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Metamorphic fluid origins in the Osborne Fe oxide–Cu–Au deposit, Australia: evidence from noble gases and halogens

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Abstract

The Osborne iron oxide–copper–gold (IOCG) deposit is hosted by amphibolite facies metasedimentary rocks and associated with pegmatite sheets formed by anatexis during peak metamorphism. Eleven samples of ore-related hydrothermal quartz and two pegmatitic quartz–feldspar samples contain similarly complex fluid inclusion assemblages that include variably saline (<12–65 wt% salts) aqueous and liquid carbon dioxide varieties that are typical of IOCG mineralisation. The diverse fluid inclusion types present in each of these different samples have been investigated by neutron-activated noble gas analysis using a combination of semi-selective thermal and mechanical decrepitation techniques. Ore-related quartz contains aqueous and carbonic fluid inclusions that have similar 40Ar/36Ar values of between 300 and 2,200. The highest-salinity fluid inclusions (47–65 wt% salts) have calculated 36Ar concentrations of approximately 1–5 ppb, which are more variable than air-saturated water (ASW = 1.3–2.7 ppb). These fluid inclusions have extremely variable Br/Cl values of between 3.8 × 10−3 and 0.3 × 10−3, and I/Cl values of between 27 × 10−6 and 2.4 × 10−6 (all ratios are molar). Fluid inclusions in the two pegmatite samples have similar 40Ar/36Ar values of ≤1,700 and an overlapping range of Br/Cl and I/Cl values. High-salinity fluid inclusions in the pegmatite samples have 2.5–21 ppb 36Ar, that overlap the range determined for ore-related samples in only one case. The fluid inclusions in both sample groups have 84Kr/36Ar and 129Xe/36Ar ratios that are mainly in the range of air and air-saturated water and are similar to mid-crustal rocks and fluids from other settings. The uniformly low 40Ar/36Ar values (<2,200) and extremely variable Br/Cl and I/Cl values do not favour a singular or dominant fluid origin from basement- or mantle-derived magmatic fluids related to A-type magmatism. Instead, the data are compatible with the involvement of metamorphic fluids that have interacted with anatectic melts to variable extents. The ‘metamorphic’ fluids probably represent a mixture of (1) inherited sedimentary pore fluids and (2) locally derived metamorphic volatilisation products. The lowest Br/Cl and I/Cl values and the ultra-high salinities are most easily explained by the dissolution of evaporites. The data demonstrate that externally derived magmatic fluids are not a ubiquitous component of IOCG ore-forming systems, but are compatible with models in which IOCG mineralisation is localised at sites of mixing between fluids of different origin.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the predictive mineral discovery Cooperative Research Centre (pmd*CRC) and is published with permission. Louise Fisher’s Ph.D. work was supported by an International Postgraduate Research Scholarship. Barrick Gold and Osborne Mine provided access to the mine data and samples collected by Roger Mustard. Mine geologist Britt Kuhneman is thanked for the advice on sample context and Stanislav Szczepanski is gratefully acknowledged for the technical assistance in the lab.

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  1. L. A. Fisher

    Present address: CSIRO Exploration and Mining, ARRC Kensington, WA, 6151, Australia

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  1. Predictive Mineral Discovery Cooperative Research Centre (pmd*CRC), School of Earth Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, 4810, Australia

    L. A. Fisher

  2. Predictive Mineral Discovery Cooperative Research Centre (pmd*CRC), School of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, 3010, Australia

    M. A. Kendrick

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The full data set is available electronically in the excel appendix.

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ESM Table 1

Irradiated samples—data summarised in Table 3 (XLSX 62 KB)

ESM Table 2

Unirradiated samples—F values summarised in Table 3 (XLSX 15 KB)

ESM Table 3

Typical blanks or detection limits (XLSX 12 KB)

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Fisher, L.A., Kendrick, M.A. Metamorphic fluid origins in the Osborne Fe oxide–Cu–Au deposit, Australia: evidence from noble gases and halogens. Miner Deposita 43, 483–497 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00126-008-0178-2

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