Porphyry Deposits II Porphyry deposit minerals

• Cu > Mo ~ Au > Pb, Zn, Rh, W, etc

- Copper used in construction, currency, electronics
- Molybdenum used in high strength alloy and high-T
steel; aircraft parts, paints and lubricants
chalcopyrite CuFeS2 digenite Cu9S5 chalcocite Cu2S

enargite Cu3AsS4

bornite Cu5FeS4 molybdenite MoS2

source of metal, S, Cl, water transport of metal, S, Cl, water

B: Volatile Exsolution
Richards (2003) • Magma ascends to neutral
buoyancy level
• Need to restrict volcanism?
• Volatiles exsolved during fractional
crystallisation (mafic magma
involvement?)

A: Fertile Magma Production

• Partial melting in migmatitic zone
at base of crust
• Melts transferred to upper crust
Dehydration (or melting) of slab along dykes in shear zones
generates Cu- and S-bearing
fluid phase (largely oxidized
from interaction with seawater)

Hedenquist & Lowenstern, 1994

Batholith dynamics volatile exsolution
• Porphyry deposits generally in and around tall,
narrow stocks/dikes (~<2km2), emplaced at shallow
depths (1-4km)
Cupolas – - stocks/dikes develop in cupolas/apophyses off deeper
fractionated, volatile batholiths (6-10km)
(fluid)-rich dacitic
magmas forming sub- - Insufficient Cu in shallow stocks/dikes to form Cu deposits;
volcanic stocks/dykes
• must derive from deeper magma chambers
Inflation + • need a way to concentrate Cu from this magma chamber
lateral
propagation
! exsolved volatile(fluid) phase!
Average Cu in andesitic magma ~60ppm
Total Cu in giant deposit ~10Mt
Richards (2003) 10Mt/60ppm = 1.7x1011 t of magma

Volume of magma = (1.7x1011 t)/(2.7t/m3) ~60km3

[@ 100% efficiency Cu removal]

hydrothermal fluids

cupolas

Comb quartz layers in intra-

mineral monzonite,
Courtesy of David Cooke Ridgeway, NSW
 hydrothermal fluids volatile exsolution
UST’s Vein-dykes At low degrees of crystallization: Courtesy of David Cooke

Fluid filled zone

Bajo de la Alumbrera: Harris et al. 2003

At high degrees of crystallization:

• vapor bubble formation

• coalesce
• tubule formation Miarolitic
North Parkes, NSW • volatiles drain upwards cavities
Courtesy of David Cooke (Lickfold et al. 2003)

typical volatile exsolution porphyry volatile exsolution

•-Pressure drops as magma rises
reduces solubility of H O in the melt
•-Eventually
2
melt reaches H O saturation
• Hydrothermal fluid is largely derived from 2nd
2
water is exsolved as separate phase: 1st
boiling of larger batholithic intrusion beneath
boiling hypabyssal porphyry
• Near surface, magma may gain enough - 2nd boiling = due to crystallization
buoyancy from fluid phase that it leads
to volcanism - Drier magmas need crystallization to achieve H2O
saturation at depths of the upper crustal magma
chambers
• 8% H2O magma = saturation at ~3kb
(9-12km) • The generation of a fluid phase depends on...
• 4% H2O magma = saturation at ~1kb - initial H2O content
(3-4km)
- pressure
• 2% H2O magma = saturation at - degree of crystallization
~0.25kb (1-2km)
• (After Cloos, 2001)
 fluid composition fluid composition (Cl)
• Magma composition, P-T-t cooling history • Cl partitions preferentially into fluid phase
-

constrain composition of the exsolved fluid - strongly pressure-sensitive up to ~6km (~2kb)

• but unusual to have much fluid at that depth
- mostly H2O
- Salt components: NaCl, KCl, FeCl2 • deeper magmas (than ~6km) exsolve a Cl- rich
(briny) (and hence metal-rich) fluid
• ~5-10wt% total salinity in fluid
- shallower exsolve Cl-poor
• Oxidized, so SO2 > H2S fluid
-
-
sulfur actually in melt as SO4
no sulfides form
2- (S6+)
• Thus, generation of Cu-
rich fluids must occur
deeper than level of
stocks/dikes (1-4km)
hosting most of the ore

fluid composition (metals)

• Metals partition into aqueous fluids depending To here
strongly on Cl concentration
First
boiling
DZn,fluid-melt

Need to get
bubbles from here

Second boiling
 Early magma chamber Later Cloos, 2002

Cloos, 2002
magma •Bubbles in
magma that rise
from great depth
are copper-rich
At low levels of - become large
crystallization, fluid enough near the
saturation occurs by 1st surface to rise on
boiling at shallow depths
their own and
in cupola. Low Cu owing
to low salinity of fluids separate from
melt
- fluid can
Zoom in here accumulate
beneath the
cupola
Convection moves lots of - partially degassed
melt through this process! magma then sinks

