scholarly journals Geology and Genesis of the Giant Gorevskoe Pb-Zn-Ag Deposit, Krasnoyarsk Territory, Russia

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georgii Belokonov ◽  
Max Frenzel ◽  
Nadezhda S. Priyatkina ◽  
Axel D. Renno ◽  
Vladimir Makarov ◽  
...  

Abstract The Gorevskoe Pb-Zn-Ag mine is currently the largest producer of Pb and Zn in Russia, exploiting one of the largest sediment-hosted Pb-Zn deposits worldwide. Despite its size and economic importance, the Gorevskoe deposit remains poorly understood. It is located on the western margin of the Siberian craton within the Yenisei Ridge, a Neoproterozoic orogenic belt. Mineralization consists of three tabular orebodies that are in turn composed of multiple stacked stratiform to strata-bound lenses of galena-pyrrhotite-sphalerite-rich massive sulfide ore, hosted in organic-rich marine metalimestones and calcareous slates of Stenian to Tonian age (1,020 ± 70 Ma). Extensive Fe-Mg-Mn-carbonate alteration haloes surround the ore lenses. The Pb isotope signature of the deposit is consistent with derivation of Pb, and probably all associated metals, from an evolved crustal source at the time of formation of the host rocks. The sulfur isotope compositions of pyrrhotite, sphalerite, galena, arsenopyrite, and pyrite (δ34S = 16.0–20.4‰) do not vary considerably across the deposit and are within the range reported for contemporaneous seawater, indicating complete reduction of marine sulfate as the main source of sulfur. The available geologic and geochemical data indicate that the Gorevskoe deposit belongs to the sediment-hosted massive sulfide (SHMS) class of Zn-Pb deposits, with an affinity to Selwyn-type deposits. Hydrothermal mineralization appears to be temporally related to rifting and distal mafic volcanism in a passive margin setting. Geologic relationships suggest that the orebodies formed in a diagenetic environment. Furthermore, the predominance of primary pyrrhotite over pyrite as the major iron sulfide, the presence of abundant siderite, and the relatively homogeneous sulfur isotope signature of the ores indicate highly reducing conditions during ore formation. They also constrain the character of the metal-bearing fluid to be similarly reducing, and of moderate temperature (200°–300°C). Gorevskoe may thus be regarded as one of the world’s largest Selwyn-type SHMS deposits.

2021 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 49-62
Author(s):  
Ashim Jana ◽  
Deepak Kumar Sinha

Bagiyabahal and Birtola areas are located in the south-western extension of the Noamundi-Koira Iron Ore Group (IOG) basin. Rock types exposed in the area comprises of siliciclastics and volcanics which occurs unconformably over the basement tonalite-trondhjemite granite-gneiss (Bonai Granite Phase-I). The cover rocks show sheared contact with the porphyritic Bonai Granite Phase-II. The IOG basin margin is suggested to be a part of a ‘volcanic passive margin’ as indicated by the geochemical behaviour of the siliciclastics as well as massive emplacements of mafic intrusives (doleritic sill, dyke and gabbro) and extrusives (basaltic lava flow) along faulted continental blocks. The siliciclastics comprise of U and Au bearing quartz-pebble conglomerate (QPC) and quartzite succession. It was deposited along the western margin of the Bonai granite (phase I) in anoxic conditions as indicated by their low Th/U ratios and presence of detrital uraninite grains. Repeated cycles of sedimentation and volcanism led to the formation of alternate layers of siliciclastics and basic bodies in the area. Major, trace and rare earth elements (REE) geochemical data suggests a semi-humid to humid palaeo-climatic environment of during the deposition in the passive continental margin setting characterized by fault-controlled sedimentation over a rift related faulted continental crust and shelf. Geochemical data suggests chemically weathered provenance dominated by clay minerals. Higher content of U, Th, Au, Cr, REE, platinum group of elements (PGE) and other geochemical ratios suggest a mixed provenance for the deposition of the siliciclastics comprising a predominantly acidic/granitic source possibly from the Bonai Granitic Complex (BGC) along with granite derived reworked quartzose sediments, minor basic and ultrabasic sources of Older Metamorphic Group (OMG). This paper attempts to characterize the geochemical behaviour, tectonic setting and provenance of the siliciclastics of Birtola and Bagiyabahal areas by analyzing drill core and surface samples.


