Magmatic-hydrothermal fluids leaching older seafloor exhalative rocks to form the IOCG deposits of the Carajás Province, Brazil: Evidence from boron isotopes

2021 ◽  
Vol 365 ◽  
pp. 106412
Author(s):  
Gustavo Henrique Coelho de Melo ◽  
Lena Virginia Soares Monteiro ◽  
Raphael Bianchi Hunger ◽  
Poliana Iara Freitas Toledo ◽  
Roberto Perez Xavier ◽  
...  
Minerals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda Godfrey ◽  
Fernanda Álvarez-Amado

The Li-rich brine contained within the halite body of the Salar de Atacama is uncommon for two reasons: First, it has an exceptionally high Li concentration, even compared to other closed basins in the Li triangle of South America; and second, it is widespread within the halite nucleus and not restricted to a localized area. This study focusses on the southern half of the salar where Li production occurs and draws comparisons with its northern neighboring basin through which the Loa river flows. Concentration and isotope data for water inflowing to this part of the salar were obtained from surface inflow as well as wells located within the alluvial fans on its eastern margin. Lithium varies between 0.2 and 20 mg/L before reaching the salar where small amounts of the brine and or salts that precipitated from it can increase its concentration up to 400 mg/L or higher. The δ7Li of the inflow water varies between +4.9‰ and +11.2‰ and increases to +12.6‰ within the salar margin, consistent with salar brine based on reported measurements. Boron isotopes indicate that it is unlikely that solutes are derived from sedimentary evaporites or mineral cements, unlike the situation in the adjacent Loa basin. Water that flows through an aquifer laterally confined by a basement block and a line of volcanoes has a notably higher δ7Li than other inflow water, around +9‰, and increasing to +10.5‰. δ7Li values are overall higher than were measured in the adjacent Loa basin, indicating that here the water–rock reactions for Li are more evolved due to longer residence times. Lithium concentrations increased with sodium and chloride, but sedimentary evaporites are shown to be unimportant from δ11B. This is accounted for two ways: evaporated saline inflow leaks from higher elevation basins and inflows are partly derived from or modified by active volcanic systems. Active and dormant volcanoes plus the massive Altiplano–Puna magmatic body are important as heat sources, which enhance water–rock reactions. The large topographic difference between the mean elevation of Altiplano on which these volcanoes sit and the salar surface allows hydrothermal fluids, which would otherwise stay deep below the surface under the modern arc, to uplift at the salar.


Geofluids ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanlu Xing ◽  
Yuan Mei ◽  
Barbara Etschmann ◽  
Weihua Liu ◽  
Joël Brugger

Uranium mineralization is commonly accompanied by enrichment of fluorite and other F-bearing minerals, leading to the hypothesis that fluoride may play a key role in the hydrothermal transport of U. In this paper, we review the thermodynamics of U(IV) and U(VI) complexing in chloride- and fluoride-bearing hydrothermal fluids and perform mineral solubility and reactive transport calculations to assess equilibrium controls on the association of F and U. Calculations of uraninite and U3O8(s) solubility in acidic F-rich (Cl : F = 100 [ppm-based]) hydrothermal fluids at 25–450°C, 600 bar, show that U(IV)-F complexes (reducing conditions) and uranyl-F complexes (oxidizing conditions) predominate at low temperature (T<~200°C), while above ~250°C, chloride complexes predominate in acidic solutions. In the case of uraninite, solubility is predicted to decrease dramatically as U(IV)Cl22+ becomes the predominant U species at T>260°C. In contrast, the solubility of U3O8(s) increases with increasing temperatures. We evaluated the potential of low-temperature fluids to upgrade U and F concentrations in magnetite-chalcopyrite ores. In our model, an oxidized (hematite-rich) granite is the primary source of F and has elevated U concentration. Hydrothermal fluids (15 wt.% NaCl equiv.) equilibrated with this granite at 200°C react with low-grade magnetite-chalcopyrite ores. The results show that extensive alteration by these oxidized fluids is an effective mechanism for forming ore-grade Cu-U mineralization, which is accompanied by the coenrichment of fluorite. Fluorite concentrations are continuously upgraded at the magnetite-hematite transformation boundary and in the hematite ores with increasing fluid : rock (F/R) ratio. Overall, the model indicates that the coenrichment of F and U in IOCG ores reflects mainly the source of the ore-forming fluids, rather than an active role of F in controlling the metal endowment of these deposits. Our calculations also show that the common geochemical features of hematite-dominated IOCG deposits can be related to a two-phase process, whereby a magnetite-hematite-rich orebody (formed via a number of processes/tectonic settings) is enriched in Cu ± U and F during a second stage (low temperature, oxidized) of hydrothermal circulation.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Celine Martin ◽  
◽  
George E. Harlow ◽  
George E. Harlow ◽  
George E. Harlow ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 105 (11) ◽  
pp. 1712-1723
Author(s):  
Yu Zhang ◽  
Pete Hollings ◽  
Yongjun Shao ◽  
Dengfeng Li ◽  
Huayong Chen ◽  
...  

