A Fluid Inclusion Study of the Brookbank Deposit, Northwestern Ontario: A Transition from Mesothermal to Epithermal Gold Deposition

Abstract

The Brookbank and Cherbourg Zone gold deposits are located in the Beardmore–Geraldton greenstone belt of the Wabigoon Subprovince of the Archean Superior Province of the Canadian Shield. Brookbank is a shear zone deposit, whereas the Cherbourg Zone, joined by a shear zone to the Brookbank, is a fissure vein deposit, presumably formed by the same ore-depositing fluid. A total of 375 fluid inclusions, all with low salinity (generally <1 °C freezing point depression) and presence of CO2, from the two deposits were studied. Cross-cutting relationships delineated three stages of vein formation: (1) pre-ore, (2) ore stage and (3) post-ore. Stage 1 inclusions homogenized at ca. 230 °C with low salinity, although at Brookbank a high temperature episode at ca. 360 °C was noted. Stage 2 homogenized at ca. 266 °C at the Cherbourg Zone and over a range 258–269 °C with somewhat higher salinity. Eutectic temperatures indicate that the fluid composition was within the MgCl2-NaCl-H2O system. Fluid immiscibility was prominent in that inclusions homogenized to liquid and vapor at the same temperature were observed. The majority of inclusions from Brookbank homogenized to vapor, whereas those from the Cherbourg Zone homogenized to liquid, marking the transition from mesothermal to epithermal lode gold deposition. Stage 3 fluid inclusions from the Cherbourg Zone homogenized at slightly elevated temperatures and contained fluid possibly representing metastable hydrates of KCl. These post-ore fluids may have been the source of potassium feldspar alteration that overprinted earlier alteration assemblages.