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Origin of the Zálesí U–Ni–Co–As–Ag/Bi deposit, Bohemian Massif, Czech Republic: fluid inclusion and stable isotope constraints

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Abstract

The Zálesí vein-type deposit is hosted by Early Paleozoic high-grade metamorphic rocks on the northern margin of the Bohemian Massif. The mineralization is composed of three main stages: uraninite, arsenide, and sulfide. The mineral assemblages formed at low temperatures (~80 to 130°C, locally even lower) and low pressures (<100 bars). The salinity of the aqueous hydrothermal fluids (0 to 27 wt.% salts) and their chemical composition vary significantly. Early fluids of the oldest uraninite stage contain a small admixture of a clathrate-forming gas, possibly CO2. Salinity correlates with oxygen isotope signature of the fluid and suggests mixing of brines [δ 18O around +2‰ relative to standard mean ocean water (SMOW)] with meteoric waters (δ 18O around −4‰ SMOW). The fluid is characterized by highly variable halogen ratios (molar Br/Cl = 0.8 × 10−3 to 5.3 × 10−3; molar I/Cl = 5.7 × 10−6 to 891 × 10−6) indicating a dominantly external origin for the brines, i.e., from evaporated seawater, which mixed with iodine-enriched halite dissolution brine. The cationic composition of these fluids indicates extensive interaction of the initial brines with their country rocks, likely associated with leaching of sulfur, carbon, and metals. The brines possibly originated from Permian–Triassic evaporites in the neighboring Polish Basin, infiltrated into the basement during post-Variscan extension and were finally expelled along faults giving rise to the vein-type mineralization. Cenozoic reactivation by low-salinity, low-δ 18O (around −10‰ SMOW) fluids of mainly meteoric origin resulted in partial replacement of primary uraninite by coffinite-like mineral aggregates.

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Acknowledgments

I. Jačková (ČGS Praha) and P. Čech (GÚDŠ Bratislava) are thanked for stable isotope analyses. The study was supported by projects GAČR: 205/07/P130 and J07/98: 143 100 004. Chemical analyses of inclusion fluids were supported by a project of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Constructive comments and suggestions by journal reviewers (P. Alexandre, B. Kříbek and T. Mernagh) and editors (B. Lehmann and P. Polito) helped to improve the initial draft of the manuscript.

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  1. Department of Geology, Palacký University, Tř. Svobody 26, 771 46, Olomouc, Czech Republic

    Zdeněk Dolníček & Petr Sulovský

  2. Institute of Geological Sciences, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, 611 37, Brno, Czech Republic

    Bohuslav Fojt & Jan Kučera

  3. Department of Geology and Economic Geology, Montanuniversität Leoben, Peter-Tunner-Strasse 5, 8700, Leoben, Austria

    Walter Prochaska

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  1. Zdeněk Dolníček
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Correspondence to Zdeněk Dolníček.

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Dolníček, Z., Fojt, B., Prochaska, W. et al. Origin of the Zálesí U–Ni–Co–As–Ag/Bi deposit, Bohemian Massif, Czech Republic: fluid inclusion and stable isotope constraints. Miner Deposita 44, 81–97 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00126-008-0202-6

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