1979 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 575-584 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph J. Donovan ◽  
Ginette Lajoie

It has been proposed that iron hydroxides act as cementing agents in Champlain Sea clays, causing brittle behaviour and high sensitivities. Study of interbedded turbiditic sandy and clayey strata of the Champlain Sea disputes this contention. Ground waters flowing through these sandy interbeds have high pH and are sodium bicarbonate dominant and strongly reduced, with a calculated Eh of −276 to −343 mV, using the sulfate–sulfide redox couple. During movement from recharge to discharge, sulfate is reduced by bacterial decomposition of organic matter in the clays, producing high sulfide and bicarbonate activities. In terms of Eh and pH, these waters fall within the stability fields of Fe2+ and FeS2.No pyrite was detected in the sediments, but in borehole samples and very fresh exposures of both clay and sand lithologies a very finely-disseminated black mineral phase, interpreted as iron monosulfides, was observed which is highly unstable in an aerobic environment, oxidizing rapidly to red-brown ferric hydroxide. The presence of these monosulfides, along with the aqueous geochemical data, indicate strongly reducing conditions in the clay strata, in which iron hydroxides are not a stable phase. Ferric hydroxides can therefore not be called upon as cementing agents; past studies which identified these ferric compounds as such cementing agents based their conclusions on samples out of equilibrium with their natural environment and are not directly relevant to the behaviour of the clay under natural conditions. The effects of these iron monosulfides and associated organic material on clay behaviour have not yet been studied.


Minerals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 573
Author(s):  
Shahid Iqbal ◽  
Michael Wagreich ◽  
Mehwish Bibi ◽  
Irfan U. Jan ◽  
Susanne Gier

The Salt Range, in Pakistan, preserves an insightful sedimentary record of passive margin dynamics along the NW margin of the Indian Plate during the Mesozoic. This study develops provenance analyses of the Upper Triassic (Kingriali Formation) to Lower Jurassic (Datta Formation) siliciclastics from the Salt and Trans Indus ranges based on outcrop analysis, petrography, bulk sediment elemental geochemistry, and heavy-mineral data. The sandstones are texturally and compositionally mature quartz arenites and the conglomerates are quartz rich oligomictic conglomerates. Geochemical proxies support sediment derivation from acidic sources and deposition under a passive margin setting. The transparent heavy mineral suite consists of zircon, tourmaline, and rutile (ZTR) with minor staurolite in the Triassic strata that diminishes in the Jurassic strata. Together, these data indicate that the sediments were supplied by erosion of the older siliciclastics of the eastern Salt Range and adjoining areas of the Indian Plate. The proportion of recycled component exceeds the previous literature estimates for direct sediment derivation from the Indian Shield. A possible increase in detritus supply from the Salt Range itself indicates notably different conditions of sediment generation, during the Triassic–Jurassic transition. The present results suggest that, during the Triassic–Jurassic transition in the Salt Range, direct sediment supply from the Indian Shield was probably reduced and the Triassic and older siliciclastics were exhumed on an elevated passive margin and reworked by a locally established fluvio-deltaic system. The sediment transport had a north-northwestward trend parallel to the northwestern Tethyan margin of the Indian Plate and normal to its opening axis. During the Late Triassic, hot and arid hot-house palaeoclimate prevailed in the area that gave way to a hot and humid greenhouse palaeoclimate across the Triassic–Jurassic Boundary. Sedimentological similarity between the Salt Range succession and the Neo-Tethyan succession exposed to the east on the northern Indian passive Neo-Tethyan margin suggests a possible westward extension of this margin.


Minerals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 85
Author(s):  
Mónica Arias ◽  
Pablo Nuñez ◽  
Daniel Arias ◽  
Pablo Gumiel ◽  
Cesar Castañón ◽  
...  

The Touro volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposit is located in the NW of the Iberian Variscan massif in the Galicia-Trás-os-Montes Zone, an amalgamation of several allochthonous terrains. The Órdenes complex is the most extensive of the allochthone complexes, and amphibolites and paragneisses host the deposit, characterized as being massive or semimassive (stringers) sulfides, mostly made up of pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite. The total resources are 103 Mt, containing 0.41% copper. A 3D model of the different orebodies and host rocks was generated using data from 1090 drill core logs. The model revealed that the structure of the area is a N–S-trending antiform. The orebodies crop out in the limbs and in the hinge zone. The mineralized structures are mostly tabular, up to 100 m in thickness and subhorizontal. Based on the petrography, geochemistry and the 3D model, the Touro deposit is classified as a VMS of the mafic-siliciclastic type formed in an Ordovician back-arc setting, which was buried and metamorphosed in Middle Devonian.


