Abstract
The Meggen orebody and the number of subeconomic sediment-hosted mineralizations at Plettenberg-Affeln, Oberhundem, and Gunterod (eastern Rhenish Massif) are considered to be typical members of the large SEDEX family, i.e., submarine-hydrothermal Zn-Pb orebodies. Examples such as Howards Pass (Canada), McArthur River and Broken Hill (Australia), and Navan (Ireland) formed between the Middle Proterozoic and Carboniferous as a consequence of slow continental extension, long-term elevated heat flow and basin dewatering, enhanced and focused along deeply penetrating synsedimentary fault zones. Volcanic activity bound to these fractures has no direct genetic relationship to SEDEX mineralization. Based on structural and detailed stratigraphic correlation and facies analysis it can be shown that all SEDEX-type mineralizations of the Rhenish Massif are bound to one and the same synsedimentary fault zone, named here the Balve-Oberscheld fault zone, which was reactivated during Variscan compressional and extensional movements. The trend of this tectonic lineament (termed »Menden-Oberscheld lineament«) can be even recognized on maps depicting crustal gravity patterns and the configuration of the Moho. Illite crystallinity measurements in Devonian shales along profiles crosscutting the lineament evidence increased Variscan to early post-Variscan metamorphism in the fault system, which already had promoted the synsedimentary heat flow. Indications were found that the metalliferous brines escaping into the Meggen basin were bound to a synsedimentary fault situated at the western margin of the Meggen basin. The widespread Zn-Pb-Ba mineralizations and anomalies in the middle to upper Givetian shales in the Plettenberg-Affeln area are likewise bound to horst-and-graben tectonism along the Balve-Oberscheld fault zone. Based on data from economic and scientific research in the Rhenish Massif, the application of paleostructural methods for future basemetal exploration is discussed.
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