Late bubbling magma chamber Cloos, 2002

Yerrington evolution

As cupola cools, crystallization

and fluid saturation reaches
main chamber where
pressures are high enough for
saline Cu-rich fluids to form.
This fluid rises up through
crystal mush wall and in
crystal rich suspension zone
 Why not more deposits? Porphyry-Cu STT model
Cu-rich fluid pooled at
• Source (largely orthomagmatic)
top of cupola.... Poised
- The source of the metals, sulfur, Cl, and water is the
to make a porphyry metasomatized (fluid-altered) mantle melts above
deposit dehydrating subducting slabs
• Transport (magmatic and hydrothermal)
- The metals, sulfur and water are transported together in
the intermediate composition magma rising to upper
BUT – if have volcanic crustal magma chambers
release of exsolving fluid
phase - 2nd boiling leads to exsolution of metal rich fluid phase
! no build up of Cu- that actually carries metals to site of precipitation of
rich fluid and NO sulfide precipitation and ore formation
porphyry deposit
Formation of mid-crustal magma chamber and exsolution and
trapping of hydrothermal fluid in apical zones of chamber is a critical
first step in the porphyry magmatic-hydrothermal ore system
From Heinrich (2005)

Porphyry-Cu STT model Primary Mineralization

• Main ore minerals:
• Transport (magmatic and hydrothermal) chalcopyrite, bornite,
- The metals, sulfur and water are transported together in gold, molybdenite
-
the intermediate composition magma rising to upper hosted in veins or E26 - Cu & Au Grades
breccias
crustal magma chambers
• Gangue: qz, or, anh, mt, >2 g/t Au

1 - 2 g/t Au 10,200RL

-
+

2nd boiling lead to exsolution of metal rich fluid phase bt ± ser ± py 0.5 - 1 g/t Au
+

that actually carries metals to site of precipitation of • -Within deposit zonation: >2 % Cu

1- 2 % Cu
+
+

+
+

low pyrite, Cu-rich core,

sulfide precipitation and ore formation on outer edge of potassic
0.5 – 1 % Cu
+ + +
10,000RL

• Trap (hydrothermal)
+ +

alteration zone + + +

- outer pyrite-rich halo in

+ +

- Getting metal out of fluid and into sulfide

+ + +

phyllic alteration zone + + + 9,800RL

• Some deposits have Cu- +

+
+

+
+

+
+

Au rich cores inside an + + + +

intermediate Mo-rich + + +
9,600RL
+ + + +
annulus & outer pyrite + + + +
200 m
halo + + + +
9,450RL
10,600E 10,800E 11,000E 11,200E
Free Au in qz-mt vein, Ridgeway, NSW
House, 1994
 Genesis of primary mineralization Genesis of primary mineralization
• build-up of volatile-rich
magma at top of cupola causes
increase in Pfluid owing to
- volatile exsolution and volume
expansion
Cu-rich fluid pooled at
top of cupola.... Poised
• solid carapace fractures and
fluid is released to react with
to make a porphyry surrounding rock
deposit - can happen in multiple smaller
events (stockwork veining)
- or as a more catastophic
process (breccias)
• pressure release (P changes
f
from Plith to Phydro) induces
exsolution from melt
- residual magma crystallizes
rapidly
- forms porphyry groundmass
From Heinrich (2005)
After Robb, 2005

Genesis of primary mineralization Genesis of primary mineralization

•Primary control on •Exsolution history of fluid •Can understand main factors controlling Au & Cu deposition
from an understanding of:
porphyry evolution is from melt is CRITICAL - fluid cooling
generation of a hydrous factor for metal content
- • control on metal solubility
fluid from the melt
- -
depth of crystallization - fluid oxidation state
overall metal budget relative extent of 1st and
- • control on oxide, sulfate and sulfide deposition
-
magma composition 2nd boiling - disproportionation of SO2 (in fluid) with decreasing T
-
Cl- content •Fluid release into • largely temperature controlled
H2O content crystallized parts of cupola
- oxidation state of magma
• increases ratio of H2S to SO2
region is necessary to
- sulfur content
• favors sulfide deposition [4SO2 + 4H2O = H2S + 3HSO4- +
produce actual deposits
3H +]
- fluid acidity
• controls alteration patterns, affects [H2S]
• acidity increases with deceasing temperature as acids
disassociate (HCl, H2SO4, H2S, H2CO3)
! strongly influences alteration patterns.
 Bibliography
• Cloos, M., 2001. Bubbling magma
chambers, cupolas, and porphyry
copper deposits, International
Geology Review 43, pp. 285-311.
• Dilles, J.H., 1987. Petrology of the
Yerington Batholith, Nevada -
Evidence for Evolution of Porphyry
Copper Ore Fluids, Economic Geology
82, pp. 1750-1789.
• Hedenquist, J.W., Lowenstern, J.B.,
1994. The role of magmas in the
formation of hydrothermal ore
deposits, Nature 370, pp. 519-527.
• Richards, J.P., 2003. Tectono-
magmatic precursors for porphyry Cu-
(Mo-Au) deposit formation, Economic
Geology 98, pp. 1515-1533.
• Seedorff, E., Barton, M.D., Stavast,
W.J.A., Maher, D.J., 2008. Root Zones
of Porphyry Systems: Extending the
Porphyry Model to Depth, Economic
Geology 103, pp. 939-956.
• Seedorff, E., Dilles, J.H., Proffett, J.M.,
Einaudi, M.T., Zurcher, L., Stavast,
W.J.A., Johnson, D.A., Barton, M.D.,
2005, Porphyry deposits:
Characteristics and origin of hypogene
features, in: J.W. Hedenquist, J.H.F.
Thompson, R.J. Goldfarb, J.P.
Richards, (Eds.), Economic Geology
One Hundredth Anniversary Volume,
Society of Economic Geologists,
Littleton, Colorado, pp. 251-298.
• Shinohara, H., Hedenquist, J.W.,
1997. Constraints on magma
degassing beneath the far southeast
porphyry Cu-Au deposit, Philippines,
Journal of Petrology 38, pp.
1741-1752.