Author(s):  
Mikael Vasilopoulos ◽  
Ferenc Molnár ◽  
Hugh O’Brien ◽  
Yann Lahaye ◽  
Marie Lefèbvre ◽  
...  

AbstractThe Juomasuo Au–Co deposit, currently classified as an orogenic gold deposit with atypical metal association, is located in the Paleoproterozoic Kuusamo belt in northeastern Finland. The volcano-sedimentary sequence that hosts the deposit was intensely altered, deformed, and metamorphosed to greenschist facies during the 1.93–1.76 Ga Svecofennian orogeny. In this study, we investigate the temporal relationship between Co and Au deposition and the relationship of metal enrichment with protolith composition and alteration mineralogy by utilizing lithogeochemical data and petrographic observations. We also investigate the nature of fluids involved in deposit formation based on sulfide trace element and sulfur isotope LA-ICP-MS data together with tourmaline mineral chemistry and boron isotopes. Classification of original protoliths was made on the basis of geochemically immobile elements; recognized lithologies are metasedimentary rocks, mafic, intermediate-composition, and felsic metavolcanic rocks, and an ultramafic sill. The composition of the host rocks does not control the type or intensity of mineralization. Sulfur isotope values (δ34S − 2.6 to + 7.1‰) and trace element data obtained for pyrite, chalcopyrite, and pyrrhotite indicate that the two geochemically distinct Au–Co and Co ore types formed from fluids of different compositions and origins. A reduced, metamorphic fluid was responsible for deposition of the pyrrhotite-dominant, Co-rich ore, whereas a relatively oxidized fluid deposited the pyrite-dominant Au–Co ore. The main alteration and mineralization stages at Juomasuo are as follows: (1) widespread albitization that predates both types of mineralization; (2) stage 1, Co-rich mineralization associated with chlorite (± biotite ± amphibole) alteration; (3) stage 2, Au–Co mineralization related to sericitization. Crystal-chemical compositions for tourmaline suggest the involvement of evaporite-related fluids in formation of the deposit; boron isotope data also allow for this conclusion. Results of our research indicate that the metal association in the Juomasuo Au–Co deposit was formed by spatially coincident and multiple hydrothermal processes.


1989 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 1264-1281 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Cocirta ◽  
J. B. Orsini ◽  
C. Coulon

In calc-alkaline orogenic plutons, the dark xenoliths and their host rocks must be considered the expression of partial mixing of magma.Three associations of this type have been investigated and are illustrated by the Bono pluton (northern Sardinia)— a composite pluton including three intrusives of different nature (tonalitic to granodioritic) and containing a very large number of basaltic xenoliths of magmatic origin. Detailed mineralogical analysis of the two end members in each association, coupled with geochemical data, has determined the major petrogenetic mechanisms intervening in the mixing process in a plutonic setting: temperature equilibration, mechanical exchanges of crystals, chemical exchanges, etc. The most important result of this article, however, is to show that each intrusion is related to a specific group of xenoliths that is characterized by constant FeOt/MgO. The latter reflects the different composition of basaltic components, and it is concluded that each intrusive event is associated with a unique mixing episode. As in volcanic settings, the mixing process may have initiated the intrusion.The extreme compositional variations in the magmatic xenoliths, recognized in several series of orogenic plutons, is explained here by different initial basaltic end members and by variation in the intensity of the interaction mechanisms. [Journal Translation]


2022 ◽  
Vol 117 (2) ◽  
pp. 485-494
Author(s):  
Tobias U. Schlegel ◽  
Renee Birchall ◽  
Tina D. Shelton ◽  
James R. Austin

