Hydrothermal alteration and REE-Th mineralization at the Rodeo de Los Molles deposit,Las Chacras batholith,central Argentina

REE (rare-earth-element) and Th mineralization at the Rodeo de Los Molles deposit occurs within an elliptical body of hydrothermally altered rocks (fenite) located in a biotite monzogranite of the Las Chacras batholith. Ore assemblages are found as isolated patches of intergrown britholite, allanite, apatite, bastnaesite, fluorite, sphene, quartz, and aegirine-augite, as well as nodules of uranothorite and late-stage veins of calcite, fluorite, and bastnaesite. Composition-volume computations suggest that the fenite was produced by alteration of the biotite monzogranite by addition of K and Na, and loss of Ca and Sr. Petrographic evaluations indicate that microcline and plagioclase have been replaced by perthite, and biotite was converted to aggregates of clinochlore, anatase, kaolinite, and hematite. Relict biotite is characterized by lower Fe/(Fe+Mg) and Ti values with progressive alteration. Fluorine-rich phlogopite is present in mineralized areas, but textural evidence suggests that it was not produced via biotite alteration. Mass-balance constraints also show that Ca and Mg in ore zones may result from redistribution, rather than their being a result of external derivation. The ¹⁸O values of quartz (8.6–11.1) and feldspar (7.8–10.6) suggest that feldspar continued to exchange oxygen isotopes with a fluid to lower temperatures than did quartz. Feldspars equilibrated with a fluid of ¹⁸O8 at a fluid/rock ratio less than 1. The ¹⁸O values of quartz and aegirine-augite that crystallized during REE mineralization also suggest equilibration with a fluid of ¹⁸O8. The D values of biotite (-83 to-120) are relatively low for igneous rocks and are thought to have resulted from exsolution of a D-enriched magmatic vapor. The D values of both mineralized and barren fenites are consistent with equilibration with fluid of magmatic origin. Meteoric water was involved in the production of calcite and clinochlore alteration, and late-stage calcite-fluorite-bastnaesite veins. The ¹³C values of calcite and bastnaesite (-7.8 to-13.5%) suggest that carbon was derived by leaching of carbon from igneous and/or enclosing metamorphic rock types, and that a majority of carbon ultimately was derived from sedimentary organic meterial.