Heterogeneous melt and hypersaline liquid inclusions in shallow porphyry type mineralization as markers of the magmatic-hydrothermal transition (Cerro de Pasco district, Peru)

Abstract

Recently identified occurrences of porphyry-style mineralization evidence the link of the world's second largest known epithermal base metal Cerro de Pasco deposit (Peru) to a porphyry system emplaced at depth. They consist of (i) quartz-monzonite dykes and (ii) the south-western part of the large diatreme-dome complex adjacent to the main ore bodies of Cerro de Pasco, and (iii) stockwork of banded quartz-magnetite-chalcopyrite-(pyrite) porphyry-type veinlets crosscutting trachyte porphyritic intrusion cropping out at surface in the central part of the diatreme-dome complex. The latter porphyry-type mineralization observed at the same erosion level as the main epithermal base metal carbonate-replacement ore bodies is the subject of this work. Geological constraints indicate a shallow emplacement level (depth<1km, P<270bar), implying rather unusual low-pressure and high-temperature environment for the formation of porphyry-style mineralization.The banded porphyry-type veinlets record a multiphase history of formation with two successive high-temperature (>600°C) stages, followed by a lower-temperature (<350°C) stage. More than 90% of the quartz in veinlets precipitates during the first two high-temperature stages. Stage 1 is characterized by the entrapment in hydrothermal quartz of inclusions containing variable proportions of both silicate melt and metal-rich hypersaline (>90wt% NaCl eq.) liquid, hereafter referred to as heterogeneous silicate melt inclusions (HSMIs). The latter are rarely described in porphyry-type mineralization. We suggest that during stage 1, the inclusions result from heterogeneous entrapment of an evolved hydrous rhyolitic melt mixed with a hypersaline fluid phase at low pressure (270bar) and high temperature (>600°C). The stage 2 is marked by the entrapment of metal- and sulfur-rich hypersaline liquid inclusions, with salinity around 70wt% NaCl eq., originated from the adiabatic ascent of magmatic hypersaline fluids transferred from deeper parts of the system. The lower-temperature stage 3 is characterized by an important temperature drop from >600°C to <350°C as revealed by microthermometry of aqueous two-phase liquid-vapor (L-V) inclusions. Quartz textures revealed by SEM-CL imaging allow ascribing the sulfide precipitation to the low-temperature mineralization stage 3. In-situ SIMS 18O/16O isotope analyses of quartz across the veinlets are indicative of a magmatic signature of the fluids during the first two stages; while quartz from stage 3 has oxygen isotopic compositions suggestive of minor contribution of meteoric waters to a predominantly magmatic aqueous fluid (~10vol.% of meteoric input), which probably triggered Cu-Fe sulfide precipitation in the stockwork. High metal and sulfur contents of HSMIs and hypersaline liquid inclusions determined by LA-ICP-MS are interpreted to represent the fluid composition prior to the main sulfide precipitation event. The similar Pb-Zn ratio of the bulk ore extracted from the epithermal ore bodies at Cerro de Pasco and the HSMIs and hypersaline liquid inclusions suggest a common source of the fluids associated with the different mineralization styles at Cerro de Pasco.