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    Cristhian Ł. Barrientos

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    Beane, R. E. and Bodnar, R. J. (195) Hydrothermal fluids and hydrothermal alteration in porphyry copper deposits. in ree, F. W. and Bohm, J. G., Porphyry Copper Deposits of the American Cordillera. Arizona Geological Society Digest 20, Tucson, AZ p. 83-93. Hydrothermal Fluids and Hydrothermal Alteration in Porphyry Copper Deposits RICHARD E. BEANE ROBERT J. BODNAR ABSTRACT Porphyry copper deposits contain large volumes of rock which have undergone alteration as the result of circulation of hydrothermal fluids. Several workers have attempted to systematize the characteristics of such alteration by defining groups of minerals which commonly occur together and placing these in a spatial relationship to copper mineraliza- tion. Mineral paragenetic sequences are recognized to be an important aspect of alteration studies. Information regard- ing the thermo-chemical nature of the fluids responsible for alteration and mineralization are obtained through study of fluid inclusions. Fluid inclusion characteristics vary as a function of time and position in porphyry copper systems. Accumulating knowledge has enabled correlation between fluid inclusion characteristics and the timing and location of alteration phenomena. Such information aids not only in understanding the genesis of porphyry copper deposits but also in interpretation of such environments by exploration geologists. This paper reviews the current state of know!- edge concerning hydrothermal fluids and the alteration minerals they produce. INTRODUCTION A diagnostic feature of porphyry copper deposits is the large volume of altered rocks included in their composite sys- tems. That alteration, including copper metallization. is the re- sult of circulation of hydrothermal fluids of diverse origins. This, contribution will discuss the nature of alteration in porphyry copper systems and the characteristics of inclusions which pre~ serve the fluids that produced it. Chemical factors responsible for formation of different mineral assemblages will be outlined and applied to correlation of processes in varying lithologies. The chemical nature of hydrothermal fluids as deduced from fluid inclusions will then be reviewed. Finally. several examples of the integration and use of alteration and fiuid inclusions in porphyry copper evaluation will be described. Because of space limitations. it will be presumed that readers are familiar with the fundamentals of alteration in porphyry copper systems and at- tributes of fluid inclusions. ‘The central plutons closely associated with metallization in porphyry’ copper systems are usually small, on the order of ¥. 10 2 kilometers in diameter. but rocks associated with those small plutons commonly show alteration effects over areas of several square kilometers. Drilling shows the third dimension to extend, two or more kilometers below surface exposures in these altered systems. and the entire vertical extent of alteration and mineral- ization in & complete porphyry copper system may be on the order of 10 kilometers (Sillitoe. 1973). Clearly these are large altered systems. ‘The ultimate cause of rock alteration in porphyry copper ‘Magma Copper Company: Tueson. Arizona Virginia Polviechnic Institute. Blacksburg, Virginia systems is the thermal anomaly associated with the central intru- sion. Some alteration effects such as marbleization of limestones and homfelsing of shales are almost entirely @ consequence of heat evolved from the cooling pluton, but the alteration effects seen in porphyry copper systems are for the most part the result of circulation and reaction of water-rich fluids set in motion by and in some cases evolved from the central intrusion. ‘Thermal and mechanical stresses accompany emplacement and erystallization of shallow plutons and result in a large vol- ‘ume of fractured rock encompassing both the central intrusion and adjacent wall rocks. The combination of induced fracturing and shallow depth provide a highly permeable setting which supports convective circulation of hydrothermal fluids. Numeri- cal models of hydrothermal fluid circulation in porphyry copper systems (Norton. 1978. 1982) define a characteristic pattern of temperatures and fluid flow. Throughout much of the cooling history of the plutons. isotherms are tightly constricted on the sides of the intrusion because of influx of cooler fluids from pe- ripheral wall rocks. Above the piuton. however, isotherms are laterally and vertically extended by up-welling. convecting waters which have been heated by the intrusive body. A thermal anomaly consisting of temperatures in the range 300° to 400°C persists in and around the cooling intrusion for time spans of tens of thousands of years. Such temperatures are optimal for ‘mass and heat transpor by fluids (Norton. 1982). HYDROTHERMAL ALTERATION IN PORPHYRY COPPER DEPOSITS Titley (1982, 1994) described styles of alteration in por phyry copper systems reflecting physical (visual) characteris- tics, including the extent to which earlier-formed minerals in the rock were aliered and the spatial distribution of those alier- ations. Fractures and microfractures are the avenues of access for hydrothermal fluids that produce alteration in rocks. If wall rocks are unreactive, alteration may consist solely of minerals contained within such fractures. Wall rock alteration when present may be confined to the immediate selvages of veinlets ‘or may pervade the enclosing rock mass so that its relation to fractures is obscured. Alteration may be restricted to selective ‘minerals from the host rock or may totally obliterate virtually all original minerals and be texturally destructive. Textural styles are based on the physical manner in which new minerals are arrayed in a rock mass, but the actual development of new min- «rals is almost entirely a consequence of chemical effects. Alteration Minerals Numerous repons have focused on alteration mineral as- 1s in individual porphyry copper deposits of southwest- fem North America as well as comparative characteristics of such deposits as a group (see. for example. compilations by a R. E, BEANE AND R. J. BODNAR Creasey 1959, 1966; Lowell and Guilbert. 