巴达铜金矿床地质特征及找矿方向研究

巴达铜金矿位于藏东富碱斑岩带南段,是藏东地区近年来新发现的大型铜金矿。虽然对巴达铜金矿开展了大量勘查工作,但对该矿床的成因尚未取得共识。本文基于详细的野外调研、岩心与坑道编录及系统的镜下鉴定,对巴达铜金矿床地质特征进行研究。巴达矿床主要产于石英二长斑岩中,局部产于斑岩和砂岩地层的接触带内。矿床发育的围岩蚀变主要为青磐岩化、钾化、绢英岩化,高岭土化、蛋白石化、蒙脱石化次之,蚀变分带从内向外依次为钾硅酸盐化带、绢英岩化带、青磐岩化带、高岭土化带,铜金矿体主要赋存于钾硅酸盐化和绢英岩化带内,铜矿化主要以黄铜矿形式产出,金矿化主要以银金矿形式产于白云石±石英+细粒黄铁矿±黄铜矿脉中,铜矿化与金矿化呈正相关,矿体的产出受北西向逆冲断层的控制。与典型斑岩和浅成低温热液矿床不同,巴达铜金矿化主要产于白云石±石英+黄铁矿脉中;矿床内既发育碳酸盐、伊利石、绢云母和黄铁矿、黄铜矿、方铅矿、黝铜矿、低FeS闪锌矿等一套中硫型浅成低温热液矿床的蚀变矿物组合,又发育符合碱性斑岩系统的特征矿物赤铁矿。基于以上特征判断,巴达铜金矿矿床成因类型应为与富碱斑岩有关的浅成低温热液矿床,巴达铜金矿矿床成因的厘定,为下一步找矿提供了理论指导。     

Rosia Poieni copper deposit,Apuseni Mountains,Romania: advanced argillic overprint of a porphyry system

The Rosia Poieni deposit is the largest porphyry copper deposit in the Apuseni Mountains, Romania. Hydrothermal alteration and mineralization are related to the Middle Miocene emplacement of a subvolcanic body, the Fundoaia microdiorite. Zonation of the alteration associated with the porphyry copper deposit is recognized from the deep and central part of the porphyritic intrusion towards shallower and outer portions. Four alteration types have been distinguished: potassic, phyllic, advanced argillic, and propylitic. Potassic alteration affects mainly the Fundoaia subvolcanic body. The andesitic host rocks are altered only in the immediate contact zone with the Fundoaia intrusion. Mg-biotite and K-feldspar are the main alteration minerals of the potassic assemblage, accompanied by ubiquitous quartz; chlorite, and anhydrite are also present. Magnetite, pyrite, chalcopyrite and minor bornite, are associated with this alteration. Phyllic alteration has overprinted the margin of the potassic zone, and formed peripheral to it. It is characterized by the replacement of almost all early minerals by abundant quartz, phengite, illite, variable amounts of illite-smectite mixed-layer minerals, minor smectite, and kaolinite. Pyrite is abundant and represents the main sulfide in this alteration zone. Advanced argillic alteration affects the upper part of the volcanic structure. The mineral assemblage comprises alunite, kaolinite, dickite, pyrophyllite, diaspore, aluminium-phosphate-sulphate minerals (woodhouseite-svanbergite series), zunyite, minamyite, pyrite, and enargite (luzonite). Alunite forms well-developed crystals. Veins with enargite (luzonite) and pyrite in a gangue of quartz, pyrophyllite and diaspore, are present within and around the subvolcanic intrusion. This alteration type is partially controlled by fractures. A zonal distribution of alteration minerals is observed from the centre of fractures outwards with: (1) vuggy quartz; (2) quartz + alunite; (3) quartz + kaolinite ± alunite and, in the deeper part of the argillic zone, quartz + pyrophyllite + diaspore; (4) illite + illite-smectite mixed-layer minerals ± kaolinite ± alunite, and e) chlorite + albite + epidote. Propylitic alteration is present distal to all other alteration types and consists of chlorite, epidote, albite, and carbonates. Mineral parageneses, mineral stability fields, and alteration mineral geothermometers indicate that the different alteration assemblages are the result of changes in both fluid composition and temperature of the system. The alteration minerals reflect cooling of the hydrothermal system from >400 °C (biotite), to 300–200 °C (chlorite and illite in veinlets) and to lower temperatures of kaolinite, illite-smectite mixed layers, and smectite crystallization. Hydrothermal alteration started with an extensive potassic zone in the central part of the system that passed laterally to the propylitic zone. It was followed by phyllic overprint of the early-altered rocks. Nearly barren advanced argillic alteration subsequently superimposed the upper levels of the porphyry copper alteration zones. The close spatial association between porphyry mineralization and advanced argillic alteration suggests that they are genetically part of the same magmatic-hydrothermal system that includes a porphyry intrusion at depth and an epithermal environment of the advanced argillic type near the surface.Editorial handling: B. Lehmann     