Abstract The origin of stratabound deposits in the Middle-Lower Yangtze River Valley Metallogenic Belt (MLYRB), Eastern China, is the subject of considerable debate. The Xinqiao Cu-Fe-Au deposit in the Tongling ore district is a typical stratabound ore body characterized by multi-stage magnetite. A total of six generations of magnetite have been identified. Mt1 is commonly replaced by porous Mt2, and both are commonly trapped in the core of Mt3, which is characterized by both core-rim textures and oscillatory zoning. Porous Mt4 commonly truncates the oscillatory zoning of Mt3, and Mt5 is characterized by 120° triple junction texture. Mt1 to Mt5 are commonly replaced by pyrite that coexists with quartz, whereas Mt6, with a fine-grained foliated and needle-like texture, commonly cuts the early pyrite as veins and is replaced by pyrite that coexists with calcite. The geochemistry of the magnetite suggests that they are hydrothermal in origin. The microporosity of Mt2 and Mt4 magnetite, their sharp contacts with Mt1 and Mt3, and lower trace-element contents (e.g., Si, Ca, Mg, and Ti) than Mt1 and Mt3 suggest that they formed via coupled dissolution and reprecipitation of the precursor Mt1 and Mt3 magnetite, respectively. This was likely caused by high-salinity fluids derived from intensive water-rock interaction between the magmatic-hydrothermal fluids associated with the Jitou stock and Late Permian metalliferous black shales. The 120° triple junction texture of Mt5 suggests it is the result of fluid-assisted recrystallization, whereas Mt6 formed by replacement of hematite as a result of fracturing. The geochemistry of the magnetite suggests that the temperature increased from Mt2 to Mt3 and implies that there were multiple pulses of fluids from a magmatic-hydrothermal system. Therefore, we propose that the Xinqiao stratiform mineralization was genetically associated with multiple influxes of magmatic hydrothermal fluids derived from the Early Cretaceous Jitou stock. This study demonstrates that detailed texture examination and in situ trace-elements analysis under robust geological and petrographic frameworks can effectively constrain the mineralization processes and ore genesis.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 166-187
Author(s):  
Hao Liu ◽  
Chan Wang ◽  
Yong Li ◽  
Jianghong Deng ◽  
Bin Deng ◽  
...  

Abstract The black rock series in the Qiongzhusi Formation contains important geochemical information about the early Cambrian tectonic and ecological environment of the southwestern Yangtze Block. In this paper, major, trace, and rare earth element data are presented in an attempt to reveal the sediment source during the deposition of the early Cambrian Qiongzhusi Formation and to reconstruct the sedimentary tectonic environment and weathering intensity during that time. The basin primarily received continental clastic material with neutral-acidic igneous rocks from a stable source and with a moderate level of maturity during the depositional period of the Qiongzhusi Formation. Furthermore, the strata were weakly influenced by submarine hydrothermal fluids during diagenesis. The reconstruction of the sedimentary environment and weathering intensity shows that P2O5 enrichment and water body stratification occurred due to the effects of upwelling ocean currents during the depositional period of the Qiongzhusi Formation. The combination of upwelling and bottom-water hydrothermal fluids led to environmental changes in the study area, from dry and hot to moist and warm. Last, the reconstruction of the tectonic environment of the Qiongzhusi Formation indicates that deposition occurred in continental slope and marginal marine environments associated with a continental arc tectonic system. These findings provide an essential basis for the comprehensive reconstruction of the early Cambrian sedimentary environment of the Yangtze Block.


