Superdense CO2 inclusions in Cretaceous quartz–stibnite veins hosted in low-grade Variscan basement of the Western Carpathians, Slovakia

Abstract

CO2 inclusions with density up to 1,197 kg m−3 occur in quartz–stibnite veins hosted in the low-grade Palaeozoic basement of the Gemericum tectonic unit in the Western Carpathians. Raman microanalysis corroborated CO2 as dominant gas species accompanied by small amounts of nitrogen (<7.3 mol%) and methane (<2.5 mol%). The superdense CO2 phase exsolved from an aqueous bulk fluid at temperatures of 183–237°C and pressures between 1.6 and 3.5 kbar, possibly up to 4.5 kbar. Low thermal gradients (∼12–13°C km−1) and the CO2–CH4–N2 fluid composition rule out a genetic link with the subjacent Permian granites and indicate an external, either metamorphogenic (oxidation of siderite, dedolomitization) or lower crustal/mantle, source of the ore-forming fluids.