scholarly journals Geochemical and Volcanological Criteria in Assessing the Links between Volcanism and VMS Deposits: A Case on the Iberian Pyrite Belt, Spain

Minerals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 826
Author(s):  
Emilio Pascual ◽  
Teodosio Donaire ◽  
Manuel Toscano ◽  
Gloria Macías ◽  
Christian Pin ◽  
...  

VMS deposits in the Iberian Pyrite Belt (IPB), Spain and Portugal, constitute the largest accumulation of these deposits on Earth. Although several factors account for their genetic interpretation, a link between volcanism and mineralization is generally accepted. In many VMS districts, research is focused on the geochemical discrimination between barren and fertile volcanic rocks, these latter being a proxy of VMS mineralization. Additionally, the volcanological study of igneous successions sheds light on the environment at which volcanic rocks were emplaced, showing an emplacement depth consistent with that required for VMS formation. We describe a case on the El Almendro–Villanueva de los Castillejos (EAVC) succession, Spanish IPB, where abundant felsic volcanic rocks occur. According to the available evidence, their geochemical features, εNd signature and U–Pb dates suggest a possible link to VMS deposits. However, (paleo)volcanological evidence here indicates pyroclastic emplacement in a shallow water environment. We infer that such a shallow environment precluded VMS generation, a conclusion that is consistent with the absence of massive deposits all along this area. We also show that this interpretation lends additional support to previous models of the whole IPB, suggesting that compartmentalization of the belt had a major role in determining the sites of VMS deposition.

1989 ◽  
Vol 26 (10) ◽  
pp. 2159-2168 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. P. Nutman ◽  
B. J. Fryer ◽  
D. Bridgwater

The Nulliak (supracrustal) assemblage, the remains of ca. 3800 Ma succession of volcanic and sedimentary rocks, was broken up by intrusion of the protoliths of the early Archaean Uivak orthogneisses and then deformed, metamorphosed, and variably metasomatised several times under upper amphibolite to granulite facies conditions in the Archaean. Amphibolites of "komatiitic basalt" and tholeiitic chemical affinity are the most important Nulliak assemblage lithologies. High Al2O3 metagabbroic rocks and anorthosites also occur. Interlayered with the amphibolites are marbles, calc-silicate rocks, and banded iron formation, interpreted as chemical sediments that were probably laid down in a shallow-water environment. Also found are felsic rocks probably derived by reworking of penecontemporaneous felsic volcanic rocks, and garnet- and sillimanite-bearing paragneisses derived from pelites. All these lithologies are randomly interlayered on a scale down to 1 m or less. The occurrence of 3850 – 3900 Ma cores for zircons in the surrounding polyphase Uivak gneisses suggests there may be an ancient sialic component in them, which could possibly represent basement upon which at least part of the Nulliak assemblage formed.


1998 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 237-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph B Whalen ◽  
Neil Rogers ◽  
Cees R van Staal ◽  
Frederick J Longstaffe ◽  
George A Jenner ◽  
...  

Middle Ordovician felsic magmatism contemporaneous with Bathurst Camp Pb-Zn volcanogenic massive sulphide(VMS) deposits consists of strongly altered volcanic to subvolcanic rocks, belonging to the Tetagouche Group, and relativelyunaltered granitoid plutons, which are divided into northern, central, and southern groups within the Miramichi Highlands.Calc-alkalic felsic volcanic rocks and northern plus central plutons have EpsilonNd(T) values ranging from -8.2 to -1.9 and -4.0 to +0.3, respectively. They exhibit within-plate-type volcanic and transitional I- to A-type granite geochemical characteristics.Granitoid rock Delta18O values range from +8.0 to +10.1‰. Published granitoid rock Pb isotopic compositions overlapunpublished galena data from Bathurst VMS deposits. Field, geochemical, and isotopic evidence indicate that these volcanicand granitoids rocks are consanguineous and mainly derived from Proterozoic orolder infracrustal sources. Alkalic felsic volcanic rocks, and associated alkaline basaltic rocks, are more juvenile (EpsilonNd(T) = +3.2 to +4.2) and were possibly derivedfrom slightly enriched mantle sources. Southern plutons exhibit continental arc-type features. The felsic magmatism and VMS deposits likely formed in an Okinawa-type back-arc basin developed from rifting the Early Ordovician Popelogan continentalarc, of which the southern plutons are remnants. Correlations between pluton groups and volcanic formations indicate that felsic magmatism was erupted through and onto the Miramichi Group. As most felsic volcanic formations lack plutonicequivalents, the Tetagouche Group probably does not represent disrupted slices of an originally conformable stratigraphic section. This supports a model in which thrust slices juxtapose remnants of volcanic centres erupted at different locationswithin a back-arc basin.


