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Fluid inclusion studies on quartz associated with massive ores of the Paleoproterozoic carbonate-hosted Pb-Zn deposit at Balaria, Rajasthan: Possible evidence for fluid-mixing

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Journal of the Geological Society of India

Abstract

Mixing of metal-rich connate waters derived from evaporative seawater with local sulfide-rich water is postulated as the mechanism of ore deposition in many Phanerozoic carbonatehosted Pb-Zn deposits. The study of the Paleoproterozoic Balaria deposit of the Zawar belt of Rajasthan that hosts structurallycontrolled, stratabound Pb-Zn mineralization, provides insight into the nature of fluids in quartz that is closely associated with massive Pb-Zn ore.

The present study is focused on the massive-type ore which forms one of the major ore-types at Balaria. Massive-type ore consists predominantly of galena and sphalerite (with minor pyrite and pyrrhotite) that occur in shear-induced dilatational fractures. The ore is associated with clear, rounded to semi-rounded bodies of quartz that are embedded within the ore. The quartz bodies are inferred to be fragments of vein-quartz that underwent shear deformation along with enclosing massive galena-rich ore. Primarybiphase fluid inclusions in quartz belong to H2O-NaCl±CO2, H2ONaCl- CH4-N2-CO2 and primary-monophase fluid inclusions to CH4-N2-CO2 types, while secondary fluid inclusions are biphase and belong to H2O-NaCl type. The salinity of primary-biphase H2O-NaCl type fluid inclusions range from 2 to 14 wt. percent NaCl equiv while that of secondary-biphase H2O-NaCl type fluid inclusions range from 3 to 5 wt. percent NaCl equiv. Homogenization temperatures for primary-biphase fluid inclusions range from 127o to 217oC while that of secondary-biphase fluid inclusions is 131o to 151oC. The molecular proportions of of CH4, N2 and CO2 in primary-biphase (H2O-NaCl-CH4-N2-CO2) and primary-monophase (CH4-N2-CO2) as measured from Raman spectra are widely variable. Variability in molecular proportions of CH4, N2 and CO2 is interpreted as an evidence for mixing of pulses of a regional fluid with a local fluid and reactions with graphitic and carbonate rocks at the site of deposition. The low salinity of fluid inclusions in the quartz and the lack of any sulfur species in the aqueous or gaseous phase of the entrapped fluids indicates that although quartz occurs as entrained bodies within the massive ore, the fluids in them may not represent ore-forming fluids of the main ore-stage of massive-type ore.

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  1. Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, 400076, India

    M. Ilyas & H. S. Pandalai

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Ilyas, M., Pandalai, H.S. Fluid inclusion studies on quartz associated with massive ores of the Paleoproterozoic carbonate-hosted Pb-Zn deposit at Balaria, Rajasthan: Possible evidence for fluid-mixing. J Geol Soc India 90, 577–585 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12594-017-0754-0

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