Geochemical constraints on the origin of the Kicking Horse and Monarch Mississippi Valley-type lead-zinc ore deposits, southeast British Columbia, Canada

Abstract

Two Mississippi Valley-type (MVT) ore deposits, Kicking Horse and Monarch, have been studied with the aim of comparing the ores at the two localities and to characterize the origin of the mineralizing fluids and the ore formation process(es). Both deposits are hosted by the Middle Cambrian Cathedral Formation carbonate host rocks, Kicking Horse on the north and Monarch on the south flank of the Kicking Horse valley near Field (SE British Columbia). The ore bodies are situated at the transition of (western) basinal to (eastern) shallow-water strata of the paleo-Pacific passive margin succession in the Cordilleran Foreland Province of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. Both deposits are related spatially to normal faults. In both localities, the ore minerals are dominated by pyrite, sphalerite, and galena. Dolomite, minor quartz, and calcite are also present in close association with the ores. The salinity (21–30 wt% NaCl eq.) and homogenization temperatures (63–182°C) measured in fluid inclusions in carbonate, quartz, and sphalerite lie within the typical range of MVT fluid conditions. The good stoichiometry (50–53 mol% CaCO3), low δ18O values (−21 to −14‰ Vienna Peedee belemnite) and relatively high homogenization temperatures (>95°C) of the dolomite suggest the dolomites were formed under burial diagenesis. The ore-forming fluids probably interacted with siliciclastic units, based on elevated Li contents and 87Sr/86Sr ratios, which are highest in the dolomite type after the main ore stage. We propose that the ores formed from the mixing of a downward-infiltrating, sulfur-bearing halite-dissolution fluid with an upward-migrating, metal-rich evaporated seawater fluid, which had already undergone minor mixing with a dilute fluid.