Fingerprinting hydrothermal fluids in porphyry Cu deposits using K and Mg isotopes

Abstract

In this study, we performed an integrated investigation of K and Mg isotopes in hydrothermally altered rocks from the giant Dexing porphyry Cu deposit in China. Both the altered porphyry intrusion and the surrounding wall rocks exhibit large variations in K and Mg isotope compositions, with δ41K values ranging between −1.0296‰ and 0.38‰, and δ26Mg values ranging between −0.49‰ and 0.32‰. The δ41K and δ26Mg values of the majority of altered samples are higher than the isotopic baseline values for upper continental crust. We attribute the general increase in δ41K and δ26Mg in altered rocks to hydrothermal alteration, which caused preferential incorporation of heavy K and Mg isotopes in alteration products, particularly phyllosilicates. However, a few altered samples show anomalously low δ41K and δ26Mg values. The δ41K and δ26Mg values do not correlate with K and Mg concentrations, or mineralogy of altered samples. The variable K-Mg isotope data likely reflect fluids of different physical-chemical properties, or different isotopic compositions. Based on the combined K-Mg isotope data, at least three groups of hydrothermal fluids are distinguished from the Dexing porphyry deposit. Therefore, K-Mg isotopes are potentially a novel tracer for fingerprinting fluids in complex hydrothermal systems.