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Characterization and origin of low-T willemite (Zn2SiO4) mineralization: the case of the Bou Arhous deposit (High Atlas, Morocco)

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An Erratum to this article was published on 12 October 2016

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Abstract

Willemite (Zn2SiO4) usually reported in hypogene non-sulfide deposits is described as the main ore mineral in the carbonate-hosted Bou Arhous zinc deposit. This deposit is located in the High Atlas intracontinental range that formed during the Tertiary. Based on a set of microscopic observations, it was possible to establish that willemite replaces primary sphalerite. On the basis of cathodoluminescence imaging, three successive generations of willemite are distinguished, with evidence of dissolution–reprecipitation processes. Willemite is also variably enriched in Ge (up to 1000 ppm), while Ge contents lower than 100 ppm are reported in the primary sulfide minerals. Depending on the willemite generation, this substitution was positively or negatively correlated to the Zn-Pb substitution. According to the nature of zoning (sector versus oscillatory), the incorporation of Ge was either controlled by crystallographic factors or by the nature of the mineralizing fluids. Willemite is associated with other oxidation-related mineral species, like cerussite (PbCO3) but is not in isotopic equilibrium and therefore not considered to be cogenetic. Oxygen isotope compositions support the formation of willemite at temperatures below 130 °C, from mixed meteoric and deeper, hydrothermal fluids. The formation of the High Atlas Belt during the Tertiary has contributed to the exhumation of the sulfide minerals and the development of vertical conduits for percolation of meteoric water and ascending hydrothermal fluids. In addition to a local contribution of silicate minerals of the host limestone, hydrothermal fluids probably transported Si and Ge that are incorporated in willemite.

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  • 12 October 2016

    An erratum to this article has been published.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are indebted to Managem Company for providing access to the Bou Arhous Mine. They thank Didier Convert-Gaubier for thin-section preparation, as well as Aurélien Eglinger and Philippe Goncalves from Chrono-Environnement for LA-ICP-MS data acquisition and Martin Robyr, Evelyne Tornare, and Anne-Cécile Hauser from the University of Lausanne for EPMA data acquisition. They also warmly acknowledge the assistance of Benita Putlitz with oxygen isotope measurements on the silicate line at UNIL. This study has benefited from a financial support by of Région Franche-Comté with the 2014 “Argzinc” Franco-Suisse project. Access to SEM facilities of the MIMENTO center was made in the frame of cooperative projects in the Renatech network. Two anonymous reviewers, Associate Editor Albert Gilg, and Editor-in-Chief Bernd Lehmann are acknowledged for their constructive remarks that helped to improve the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chrono-Environnement, UMR6249, Université de Bourgogne Franche-Comté/CNRS, Besançon, France

    Flavien Choulet, Martine Buatier & James Richard

  2. Institut des Sciences de la Terre d’Orléans, UMR7327, Université d’Orléans/CNRS/BRGM, Orléans, France

    Luc Barbanson

  3. Institut des Dynamiques de la Surface Terrestre, Université de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Torsten Vennemann

  4. Managem Group, Casablanca, Morocco

    Aomar Ennaciri & Mohamed Zouhair

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  1. Flavien Choulet
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Editorial handling: H.A. Gilg

An erratum to this article is available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s00126-016-0690-8.

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Choulet, F., Barbanson, L., Buatier, M. et al. Characterization and origin of low-T willemite (Zn2SiO4) mineralization: the case of the Bou Arhous deposit (High Atlas, Morocco). Miner Deposita 52, 1085–1102 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00126-016-0675-7

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