Summary
At Climax, comagmatic igneous intrusions can be subdivided into two groups, mineralizing stocks which are parent intrusions for Mo orebodies and barren stocks. Magmatic biotites in mineralizing stocks are similar to hydrothermal biotites in that they contain a greater proportion of Si-enriched and Ti-depleted compositional domains than do magmatic biotites in barren stocks. A similar trend of Si-enrichment correlated with Ti-depletion is also recorded in biotites from the Bingham porphyry copper deposit. Such trends are attributed to vapour exsolution associated with mineralization. Mo concentrations of magmatic biotites, as determined by ion-probe analysis, from mineralizing stocks (av. 40 gg/g) and barren stocks (av. 33 μ/g) at Climax are similar, being in the same order of magnitude as magmatic biotite Cu concentrations in mineralizing and barren (type A) intrusions in North American porphyry copper deposits (Hendry et al., 1985). These Cu and Mo values are more than a factor of 10 lower than Cu concentrations commonly recorded in magmatic mafic phases in barren (type B) South West Pacific and Australian granitic systems that are temporally distinct from mineralizing events, and are consistent with the magmatic-hydrothermal origin for the Climax deposits proposed by White et al. (1981).
Zusammenfassung
Zwei Gruppen komagmatischer Intrusivkörper können im Bereich der Molybdän-Lagerstätte Climax, Colorado, unterschieden werden: Mineralisierende Intrusiva, die Stammagmen für Molybdän-Erzkörper darstellen, und erzfreie Intrusiva. Magmatische Biotite in mineralisierenden Intrusiva sind hydrothermalen Biotiten insofern ähnlich, als sie einen größeren Anteil von Si-angereicherten und Ti-verarmten Bereichen enthalten als magmatische Biotite in erzfreien Intrusiva. Ein ähnlicher Trend von Si-Anreicherung, die mit Ti-Verarmung korreliert werden kann, ist auch in Biotiten aus der Porphyry-copper-Lagerstätte Bingham bekannt geworden. Derartige Trends werden auf Entmischung von Dampfphasen in Zusammenhang mit der Mineralisation zurückgeführt.
Molybdän-Konzentrationen von magmatischen Biotiten in Climax wurden mit der Ionensonde bestimmt und zeigen in mineralisierenden und erzfreien Intrusiva ähnliche Werte, i.e., 40 p/g bzw. 33 gg/g. Diese Werte liegen in derselben Größenordnung wie Kupferkonzentrationen in magmatischen Biotiten aus vererzten und erzfreien (Typ A) Intrusionen im nordamerikanischen Porphyry-copper-Lagerstätten (Hendry et al., 1985). Diese Kupfer- und Molybdänwerte sind um den Faktor 10 niedriger als Kupferkonzentrationen, die man gewöhnlich in magmatischen mafischen Phasen in erzfreien (Typ B) Granitsystemen im südwestlichen Pazifik und Australien nachgewiesen hat. Diese sind zeitlich einer anderen Entstehungsperiode zuzuordnen als die erzbildenden Vorgänge, und dies stimmt wiederum mit der magmatisch hydrothermalen Entstehung der Lagerstätten von Climax überein, wie sie vonWhite et al. (1981) vorgeschlagen worden ist.
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Hendry, D.A.F., Gunow, A.J., Smith, R.P. et al. Chemical differences between minerals from mineralizing and barren intrusions associated with molybdenum mineralization at Climax, Colorado. Mineralogy and Petrology 39, 251–263 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01163039
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01163039