Geochemical differences between subduction- and collision-related copper-bearing porphyries and implications for metallogenesis

Abstract

Porphyry Cu (–Mo–Au) deposits occur not only in continental margin–arc settings (subduction-related porphyry Cu deposits, such as those along the eastern Pacific Rim (EPRIM)), but also in continent–continent collisional orogenic belts (collision-related porphyry Cu deposits, such as those in southern Tibet). These Cu-mineralized porphyries, which develop in contrasting tectonic settings, are characterized by some different trace element (e.g., Th, and Y) concentrations and their ratios (e.g., Sr/Y, and La/Yb), suggesting that their source magmas probably developed by different processes. Subduction-related porphyry Cu mineralization on the EPRIM is associated with intermediate to felsic calc-alkaline magmas derived from primitive basaltic magmas that pooled beneath the lower crust and underwent melting, assimilation, storage, and homogenization (MASH), whereas K-enriched collision-related porphyry Cu mineralization was associated with underplating of subduction-modified basaltic materials beneath the lower crust (with subsequent transformation into amphibolites and eclogite amphibolites), and resulted from partial melting of the newly formed thickened lower crust. These different processes led to the collision-related porphyry Cu deposits associated with adakitic magmas enriched by the addition of melts, and the subduction-related porphyry Cu deposits associated with magmas comprising all compositions between normal arc rocks and adakitic rocks, all of which were associated with fluid-dominated enrichment process.In subduction-related Cu porphyry magmas, the oxidation state (fO2), the concentrations of chalcophile metals, and other volatiles (e.g., S and Cl), and the abundance of water were directly controlled by the composition of the primary arc basaltic magma. In contrast, the high Cu concentrations and fO2 values of collision-related Cu porphyry magmas were indirectly derived from subduction modified magmas, and the large amount of water and other volatiles in these magmas were controlled in part by partial melting of amphibolite derived from arc basalts that were underplated beneath the lower crust, and in part by the contribution from the rising potassic and ultrapotassic magmas. Both subduction- and collision-related porphyries are enriched in potassium, and were associated with crustal thickening. Their high K2O contents were primarily as a result of the inheritance of enriched mantle components and/or mixing with contemporaneous ultrapotassic magmas.