scholarly journals Mineralization and Structural Controls of the AB-Bid Carbonate-Hosted Pb-Zn (±Cu) Deposit, Tabas-Posht e Badam Metallogenic Belt, Iran

Minerals ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 95
Author(s):  
Abdorrahman Rajabi ◽  
Carles Canet ◽  
Pura Alfonso ◽  
Pouria Mahmoodi ◽  
Ali Yarmohammadi ◽  
...  

The Ab-Bid deposit, located in the Tabas-Posht e Badam metallogenic belt (TPMB) in Central Iran, is the largest Pb-Zn (±Cu) deposit in the Behadad-Kuhbanan mining district. Sulfide mineralization in the Ab-Bid deposit formed in Middle Triassic carbonate rocks and contains galena and sphalerite with minor pyrite, chalcopyrite, chalcocite, and barite. Silicification and dolomitization are the main wall-rock alteration styles. Structural and textural observations indicate that the mineralization occurs as fault fills with coarse-textured, brecciated, and replacement sulfides deposited in a bookshelf structure. The Ab-Bid ore minerals precipitated from high temperature (≈180–200 °C) basinal brines within the dolomitized and silicified carbonates. The sulfur isotope values of ore sulfides suggest a predominant thermochemical sulfate reduction (TSR) process, and the sulfur source was probably Triassic-Jurassic seawater sulfate. Given the current evidence, mineralization at Ab-Bid resulted from focusing of heated, over-pressurized brines of modified basinal origin into an active fault system. The association of the sulfide mineralization with intensely altered wall rock represents a typical example of such features in the Mississippi Valley-type (MVT) metallogenic domain of the TPMB. According to the structural data, the critical ore control is a bookshelf structure having mineralized dextral strike-slip faults in the northern part of the Ab-Bid reverse fault, which seems to be part of a sinistral brittle shear zone. Structural relationships also indicate that the strata-bound, fault-controlled Ab-Bid deposit was formed after the Middle Jurassic, and its formation may be related to compressive and deformation stages of the Mid-Cimmerian in the Middle Jurassic to Laramide orogenic cycle in the Late Cretaceous-Tertiary.

2021 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew J. Comeau ◽  
Michael Becken ◽  
Alexey V. Kuvshinov ◽  
Sodnomsambuu Demberel

AbstractCrustal architecture strongly influences the development and emplacement of mineral zones. In this study, we image the crustal structure beneath a metallogenic belt and its surroundings in the Bayankhongor area of central Mongolia. In this region, an ophiolite belt marks the location of an ancient suture zone, which is presently associated with a reactivated fault system. Nearby, metamorphic and volcanic belts host important mineralization zones and constitute a significant metallogenic belt that includes sources of copper and gold. However, the crustal structure of these features, and their relationships, are poorly studied. We analyze magnetotelluric data acquired across this region and generate three-dimensional electrical resistivity models of the crustal structure, which is found to be locally highly heterogeneous. Because the upper crust (< 25 km) is found to be generally highly resistive (> 1000 Ωm), low-resistivity (< 50 Ωm) features are conspicuous. Anomalous low-resistivity zones are congruent with the suture zone, and ophiolite belt, which is revealed to be a major crustal-scale feature. Furthermore, broadening low-resistivity zones located down-dip from the suture zone suggest that the narrow deformation zone observed at the surface transforms to a wide area in the deeper crust. Other low-resistivity anomalies are spatially associated with the surface expressions of known mineralization zones; thus, their links to deeper crustal structures are imaged. Considering the available evidence, we determine that, in both cases, the low resistivity can be explained by hydrothermal alteration along fossil fluid pathways. This illustrates the pivotal role that crustal fluids play in diverse geological processes, and highlights their inherent link in a unified system, which has implications for models of mineral genesis and emplacement. The results demonstrate that the crustal architecture—including the major crustal boundary—acts as a first‐order control on the location of the metallogenic belt.


2021 ◽  
pp. jgs2020-142
Author(s):  
N.M. Seymour ◽  
J.S. Singleton ◽  
R. Gomila ◽  
S.P. Mavor ◽  
G. Heuser ◽  
...  

Displacement estimates along the Atacama fault system (AFS), a crustal-scale sinistral structure that accommodated oblique convergence in the Mesozoic Coastal Cordillera arc, vary widely due to a lack of piercing points. We mapped the distribution of plutons and mylonitic deformation along the northern ∼70 km of the El Salado segment and use U-Pb geochronology to establish the slip history of the AFS. Along the eastern branch, mylonitic fabrics associated with the synkinematic ∼134–132 Ma Cerro del Pingo Complex are separated by 34–38 km, and mylonites associated with a synkinematic ∼120–119 Ma tonalite are separated by 20.5–25 km. We interpret leucocratic intrusions to be separated across the western branch by ∼16–20 km, giving a total slip magnitude of ∼54 ± 6 km across the El Salado segment. Kinematic indicators consistently record sinistral shear and zircon (U-Th)/He data suggest dip-slip motion was insignificant. Displacement occurred between ∼133–110 Ma at a slip rate of ∼2.1–2.6 km/Myr. This slip rate is low compared to modern intra-arc strike-slip faults, suggesting (1) the majority of lateral slip was accommodated along the slab interface or distributed through the forearc or (2) plate convergence rates/obliquity were significantly lower than previously modeled.Supplementary material including full U-Pb, (U-Th)/He, petrographic, and structural data with locations is available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.5262177.


