Summary
Archean shoshonitic lamprophyres are cotemporal and cospatial with gold mineralization in the Superior Province of Canada, both being emplaced along translithospheric structures that demark subprovince boundaries. By analogy with geochemically similar Phanerozoic counterparts, the dikes are a product of specific plate interactions rather than a deep asthenosphere plume-initiated event, and their onset in the late-Archean at ∼ 2.7 Ga signifies that Phanerozoic style plate-tectonics was operating at this time. Fresh shonshonitic dikes are characterized by normal background gold contents of 3.9 ± 8.1 ppb (lσ), close to the value of 3.0 ppb for the bulk continental crust, and average abundances of As, Sb, Bi, W, TI, B, Cu, Pb, Zn, and Mo are also close to their values in bulk continental crust. Thus, fresh lamprophyres are not intrinsically enriched either in Au or elements affiliated with gold in mesothermal deposits, and accordingly do not constitute a special source rock. Platinum group element contents (Ir = 0.4 ± 0.58 ppb; Pt = 5.9 ± 26.5, Pd = 5.5 ± 1.8), in conjunction with Cu, Au, and Ni abundances, define approximately flat patterns on primitive mantle-normalized diagrams, consistent with derivation of the alkaline magmas from a depleted mantle source variably enriched by incompatible elements. Comparable abundances and ratios of Pd/Au, Os/Ir, and Ru/Ir in Archean lamprophyres, Archean komatiites, and Gorgona komatiites signify that the Archean and Phanerozoic upper mantle had similar noble metal contents, such that the prolific greenstone belt Au-Ag vein deposits cannot be explained by secular variations in upper mantle Au abundance alone. The lack of covariation between Au and light rare earth elements in lamprophyres rules out mantle metasomatism as a process generating intrinsically Au-rich magmas.
Emplacement of the lamprophyres was diachronous from north (2710 Ma) to south (2670 Ma) in the Superior Province, as was the gold mineralization. Both were related to late transpressional tectonics during successive accretions of individual subprovinces. Alkaline magmatism and gold mineralization are temporally and spatially related because they share a common geodynamic setting, but they are otherwise the products of distinct processes. Much of Archean time was devoid of shoshonites and mesothermal gold deposits. The first widespread inception of this duality at 2.71–2.65 Ga in the Superior and Slave Provinces, Canada, and in India and Australia, may reflect one of the first supercontinent aggregations involving accretionary, “Cordilleran style” tectonics. Giant mesothermal gold provinces and shoshonites recur through time in the Palaeozoic and Mesozoic in this geodynamic setting.
Zusammenfassung
Archaische schoschonitische Lamprophyre sind zeitlich und räumich mit Goldmineralisationen in der Superior Provinz Kanadas vergesellschaftet; beide sind an translithosphärische Strukturen, die die Grenzen von Subprovinzen markieren, geknüpft. Ein Vergleich mit geochemisch ähnlichen phanerozoischen Abfolgen weist darauf hin, daß die Gänge eher durch spezifische Platteninteraktions- und nicht durch Hot Spot initiierte asthenosphärische Prozesse entstanden sind. Ihre spät-archaische Alterseinstufung (ca. 2.7 Ga) belegt somit, daß bereits zu dieser Zeit plattentektonische Prozesse, wie sie für das Phanerozoikum typisch sind, funktionierten.
Frische schoschonitische Gänge zeigen mit Durchschnittskruste vergleichbare Untergrundgehalte an Gold von 3.9 ± 8.1 ppb (lσ), Auch die Gehalte an As, Sb, Bi, W, Tl, B, Cu, Pb, Zn und Mo entsprechen Gehalten der durchschnittlichen Erdkruste. Frische Lamprophyre sind daher nicht an Gold bzw. an anderen für mesothermale AuLagerstätten typischen Elementen angereichert und stellen somit keine spezifischen Muttergesteine dar. Die Gehalte an Platingruppen-Elementen (Ir = 0.4 ± 0.58 ppb; Pt = 5.9 ± 26.5; Pd 5.5 ± 1.8) in Verbindung mit der Verteilung von Cu, Au und Ni definieren einen flachen Trend in auf primitiven Mantel normierten Diagrammen, was mit einer Herkunft der alkalischem Magmen aus einer abgereicherten Mantelquelle, die im unterschiedlichen Ausmaß an einzelnen inkompatiblen Elementen angereichert ist, hinweist. Ähnliche Elementverteilungen bzw. verhältnisse von Pd/Au, Os/Ir und Ru/Ir in archaischen Lamprophyren, archaischen Komatiiten und Gorgona-Komatiiten belegen, daß der archaische und phanerozoische obere Mantel ähnliche Gehalte an Edelund Buntmetallen aufweisen. Die Au-Ag Ganglagerstätten in Greenstone Belts können daher nicht ausschließlich mit einer Variation der Au-Gehalte des oberen Erdmantels erklärt werden. Die fehlende Korrelation zwischen Au und den leichten Seltenen Erden in den Lamprophyren schließt mantelmetasomatische Prozesse für die Bildung von Au-reichen Magmen aus.
Die Platznahme der Lamprophyre in der Superior Provinz erfolgte zeitgleich von N (2710 Ma) nach S (2670 Ma) mit der Bildung der Goldmineralisationen. Beide stehen mit einer späten transpressionalen Tektonik während der sukzessiven Akkretion einzelner Subprovinzen in Beziehung. Alkalimagmatismus und Goldmineralisationen sind deshalb räumlich und zeitlich vergesellschaftet, weil sie innerhalb desselben geodynamischen Settings gebildet wurden. Sie sind sonst aber Produkte unterschiedlicher Prozesse. Über weite Zeiträume des Archaikums fehlen Schoschonite und mesothermale Goldlagerstätten. Das erste großangelgte Auftreten beider in der Superior und Slave Provinz Kanadas während 2.71-2.65 Ga und in Indien und Australien könnte eine der ersten Superkontinentaggregationen im Stile einer “Cordillera-style” Akkretionstektonik widerspiegeln. Riesige mesothermale Goldprovinzen und Schoschonite treten während des Paläo- und Mesozoikums immer wieder, gebunden an diese geotektonische Position, in Erscheinung.
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Kerrich, R., Wyman, D.A. The mesothermal gold-lamprophyre association: significance for an accretionary geodynamic setting, supercontinent cycles, and metallogenic processes. Mineralogy and Petrology 51, 147–172 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01159725
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01159725