铜陵矿集区块状硫化物矿床地质特征

蚀变-流体填图揭示，铜陵地区石炭系黄龙组喷流沉积含矿岩系中普遍存在块状硫化物矿床，上部为层状块状硫化物矿层，下部为浸染状、细脉-网脉状硫化物矿体，具有典型的双层结构。自下而上矿石具有垂直分带性：硅质矿石、石膏矿石、黄铁矿矿石、黄铁矿-重晶石矿石和菱铁矿．铁质燧石矿石。矿石发育胶状和莓球结构，微细层纹状-马尾丝构造。矿石成分以黄铁矿和菱铁矿为主。矿床发育一套独特的热液气爆角砾岩不规则网脉和相互连通的虫管状．树枝状-姜块状黄铁矿管道系统，矿化形式为弥散式多喷口席状矿化，厚度一般不超过100m。     

Geologic and tectonic setting of Deseado Massif epithermal deposits, Argentina, based on El Dorado-Monserrat

Middle–Late Jurassic bimodal volcanism, typical of a retroarc setting, developed during widespread extensional tectonism within the Deseado Massif, southern Argentina. This geologic environment led to the formation of numerous low-sulfidation epithermal deposits that are spatially and temporally related to the volcanic activity. The lack of significant high-sulfidation epithermal deposits may be because the tectonic and volcanic settings do not favor the formation of these types of deposits. El Dorado-Monserrat is a low-sulfidation epithermal prospect located near the southern boundary of the Deseado Massif. Mineralization is genetically linked to the Late Jurassic Chon Aike Formation and hosted by volcanic rocks of the middle Late Jurassic Bajo Pobre Formation. Two different mineralization areas have been identified. The Monserrat area is the most important, with veins hosted in a north-striking, left-lateral shear zone. The average thickness is 0.85 m, and the average metal content is 6.2 ppm gold and 153 ppm silver. The El Dorado area has discontinuous echelon veins within a right-lateral shear zone with low gold and silver grades. Hydrothermal alteration of the host rocks includes an inner zone of quartz-adularia and illite alteration and an outer zone of propylitic alteration. The main gangue mineral is quartz, which formed in successive pulses, plus adularia, pyrite, hematite, magnetite, and barite. Precious metals occur as zoned electrum. Ore mineral precipitation took place between 200 and 280 °C from low salinity fluids due to boiling.     

Tuffaceous sediments as source rocks for uranium: A case study of the White River Formation, Wyoming

