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Kuh-e Dom Fe–Cu–Au prospect, Anarak Metallogenic Complex, Central Iran: a geological, mineralogical and fluid inclusion study

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Abstract

The Kuh-e Dom Fe–Cu–Au prospect is located in the Urumieh-Dokhtar Magmatic Belt, and is characterized by copper–iron oxide and gold veins, stockworks and breccias hosted by the Eocene Kuh-e Dom arc intrusion. Mineralization is located within NE–SW to WNW–ESE sinistral faults and likely formed in a subduction-related continental margin that is typical of IOCG deposit systems. The deposits have a distinct metal composition of Fe, Cu, Bi, Co, Mo and LREE with gold (up to 3 g/t), and the mineral assemblages are quartz, hematite, pyrite, chalcopyrite, emplectite, magnetite, free gold, calcite, barite, chlorite, and tourmaline. Three paragenetic stages of mineralized quartz veins are distinguished in the Kuh-e Dom prospect, including: (i) hematite-bearing quartz veins, (ii) quartz-sulfide stockwork and breccia veins, and (iii) quartz-calcite±sulfide infilling veins. Sodic (albitization), potassic, and quartz–calcite±chlorite pervasive alterations are commonly associated with these three mineralization stages. Three types of fluid inclusions have been identified at Kuh-e Dom, including: aqueous two-phase (H2O−NaCl−CaCl2±FeCl2), halite-saturated aqueous (H2O−NaCl±KCl), and CO2-bearing (H2O–CO2±CH4 and CO2±CH4) fluid inclusions. A hypersaline (~35 wt% NaCl equiv.), aqueous magmatic fluid was released at about 400 °C and a pressure of nearly 4 kbar, forming early hematite-bearing quartz veins. These high salinity fluids were progressively diluted further away from Kuh-e Dom intrusion due to substantial input of meteoric water and mixing with the magmatic components during the middle and late stages of mineralization. The mineralogy, alteration, and fluid composition of the Kuh-e Dom Fe–Cu–Au prospect compared well with Fe oxide Cu–Au (IOCG) deposits worldwide.

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Acknowledgments

This contribution represents part of the Ph.D. thesis of first author at Kharazmi University, Iran. Logistic and financial support was provided by the Iranian Mines and Mineral Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO). We would like to thank the reviewers Farhad Ehya, Thomas Ulrich and an anonymous referee for their careful incisive and helpful reviews that significantly improved the quality and style of this paper. Special thanks are also due to Associate Editor P. Garofalo for his dedicated editorial work.

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  1. Department of Geochemistry, Faculty of Earth Sciences, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran

    Ebrahim Tale Fazel, Behzad Mehrabi & Amir Ali Tabbakh Shabani

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  1. Ebrahim Tale Fazel
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Tale Fazel, E., Mehrabi, B. & Tabbakh Shabani, A.A. Kuh-e Dom Fe–Cu–Au prospect, Anarak Metallogenic Complex, Central Iran: a geological, mineralogical and fluid inclusion study. Miner Petrol 109, 115–141 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00710-014-0354-2

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