Evolution and genesis of hydrothermal fluids for the Cretaceous Dongnan Cu deposit, Zijinshan ore district (SE China)

Abstract

The Dongnan Cu(-Mo) deposit is a newly discovered porphyry-epithermal system located between the Zijinshan high-sulfidation (HS) epithermal deposit and Luoboling porphyry deposit, within the Zijinshan ore district, a large porphyry-epithermal Cu-Au-Mo-Ag ore system in southeast China. The deposit offers a window to investigate the origins of hydrothermal fluids in a coupled porphyry-HS epithermal magmatic-hydrothermal system.Drill hole logging and alteration mineral mapping has identified four hydrothermal alteration and mineralization stages at the Dongnan deposit, namely: stage I porphyry-type alteration, which can be subdivided into stage IA potassic alteration and stage IB phyllic alteration, stage II HS mineralization and associated alteration which can be subdivided into stage IIA-1 pyrophyllite-dominated, stage IIA-2 illite and illite-montmorillonite and stage IIB dickite-dominated alteration, stage III late veins (i.e., calcite and fluorite) and stage IV supergene alteration. Chalcopyrite and molybdenite mineralization is associated with Stage I, whereas covellite and digenite mineralization formed during Stage II. Stage IB minerals (i.e., muscovite) were largely superimposed by minerals from stage II (i.e., dickite, kaolinite, pyrophyllite and alunite). Stage II epithermal alteration is located mainly in the western part of Zijinshan ore district, whereas the eastern part is dominated by porphyry-type mineralization and alteration. Microthermometry results show the average Th and salinity of each sample suite from stage IB ranging from 341 ± 22 to 442 ± 2 °C and 1.6 ± 1.6 to 19.2 ± 2.6 wt% NaCl equiv. By contrast, stage III fluid inclusions are liquid-dominated, with low temperature of homogenization and low salinity (156 ± 9 to 165 ± 4 °C and < 0.5 wt% NaCl equiv.). Thermodynamic modelling of stage II suggest that the fluid responsible for epithermal mineralization was characterized by high temperature (270 to 320 °C), high water to rock (w/r > 1) and high SO2 to H2S ratios (SO2/H2S > 1). Because stage IIA pyrophyllite alteration is overprinted by late stage IIB dickite alteration and relatively different forming condition for pyrophyllite (>270 °C) and kaolinite (<270 °C and w/r > 1), stage IIA and stage IIB may have resulted from two different fluids. The Dongnan porphyry-type mineralization formed mainly in response to the cooling and dilution, led by the mixing of acidic magmatic water with meteoric water, whereas stage II alteration was more likely related to volatile gas escaping, resulting in pH decrease and contributing to the formation of pyrophyllite, dickite and alunite.The distribution of alteration minerals and evolution of hydrothermal fluids all indicate that the hydrothermal fluids for the porphyry-type and HS epithermal-type alteration at Dongnan came separately from nearby Luoboling granodiorite porphyry and the Zijinshan HS epithermal Cu-Au deposit, which implies that Luoboling porphyry deposit and Zijinshan HS deposit formed from separate magmatic-hydrothermal events. It suggests that multiple magmatic centers exist in the Zijinshan ore district, a finding which will contribute to both understanding of ore genesis of this overprinted porphyry-epithermal deposit and further mineral exploration in the Zijinshan Ore district.