Borosilicate alteration associated with U-Mo-Zn and Ag-Au-Zn deposits in volcanic rocks

Abstract

Borosilicate alteration is developed in many uranium-molybdenum-zinc deposits in volcanic piles such as at Novazza (Italy), Novoveska Huta (Slovakia), Ben Lomond (Queensland, Australia), the Saar-Nahe basin (Germany), the Shengyuan district (China), and at many deposits in Russia. These uranium-molybdenum-zinc deposits share similar styles of alteration with silver-gold-zinc deposits in volcanic rocks, like those of the Humboldt Range (Nevada, USA), the Basin district (Montana, USA) and Equity Mine (British Columbia, Canada). In thick volcanic piles, fluid-rock interaction commonly develops under the influence of convective hydrothermal systems. In borosilicate-bearing systems the alteration is characterized by changes in borosilicate mineralogy and chemistry under mesothermal conditions. Zonal distribution of different compositions of tourmaline can be observed including regular increases of alkali deficiency in the X(3a) site from peripheral (chlorite-epidote-prehnite) to internal (sericite and/or pyrophyllite) alteration zones. In the central part of these systems tourmaline is absent and the alteration assemblage is characterized by an andalusitedumortierite-quartz association. Such changes in mineral assemblage are related to an increase in temperature from 250 to 350–400 °C and to decreases in pH and Eh, from the outer toward the inner parts of the hydrothermal system. The zonation of the borosilicate-bearing alteration systems is similar to that of aluminosilicate-bearing hydrothermal systems (muscovite, pyrophyllite, andalusite) developed in volcanic rocks. A kaolinite-alunitejasperoid assemblage is generally associated with the borosilicate alteration, and seems related to a late hydrothermal phase mainly located in graben structures.