Fluid inclusion and stable isotope characteristics of the Karalar (Gazipaşa, Antalya) barite-galena deposits, Southern Turkey

Abstract

The Karalar galena-barite deposits are typical examples of the carbonate-hosted barite-galena deposits widely occurring in the Central Tauride Belt. These deposits are located in Permian limestones as ore veins along fault zones that are discordant to the bedding planes and as thin veinlets within hardly brecciated bottom zones of Permian limestones. The ore deposits contain mainly barite and galena and small amounts of sphalerite, pyrite, fahlore, limonite, quartz, and calcite. Barites occur during the earlier episode of mineralization and were mylonitized before the formation of galena. Galena and other minerals occur epigenetically with barite along porous zones between brecciated barite crystals and are especially abundant in the hardly mylonitized zones. Fluid inclusion studies indicate that the ore deposits of the area were developed by hydrothermal fluids with following characteristics: they contained NaCl, CaCl₂, and MgCl₂; the salinity of the fluids was relatively high and their temperature was low during the crystallization of barites in the earlier episode of mineralization; and the salinity of the fluids decreased and their temperature increased during the crystallization of sulfide minerals through the later episode of mineralization. δ₁₈O and the δD results indicate that the water in the mineralizing fluid was of meteoric origin. The deposits were formed by deep meteoric water circulating through marine sediments. Shallow circulating and slightly warmed fluids dissolved Ba and sulfate from marine sediments of the basement and transported them to the mineralization environment during the early episode, while deep circulating and more heated fluids dissolved Pb, Zn, and other elements from the basement and reached the environment during the later episode of mineralization.