1970; Rose, 1970: Beane, 1982). Quartz monzonitic rocks are the most common class of intrusive related to porphyry copper mineralization in this region and several distinctive types of hydrothermal alter- ation are recognized by various workers as being common in such rocks. These alteration types are defined by either the pres- ‘ence ofa distinguishing suite of minerals or a chemical process. + “Potassic™ alteration results from introduction of potas- sium into alumino-silcate rocks. Biotite and potassium feldspar are primary constituents of quastz, monzonite, but their hydro- thermal counterparts occur additionally as selective, pervasive replacements of homblende and plagioclase, respectively. These transformations involve replacement of calcium and sodium by potassium and hence reflect a comanion process. + “Phyllic” alteration is distinctive in its pervasive mode of cccurrence and is perhaps the most easily recognizable of the as- semblages seen in porphyry copper alteration. Pervasive sericite and quartz form broad, texturally destructive envelopes on quartz veins which may overlap if closely spaced. Pyrite occurs inthe veins with quartz as well as in wall rocks in sites of former mafic minerals. Potassium included in sericite is largely derived from original feldspar and biotite. + "Propylitic™ alteration or saussertization of quartz mon- zonitic rocks can be very subtle. It is a nearly iso-chemical transformation of original igneous minerals to hydrothermal assemblage. Biotite and horablende alter to chlorite. which is commonly accompanied by hematite. The anorthite component of original plagioclase is converted to epidote, calcite, and sericite, while the albite component is preserved. Sericite may develop with potassium being either introduced or liberated by chlortization of biotite. This alteration type was originally de- fined and is most obvious in andesitic and dioritic rocks but is also seen as a selectively pervasive type of alteration in more ‘granitic rocks as well. + “Intermediate-argillic” alteration differs from phyllic al- teration in that iron-bearing silicates are converted to chlorite or montmorillonite. This type of alteration is pervasive. but tex- tures are preserved. “Advanced-argillic” alteration, comprising kaolinite ( pyrophyllite and/or alunite) and quarz, is not par- ticularly common as a primary hydrothermal effect but occurs instead most typically as a result of supergene processes. This type of alteration is pervasive and texturally destructive, Alteration studies of porphyry copper deposits in south- western North America have recognized another mineral assem- blage spatially and temporally related to copper deposition but not mentioned in the definition of alteration assemblages defined by Lowell and Guilbert (1970) (for example: Reynolds and Beane, 1985; Wilkinson and others, 1982). This assemblage is distinguished by chloritization of biotite in selvages of veins containing chalcopyrite while potassium feldspar remains stable or is introduced in minor amounts. In some repors such chlorite has apparently been misidentified as biotite oF misinterpreted to hhave resulted from a later “retrograde” effect. This alteration may be a form of intermediate argillization, because at some locations much of the primary chalcopyrite appears to have been accompanied dy sericite as well as chlorite andfor orthoclase. Although special terms such as phyllic may be expeditious in defining alteration types. they are often not strictly defined nor exclusive. For example, the chlorite + potassium feldspar assemblage described above contains components of both potas- sic and propyliic alteration. A preferable way to define alteration is in terms of minerals present, whether primary or secondary. Classification of a rock sample as having a certain type of alter- ation in porphyry copper deposits is often confusing when sample is cross-cut by several different veins. each with a differ- ent mineralogy (Titley, 1994). In such cases, paragenesis as well as mineral identification is necessary to describe alteration. Zoning and Paragenesis Classifications based on systematic spatial arrangements of alteration assemblages are followed to a greater or lesser extent in most porphyry copper deposits. Perhaps the most widely known of these is the “Lowell and Guilbert” model (Lowell and Guilber, 1970). According to this model, alteration silicates are zoned with biotite and potassium feldspar (potassic) in the cen- ter of the pluton, quartz plus sericite (phyllic) near the pluton margins, and chlorite-albite-epidote (propylitic) in outlying ‘quanz monzonitic wall rocks. The quartz-sericite zone contains abundant pyrite but low copper values. The ore zone. containing chalcopyrite and pyrite along with characteristic silicates, lies across and inside the boundary between the quartz-sericite zone and the low-grade or barren potassic core. Argillic alteration is erratically distributed and when seen is at relatively high levels ‘outside the sericite zone, Paragenetic sequences are defined using textural evidence of replacement and cross-cutting veinlets with different mineral associations. Reported paragenetic sequences for alteration min- erals in porphyry copper deposits (see. for example, summary by Beane, 1982) indicate a progression from potassic to “miner- alization” to phyllic and finally to argilie mineral assemblages with time. This sequence paraliels the position of those assem- blages away from the pluton center. Marginal propyltization begins early (coincident with central potassic alteration) and cither continues or remains stable throughout most of the evolu- tion of the more central alteration types. ‘The connection between the spatial and temporal aspects of porphyry copper alteration minerals is contained in the evolu- tion of fracture patterns in the systems (Titley and others, 1986; Titley, 1982; Beane and Titley, 1981). Early fractures containing potassic minerals were distributed across entire crystallized plu tons and out into adjacent wall rocks. sometimes to distances of a few kilometers. As time progressed, fracturing became i creasingly intense and focused upon the pluton margin with younger alteration minerals successively overprinting older as- semblazes, thus the central potassic and adjacent orthoclase- chlorite-chalcopyrite alteration are only remnants of originally more extensive zones which are preserved from replacement by sericite and pyrite owing to their isolation as fracturing retreated toward the edge of the pluton. These overprinting effects point ‘out the problem of classifying a rock sample with veins contain- ing different minerals. This difficulty may be mitigated when temporal relations among the different veins are defined. Lithologic Effects The alteration assemblages described above are typical when quartz monzonitic rocks compose both the central miner- HYDROTHERMAL FLUIDS AND HYDROTHERMAL ALTERATION IN PORPHYRY COPPER DEPOSITS 8s alizing intrusion and the enclosing wall rocks, as is common in southwestern North America. In a few situations in the western United States and northwestern Mexico, however, diotitie or cale- alkalic intrusions are related to mineralization

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