Vol. 68, l9?3, pp. ?

99-815

The Tops and Bottoms of Porphyry Copper

Deposits

RicHARD H. SILLITOE

Abstract
Although it is now widely accepted that porphyry copper deposits consist of zonally
arranged shells of alteration and mineralisation centered on high-level, calc-alkaline
stocks, the nature of their uneconomic upward and downward extensions remains un-
documented. This paper attempts to characterize these upward and downward ex-
tensions and to integrate the resulting concepts into a hypothetical model for complete
porphyry copper systenis. Examples from Chile, Argentina, and elsewhere are used to
aid in the substantiation of the model. Programs of exploration for porphyry ore de-
posits can clearly benefit from the application of a model of this sort.
A typical porphyry copper-bearing stock is inferred to grade downward into stock-
work mineralization and potassium silicate alteration in a phaneritic intrusive, which
in turn is transitional downward to an essentially unaltered pluton of considerably
larger dimensions than the stock. Porphyry copper deposits are normally located in the
basement beneath a comagmatic volcanic pile, which is transected by a column of hydro-
thermal alteration representing the upper parts of the porphyry copper system. This
alteration consists of propylitic and argillic types with localized patches of silicification
and advanced argillic alteration. The volcanic pile is thought to constitute a strato-
volcano which possesses large native sulfur deposits and small quantities of base metals,
particularly copper, in sublimates at high-temperature fumaroles in the vicinity of its
central vent; these surficial deposits are considered as the effluent products of active
porphyry copper systems.
The available evidence favors the emplacement of the tops of typical porphyry copper
deposits at depths of 1.5-3 km beneath the summits of stratovolcanoes and suggests that
entire porphyry copper systems possess vertical extensions as great as 8 km.
At Chuquicamata, Chile, a major high-angle fault may have cut the porphyry copper
deposit, and subsequent erosion has removed the portion of the deposit that was situated
in the upthrown block. The hydrothermal alteration pattern in the remaining part of
the ore body is incomplete and terminates abruptly against the fault. The unaltered,
phaneritic granodiorite, containing minor veins and pegmatitic bodies, in the upthrown
block is interpreted as the root zone of the Chuquicamata porphyry copper system.
The lower most, mineralised part of a porphyry system is believed to be exposed at
Los Loros, Chile. There a zone of molybdenum-rich and copper-poor potassium silicate
alteration carrying abundant K-feldspar occupies an area in the interior of a relatively
large pluton of phaneritic granite.
At Farallfin Negro, northwest Argentina, several small porphyry copper deposits
pierce the infrastructure of a temporally related, andesitic stratovolcano. This unusual
locus of the deposits above the subvolcanic basement enables it to be determined that
porphyry copper emplacement was a late event in the construction of the stratovolcano,
succeeded only by the formation of minor rhyolite intrusives and epithermal veins.
Extensive zones of pyritic alteration including widespread silicification, in which
intrusive rocks are virtually absent, are visible in the centers of eroded stratovolcanoes,
as at Cerro Marquz in northern Chile. Such zones are interpreted as the columns
of alteration spanning the vertical interval between porphyry copper deposits and the
vent areas of uneroded volcanoes. At Cerro Queva in northwest Argentina, lead-
silver mineralisation associated with advanced argillic alteration is located in an altera-
tion zone beneath the summit regions of a stratovolcano.
It may be concluded that during the final stages of construction of stratovolcanoes,
fumarolic and hot-spring activity are the surficial manifestations of the efllux of metal-
bearing magmatic fluids from magma chambers during retrograde boiling, the inter-
action of these fluids with the groundwater system and the consequent formation of
alteration and mineralization. The proposed model implies that porphyry copper
systems effectively span the boundary between the plutonic and volcanic environments.

799
800 RICHARD II. SILLITOE
A GREAT deal of attention has recently been focused
on patterns of lateral and vertical zoning of altera-
tion and mineralisation in porphyry ore deposits
(Lowell and Guilbert, 1970 ; Rose, 1970 ; James,
1971) . This work has led to the general acceptance
of many porphyry deposits as upright cylinders con-
sisting of coaxially distributed zones of alteration and
mineralisation centered on felsic stocks, commonly
porphyries. The silicate and sulfide zoning com-
prises a core of potassium silicate alteration envel-
oped successively by zones of sericitic, argillic, and
propylitic alteration. This typical pattern of altera-
tion and mineralisation has been widely recognized
during studies of porphyry copper deposits in the
Andes, and is particularly well exemplified by the
Los Pelambres deposit (Fig. 2) in Chile (Sillitoe,
1973) .
Knowledge of the character and distribution of
alteration-mineralisation is, however, largely com-
bined to the economically exploitable portions of
porphyry ore deposits, whereas the nature of the
uneconomic extensions of these deposits, both up-
ward and downward, remains undocumented. When
one considers the huge tonnage of porphyry deposits,
their high level of emplacement in the
continental crust, and the large volumes of
mineralizing fluids and high temperatures
involved in their generation, it is evident that entire
porphyry copper systems must extend downward
and especially upward for very considerable
distances beyond the parts which are likely to be
of economic interest. Even at Kalama zoo,
Arizona (Lowell, 1968), where the mineralized
body has been tectonically disturbed and possesses
a near-horizontal attitude, the complete
porphyry copper system is not observable.
Therefore it seems necessary to combine
information from many areas in order to attempt to
construct a model of a porphyry system.
In the first section of this paper, a preliminary
speculative model for an idealized porphyry copper
system is advanced, although it is not claimed that
every porphyrytype development necessarily
com- plies with all its features. Future studies of
porphyry deposits in various parts of the world will
un- doubtedly be able to clarify or modify some of
the more enigmatic aspects of the model. In the
second section of the paper descriptions are given
of localities in Chile, Argentina and elsewhere that
are thought to be typical of various levels in the
upward and downward extensions of porphyry
copper deposits.
Fic. 1. Idealized cross section of a typical, simple porphyry copper deposit showing its position at the boundary between
platonic and volcanic environments. Vertical and horizontal dimensions are meant to be only approximate.
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