Fine-grained tuffaceous sediments of the White River Formation (Oligocene) are evaluated as a possible source of uranium for the sedimentary uranium deposits of Wyoming. The evaluation is based upon a model in which volcanic glass is considered to be a major host of uranium and thorium and in which uranium and silica are released during alteration of glass to montmorillonite. The evaluation scheme is applicable to other tuffaceous sediments in similar geologic settings. The average uranium and thorium contents of glass separates and glassy air-fall ashes of the White River Formation are 8 ppm and 22.4 ppm respectively, and these values approximate the average composition of glass deposited in Wyoming basins in Oligocene time. Comparison of these values with the uranium and thorium concentrations in montmorillonite separates indicates little change in thorium concentrations but reductions in uranium concentrations which average 3.3 ppm. In spite of the apparent major removal of uranium during alteration of glass to montmorillonite, whole-rock samples of tuffaceous siltstones show an average uranium loss of only 0.4 ± 0.4 ppm, because of generally small amounts of clay alteration. This conclusion is generated by comparisons between glassy ash and partially altered vitric siltstones, the latter corrected for dilution of glass and clay-altered glass with uranium- and thorium-poor primary and detrital materials. The original volume of the White River Formation is adequate to generate economically significant quantities of mobile uranium, even with such modest losses. Uranium and silica which are mobilized during glass alteration can coprecipitate as uraniferous secondary silica in areas where solutions become silica saturated. These precipitates indicate pathways of ancient, uranium-rich solutions in tuffaceous rocks. Exploration efforts in the White River Formation and underlying units should concentrate on areas where such pathways intercept reducing environments. Intercepts of this type are present at some uranium deposits in the study area and this lends support to a tuffaceous source rock model.     

Gold and copper mineralization at the El Indio deposit, Chile

A Middle Tertiary volcanic belt in the High Andes of north-central Chile hosts numerous precious- and base-metal epithermal deposits over its 150 km north-south trend. The El Indio district, believed to be associated with a hydrothermal system in the late stages of development of a volcanic caldera, consists of a series of separate vein systems located in an area of 30 km² which has undergone intense argillic-sericitic-solfataric alteration. The majority of the known gold-copper-silver mineralization occurs within a structural block only 150 by 500 m in surface area, with a recognized vertical extent exceeding 300 m. This block is bounded by two high-angle northeast-trending faults oriented subparallel to the mineralized veins.Hypogene mineralization at El Indio is grouped into two main ore-forming stages: Copper and Gold. The Copper stage is composed chiefly of enargite and pyrite forming massive veins up to 20 m wide, and is accompanied by alteration of the wall rocks to alunite, kaolinite, sericite, pyrite and quartz. The Gold stage consists of vein-filling quartz, pyrite, native gold, tennantite and subordinate amounts of a wide variety of telluride minerals. Associated with this stage is pervasive alteration of the wall rocks to sericite, kaolinite, quartz and minor pyrophyllite. The transition from copper to gold mineralization is marked by the alteration of enargite to tennantite and by minor deposition of sphalerite, galena, huebnerite, chalcopyrite and gold. Mineral stability relations indicate that there was a general decrease in the activity of S₂ accompanied by variations in the activity of Te₂ during the Gold stage.Fluid-inclusion data show homogenization temperatures ranging from about 220 to 280°C, with salinities on the order of 3–4 eq. wt. % NaCl for the Copper stage. The Gold-stage inclusions indicate a similar range in homogenization temperatures, but significantly lower salinities (0.1–1.4 eq. wt. % NaCl). Fluid inclusions of transition minerals show a weak inverse relationship between homogenization temperatures (190–250°C) and salinities (3.4–1.4 eq. wt. % NaCl), which may represent mixing of hotter Gold-stage fluids with cooler late-Copper-stage fluids. No evidence of boiling was found in fluid inclusions, but CO₂ vapor-rich inclusions were identified in wall-rock quartz phenocrysts which pre-date copper and gold mineralization.Mineral stability calculations indicate that given a fairly restricted range of solution compositions, the Copper-, Transition- and Gold-stage minerals at El Indio could have been deposited from a single solution, with constant total dissolved sulfur which underwent reduction through time. Limited sulfur-isotope data indicates that pyrite from the Copper stage was not in isotopic equilibrium with Copper-stage alunite or Transition-stage sphalerite. The sulfur-isotope and fluid-inclusion data indicate that two fluids with comparable temperatures but different compositions flowed through the El Indio system. The earlier fluid deposited copper attended by sericite-alunite-kaolinite alteration, and later epithermal fluids deposited gold with quartz-sericite-kaolinite-pyrite alteration.     

