Stable isotope systematics and fluid inclusion studies in the Cu–Au Visconde deposit, Carajás Mineral Province, Brazil: implications for fluid source generation
文摘
The Cu–Au Visconde deposit is located in the Carajás Mineral Province (CMP), northern Brazil, near the contact between the ca. 2.76?Ga metavolcano-sedimentary rocks of the Itacaiunas Supergroup rocks and the ~3.0?Ga granitic-gneissic basement. It is hosted by mylonitized Archean rocks, mainly metadacites, the Serra Dourada granite, and gabbros/diorites, which have been successively altered by sodic, sodic-calcic-magnesian, potassic, and calcic-magnesian hydrothermal processes, producing diverse mineralogical associations (albite-scapolite; albite-actinolite-scapolite-epidote; K-feldspar-biotite; chlorite-actinolite-epidote-calcite, etc.). Chalcopyrite is the dominant ore mineral and occurs principally in breccias and veins/veinlets. The aqueous fluids responsible for the alteration/mineralization were initially hot (>460?°C) and very saline (up to 58?wt.% equivalent (equiv.) NaCl), but as the system evolved, they experienced successive dilution processes. Mineral oxygen and hydrogen isotope data show that 18O-rich (\( {\delta}^{18}{O}_{{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}}=+4.2 \) to +9.4?- fluids prevailed in the earlier alteration (including magnetitites) and reached temperatures as high as 410-55?°C. Metamorphic/formation waters, most likely derived from the Carajás Basin rocks, appear to have contributed a major component to the fluid composition, although some magmatic input cannot be discounted. In turn, the later alterations and the mineralization involved cooler (<230?°C), 18O-depleted (\( {\delta}^{18}{O}_{{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}}=-1.3 \) to +3.7?- and less saline (7-0?wt.% equiv. NaCl) fluids, indicating the influx of meteoric water. Fluid dilution and cooling might have caused abundant precipitation of sulfides, especially as breccia cement. Ore δ 34 S values (+0.5 to +3.4?- suggest a magmatic source for sulfur (from sulfide dissolution in pre-existing igneous rocks). The chalcopyrite Pb–Pb ages (2.73?±-.15 and 2.74?±-.10?Ga) indicate that the Visconde mineralization is Neoarchean, rather than Paleoproterozoic as previously considered. If so, the hydrothermal processes were synchronous with the 2.75-.73?Ga transpressive event recorded in the CMP, which is considered the most likely phenomenon that triggered the migration of highly saline fluids trapped in the Carajás Basin rocks.