Volcanic stratigraphy, structural controls, and mineralization in the san cristobal Ag–Zn–Pb deposit, southern bolivia

Abstract

The Late Miocene San Cristobal Ag–Zn–Pb deposit represents syngenetic and epigenetic mineralization with low- and high-sulfidation characteristics. Rocks in the deposit are characterized by barren dacitic ring fracture domes, mineralized resurgent rhyodacite domes, strongly altered and mineralized tuffaceous lacustrine sedimentary rocks, and an extensive crystal-lithic tuff debris apron. The ore body is hosted by intracauldron sedimentary and volcanic rocks and genetically associated breccias. Fluid inclusion data suggest that silver, lead, and zinc were transported as chloride complexes and precipitated by cooling in veins from <5 wt.% NaCl eq. fluids at 170–215 °C. Silver that was spatially, and perhaps temporally, associated with an episode of rhyodacite resurgence may have been transported as a chloride complex and precipitated by increased H 2S activity or increased fluid pH. Although San Cristobal represents a major silver resource, the occurrence of stratiform wurtzite and sphalerite in cauldron-hosted sedimentary rocks represents a syngenetic component of mineralization that is very rare in continental caldera-associated epithermal deposits, which contributes to San Cristobal's significance as a zinc resource.