Low potassium hydrothermal alteration in low sulfidation epithermal systems as detected by IRS and XRD: An example from the Co–O mine,Eastern Mindanao,Philippines

Detailed hydrothermal alteration investigations, including petrography, infrared reflectance spectroscopy (IRS) and XRD of the low sulfidation epithermal Co–O mine, located in Eastern Mindanao (Philippines) revealed that both distal and intermediate hydrothermal alteration zones contain dominantly illite and chlorite, whereas the proximal alteration zone comprises mainly illite, chalcopyrite and pyrite. The gold-bearing veins and the proximal hydrothermal alteration zone display a distinct absence of K-rich hydrothermal alteration minerals such as K-feldspar (adularia).Gold mineralization in the Co–O mine is controlled by an extensive quartz-breccia vein system, which is characterized by three distinct stages of vein (incl. breccias) formation. Gold is mainly observed in stages 2 and 3 veins. Stage 1 veins appear as fragments in stage 2 veins and display boiling textures such as quartz pseudomophs after bladed calcite. These veins further display colloform to crustiform banding and contain pyrite, chalcopyrite and minor gold located in the colloform bands and between bladed quartz pseudomorphs. Stage 2 veins comprise mostly banded to massive quartz and contains sulfides parallel to bands or disseminated. These veins are fine-grained with mosaic/jigsaw quartz and contain calcite blebs and/or fragments of stage 1 veins. Gold is in textural equilibrium with chalcopyrite, sphalerite, and locally pyrite. Stage 3 veins consist of quartz and carbonate (locally Mn-rich), and display irregular banded and comb textures. In auriferous veins of this stage gold is in textural equilibrium with chalcopyrite and pyrite (with local abundance of sphalerite). Other sulfide minerals observed with gold in stages 2 and 3 are galena, acanthite and locally jalpaite.The XRD and IRS provide inconsistent results regarding the abundance of K-rich clays (e.g., illite) associated with auriferous veins. Illite, with possibly interlayered swelling clays, such as Al-smectite, was identified in auriferous vein stages 2 and 3 using IRS, but could not be confirmed by XRD. Comparative analysis of the results of these techniques with respect to the ordering of micaceous minerals, suggest less ordered white mica proximal to the veins.Vein textures such as banded quartz, the absence of K-feldspar and the abundance of illite (interlayered Al-smectite) suggest relatively low temperatures of formation of the hydrothermal alteration system and point to a potential boiling horizon located deeper or marginal to the currently exploited levels of the Co–O mine. The absence of K-feldspar may also be related to relatively low temperatures of the hydrothermal fluid, the medium potassium-rich magma series of the host rocks, and/or a relatively low oxidation state of the hydrothermal fluid.     

Porphyry to epithermal transition in the Agua Rica polymetallic deposit, Catamarca, Argentina: An integrated petrologic analysis of ore and alteration parageneses

