Copper mineralization in sedimentary cover associated with tectonic elements and volcanism in Israel

Abstract

Copper mineralization occurs within the thick Cretaceous to Neogene sedimentary cover of central and northern Israel. Two distinct types of copper-rich anomalies are encountered. One form of copper mineralization is characterized by the presence of copper minerals such as malachite, atacamite, paratacamite, chrysocolla, and/or chalcopyrite forming veins and concretions within the sedimentary host rocks. The second type of copper enrichment is found dispersed within iron oxide veins associated with enrichments of other trace metals such as Ni, V, Zn, Co, Mo, and As. Both forms of copper anomalies lie along and are confined to the vicinity of tectonic elements. These features may be the surface expression of the longitudinal faults of the Dead Sea Rift Valley, of the transverse shear zone of southern and central Negev, or of the EW-trending horsts and grabens of central Israel. In many cases the copper anomalies are found near to or at the contact of volcanic bodies of intermediate to basic composition; in others, they are found in the vicinity of thermal springs. The fault zones may have provided conduits along which solutions, in places possibly briny, could have risen and leached subsurface mineralized volcanic or sedimentary bodies.