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Hydrothermal processes in partially serpentinized peridotites from Costa Rica: evidence from native copper and complex sulfide assemblages

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Abstract

Native metals and metal alloys are common in serpentinized ultramafic rocks, generally representing the redox and sulfur conditions during serpentinization. Variably serpentinized peridotites from the Santa Elena Ophiolite in Costa Rica contain an unusual assemblage of Cu-bearing sulfides and native copper. The opaque mineral assemblage consists of pentlandite, magnetite, awaruite, pyrrhotite, heazlewoodite, violarite, smythite and copper-bearing sulfides (Cu-pentlandite, sugakiite [Cu(Fe,Ni)8S8], samaniite [Cu2(Fe,Ni)7S8], chalcopyrite, chalcocite, bornite and cubanite), native copper and copper–iron–nickel alloys. Using detailed mineralogical examination, electron microprobe analyses, bulk rock major and trace element geochemistry, and thermodynamic calculations, we discuss two models to explain the formation of the Cu-bearing mineral assemblages: (1) they formed through desulfurization of primary sulfides due to highly reducing and sulfur-depleted conditions during serpentinization or (2) they formed through interaction with a Cu-bearing, higher temperature fluid (350–400 °C) postdating serpentinization, similar to processes in active high-temperature peridotite-hosted hydrothermal systems such as Rainbow and Logatchev. As mass balance calculations cannot entirely explain the extent of the native copper by desulfurization of primary sulfides, we propose that the native copper and Cu sulfides formed by local addition of a hydrothermal fluid that likely interacted with adjacent mafic sequences. We suggest that the peridotites today exposed on Santa Elena preserve the lower section of an ancient hydrothermal system, where conditions were highly reducing and water–rock ratios very low. Thus, the preserved mineral textures and assemblages give a unique insight into hydrothermal processes occurring at depth in peridotite-hosted hydrothermal systems.

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Acknowledgments

We thank J. Beard for motivating discussions and J. Snow for providing additional samples. S. Mazza, W. Whalen and H. Brooks helped with sample preparation and analytical work, L. Fedele and R. Tracy helped with EMP analyses. The authors acknowledge the valuable cooperation of the Area de Concervacion Guanacaste, especially R. Blanco Segura (Research Program Coordinator) and M. M. Chavarría (Biodiversity especialities). Field assistance and participation by P. Madrigal, J. Calvo, M. Loocke and S. Wright was fundamental for field expeditions. Logistics and intellectual collaboration with P. Denyer (Central American School of Geology, UCR) was key for this project. We also thank O. Müntener, R. Frost and an anonymous reviewer for helpful comments that greatly improved the manuscript. This project was supported by the National Science Foundation award No. EAR-1019327 to Gazel. E.S. and M.C. gratefully acknowledge support from Virginia Tech Department of Geosciences.

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  1. Department of Geosciences, Virginia Tech, 4044 Derring Hall, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA

    Esther M. Schwarzenbach, Esteban Gazel & Mark J. Caddick

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  1. Esther M. Schwarzenbach
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  3. Mark J. Caddick
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Correspondence to Esther M. Schwarzenbach.

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Communicated by O. Müntener.

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Schwarzenbach, E.M., Gazel, E. & Caddick, M.J. Hydrothermal processes in partially serpentinized peridotites from Costa Rica: evidence from native copper and complex sulfide assemblages. Contrib Mineral Petrol 168, 1079 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-014-1079-2

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