Agua Rica (27°26′S–66°16′O) is a world class Cu–Au–Mo deposit located in Catamarca, Argentina. In the E–W 6969400 section examined, the Seca Norte and the Trampeadero porphyries that have intruded the metasedimentary rock are cut by interfingered igneous and hydrothermal heterolithic and monolithic breccias, and sandy dikes. Relic biotite and K-feldspar of the early potassic alteration (370° to > 550 °C) with Cu (Mo–Au) mineralization are locally preserved and encapsulated in a widespread, white mica + quartz + rutile or anatase halo (phyllic alteration) with pyrite + covellite that suggests fluids with temperatures ≤ 360 °C and high f(S₂). The Trampeadero porphyry and the surrounding metasedimentary rock with phyllic alteration have molybdenite in stringers and B-type quartz veinlets and the highest Mo grades (> 1000 ppm).Multistage advanced argillic alteration overprinted the earlier stages. Early andalusite ± pyrite ± quartz is preserved in the roots of the argillic halo rimmed by an alumina–silica material and white micas. This alteration assemblage is considered to have been formed at temperatures ≥ 375 °C from condensed magmatic vapor. At higher levels, pyrophyllite replaces muscovite and illite in clasts of hydrothermal breccias in the center and east sector of the study section, suggesting temperatures of 280 to 360 °C. Clasts of vuggy silica in the uppermost levels of the central breccia, indicates that at lower temperatures (< 250 °C), fluids reached very low pH (pH < 2). In this early stage of the advanced argillic alteration, hydrothermal fluids seem to have not precipitated sulfides or sulfosalts.Hydrothermal brecciation was concurrent with fluid exsolution (↑? V), which precipitated intermediate-temperature advanced argillic alunite (svanbergite + woodhouseite) ± diaspore ± zunyite as breccia cement along with abundant covellite + pyrite + enargite ± native sulfur ± kuramite at intermediate depths and in lateral transitional zones to unbrecciated rocks. This mineral assemblage indicates temperatures near 300 °C, oxidized and silica-undersaturated hydrothermal fluids with high sulfur fugacity to prevent gold precipitation. Multiple generations of pyrite, emplectite, colusite, Pb- and Bi-bearing sulfosalts, and native sulfur with Au and Ag, accompanied by alunite introduction in the upper level breccias, probably occurred at lower temperatures, but still high sulfur and oxygen activity. An independent Zn and Pb (as galena) mineralization stage locally coincides with Au–Ag and sulfosalts, and advanced at depth, controlled by fractures and overprinting much of the previous mineralization. A later paragenesis of veinlets of alunite + woodhouseite + svanvergite + pyrite ± enargite that cut the phyllic halo suggests temperatures ~ 250 °C and without woodhouseite + svanvergite, temperatures ~ 200 °C. Kaolinite occurs in the phyllic halo as a late mineral in clots and in veinlets thus, in this zone, the fluid had cooled enough for its formation.     

Characteristics of Gold Mineralization at the Ciurug Vein, Pongkor Gold-Silver Deposit, West Java, Indonesia

Abstract. The Pongkor Gold‐Silver Mine, Bogor district, West Java, is approximately 80 km southwest of Jakarta. The gold and silver mineralization in the area is present in a deposit consisting of an epithermal vein‐system named individually as the Pasir Jawa, Gudang Handak, Ciguha, Pamoyanan, Kubang Cicau, and Ciurug veins. In the area studied, rocks of basaltic‐andesitic composition are dominated by volcanic breccia and lapilli tuff, with andesite lava and siltstone present locally. The hydrothermal alteration minerals in the Ciurug area are typical of those formed from acid to near‐neutral pH thermal waters, where the acid alteration is distributed from the surface to shallow depth, while the near‐neutral pH alteration becomes dominant at depths. The Ciurug vein shows four main mineralization stages where each discrete stage is characterized by a specific facies; these are, from early to late: carbonate‐quartz, manganese carbonate‐quartz, banded‐massive quartz and gray sulfide‐quartz facies. The major metallic minerals are pyrite, sphalerite, chalcopyrite and galena; they occur in almost each mineralization stage. Bornite was observed only in the southern part of the Ciurug vein at a depth of 515 m, and the occurrence of this mineral is reported here for the first time. Electrum and silver sulfides (mostly acanthite) are minor, whereas silver sulfosalts, stromeyerite and mckinstryite, and covellite are in trace amounts. The silver sulfosalts have compositional ranges of pearceite, antimon‐pearceite and polybasite. Most of the electrum occurs coexisting with other sulfide minerals, as inclusions in pyrite grains, with very little as inclusions in chalcopyrite or sphalerite. Gold grades within the Ciurug vein vary from 1.2 to hundreds of ppm, where the highest gold grade occurs in the latest mineralization stage in a thin sulfide band in vein quartz. Fluid inclusion microthermometry of calcite and quartz indicates deposition throughout the mineralized veins in the range from 170 to 230d?C and from low salinity fluids (predominantly lower than 0.2 wt% NaCl equiv.). Fluid inclusions occur with features of boiling.     

