Ore-bearing hydrothermal metasomatic processes in the Elbrus volcanic center, the northern Caucasus, Russia

Precaldera, caldera, and postcaldera cycles are recognized in the geological evolution of the Pleistocene-Holocene Elbrus volcanic center (EVC). During the caldera cycle, the magmatic activity was not intense, whereas hydrothermal metasomatic alteration of rocks was vigorous and extensive. The Kyukyurtli and Irik ore-magmatic systems have been revealed in the EVC, with the former being regarded as the more promising one. The ore mineralization in rocks of the caldera cycle comprises occurrences of magnetite, ilmenite, pyrite and pyrrhotite (including Ni-Co varieties), arsenopyrite, chalcopyrite, millerite, galena, and finely dispersed particles of native copper. Pyrite and pyrrhotite from volcanics of the caldera cycle and dacite of the Kyukyurtli extrusion are similar in composition and differ from these minerals of the postcaldera cycle, where pyrite and pyrrhotite are often enriched in Cu, Co, and Ni and millerite is noted as well. The composition of ore minerals indicates that the hydrothermal metasomatic alteration related to the evolution of the Kyukyurtli hydrothermal system was superimposed on rocks of the caldera cycle, whereas the late mineralization in rocks of the postcaldera cycle developed autonomously. The homogenization temperature of fluid inclusions in quartz and carbonate from crosscutting veinlets in the apical portion of the Kyukyurtli extrusion is 140–170°C and in quartz from geyserite, 120–150°C. The temperature of formation of the chalcopyrite-pyrite-pyrrhotite assemblage calculated using mineral geothermometers is 156 and 275°C in dacite from the middle and lower portions of the Malka lava flow and 190°C in dacite of the Kyukyurtli extrusion. The hydrothermal solutions that participated in metasomatic alteration of rocks pertaining to the Kyukyurtli ore-magmatic system (KOMS) and formed both secondary quartzite and geyserite were enriched in fluorine, as evidenced from the occurrence of F-bearing minerals-zharchikhite, ralstonite, α-ralstonite, and fluorite-identified in these metasomatic rocks for the first time. By analogy with porphyry Cu-Mo deposits in Chile and the United States, the ore mineralization of the KOMS may be classified by composition and textural and structural attributes as a supraore level of porphyry copper genetic type. The volcanic rocks of the KOMS and the EVC as a whole are enriched in Ag, Mo, Zn, As, Sb, Se, and Ba. Judging from the scale of argillic alteration and taking into account the data on porphyry Cu-Mo ore-magmatic systems of the Greater Caucasus, veined Pb-Zn ore mineralization may be expected in the propylitic zone at a depth down to 1000 m from the present-day erosion level of the KOMS. Stringer-disseminated Au-Ag, Cu, and Cu-Mo ore mineralization of the upper part of the porphyry ore-magmatic system related to subvolcanic dacitic intrusions may be localized somewhat deeper.