Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

An Eburnean base metal source for sediment-hosted zinc-lead deposits in Neoproterozoic units of Namibia: Lead isotopic and geochemical evidence

  • Article
  • Published:
Mineralium Deposita Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The lead isotopic composition of galena from the Neoproterozoic sediment-hosted Zn-Pb sulphide deposit at Rosh Pinah and the oxidised Zn deposit at Skorpion in the Pan-African Gariep Belt, southwestern Namibia, as well as that of galena from minor occurrences in the wider Rosh Pinah ore province was investigated and is compared with that of other major sediment-hosted base metal ore deposits hosted by Neoproterozoic strata in southwestern Africa and Brazil. The isotope data were supplemented by a geochemical provenance study of the argillitic host rock to the Rosh Pinah deposit and its stratigraphic equivalents. The pre-orogenic Rosh Pinah deposit and the inferred progenitor for the secondary Skorpion deposits have very similar Pb isotopic compositions. In contrast, syn-orogenic deposits (e.g. Tsumeb-type) show a larger proportion of radiogenic Pb from the country rocks that were infiltrated by orogenic ore fluids.

In all examples studied, the ore Pb has elevated 207Pb/204Pb ratios compared to Pb that evolved according to average crustal Pb growth models. The isotopic composition of the ore Pb is in agreement with that of the oldest crustal component known from the pre-Gariep basement, i.e. an Eburnean (c. 2.0 Ga) volcanic arc, best preserved in the Richtersveld Terrane, that represents the largest volume of post-Archaean juvenile crust in southern Africa. Erosion of that arc provided the main sediment source for the metasedimentary siliciclastic host to the Rosh Pinah deposit. Derivation of the Pb, and by analogy Zn, from this Eburnean volcanic arc is therefore inferred for the formation of Rosh Pinah-type syn-rift, early diagenetic replacement mineralisation.

The calculated μ2- and ω2-values for the Rosh Pinah ore province (around 10.2 and 42, respectively) are higher than predicted by conventional Pb crustal growth models and are similar to those found in the wider region of southern Africa (Otavi Mountain Land) and eastern Brazil. The obtained data highlight not only that calculated Pb model ages may have no geochronological significance but might also point to a common crustal evolution of this part of SW-Gondwana.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Allsopp, HL, Welke, HJ and Hughes, MJ, 1981. Shortening the odds in exploration. Nuclear Active 24:8-12

    Google Scholar 

  • Becker, T and Brandenburg, A, 2000. The evolution of the Alberta Complex, Naub Diorite and Elim Formation within the Rehoboth Basement Inlier, Namibia: geochemical constraints. Communications of the geological survey of Namibia 12:29–39

    Google Scholar 

  • Borg, G, Kärner, K, Buxton, M, Armstrong, R and Van der Merwe, SW, 2003. Geology of the Skorpion zinc deposit, southern Namibia. Economic Geology 98:749–771

    Google Scholar 

  • Chetty, D and Frimmel, HE, 2000. The role of evaporites in the genesis of base metal sulphide mineralisation in the Northern Platform of the Pan-African Damara Belt, Namibia: Geochemical and fluid inclusion evidence from carbonate wall rock alteration. Mineralium Deposita 35:364–376

    Google Scholar 

  • Chiaradia, M and Fontboté, L, 2003. Separate lead isotope analyses of leachate and residue rock fractions: implications for metal source tracing in ore deposit studies. Mineralium Deposita 38:185–195

    Google Scholar 

  • Clifford, TN, Barton, ES, Retief, EA, Rex, DC and Fanning, CM, 1995. A crustal progenitor for the intrusive anorthosite-charnockite kindred of the cupriferous Koperberg Suite, O’okiep District, Namaqualand, South Africa: New isotope data for the country rocks and intrusives. Journal of Petrology 36:231–258

    Google Scholar 

  • Cumming, GL and Richards, JR, 1975. Ore lead isotope ratios in a continuously changing Earth. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 28:155–171

    Google Scholar 

  • Dalziel, IWD, Mosher, S and Gahagan, LM, 2000. Laurentia-Kalahari collision and the assembly of Rodinia. The Journal of Geology 108:499–513

