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Porphyry Systems and Skarns

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Book cover Hydrothermal Mineral Deposits

Abstract

Metallic ore deposits related to porphyry systems encompass a wide variety of types that can be characterised in terms of geotectonic setting, metal content, hydrothermal alteration pattern and the nature of the associated granitoids and wall rocks. Porphyry systems are universally typified by three main features: (1) presence of veins and veinlets forming stockworks, within which are disseminated sulphides of Fe, Cu, Mo, Pb and Zn, as well as native Au, and minerals of W, Bi and Sn; (2) the mineralisation is spatially and genetically related to intrusive bodies, of which at least one has a distinct porphyritic texture (hence the name porphyry); (3) large volumes of rocks are affected by hydrothermal alteration-mineralisation. The size of porphyry deposits may vary from several million tonnes up to a few billion tonnes, with grades ranging from as little as 0.2% Cu up to 2% Cu (porphyry Cu), 0.01 to 0.5% Mo (porphyry Mo), and for those containing Au, this metal’s tenors range from fractions of ppm up to a few ppm. The tonnages and grades of a number of selected porphyry deposits are given in Table 10.1. Since the advent of the plate tectonic theory much has been written on porphyry deposits. The literature reports on porphyry Cu, Cu-Mo, Mo, W, Cu-Au and porphyry Sn deposits, while Guilbert (1986) prefers the general name of “porphyry base metal deposits” (PBMD). The country rocks intruded by the igneous bodies may include carbonate units, and they, as a result of thermal and metasomatic exchanges with the fluids that emanate from the intrusions, will form skarn-type ore deposits.

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  1. Professor Dr. Franco Pirajno

    Present address: , 2/34 Kennedy Street, Maylands, 6051, Western Australia, Australia

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  1. Department of Geology Mineral Exploration, Rhodes University, P.O. Box 94, 6140, Grahmstown, South Africa

    Professor Dr. Franco Pirajno

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Pirajno, F. (1992). Porphyry Systems and Skarns. In: Hydrothermal Mineral Deposits. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-75671-9_11

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