Discrimination of Different Erosion Levels of Porphyry Cu Deposits using ASTER Image Processing in Eastern Iran: a Case Study in the Maherabad, Shadan, and Chah Shaljami Areas

The Lut block, eastern Iran, is one of the most extensive Cenozoic magmatic rocks, that show suitable targets for porphyry Cu-Au and high-sulfidation epithermal Au related to porphyry Cu-Au mineralization. In this study, Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer （ASTER） was used to identify different erosion levels of three porphyry Cu deposits, including Maherabad, Shadan, and Chah Shaljami, located in the Lut block volcanic-plutonic belt. Alteration minerals, including kaolinite, dickite, alunite, jarosite, epidote, chlorite, montmorillonite, muscovite, biotite, orthoclase, gypsum, and quartz, are selected to map different alteration zones and erosion levels. Distributions of end-members are mapped by using the SAM and MTMF in VNIR and SWIR of ASTER bands and the results are evaluated against the field studies. For some end-members, the results of SAM processing are more reliable compared to the MTMF because the latter looses field spectra. The use of angle threshold in the SAM, and MF-score and infeasibility value in the MTMF or low abundance of some end-members, and finally comparison of output images of spectral processing show good correlation with alteration maps. Differentiation and explanation of various erosion levels of porphyry Cu deposits are done successfully by using the ASTER sensor data.     

Deformation condition determination and strain analysis: Application of microstructural and microthermometry study of the Zamanabad Shear Zone (East of Iran)

Microstructural analysis and microthermometry are useful methods for determining the deformation evolution. To address this issue, rheological behavior of quartz, feldspar and calcite in veins and host rocks during deformation, are presented in the mylonite zone of the dextral reverse Zamanabad Shear Zone (ZSZ), in northern part of Sistan Suture Zone (SSZ), in east of Iran. Microstructure evidences revealed two evolution stages of high and low temperature deformation. Quartz microstructures in the ZSZ show abundant evidences for early high-temperature plastic deformation (e.g. Bulging recrystallization (BLG)) which are as microstructures with SW directed ductile shearing in the central parts of the ZSZ. This shear zone shows progressively decreasing strain away from the central of shear zone toward the wall. High-temperature microstructures are overprinted partly or completely during shearing by the later low-temperature deformation (e.g. Pressure solution, fractures, veinlets). Microstructural observations of veins (quartz and calcite) confirms the results of microstructures in the host rock, as quartz veins occurred from peak metamorphic conditions (<400°C) and then in lower P–T conditions have been formed calcite veins (~250°C). According to microthermometric studies, two primary fluid groups are observed in quartz veins: (1) fluids trapped during peak deformation conditions, with higher-salinity, They were initially trapped at ~300–400°C, (2) smaller fluids by trapping of low-salinity inclusions at ~240–180°C that related to subsequent phases of shear zone exhumation in lower deep. Microthermometry results and microstructural analysis indicate deformation under lower greenschist facies conditions for the ZSZ, and then exhumation of the early of high-temperature rocks within regime of ductile-brittle transition to brittle.