    Google Scholar 

  • Duncan, AR, Erlank, AJ and Betton, PJ, 1984. Analytical techniques and database descriptions. Geological Society of South Africa Special Publication 13:389–395

  • Duncan, AR, Joubert, P, Reid, AM, 1985. Geochemical studies on the floor rocks of Namaqualand. Unpubl. final report to the National Geoscience Programme, Foundation for Research Development, Pretoria, 29 p

  • Fölling, PG and Frimmel, HE, 2002. Chemostratigraphic correlation of carbonate successions in the Gariep and Saldania Belts, Namibia and South Africa. Basin Research 14:69–88

    Google Scholar 

  • Fölling, PG, Zartman, RE and Frimmel, HE, 2000. A novel approach to double-spike Pb-Pb dating of carbonate rocks: examples from Neoproterozoic sequences in southern Africa. Chemical Geology 171(1–2): 97–122

    Google Scholar 

  • Freitas-Silva, FH and Dardenne, MA, 1997. Pb/Pb isotopic patterns of galenas from Morro do Ouro (Paracatu Formation), Morro Aguda/Vazante (Vazante Formation) and Bambui Group deposits, South American Symposium on Isotope Geology, pp. 118–120

  • Frimmel, HE, 2000. New U-Pb zircon ages for the Kuboos pluton in the Pan-African Gariep belt, South Africa: Cambrian mantle plume or far field collision effect? South African Journal of Geology 103:207–214

    Google Scholar 

  • Frimmel, HE, 2004a Formation of a late Mesoproterozoic supercontinent: The South Africa—East Antarctica connection. In: PG Eriksson, W Altermann, DR Nelson, WU Mueller and O Catuneanu (eds), The Precambrian Earth: Tempos and Events. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 240-255

  • Frimmel, HE, 2004b. Neoproterozoic sedimentation rates and timing of glaciations—southern African perspective. In: PG Eriksson, W Altermann, DR Nelson, WU Mueller and O Catuneanu (eds), The Precambrian Earth: Tempos and Events. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 459-473

  • Frimmel, HE and Board, WS, 2000. Fluid evolution in and around the Rosh Pinah massive sulphide deposit in the external Pan-African Gariep Belt, Namibia. South African Journal of Geology 103: 191–206

    Google Scholar 

  • Frimmel, HE and Fölling, PG, 2004. Late Vendian closure of the Adamastor Ocean: Timing of tectonic inversion and syn-orogenic sedimentation in the Gariep Basin. Gondwana Research, 7, in press

  • Frimmel, HE and Frank, W, 1998. Neoproterozoic tectono-thermal evolution of the Gariep Belt and its basement, Namibia/South Africa. Precambrian Research 90:1-28

    Google Scholar 

  • Frimmel, HE and Lane, K, 2004. Geochemistry of carbonate beds in the Neoproterozoic Rosh Pinah Formation, Namibia: Implications on depositional setting and hydrothermal ore formation. South African Journal of Geology, 107, in press

  • Frimmel, HE, Deane, JG and Chadwick, PJ, 1996a. Pan-African tectonism and the genesis of base metal sulfide deposits in the northern foreland of the Damara Orogen, Namibia. In: DF Sangster (ed), Carbonate-hosted lead-zinc deposits. Society of Economic Geologists, Littleton, pp. 204–217

  • Frimmel, HE, Fölling, PG and Eriksson, P, 2002. Neoproterozoic tectonic and climatic evolution recorded in the Gariep Belt, Namibia and South Africa. Basin Research 14:55–67

    Google Scholar 

  • Frimmel, HE, Klötzli, U and Siegfried, P, 1996b. New Pb-Pb single zircon age constraints on the timing of Neoproterozoic glaciation and continental break-up in Namibia. The Journal of Geology 104:459–469

  • Frimmel, HE, Zartman, RE and Späth, A, 2001. Dating Neoproterozoic continental break-up in the Richtersveld Igneous Complex, South Africa. The Journal of Geology 109:493–508

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoal, KO, Hoal, BG, Griffin, WL and Armstrong, RA, 2000. Characterisation of the age and nature of the lithosphere in the Tsumkwe region, Namibia. Communications of the geological survey of Namibia 12:21–28