Minerals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 725
Author(s):  
Ludmila B. Damdinova ◽  
Bulat B. Damdinov

This article discusses the peculiarities of mineral composition and a fluid inclusions (FIs further in the text) study of the Kholtoson W and Inkur W deposits located within the Dzhida W-Mo ore field (Southwestern Transbaikalia, Russia). The Mo mineralization spatially coincides with the apical part of the Pervomaisky stock (Pervomaisky deposit), and the W mineralization forms numerous quartz veins in the western part of the ore field (Kholtoson vein deposit) and the stockwork in the central part (Inkur stockwork deposit). The ore mineral composition is similar at both deposits. Quartz is the main gangue mineral; there are also present muscovite, K-feldspar, and carbonates. The main ore mineral of both deposits is hubnerite. In addition to hubnerite, at both deposits, more than 20 mineral species were identified; they include sulfides (pyrite, chalcopyrite, galena, sphalerite, bornite, etc.), sulfosalts (tetrahedrite, aikinite, stannite, etc.), oxides (scheelite, cassiterite), and tellurides (hessite). The results of mineralogical and fluid inclusions studies allowed us to conclude that the Inkur W and the Kholtoson W deposits were formed by the same hydrothermal fluids, related to the same ore-forming system. For both deposits, the fluid inclusion homogenization temperatures varied within the range ~195–344 °C. The presence of cogenetic liquid- and vapor-dominated inclusions in the quartz from the ores of the Kholtoson deposit allowed us to estimate the true temperature range of mineral formation as 413–350 °C. Ore deposition occurred under similar physical-chemical conditions, differing only in pressures of mineral formation. The main factors of hubnerite deposition from hydrothermal fluids were decreases in temperature.


2021 ◽  
Vol 83 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim I. Yilmaz ◽  
Fabian B. Wadsworth ◽  
H. Albert Gilg ◽  
Kai-Uwe Hess ◽  
Jackie E. Kendrick ◽  
...  

AbstractThe nature of sub-volcanic alteration is usually only observable after erosion and exhumation at old inactive volcanoes, via geochemical changes in hydrothermal fluids sampled at the surface, via relatively low-resolution geophysical methods or can be inferred from erupted products. These methods are spatially or temporally removed from the real subsurface and thus provide only indirect information. In contrast, the ICDP deep drilling of the Mt Unzen volcano subsurface affords a snapshot into the in situ interaction between the dacitic dykes that fed dome-forming eruptions and the sub-volcanic hydrothermal system, where the most recent lava dome eruption occurred between 1990 and 1995. Here, we analyse drill core samples from hole USDP-4, constraining their degree and type of alteration. We identify and characterize two clay alteration stages: (1) an unusual argillic alteration infill of fractured or partially dissolved plagioclase and hornblende phenocryst domains with kaolinite and Reichweite 1 illite (70)-smectite and (2) propylitic alteration of amphibole and biotite phenocrysts with the fracture-hosted precipitation of chlorite, sulfide and carbonate minerals. These observations imply that the early clay-forming fluid was acidic and probably had a magmatic component, which is indicated for the fluids related to the second chlorite-carbonate stage by our stable carbon and oxygen isotope data. The porosity in the dyke samples is dominantly fracture-hosted, and fracture-filling mineralization is common, suggesting that the dykes were fractured during magma transport, emplacement and cooling, and that subsequent permeable circulation of hydrothermal fluids led to pore clogging and potential partial sealing of the pore network on a timescale of ~ 9 years from cessation of the last eruption. These observations, in concert with evidence that intermediate, crystal-bearing magmas are susceptible to fracturing during ascent and emplacement, lead us to suggest that arc volcanoes enclosed in highly fractured country rock are susceptible to rapid hydrothermal circulation and alteration, with implications for the development of fluid flow, mineralization, stress regime and volcanic edifice structural stability. We explore these possibilities in the context of alteration at other similar volcanoes.


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