Crystal mush dykes as conduits for mineralising fluids in the Yerington porphyry copper district, Nevada
| Autor: | Catia Costa, Simon Tapster, Ben J. Williamson, Lawrence Carter, Gavyn Rollinson, Geoffrey W. Grime |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences
Geochemistry 010502 geochemistry & geophysics Feldspar 01 natural sciences Porphyry copper deposit Hydrothermal circulation Crystal Petrography visual_art visual_art.visual_art_medium General Earth and Planetary Sciences Quartz Geology 0105 earth and related environmental sciences General Environmental Science |
| DOI: | 10.1038/s43247-021-00128-4 |
| Popis: | Porphyry-type deposits are the world’s main source of copper and molybdenum and provide a large proportion of gold and other metals. However, the mechanism by which mineralising fluids are extracted from source magmas and transported upwards into the ore-forming environment is not clearly understood. Here we use field, micro-textural and geochemical techniques to investigate field relationships and samples from a circa 8 km deep cross-section through the archetypal Yerington porphyry district, Nevada. We identify an interconnected network of relatively low-temperature hydrothermal quartz that is connected to mineralised miarolitic cavities within aplite dykes. We propose that porphyry-deposit-forming fluids migrated from evolved, more water-rich internal regions of the underlying Luhr Hill granite via these aplite dykes which contained a permeable magmatic crystal mush of feldspar and quartz. The textures we describe provide petrographic evidence for the transport of fluids through crystal mush dykes. We suggest that this process should be considered in future models for the formation of porphyry- and similar-type deposits. Hydrothermal mineralising fluids migrated from relatively deep, evolved and water-rich magmas via crystal mush dykes to reach the ore-forming environment in the Yerington porphyry system, according to field, petrographic and geochemical investigations. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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