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoffman, PF, 1991. Did the breakout of Laurentia turn Gondwanaland inside-out? Science 252:1409–1412

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoffman, PF, Hawkins, DP, Isachsen, CE and Bowring, SA, 1996. Precise U-Pb zircon ages for early Damaran magmatism in the Summas Mountains and Welwitschia inlier, northern Damara belt, Namibia. Communications of the geological survey of Namibia 11:47–52

    Google Scholar 

  • Innes, J and Chaplin, RC, 1986. Ore bodies of the Kombat mine, South West Africa/Namibia. In: CR Anhaeusser and S Maske (eds), Mineral Deposits of Southern Africa. Geological Society of South Africa, pp. 1789–1805

  • Iyer, SS, Babinski, M, Krouse, HR and Chemale, F, 1995. Highly 13C-enriched carbonate and organic matter in the Neoproterozoic sediments of the Bambuí Group, Brazil. Precambrian Research 73:271–282

    Google Scholar 

  • Kamona, AF, Leveque, J, Friedrich, G and Haack, U, 1999. Lead isotopes of the carbonate-hosted Kabwe, Tsumeb, and Kipushi Pb-Zn-Cu sulphide deposits in relation to Pan-African orogenesis in the Damaran-Lufilian Fold Belt of Central Africa. Mineralium Deposita 34:273–283

    Google Scholar 

  • Köppel, V, 1980. Lead-isotope studies of stratiform ore deposits of the Namaqualand, NW Cape Province, South Africa, and their implications on the age of the Bushmanland Sequence. In: JD Ridge (ed), Proceedings of the Fifth Quadrennial IAGOD Symposium. E. Schweizerbart’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Stuttgart, pp. 195–207

  • Lombaard, AF, Günzel, A, Innes, J and Krüger, TL, 1986. The Tsumeb lead-copper-zinc-silver deposit, South West Africa/Namibia. In: CR Anhaeusser and S Maske (eds), Mineral Deposits of Southern Africa. Geological Society of South Africa, pp. 1761–1787

  • Master, S, Rainaud, C, Armstrong, RA, Phillips, D and Robb, LJ, 2002. Contributions to the geology and mineralization of the Central African copperbelt: II. Neoproterozoic deposition of the Katanga Supergroup with implications for regional and global correlations. In: L Robb and R Montjoie (Editors), 11th Quadrennial IAGOD Symposium and Geocongress 2002. Geological Survey of Namibia, Windhoek, CD-Rom

  • Misi, A, Tassinari, CCG and Iyer, SS, 1997. New isotope data from the Proterozoic lead-zinc (Ag) sediment-hosted sulfide deposits of Brazil: Implications for their metallogenetic evolution, South-American Symposium on Isotope Geology, pp. 201–203

  • Monteiro, LVS, Bettencourt, JS, Spiro, B, Graça, R and De Oliveira, TF, 1999. The Vazante zinc mine, Minas Gerais, Brazil: Constraints on willemitic mineralization and fluid evolution. Exploration and Mining Geology 8:21–42

    Google Scholar 

  • Page, DC and Watson, MD, 1976. The Pb-Zn deposit of Rosh Pinah Mine, South West Africa. Economic Geology 71:306–327

    Google Scholar 

  • Pearce, JA, Harris, NBW and Tindle, AG, 1984. Trace element discrimination diagrams for the tectonic interpretation of granitic rocks. Journal of Petrology 25:956–983

    Google Scholar 

  • Piper, JDA, 2000. The Neoproterozoic Supercontinent: Rodinia or Palaeopangaea? Earth and Planetary Science Letters 176:131–146

  • Pirajno, F and Joubert, BD, 1993. An overview of carbonate-hosted mineral deposits in the Otavi Mountain Land, Namibia: implications for ore genesis. Journal of African Earth Sciences 16:265–272

    Google Scholar 

  • Reid, DL, 1997. Sm-Nd age and REE geochemistry of Proterozoic arc-related igneous rocks in the Richtersveld Subprovince, Namaqua Mobile Belt, Southern Africa. Journal of African Earth Sciences 24:621–633