Abstract Iron oxide copper-gold (IOCG) deposits form in spatial and genetic relation to hydrothermal iron oxide-alkali-calcic-hydrolytic alteration and thus show a mappable zonation of mineral assemblages toward the orebody. The mineral zonation of a breccia matrix-hosted orebody is efficiently mapped by regularly spaced samples analyzed by the scanning electron microscopy-integrated mineral analyzer technique. The method results in quantitative estimates of the mineralogy and allows the reliable recognition of characteristic alteration as well as mineralization-related mineral assemblages from detailed mineral maps. The Ernest Henry deposit is located in the Cloncurry district of Queensland and is one of Australia’s significant IOCG deposits. It is known for its association of K-feldspar altered clasts with iron oxides and chalcopyrite in the breccia matrix. Our mineral mapping approach shows that the hydrothermal alteration resulted in a characteristic zonation of minerals radiating outward from the pipe-shaped orebody. The mineral zonation is the result of a sequence of sodic alteration followed by potassic alteration, brecciation, and, finally, by hydrolytic (acid) alteration. The hydrolytic alteration primarily affected the breccia matrix and was related to economic mineralization. Alteration halos of individual minerals such as pyrite and apatite extend dozens to hundreds of meters beyond the limits of the orebody into the host rocks. Likewise, the Fe-Mg ratio in hydrothermal chlorites changes systematically with respect to their distance from the orebody. Geochemical data obtained from portable X-ray fluorescence (p-XRF) and petrophysical data acquired from a magnetic susceptibility meter and a gamma-ray spectrometer support the mineralogical data and help to accurately identify mineral halos in rocks surrounding the ore zone. Specifically, the combination of mineralogical data with multielement data such as P, Mn, As, P, and U obtained from p-XRF and positive U anomalies from radiometric measurements has potential to direct an exploration program toward higher Cu-Au grades.


Minerals ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 507 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisard Torró ◽  
Joaquín Proenza ◽  
Julio Espaillat ◽  
Albert Belén-Manzeta ◽  
María Román-Alday ◽  
...  

The recently discovered Romero deposit, located in the Tres Palmas district, Cordillera Central of the Dominican Republic, has probable reserves of 840,000 oz gold, 980,000 oz silver and 136 Mlb copper. Mineralization is hosted by intermediate volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks of the lower stratigraphic sequence of the Cretaceous Tireo formation. The andesitic host rocks yield a U-Pb zircon concordia age of 116 ± 10 Ma. Au–Ag–Cu(–Zn) mineralization is divided into: (1) an upper domain with stacked massive sulfide lenses and sulfide dissemination within a 20-m-thick level of massive anhydrite-gypsum nodules, and (2) a lower domain with a high-grade stockwork mineralization in the form of cm-scale veins with open space fillings of fibrous silica and chalcopyrite, sphalerite, pyrite (+electrum ± Au–Ag tellurides). The δ34S values of sulfides from the upper (−7.6 and +0.9‰) and lower (−2.4 and +5.6‰) domains are consistent with a heterogeneous sourcing of S, probably combining inorganically and organically induced reduction of Albian-Aptian seawater sulfate. Despite this, a magmatic source for sulfur cannot be discarded. The δ34S (+19.2 and +20.0‰) and δ18O (+12.5 and +14.2‰) values of anhydrite-gypsum nodules are also consistent with a seawater sulfate source and suggest crystallization in equilibrium with aqueous sulfides at temperatures higher than 250 °C. These data point to a classification of Romero as a volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposit formed in an axial position of the Greater Antilles paleo-arc in connection with island arc tholeiitic magmatism during a steady-state subduction regime. Circulation of hydrothermal fluids could have been promoted by a local extensional tectonic regime expressed in the Tres Palmas district as a graben structure.


1975 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 1316-1330 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. G. Closs ◽  
Ian Nichol

The interpretation of exploration oriented geochemical data frequently requires the recognition of subtle features related to mineralization, from the more obvious geochemical expressions of bedrock and surface environments. A number of previous investigations have indicated the potential of various computerized interpretational procedures as aids in identifying these features in geochemical data. The present investigation was concerned with the interpretation of multi-element data from a 750 mile2 {1942.5 km2) area of the Notre Dame Bay district of Newfoundland. The area is underlain by a series of Ordovician and Silurian sediments and volcanics and intrusives overlain by glacial deposits mostly composed of glacial till. Massive sulfide mineralization including the Whalesback and Gullbridge deposits occur within the Ordovician volcanics. R mode factor analysis was employed to establish the character and distribution of the principle metal associations related to bedrock and surface environment contributing to the overall data distribution. The factor scores were regressed against the individual metal concentrations of the elements composing the respective factors, the resulting residuals of the metals reflecting the component of metal related to some sources other than those reflected by the metal associations established by factor analysis. Anomalous areas of residual copper and zinc distributions indicate the areas of known sulfide mineralization more closely than the untreated metal distributions. On this basis, anomalous areas of residual copper and zinc, unrelated to known sulfide mineralization warrant further exploration investigation. It is therefore concluded that a combination of factor and regression analysis on multi-element data from the Notre Dame Bay district of Newfoundland serves to highlight subtle though significant features in multi-element data possibly related to mineralization that were not apparent from a consideration of the untreated data.


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