Sulfosalt melts: Evidence of high-temperature cvapor transport of metals in the formation of high-sulfidation lode gold deposits
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Abstract
In enargite-gold (high-sulfidation) vein deposits, magmatic fluid is considered responsible for the transport of metals and sulfur into the depositional regime. New data from Field-Emission SEM analyses of sulfosalt mineral assemblages (primarily enargite and tennantite) from El Indio, Chile, and Summitville, Colorado, provide direct evidence of high-temperature deposition, including the following: (1) the preservation of delicate euhedral quartz assemblages in sulfosalts, (2) a range of discrete Sb-rich sulfosalt, quartz, feldspar, and flourapatite vug-filling minerals, and (3) symplectic sulfosalt-chalcopyrite textures that are arguably quenched melts. Together, these features indicate formation from the vapor phase at high temperatures. Furthermore, euhedral quartz crystals from El Indio contain high-temperature, vapor-rich fluid inclusions. Combined, these observations are interpreted as suggestive of deposition in response to vapor-phase decompression within fracture arrays that may be considered the analogues of the feeder fractures beneath large low-grade silver-gold deposits such as Yanacocha, Peru.
Study Area
| Publication type | Article |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
| Title | Sulfosalt melts: Evidence of high-temperature cvapor transport of metals in the formation of high-sulfidation lode gold deposits |
| Series title | Economic Geology |
| DOI | 10.2113/gsecongeo.105.2.257 |
| Volume | 105 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Year Published | 2010 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Society of Economic Geologists |
| Contributing office(s) | Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry Science Center |
| Description | 6 p. |
| First page | 257 |
| Last page | 262 |
| Country | Chile, United States |
| Other Geospatial | El Indio, Summitville |
| Google Analytic Metrics | Metrics page |