    Google Scholar 

  • Reid, DL and Barton, ES, 1983. Geochemical characterization of granitoids in the Namaqualand geotraverse. Special Publication of the Geological Society of South Africa 10:67–82

    Google Scholar 

  • Reid, DL, Smith, CB, Watkeys, MK, Welke, HJ and Petton, PJ, 1997a. Whole rock radiometric age patterns in the Aggeneys-Gamsberg ore district, central Bushmanland, South Africa. South African Journal of Geology 100:11–22

  • Reid, DL, Welke, HJ, Erlank, AJ and Moyes, A, 1987. The Orange River Group: a major Proterozoic calcalkaline volcanic belt in the western Namaqua Province, southern Africa. In: TC Pharaoh, RD Beckinsale and D Rickard (eds), Geochemistry and Mineralization of Proterozoic Volcanic Suites. Geological Society Special Publication No. 33, London, pp. 327–346

  • Reid, DL, Welke, HJ, Smith, CB and Moore, JM, 1997b. Lead isotope patterns in Proterozoic stratiform mineralization in the Bushmanland Group, Namaqua Province, South Africa. Economic Geology 92:248–258

  • Robb, LJ, Armstrong, RA and Waters, DJ, 1999. The history of granulite-facies metamorphism and crustal growth from single zircon U-Pb geochronology: Namaqualand, South Africa. Journal of Petrology 40: 1747–1770

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Siegfried, PR, 1990. Aspects of the Mountain ore body, Rosh Pinah mine, Namibia. MSc Thesis Thesis, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, 146 pp

  • Siegfried, PR and Moore, JM, 1990. The Rosh Pinah Zn-Pb-Cu-Ag massive sulphide deposit—a product of early rift-related volcanism? Geocongress 90. Geological Society of South Africa, Cape Town, pp. 512–513

  • Stacey, JS and Kramers, JD, 1975. Approximation of terrestrial lead isotope evolution by a two-stage model. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 26:207–221

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, SR and McLennan, SM, 1985. The Continental Crust: Its Composition and Evolution. Blackwell, Oxford, 312 pp.

  • Van Vuuren, CJJ, 1986. Regional setting and structure of the Rosh Pinah zinc-lead deposit, South West Africa/Namibia. In: CR Anhaeusser and S Maske (eds), Mineral Deposits of Southern Africa. Geological Society of South Africa, Johannesburg, pp. 1593–1607

  • Wartha, RR and Genis, G, 1992. Lead and Zinc, The Mineral Resources of Namibia. Ministry of Mines and Energy, Geological Survey, Windhoek, chapter 2.5, 43 p.

  • Zartman, RE and Doe, BR, 1981. Plumbotectonics—the model. Tectonophysics 75:135–162

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank Anglo American Prospecting Services and Rosh Pinah Mine for logistic support and Chris van Vuuren for providing galena samples. J. Blenkinsop and D.L. Reid are thanked for their assistance with the isotope and whole rock geochemical analyses, respectively. We also thank the geological staff of Kumba Resources, in particular L. Geraghty, for logistic and financial assistance with the geochemical sampling programme. Critical comments from J. Kramers, M. Chiaradia and an anonymous reviewer helped significantly in improving the original manuscript. This work forms part of a larger NRF Project on Neoproterozoic tectonics and climate (grant No. 2047176 to HEF) and is a contribution towards IGCP 478 (“Neoproterozoic to Cambrian events in SW-Gondwana”).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geological Sciences, University of Cape Town, 7701, Rondebosch , South Africa

    Hartwig E. Frimmel & Petronella Mubita

  2. Geological Survey of Canada, 601 Booth Street, Ottawa, ON K1A0E8, Canada

    Ian R. Jonasson

Authors
  1. Hartwig E. Frimmel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ian R. Jonasson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Petronella Mubita
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hartwig E. Frimmel.

Additional information

Editorial handling: M. Chiaradia

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Frimmel, H.E., Jonasson, I.R. & Mubita, P. An Eburnean base metal source for sediment-hosted zinc-lead deposits in Neoproterozoic units of Namibia: Lead isotopic and geochemical evidence. Miner Deposita 39, 328–343 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00126-004-0410-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00126-004-0410-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation