Abstract
Volcanic facies analysis shows that the unusual polymetallic, precious-metal rich volcanic-rock hosted massive sulfide and sulfosalt Eskay Creek deposit in northern British Columbia, Canada, formed on top of a submarine felsic volcanic center. The footwall rhyolite formed by multiple rhyolite generations involving extrusive and intrusive emplacements. Extrusive volcanism involved phreatic-hydrothermal explosive eruptions and the deposition of associated volcanic rocks. Despite the fact that the mineralization is largely hosted by carbonaceous mudstone overlying the sedimented phreatic-hydrothermal explosion deposits, it can be demonstrated that the ore-forming event took place contemporaneously with the youngest intrusive emplacement of rhyolite. The mineralizing event overlapped with the onset of a period of intense basaltic volcanism.
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© 2005 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Monecke, T., Gale, D., Roth, T., Hannington, M.D. (2005). The submarine volcanic succession hosting the massive sulfide and sulfosalt Eskay Creek deposit, Canada. In: Mao, J., Bierlein, F.P. (eds) Mineral Deposit Research: Meeting the Global Challenge. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-27946-6_167
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-27946-6_167
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