Sulphide petrology and ore genesis of the stratabound Sheep Creek sediment-hosted Zn–Pb–Ag–Sn prospect, and U–Pb zircon constraints on the timing of magmatism in the northern Alaska Range
Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences
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Abstract
The Sheep Creek prospect is a stratabound Zn–Pb–Ag–Sn massive sulfide occurrence in the Bonnifield mining district, northern Alaska Range. The prospect is within a quartz–sericite–graphite–chlorite schist unit associated with Devonian carbonaceous and siliceous metasedimentary rocks. Volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposits in the district are hosted in felsic metavolcanic rocks (362 ± 2 Ma) associated with siliciclastic and carbonaceous sedimentary rocks that overlie the stratigraphic sequence hosting the Sheep Creek prospect. Felsic metaigneous rocks in underlying units are 372 ± 4 to 366 ± 4 Ma. Sheep Creek is atypical of the other sulfide deposits in the district in (1) having Sn grades up to 1.2%; (2) being contained in fine-grained, quartz-rich rocks and quartz–pebble conglomerate that likely originated as chert and chert-clast sediment, respectively; and (3) showing minimal evidence of volcanic components in the host rocks. Comparison of immobile trace-element proportions for graphitic and siliceous rocks from the Sheep Creek area with those for argillite associated with the Bonnifield VMS deposits indicates a continental volcanic-arc provenance for the former and a within-plate and passive margin provenance for the latter. In contrast to previously published interpretations, our data analysis supports a clastic-dominated (CD) rather than a VMS affinity for the Sheep Creek prospect. In our model, Zn–Pb–Ag–Sn mineralization formed by syngenetic or early diagenetic processes on or beneath the seafloor, possibly in the shallow-water environment of an outer continental shelf setting. Potential analogues are the Paleozoic CD deposits in the Canadian Selwyn Basin outboard of the Laurentian continental margin.
Suggested Citation
Dusel-Bacon, C., Aleinikoff, J.N., Paradise, S., Slack, J.F., 2024, Sulphide petrology and ore genesis of the stratabound Sheep Creek sediment-hosted Zn–Pb–Ag–Sn prospect, and U–Pb zircon constraints on the timing of magmatism in the northern Alaska Range: Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, v. 61, no. 4, p. 471-504, https://doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2023-0089.
Study Area
| Publication type | Article |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
| Title | Sulphide petrology and ore genesis of the stratabound Sheep Creek sediment-hosted Zn–Pb–Ag–Sn prospect, and U–Pb zircon constraints on the timing of magmatism in the northern Alaska Range |
| Series title | Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences |
| DOI | 10.1139/cjes-2023-0089 |
| Volume | 61 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Year Published | 2024 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Canadian Science Publishing |
| Contributing office(s) | Central Mineral and Environmental Resources Science Center, Eastern Energy Resources Science Center, Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center |
| Description | 34 p. |
| First page | 471 |
| Last page | 504 |
| Country | United States |
| State | Alaska |
| Other Geospatial | northern Alaska Range |