1992 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 388-417 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas G. Mueller

The Norseman mining district in the Archean Yilgarn Block, Western Australia, has produced 140 t of gold and about 90 t of silver from 11.24 × 106 t of ore. The district is located within a metamorphic terrane of mafic and minor ultramafic greenstones, intruded by granite cupolas and swarms of porphyry dykes. The orebodies consist of laminated quartz veins, controlled by narrow (0.5–5 m) reverse shear zones that, in general, follow the contacts of metapyroxenite or porphyry dykes. Petrological studies of four shear zones, exposed on the Regent shaft 14 level, Ajax shaft 10 level, and in the stope above the North Royal shaft 5 level, show that the host rocks were metamorphosed to hornblende–plagioclase amphibolites and actinolite–chlorite rocks at temperatures of 500–550 °C prior to mineralization.At the localities studied, intense wall-rock replacement and low-grade (0.5 g/t) gold mineralization are confined to ductile or brittle–ductile shear structures. Alteration is similar in both ultramafic and mafic greenstones, and consists of an inner zone of biotite–quartz–calcite–plagioclase rock with minor actinolitic hornblende and quartz–calcite–actinolite veinlets, and an outer zone, locally developed, of chlorite–calcite–quartz rock. At an estimated pressure of 3 kbar (300 MPa), fluid temperatures during wall-rock alteration are constrained by the hydrothermal mineral assemblages to 480 ± 30 °C in two shear zones on the Regent shaft 14 level, and to 450 ± 20 °C in one shear zone in the North Royal shaft 5 level stope. The mole fraction of CO2 of the fluids is estimated at [Formula: see text], and the sulphur fugacity at 10−6 bar (10−1 kPa) (at 450 °C), based on the assemblage pyrrhotite + pyrite ± arsenopyrite. The development of an outer chloritic alteration zone at North Royal is related to the lower fluid temperature at this locality.High-grade (up to 75 g/t Au, 283 g/t Ag) veins formed within three of the shear zones studied at fluid temperatures of 400 °C and less, by the successive accretion of quartz laminae, separated by films of retrograde chlorite and sericite. The assemblage of ore minerals in the veins differs from that in the altered wall rocks, and includes disseminated galena, Pb–Bi–Ag tellurides, and native gold, which coprecipitated with the quartz. The orebodies at Norseman show affinities to Phanerozoic and Archean gold skarn deposits.


Geology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Piquer ◽  
Pablo Sanchez-Alfaro ◽  
Pamela Pérez-Flores

Porphyry-type deposits are the main global source of copper and molybdenum. An improved understanding of the most favorable structural settings for the emplacement of these deposits is necessary for successful exploration, particularly considering that most future discoveries will be made under cover based on conceptual target generation. A common view is that porphyry deposits are preferentially emplaced in pull-apart basins within strike-slip fault systems that favor local extension within a regional compressive to transpressive tectonic regime. However, the role of such a structural context in magma storage and evolution in the upper crust remains unclear. In this work, we propose a new model based on the integration of structural data and the geometry of magmatic-hydrothermal systems from the main Andean porphyry Cu-Mo metallogenic belts and from the active volcanic arc of southern Chile. We suggest that the magma differentiation and volatile accumulation required for the formation of a porphyry deposit is best achieved when the fault system controlling magma ascent is strongly misoriented for reactivation with respect to the prevailing stress field. When magmas and fluids are channeled by faults favorably oriented for extension (approximately normal to σ3), they form sets of parallel, subvertical dikes and veins, which are common both during the late stages of the evolution of porphyry systems and in the epithermal environment. This new model has direct implications for conceptual mineral exploration.


