The Port Mouton Shear Zone: intersection of a regional fault with a crystallizing granitoid pluton

The peraluminous tonalite–monzogranite Port Mouton Pluton is a petrological, geochemical, structural, and geochronological anomaly among the many Late Devonian granitoid intrusions of the Meguma Lithotectonic Zone of southern Nova Scotia. The most remarkable structural feature of this pluton is a 4-km-wide zone of strongly foliated (040/subvertical) monzogranites culminating in a narrow (10–30 m), straight, zone of compositionally banded rocks that extends for at least 3 km along strike. The banded monzogranites consist of alternating melanocratic and leucocratic compositions that are complementary to the overall composition of that part of the pluton, suggesting an origin by mineral–melt and mineral–mineral sorting. Biotite and feldspar are strongly foliated in the plane of the compositional bands. These compositional variations and foliations originated by a process of segregation flow during shearing of the main magma with a crystallinity of 55–75%. Subsequent minor brittle fracturing of feldspars, twinning of microcline, development of blocky sub-grains in quartz, and kinking of micas demonstrate overprinting by a high-temperature deformation straddling the monzogranite solidus. Small folds and late sigmoidal dykes indicate dextral movement on the shear zone. This Port Mouton Shear Zone (PMSZ) is approximately co-linear with the only outcrops of Late Devonian mafic intrusions in the area, two of which are syn-plutonic with well-developed mingling textures in the marginal tonalite of the Port Mouton Pluton. Also closely co-linear with the mafic intrusions are a granitoid dyke that extends well beyond the outer contact of the Port Mouton Pluton, a swarm of large aligned angular xenolithic slabs, a zone of thin wispy schlieren banding, a large Be-bearing pegmatite, and a breccia pipe with abundant garnetiferous metapelitic xenoliths. In various ways, the shear zone may control all of these features. The Port Mouton Shear Zone is parallel to many other NE-trending faults and shear zones in the northern Appalachians, probably related to the docking of the Meguma Zone along the Cobequid–Chedabucto Fault system.     

Variation of Mo isotopes from molybdenite in high-temperature hydrothermal ore deposits

Measurable molybdenum isotope fractionation in molybdenites from different ore deposits through time provides insights into ore genesis and a new technique to identify open-system behavior of Re–Os in molybdenites. Molybdenite samples from six porphyry copper deposits, one epithermal polymetallic vein deposit, four skarns, and three Fe-oxide Cu–Au deposits were analyzed. The δ⁹⁷Mo‰ (where ) for all samples varied from 1.34 ± 0.09‰ to −0.26 ± 0.04‰. This is the largest molybdenum isotopic variation in molybdenite from high-temperature ore deposits recorded to date. δ⁹⁷Mo‰ of molybdenite varies as a function of the deposit type and the rhenium and osmium concentrations of the samples. Isotope values for Mo also vary within the individual deposits. In general, molybdenites from porphyry copper deposits have the lightest values averaging 0.07 ± 0.23‰ (1σ). Molybdenites from the other deposit types average 0.49 ± 0.26‰ (1σ). The variations could be related to the fractionation of Mo into different mineral phases during the ore-forming processes. A comparison of the Mo isotope ratios and the Re–Os ages obtained from the same aliquot may possess a geochronological evaluation tool. Samples that yielded robust ages have different Mo isotopic compositions in comparison to samples that yielded geologically unreasonable ages. Another observed relationship between the Re–Os and Mo isotope data reveals a weak correspondence between Re concentration and Mo isotope composition. Molybdenites with higher concentrations of Re correspond to lighter Mo isotope values.     

Timing and formation of porphyry Cu–Mo mineralization in the Chuquicamata district, northern Chile: new constraints from the Toki cluster

The recently discovered Toki cluster, which includes the Toki, Quetena, Genoveva, Miranda, and Opache porphyry Cu–Mo prospects, is located 15 km south–southwest of the Chuquicamata–Radomiro Tomic mines in northern Chile. These prospects occur in an area of 5?×?6 km and are completely covered with Neogene alluvial deposits. Inferred resources for the cluster are estimated at about 20 Mt of fine copper, with Toki and Quetena contributing ～88 % of these resources. Mineralization in these deposits is associated with tonalite porphyries that intruded andesites and dacites of the Collahuasi Group and intrusions of the Fortuna–Los Picos Granodioritic Complex. Hypogene mineralization in the Toki cluster consists mainly of chalcopyrite–bornite with minor molybdenite with mineralization grading outward to a chalcopyrite–pyrite zone and ultimately to a pyrite halo. Alteration is dominantly of the potassic type with K-feldspar and hydrothermal biotite. Sericitic alteration is relatively restricted to late quartz–pyrite veins (D-type veins). Previous K–Ar geochronology for the cluster yielded ages within a range of 34 to 40 Ma. Four new Re–Os ages for Toki indicate that molybdenite mineralization occurred in a single pulse at ～38 Ma. Re–Os ages for three different molybdenite samples from Quetena are within error of the Toki mineralization ages. These ages are concordant with a new zircon U–Pb age of 38.6?±?0.7 Ma from the tonalite porphyry in Quetena. Two Re–Os ages for Genoveva (38.1?±?0.2 and 38.0?±?0.2 Ma) are also within error of the Toki and Quetena molybdenite ages. Four Re–Os molybdenite ages for Opache range between 36.4 and 37.6 Ma. The Miranda prospect is the youngest with an age of ～36 Ma. Four new Re–Os ages for the Chuquicamata deposit range between 33 and 32 Ma, whereas nine new ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages of biotite, muscovite, and K-feldspar range between 32 and 31 Ma. Analyzed molybdenites have Re and Os concentrations that vary between 21–3,099 ppm and 8–1,231 ppb, respectively. The highest Re and Os concentrations are found in the Toki prospect. Three new ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages for the Toki cluster are younger than the Re–Os mineralization ages. The age spectra for these three samples show evidence of excess argon and have similar inverse isochron ages of 35 Ma that probably reflect a late hydrothermal phyllic event. The new geochronological data presented here for the Toki cluster indicate that molybdenite mineralization occurred within a very short period, probably within 2 Ma, and synchronously (at ～38 Ma) in three mineralization centers (Toki, Quetena, and Genoveva). Furthermore, mineralization at the Toki cluster preceded the emplacement of the Chuquicamata deposit (35–31 Ma) and indicates that porphyry Cu–Mo mineralization occurred episodically over a period of several million years in the Chuquicamata district.     

Spatial coincidence and similar geochemistry of Late Triassic and Eocene–Oligocene magmatism in the Andes of northern Chile: evidence from the MMH porphyry type Cu–Mo deposit,Chuquicamata District

International Journal of Earth Sciences - The MMH porphyry type copper–molybdenum deposit in northern Chile is the newest mine in the Chuquicamata District, one of largest copper...     

Late Paleozoic–Early Triassic magmatism on the western margin of Gondwana: Collahuasi area, Northern Chile

The basement in the ‘Altiplano’ high plateau of the Andes of northern Chile mostly consists of late Paleozoic to Early Triassic felsic igneous rocks (Collahuasi Group) that were emplaced and extruded along the western margin of the Gondwana supercontinent. This igneous suite crops out in the Collahuasi area and forms the backbone of most of the high Andes from latitude 20° to 22°S. Rocks of the Collahuasi Group and correlative formations form an extensive belt of volcanic and subvolcanic rocks throughout the main Andes of Chile, the Frontal Cordillera of Argentina (Choiyoi Group or Choiyoi Granite-Rhyolite Province), and the Eastern Cordillera of Peru.Thirteen new SHRIMP U–Pb zircon ages from the Collahuasi area document a bimodal timing for magmatism, with a dominant peak at about 300 Ma and a less significant one at 244 Ma. Copper–Mo porphyry mineralization is related to the younger igneous event.Initial Hf isotopic ratios for the ~ 300 Ma zircons range from about − 2 to + 6 indicating that the magmas incorporated components with a significant crustal residence time. The 244 Ma magmas were derived from a less enriched source, with the initial Hf values ranging from + 2 to + 6, suggestive of a mixture with a more depleted component. Limited whole rock ¹⁴⁴Nd/¹⁴³Nd and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr isotopic ratios further support the likelihood that the Collahuasi Group magmatism incorporated significant older crustal components, or at least a mixture of crustal sources with more and less evolved isotopic signatures.     

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.     

Pliocene lahar deposits in the Coastal Cordillera of central Chile: Implications for uplift, avalanche deposits, and porphyry copper systems in the Main Andean Cordillera

Lahar deposits occur within a shallow marine sedimentary succession of the Pliocene La Cueva Formation in the Coastal Cordillera of central Chile (33°40′–34°15′S). Provenance studies of the abundant volcanic material in the lahar deposits suggest that they derive from denudation by mass wasting of Oligocene–Miocene volcanic rocks on the western slopes of the Main Andean Cordillera at the same latitude. Pliocene rock debris deposits preserved in the region of El Teniente (34°S) and scattered along the westernmost part of the Andes of central Chile indicate catastrophic erosive events related to the rapid uplift of the cordilleran block. This rock debris was deposited by avalanches and transformed further downslope into lahars by dilution with stream water. Lahars were channeled along the ancient drainage system that reached a shallow Pliocene sea at the site of the present Coastal Cordillera. The exceedingly rapid exhumation of active porphyry systems during the Early Pliocene in this part of the Andes may have played a role in affecting hydrothermal processes, brecciation, and diatreme formation at the porphyry systems of El Teniente and Río Blanco–Los Bronces.