Tin Enrichment in Magmatic-Hydrothermal Environments Associated with Cassiterite Mineralization at Ardlethan, Eastern Australia: Insights from Rb-Sr and Sm-Nd Isotope Compositions in Tourmaline

Abstract

Abstract Primary cassiterite mineralization is often associated with highly evolved granites, but the magmatic and hydrothermal processes that produce these deposits are often difficult to decipher. In this study, we employed the chemical and Sr-Nd isotope compositions of tourmaline to monitor processes of Sn enrichment in the magmatic and hydrothermal stages of the Ardlethan granite (Australia) and its associated Sn deposits. Initial 87Sr/86Sr (0.710–0.717) and ɛNd (–5.0 to −1.0) values of late magmatic tourmalines indicate derivation of the Ardlethan granite via an assimilation-fractional crystallization (AFC) process in which incorporation of Ordovician sediment into an I-type granitic parental magma produced an enrichment of Sn at least 30 times over that of the assumed mafic-dominated igneous source of the granite. The rare earth element and Sn concentrations of tourmaline in the greisen deposits together with δ18O of coprecipitated quartz indicate that exsolution of a late-stage, Cl-rich fluid from the Ardlethan granite led to cassiterite mineralization in these deposits. In contrast the Fe/(Fe + Mg) and initial εNd (–9.2 to −12.9) compositions of tourmaline that coprecipitated with cassiterite in the large breccia pipes adjacent to the Ardlethan granite suggest that granite-derived fluids scavenged Sn by chemical leaching of an older S-type granite that hosts the pipes. This study shows that tourmaline can act as a robust monitor of key geologic processes in complex and dynamic magmatic-hydrothermal Sn systems and that its 87Sr/86Sr and ɛNd isotope compositions are especially useful for constraining the nature of magmatic and hydrothermal sources that contributed to these deposits.