The carbonate rock-hosted epithermal gold deposit of Agdarreh,Takab geothermal field,NW Iran—hydrothermal alteration and mineralisation

The disseminated gold deposit of Agdarreh (24.5 t at 3.7 g/t Au) is hosted in hydrothermally leached Miocene reefal limestone in the Takab geothermal field, which is part of the Cenozoic Urumieh–Dokhtar volcanic arc of NW Iran. Alteration and mineralisation are largely bedding controlled blanket-like and include: (1) pre-ore decalcification; (2) first-stage silicification associated with pyrite (early pyrite with 3–4 wt% As, late pyrite with <1–3 wt% As) and sphalerite; (3) second-stage silicification with precipitation of galena, Pb–Sb–As sulphides, sulphosalts, tellurides and native bismuth; (4) late-stage cinnabar and barite in vugs; (5) oxide ore stage and carbonate alteration (complex Mn–Fe-rich oxyhydroxides, arsenates, sulphates, APS minerals and rutile in residual leached rock and infill of karstic cavities). Gold occurs invisibly in the jasperoids and is enriched in the Mn–Fe oxyhydroxide surface cap of the jasperoids. Gold mineralisation is associated with the hydrothermal metal suite of As, Sb, Hg, Te, Se, Tl, Ba, Zn, Ag, Cd, Bi and Pb, and is characterised by very low Cu contents. Arsenian pyrite probably carried most of the primary (invisible) gold. Native gold occurs in association with the late-stage cinnabar and the oxide ore. The Agdarreh deposit shows many similarities with Carlin-type ore and is interpreted to have resulted from near-surface hydrothermal activity related to the Cenozoic arc volcanism that developed within the extensional Takab graben. The extensive oxidation at Agdarreh may be partly due to the waning stages of hydrothermal activity. Active H₂S-bearing thermal springs are locally depositing extremely high contents of Au and Ag, and travertine is present over large areas, suggesting that ore-forming hydrothermal activity occurred periodically from the Miocene to Recent in the Takab geothermal field. The present paper deals with the geological framework, host rocks, characteristic features of hydrothermal alteration and mineralisation, and genesis of the Agdarreh deposit. The results of fluid inclusion and stable isotope studies are in progress and will be given in a forthcoming paper.     

Neogene clay and its relation to landslides in the southwestern Loess Plateau,China

Loess occurs widely in Northwestern China, covering Neogene clay and other sedimentary units that overlie the bedrock. The Neogene clays of the Baoji Region of Shaanxi Province, north China, including the eolian Hipparion and paleo-Sanmen Lake fluvial deposits, are typical clays of the southern Chinese Loess Plateau. These clays are also sensitive key strata controlling the development of large-scale landslides along the slope of the loess tableland surrounding the Guanzhong Basin. To investigate the Neogene clay types and landslides in the region, soil samples were tested and the macro- and micro-structures of the clay strata were analyzed. Comprehensive analysis methods, including the pipette method and fine X-ray diffraction, were applied to quantitatively analyze the sample composition and determine the clay mineral types. The Neogene clays are mainly composed of illite and montmorillonite mixed-layer minerals. On the Williams’ discrimination diagram of swelling potential, both types of clay are medium to strongly expansive soil. Two case studies illustrate that rainfall reduces the shear strength of the Neogene clay and raises the groundwater level. Rainfall has gradually destroyed the structure of the Neogene clay, transforming it to sliding belt soil. The sliding belt lies mainly within the Neogene clay layers, significantly affecting the occurrence and characteristics of landslides in Baoji. The rise in groundwater level and weakening of the shear strength of the Neogene clay are important factors in the occurrence of landslides. The long-term strength is a key factor affecting the development of loess landslides along the loess tableland in Baoji.