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Two-brine model of the genesis of strata-bound Zechstein deposits (Kupferschiefer type), Poland

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Abstract

These Kupferschiefer deposits were probably formed as a result of a mixing of two brines. The upper cold brine (UCB) is an unmineralized brine rich in Na, Ca, Cl and SO4, with a pH>7 and originating from evaporites overlying the metal-bearing Zechstein rocks. The lower hot brine (LHB) rich in Mg, K, Cl, SO4 and CO3 with a pH<=7 formed in sediments in the central part of the Zechstein basin at a depth of 7,000 m. This brine was subjected to heating and upward convection toward the Fore-Sudetic monocline along the bottom of the Z1 carbonates. During its migration, it caused albitization, serpentinization and leaching of the primary metal deposits in rocks underlying the Zechstein becoming enriched in heavy metals. The mineralization process, being a result of the mixing of the two brines (UCB and LHB), and catalytic oxidation of the organic matter of the black shale were initiated at shallow depths in the area of the Fore-Sudetic monocline. The boundary of the two brines generally overlapped the strike of the black shale.

Parts of the deposit with shale-free host rock suggest that the action of two brines alone was capable of producing economic concentrations of Cu, Pb and Zn. Where the boundary of the two brines overlaps the autooxidation zone (the black shale bottom) and also coincides with γ radiation of thucholite, concentrations of noble metals result.

The characteristic vertical distribution of the triplet Cu→Pb→Zn from the bottom upward is universal in the Kupferschiefer environment.

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  1. Institute of Geology and Mineral Deposits, Av. Mickiewicza 30, 30-059, Krakow, Poland

    H. Kucha & M. Pawlikowski

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  1. H. Kucha
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  2. M. Pawlikowski
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Kucha, H., Pawlikowski, M. Two-brine model of the genesis of strata-bound Zechstein deposits (Kupferschiefer type), Poland. Mineral. Deposita 21, 70–80 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00204365

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