The Permo-Triassic vein and paleokarst ores in southwest Sardinia: Contribution of fluid inclusion studies to their genesis and paleoenvironment

Abstract

This paper presents and discusses new fluid inclusion data on the temperatures, salinities and composition of mineralizing fluids in gangue and ore minerals in late- and post-Hercynian veins and paleokarsts both in the Iglesiente and Sulcis areas of southwest Sardinia. The results suggest that the fluids associated with mineralization are within the range normally recorded for Mississippi Valley-type deposits elsewhere in the world, both for homogenization temperatures (from below 60°C to 130°C for quartz, calcite, barite and dolomite, higher for fluorite) and salinities (5–24 equiv. wt% NaCl). High levels of CaCl₂ are also present in the fluids. Similar temperatures and salinities are shown by the dolomitic alteration of the karstified Cambrian limestones, which are the host rocks of the studied ore deposits, indicative of a common origin for both the alteration and mineralization.

It is emphasized, however, that the exact origin of the ores is difficult to assess based on fluid inclusion analyses alone because the mentioned temperature range is not necessarily exclusive to either a purely supergene or hydrothermal origin. In view of the high salinities, however, the current opinion is that at least the dolomitization and a part of the ores could be related to late diagenetic processes involving connate waters from the neighboring Permo-Triassic lagoonal-evaporitic sediments.