Rare-earth element content of carbonate minerals in sediment-hosted Pb-Zn deposits, southern Canadian Rocky Mountains

Abstract

Paleozoic platform carbonate rocks of the Rocky Mountains host Mississippi Valley-type (MVT), magnesite, barite, and REE-barite-fluorite deposits. Farther west, platform carbonate rocks of the Kootenay Arc host MVT and fracture-controlled replacement (FCR) deposits. This is the first systematic LA-ICP-MS study of carbonates in MVT and FCR deposits. We investigated seven MVT deposits in the Rocky Mountains, and five MVT deposits in the Kootenay Arc. None of the post-Archean Australian shale (PAAS)-normalized REE profiles show light REE (LREE) depletion and strong negative Ce anomalies characteristic of modern seawater: some profiles are nearly flat; others show depletion in LREE similar to seawater but without negative Ce anomalies; others are middle REE enriched. Carbonates with a strong positive Eu anomaly precipitated from or interacted with different fluids than carbonates with flatter profiles without a strong positive Eu anomaly. REE signatures reflect crystallization conditions of primary carbonates, and crystallization and re-equilibration conditions of carbonates with ambient fluids during diagenesis, deep burial, and/or metamorphic recrystallization. Chemical evolution of fluids along their migration path, fluid-to-rock ratio, fluid acidity, redox, and temperature also influence REE profile shape, which helps establish genetic and timing constraints on studied deposits and improves knowledge of the metallogeny of the Kootenay Arc and Rocky Mountains.