2008 ◽  
Vol 72 (5) ◽  
pp. 1103-1118 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. R. N. Rosa ◽  
A. A. Finch ◽  
T. Andersen ◽  
C. M. C Inverno

AbstractFelsic volcanic rocks exposed in the Frasnian Gafo Formation, in the Azinhalinho area of Portugal, display very similar geochemical signatures to volcanic rocks from the Iberian Pyrite Belt (IPB). located immediately to the south. The similarities include anomalously low high field-strength elements (HFSE) concentrations, possibly caused by low-temperature crustal melting, which translate into classification problems.A geochronological study, using laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) analyses of zircon grains from these rocks, has provided concordia ages of 356±1.5 Ma and 355±2.5 Ma for two samples of rhyodacite porphyry, and 356±1.4 Ma for a granular rhyodacite. These results show that volcanism at Azinhalinho was broadly contemporaneous with IPB volcanism, widely interpreted as being of Famennian to Visean age. Considering that the host rocks of the Azinhalinho volcanic rocks are Frasnian, and therefore deposited synchronously with the Upper Devonian Phyllite-Quartzite Group sedimentation in the IPB basin, the radiometric ages imply that the Azinhalinho felsic rocks are intrusive and likely represent conduits or feeders to the volcanism of the IPB.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Zélia Pereira ◽  
João X. Matos ◽  
A. Rita Solá ◽  
Maria João Batista ◽  
Rute Salgueiro ◽  
...  

Abstract The recently discovered massive and stockwork sulphide mineralization of Semblana-Rosa Magra and Monte Branco, situated ESE of the Neves–Corvo volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposit in the Iberian Pyrite Belt (IPB) is presented. Geological setting and tectonic model is discussed based on proxies such as palynostratigraphy and U–Pb zircon geochronology. The mineralization is found within the IPB Volcano-Sedimentary Complex (VSC) Lower sequence, which includes felsic volcanic rocks (rhyolites) with U–Pb ages in zircons of 359.6 ± 1.6 Ma, and black shales of the Neves Formation of late Strunian age. Massive sulphides are enveloped by these shales, implying that felsic volcanism, mineralization and shale sedimentation are essentially coeval. This circumstance is considered highly prospective, as it represents an important exploration vector to target VMS mineralization across the IPB, in areas where the Lower VSC sequence is present. The Upper VSC sequence, with siliciclastic and volcanogenic sedimentary rocks of middle–late Visean age, shows no massive mineralization but a late Tournaisian (350.9 ± 2.3 Ma) volcanism with disseminated sulphides was also identified. Nevertheless, stratigraphic palynological gaps were found within the Strunian and in the Tournaisian sediments, between the Lower and Upper VSC sequences, reflecting probable erosion and uplift mechanisms linked with extensional tectonics. The Semblana and Monte Branco deposits and the Rosa Magra stockwork are enclosed by tectonic sheets that dismembered the VSC sequence in a fold-and-thrust tectonic complex, characteristic of the NE Neves–Corvo region. The methodologies used allow a geological comparison between Neves–Corvo and other IPB mine regions such as Lousal–Caveira, Herrerias, Tharsis and Aznalcollar.


2021 ◽  
Vol 62 (10) ◽  
pp. 1175-1187
Author(s):  
A.D. Nozhkin ◽  
O.M. Turkina ◽  
K.A. Savko

Abstract —The paper presents results of a petrogeochemical and isotope–geochronological study of the granite–leucogranite association of the Pavlov massif and felsic volcanics from the Elash graben (Biryusa block, southwest of the Siberian craton). A characteristic feature of the granite–leucogranites is their spatial and temporal association with vein aplites and pegmatites of the East Sayan rare-metal province. The U–Pb age of zircon from granites of the Pavlov massif (1852 ± 5 Ma) is close to the age of the pegmatites of the Vishnyakovskoe rare-metal deposit (1838 ± 3 Ma). The predominant biotite porphyritic granites and leucogranites of the Pavlov massif show variable alkali ratios (K2O/Na2O = 1.1–2.3) and ferroan (Fe*) index and a peraluminous composition; they are comparable with S-granites. The studied rhyolites of the Tagul River (SiO2 = 71–76%) show a low ferroan index, a high K2O/Na2O ratio (1.6–4.0), low (La/Yb)n values (4.3–10.5), and a clear Eu minimum (Eu/Eu* = 0.3–0.5); they are similar to highly fractionated I-granites. All coeval late Paleoproterozoic (1.88–1.85 Ga) granites and felsic volcanics of the Elash graben have distinct differences in composition, especially in the ferroan index and HREE contents, owing to variations in the source composition and melting conditions during their formation at postcollisions extension. The wide range of the isotope parameters of granites and felsic volcanic rocks (εNd from +2.0 to –3.7) and zircons (εHf from +3.0 to +0.8, granites of the Toporok massif) indicates the heterogeneity of the crustal basement of the Elash graben, which formed both in the Archean and in the Paleoproterozoic.


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