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Tectono-magmatic events and genesis of Fe-Pb-Zn resources in Nefza area, NW Tunisia

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Abstract

Fe-ore and Pb-Zn (Ag) resources of Nefza region occur within hydrothermally altered sericite-schists and breccias, with Neogene molasse and lacustrine sediments and with a sequence of tertiary granodiorite-rhyodacite and basalts. Intrusions of intermediate igneous rocks, whose correlate with the successive Alpine tectonic events, started at 15 Ma and continued to near 5 Ma. Four main stages of mineralization are identified: (1) the first stage started during or soon after the maximum alpine compression (Langhian-Lower Serravallian) and magmatism. Silicification and carbonatization prevailed and sericite-bearing sediments formed by K-sericite alteration. (2) During the second stage, a mixture of marine and meteoric ore-forming fluids (H2O, H2CO3, F and Cl; temperature range, 315–500 °C) has deposited mineralizations. The sericite schist assemblages and breccias were extremely altered and four types of minerals were formed: (i) silica, feldspar, Mg-micas, chlorite-vermiculite, Mg-clays, and kaolinite-halloysite; (ii) fluorite and sorbed U; (iii) Fe-(Mn) oxyhydroxides; (iv) Zn, Pb, Mn, and Fe, deposited in the carbonates, in coronadite and in minor sulfides. (3) The third stage was related to the extensional tectonic phase (Upper Serravallian-Lower Tortonian) and leads to the subsidence of Miocene grabens and deposition of molasse with interbeded pyroclastites. The strata-bound iron ores were reworked from pre-existing Fe-mineralization hosted in folded structures. (4) During the fourth stage (8 to 5 Ma), magmatic activity changed from calc-alkaline granitoid to alkaline basalt. This correlates with a moderate Atlasic compression, thrust faulting, and Miocene graben folding. During this stage, Pb (Ag)-Zn sulfides were deposited in veins that cut across the predating iron deposits, with neoformed Mg-rich clays and carbonates (calcite, siderite, ankerite) with noticeable Zn and Mn enrichments.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the Nuclear Center of Saclay-Laboratory of Pierre Süe (France) for the REE Analyses and The Geodynamics and Material Transfer Group, Geochemistry-Mineralogy Laboratory of the Faculty of Sciences of Tunis and the Geophysics Research Unit Applied to Mines and Materials (URGAMM) of the University of El Manar (Tunisia) for cooperation and mineralogical analysis. The authors are indebted to anonymous reviewer for the comments and enhancing of the quality of the manuscript.

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  1. Faculty of Sciences of Bizerte. Group of Geodynamics and Material Transfer, Geochemistry-Mineralogy Laboratory, University of Carthage, Carthage, Tunisia

    Lassaâd Ben Aïssa & Rabeh Alouani

  2. Faculty of Sciences of Tunis, University of El Manar, University Campus, 1060, Tunis, Tunisia

    Lassaâd Ben Aïssa & Rabeh Alouani

  3. Faculty of Sciences of Bizerte, Laboratory of Physics of Lamellar Materials and Hybrid Nanomaterials (PMLNMH), University of Carthage, 7021, Zarzouna, Tunisia

    Wiem Ben Aïssa

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Ben Aïssa, L., Alouani, R. & Ben Aïssa, W. Tectono-magmatic events and genesis of Fe-Pb-Zn resources in Nefza area, NW Tunisia. Arab J Geosci 11, 608 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-018-3910-y

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