Author(s):  
Fida Murad ◽  
Abdul Ghaffar ◽  
Innayat Ullah ◽  
Abdul Shakoor Mastoi ◽  
Muhammad Tariq Zaman

Subduction related Miocene porphyry type deposits are found in the east-west trending Chagai magmatic belt (CMB) in Pakistan's western margin, Balochistan. This arc exists on the west segment of the Tethyan metallogenic belt in the south-west of Pakistan. Tethyan metallogenic belt is widely spread over 12,000 km from east to west direction from Indochina, Tibet, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey and Alpine mountain range in Europe. During the last thirty to forty years several porphyry deposits have been reported in the Chagai magmatic arc, including the very large Reko Diq H14-H15, large Saindak, Tanjeel, H35, H8 and medium Dasht-e-Kain porphyry deposits and many small porphyry copper deposits. These porphyry deposits were developed within the phase of calc-alkaline type magmatism in the Chagai arc. Tonalite, quartz diorite, and monzonite host the porphyry deposits within the adjacent sedimentary wall rock units of Sinjrani Volcanic Group, Juzzak, Saindak, and Amalaf Formations. The concentric zonal pattern of hydrothermal alteration in these porphyry deposits of the Chagai magmatic arc follows the world's major porphyry deposits' alteration pattern. Zones of hydrothermal alteration from distal to proximal part includesa potassic alteration, sericitic-clay-chlorite alteration, sericitic alteration, argillic alteration and propylitic alteration. Major ore mineralization in these deposits is of copper, gold, silver, molybdenum, and minor constituents of other base metals that have been reported to occur within hydrothermal alteration zones in the Miocene porphyry Chagai magmatic arc


2021 ◽  
Vol 906 (1) ◽  
pp. 012041
Author(s):  
Lena Polufuntikova ◽  
Valery Fridovsky ◽  
Yaroslav Tarasov ◽  
Maksim Kudrin

Abstract The article presents the results of studying the sulfidization zone of the Charky-Indigirka thrust fault within the Vyun ore field in the Upper Adycha sector of the Yana-Kolyma metallogenic belt. The purpose of the research is to study the composition and distribution of basic and trace elements in terrigenous rocks of the Upper Triassic and Middle Jurassic, as well as in distal metasomatites on the territory of the Vyun ore field. The petrochemical features of weakly altered terrigenous rocks, conditions of their formation and changes of composition during epigenetic processes were analyzed. Three generations of pyrite were identified: diagenetic Py1, metamorphogenic Py2 and metasomatic Py3. Typomorphic trace elements and variations of their distribution in pyrites were determined. Composition analyses of weakly altered sedimentary rocks of the Upper Triassic (V/(V+Ni)=0.5-0.8, V/Cr=0.1-2.9 and Ni/Co=2.5-10.3) and Middle Jurassic (V/(V+Ni)=0.7-0.9, V/Cr=0.2-2.0 and Ni/Co=1.3-8.8) yielded the conclusion that changes in oxygen conditions to disoxic and anoxic, as well as the enrichment of terrigenous material with ore elements, lead to the formation of authigenic sulfide mineralization at the early stages of the sedimentary strata formation. The subsequent multistage development of the territory was accompanied by an active migration of chemical elements, their input and redistribution.


2017 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teresa Pi ◽  
Jesús Solé ◽  
Ofelia Morton-Bermea ◽  
Yuri Taran ◽  
Elizabeth Hernández-Álvarez

We present and evaluate lanthanide contents measured by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) in fluorite samples from the fluorite deposits in Zacualpan and Taxco mining districts in the south of Mexico. The information is used to distinguish different generations of fluorite, to establish a correlation between mineralization episodes and the wall rock nature, and to identify postdepositional processes.The total lanthanide content of the fluorites are variable, and early- stage fluorite samples are usually enriched in LREE. The concentration of REE in fluorite is low in comparison with the volcanic and metamorphic rocks (∑REE > 100 ppm) and is generally high respect the carbonates (∑REE < 30 ppm). There is host rock influence. The higher REE concentra- tions are in fluorites hosted by volcanic rocks. The fluorite that replaced carbonate is characterized by low REE to very low concentrations. Fluorite samples associated with sulfurs are typically enriched in HREE. Nearly all fluorites show a negative Eu anomaly similar to the REE anomaly observed in the volcanic rock. Only some early stage dark, uranium rich fluorites, from la Azul deposit, have a strong positive Eu anomaly. Direct correlation between color and REE patterns is observed in some samples.In the Zacualpan mining district, only an episode of mineralization has been discriminated, where fluorite presents flat to HREE- enriched chondrite-normalized REE patterns.In the Taxco mining district and particularly in the “Mina la Azul”, multiple hydrothermal events of mineralization have been determined. The first generation of fluorite is formed by replacement of carbonates and is characterized by very low contents of lanthanides, chondrite- normalized REE patterns similar to the limestone, high strontium content and primary textures (e.g. massive fluorite and rhythmites). The second generation of fluorite is related to the entry of new fluid to the system and has higher REE concentrations, chondrite-normalized REE patterns similar to volcanic rocks, low strontium content and secondary textures (i.e. breccias, nodules). Most of the samples show a genetic relationship between fluorite and fluids of magmatic origin.


2002 ◽  
Vol 148 (2) ◽  
pp. 256-277
Author(s):  
S. Carretier ◽  
J-F Ritz ◽  
J. Jackson ◽  
A. Bayasgalan

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