Volcanogenic mineralization and a rhyolite dome in the Arabian Shield

Abstract

The district of Mahawiyah in the Proterozoic shield of Arabia contains a group of Zn-Cu-Au-Ag-Ba mineral prospects in folded meta-sedimentary, volcanoclastic and volcanic rocks, ranging in composition from basalt to rhyolite. The mineralization occurs in veins and as strata-bound, disseminated orebodies associated with intense argillic alteration of adjacent rocks. An intrusive rhyolite dome or laccolith is situated at the centre of an eight square kilometre area of slight but pervasive alteration whose outline can be traced from aerial photographs and within which many of the ore mineral occurrences lie. A model is proposed to explain the pattern of alteration in the volcano-sedimentary pile and formation of the volcanogenic mineralization, based on a concept of the dome acting as a heat source to drive a geothermal "cell". Circulating connate-hydrothermal fluids could have caused alteration and redistribution of trace metals within the volcanics and sediments which mantle the sub-volcanic, rhyolite intrusion. The ore genetic model implies that clusters of veins, disseminated strata-bound and stratiform massive sulphide orebodies occur in distinct areas of the shield, marked by tracts of pervasive alteration which can be identified in aerial photographs and satellite images.