Abstract
This work provides an overview of the geological, geochemical, and metallogenic data available up to date on the Moroccan massive sulphide deposits, including some new results, and then discusses the evidences for the epigenetic and syngenetic hypotheses. All of the ore deposits are located within a crustal block located at the intersection between two major shear zones and are characterized by a sustained and long-lived magmatic activity. The ore deposits are located within second-order shear zones, which played an important role in controlling the geometry of the mineralization. The mineralization lacks the unequivocal textural and structural features that are indicative of a sedimentary or diagenetic origin, and a syntectonic to late-tectonic pyrite-rich assemblage is superimposed on an earlier, pretectonic to syntectonic pyrrhotite-rich mineralization. Each deposit has a distinctive pyrrhotite sulfur isotopic signature, while the sulfur isotopic signature of pyrite is similar in all deposits. Lead isotopes suggest a shift from a magmatic source during the pyrrhotite-rich mineralization to a source that is inherited from the host shales during the pyrite-rich mineralization. The O/H isotopic signatures record a predominance of fluids of metamorphic derivation. These results are consistent with a model in which an earlier pyrrhotite-rich mineralization, which formed during transtension, was deformed and then remobilized to pyrite-rich mineralization during transpression.
Highlights
Volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposits are an important source of copper, zinc, lead, gold, and silver [1,2,3,4]
In order to investigate the evidence for these contrasting hypotheses, we present a synthesis that integrates existing and new geological and metallogenic information of the Moroccan massive sulphide deposits (MMSD)
As the MMSD are located within structural lineaments that are parallel to linear arrays of magmatic bodies, we propose that the distinctive sulphur isotopic signatures indicate a subdivision of the Central Jebilet sedimentary basin into individual sub-basins where the Upper Visean black shales were deposited and magmatic rocks were emplaced along N–S to NE–SW synsedimentary fractures
Summary
Volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposits are an important source of copper, zinc, lead, gold, and silver [1,2,3,4]. The epigenetic hypothesis suggests that the massive sulphides were formed during deformation, with the hydrothermal system being driven by heat from syn-tectonic intrusions Evidence for this comes from areas that are devoid of volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks, at Kettara [17,25]. In order to investigate the evidence for these contrasting hypotheses, we present a synthesis that integrates existing and new geological and metallogenic information of the Moroccan massive sulphide deposits (MMSD) This synthesis shows that the MMSD present unique features that differentiate them from those of the Iberian Pyrite Belt (IPB) and are difficult to interpret in terms of the classical VMS model.
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