Evidence for a high-level porphyritic intrusion below the Sunnyside epithermal vein deposit, Colorado

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Abstract

High-temperature quartz veins were identified in drill core at ~600 m below the Sunnyside epithermal base and pre-cious metal deposit in southwestern Colorado. The veins consist of early anhedral quartz that shows a bluish ca-thodoluminescence emission and hosts heterogenous silicate melt inclusions. The early quartz is overgrown by a later generation of quartz that exhibits euhedral termina-tions with oscillatory growth zones showing a bright pink to purple cathodoluminescence emission. Both types of quartz are crosscut by ubiquitous planes of vapor-rich inclusions and some hypersaline liquid inclusions. In addi-tion, secondary planes of intermediate-density inclusions occur. The petrographic characteristics of the two quartz types are similar to those in ‘A’ and ‘B’ veins encountered in shallow- and intermediate-depth porphyry deposits. The relationships at Sunnyside imply that these high-temperature veins formed from magmatic-hydrothermal fluids derived from an intrusion located not far below the lowest level of drilling. Sunnyside appears to be a rare example of an epithermal deposit that is directly connected to a high-level porphyritic intrusion.

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Publication type Conference Paper
Publication Subtype Conference Paper
Title Evidence for a high-level porphyritic intrusion below the Sunnyside epithermal vein deposit, Colorado
Volume 1
Year Published 2023
Language English
Publisher Society for Geology Applied to Mineral Deposits
Contributing office(s) Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry Science Center
Description 4 p.
Larger Work Type Book
Larger Work Subtype Conference publication
Larger Work Title Proceedings of the 17th SGA biennial meeting
First page 56
Last page 59
Conference Title 17th Biennial SGA Meeting
Conference Location Zurich, Switzerland
Conference Date August 28 - September 1, 2023
Country United States
State Colorado, New Mexico
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