Economic Geology

Vol. 70, 1975, pp. 1474-.-1483

SCIENTIFIC COMMUNICATIONS
SUBD UCTION AND PORPHYRY COPPER DEPOSITS IN SO UTH-
WESTERN NORTH AMERICA--A REPLY TO
RECENT OBJECTIONS

Introduction
man, 1967; Marvin et al., 1973). Lipman et al.
(1972) showedthat the volcanics
It has been proposedby a number of workers, similar
to other calc-alkaline suites in mature island-
including Sillitoe (1970, 1972), Guild (1971),
Mitchelland Garson(1972), and Sawkins(1972), or continental-margin
that porphyry copper depositsare emplacedabove
active subductionzones. This relationship,how-
ever, has been challengedrecently by Livingston
(1973) and Lowell (1974) for the most important
known porphyry copper province•in the south-
western United States and adjoining northern
,Mexico--because the temporaland spatialdistribu-
tions of depositsthere possess
a numberof atypical
features.
Evidence relating porphyry copper genesisto
convergentplate margins is compellingin the An-
dean and southwesternPacific regions where sub-
duction is currently active and many depositsare
late Cenozoicin age. Therefore, instea. d of assum-
ing two distinct modesof origin for closelycom-
parableporphyrycopperdeposits,I prefer to apply
a basicallysimilar subductionmodel to the south-
west North American province. This note em-
phasizessomeregionalfactorssupportinga subduc-
tion-relatedorigin for the depositsin the Southwest
provinceand attemptsto countersomeof the criti-
cismslevied againstit.
The Petrogenetic Setting of Porphyry Coppers
Employing evidencefrom the Andes, it was re-
cently suggested(Sillitoe, 1973) that porphyry
copperdepositsare generatedin stocksbeneathco-
genetic,calc-alkalinevolcanicpiles during the final
stagesof their activity. Observationson the geo-
logical setting and characteristicsof porphyry de-
posits in the southwesternPacific region further
supportthis proposal.
In the late Cretaceous-earlyTertiary (Laramide)
porphyry copper province of the southwestern
United States, calc-alkaline volcanic rocks pene-
contemporaneous with mineralized stocks are now
preservedonly locally but were undoubtedlyonce
more widespread(Hayes, 1970). They have been
well documentedfrom southernNew Mexico (Jones
et al., 1967) and southernArizona (Cooper, 1971;
Richard and Courtright, 1960; Simons, 1972), and
their Laramide ages have been confirmedby radio-
metric dating (Bikerman and Damon, 1966; Biker-
1474
are chemically
arcs. Tkley (1972) remarked
on the occurrenceof late Cretaceous,immediately
preore calc-alkalinevolcanicrocks,mainly andesitic
flows, brecciasand lahars, and subordinatedacitic
or rhyolitic ignimbriteflows, in the southwestNorth
American porphyry province. He stated that the
volcanicrocksoccurcloselyassociated with, or near
to, porphyrydepositsin manydistricts. This proxi-
mal relationshipis particularlystrikingin the south-
ern part of the province,in Sonora,where Laramide
•olcanicsare considerably
more widespread;they
have been described from the immediate vicinities of
the Cananea (Valentine, 1936) and La Caridad
(Chiapa and Thorns,1971) porphyrycopperde-
posits. It is contended here that these volcanics
are the genetically
relatedprecursors
of the porphyry
copper-bearing quartz monzoniticstocksand repre-
sent the erosionalremnantsof volcanicpiles sur-
mountedby stratovolcanoes that once overlay the
porphyry deposits.
In the context of plate-tectonictheory, calc-alka-
line magmatic rocks are the hallmarks of belts of
plate convergenceabove subductionzones (e.g.,
Dickinson,1970). At the presenttime, calc-alka-
line magmatismis restrictedto suchbelts, and there
is no reasonto believethat it is, or has been,char-
acteristic of other geotectonicregimes. Hence it
seemsimprobablethat the late Cretaceous-early
Tertiary calc-alkaline
magmaticrocksand porphyry
depositsof southwesternNorth America were gen-
erated in an environment unrelated to subduction,
as advocatedby Lowell (1974). Even if the oft-
quoted lineamentcontrol of porphyry copper-bear-
ing stocksin the Southwestprovince is admitted,
a subductionzone is still requiredas a fundamental
localizer of magmatism. Moreover, calc-alkaline
magmatic rocks are not generated above mantle hot
spots, as proposedby Livingston (1973) for the
southwestNorth Ameri.canporphyryprovince.This
normally intra-plate setting is characterizedby
undersaturatedalkaline or peralkaline magmatism
in continental regions and, although certain ore
types do occur (Sillitoe, 1974a), there is no evi-
denceto supportthe associationof porphyry copper
depositswith such rocks.
 SCIENTIFIC COMMUNIC.4
TIONS 1475

Additional Evidence for a Subduction- and more dispersebelt than is the casefor steeply
Related Origin dippingslabs.
6. Porphyry copperformationwould appear to
In additionto the powerfulpetrogenetic evidence haveendedin the early Miocenemoreor lessat the
cited above, the following points are believed to time when the subductionregimewas replacedby a
indicate that porphyry coppersin the Southwest transformboundaryoff southwestern North America,
province are related to subduction: and contemporaneous with a changefrom calc-alka-
1. The pattern of magneticanomalieson the sea line to basaltic or bimodal basaltic-rhyoliticmag-
floor of the northeasternPacific requires spreading matism(Christiansenand Lipman, 1972); the lat-
at the East Pacific rise and concomitant subduction ter suitesmay be linked to the development of an
of the Farallonplate at a trenchalongwesternNorth ensialicinterarc basin in the Basin and Range prov-
America during Laramide time and until 30 m.y. ince,asproposed for the Great Basinby Scholzet al.
agoor later (McKenzie and Morgan, 1969; Atwater, (1971). The eraplacement of the youngestknown
1970). A minimum of 7,000 km of ocean floor porphyry copper in the province at Rock House
must have beensubductedsincethe Cretaceous(Lar- Canyononly 20 m.y. ago,approximately8 m.y. after
son and Pitman, 1972). subductionat the facing trench had ended,doesnot
2. Precise stratigraphicevidencefrom the Cali- necessarilycontradict Atwater's (1970) tentative
fornia Coast Ranges demonstratesthat subduction chronologyof eventsor prove that porphyry copper.
at a trench,the site of which is now representedby genesis is unrelated to subduction,as claimed by
the Franciscan m•lange, was active in Cretaceous Lowell (1974), becausea time lag wouldbe expected
and early Tertiary times (Berkland, 1972). betweencessationof underthrustingat a trench and
3. Duringporphyrycopperemplacement in the late termination of arc magmatism above the sinking
Cretaceousand early Tertiary, the Southwestpro- slab. Furthermore,a periodof magmatismof mixed
vince was 350 to 750 km or less from the Pacific characteristicsmight well occur during the geotec-
continentalmargin. Post-Laramide,northwestward tonic transition (Christiansenand Lipman, 1972).
translationof the PeninsularRanges of Baja Cali- If the Rock House Canyon depositis related to a
fornia and the Salinia and other blocks in California calc-alkalinepluton,then its 20 m.y. age providesa
on ancestraland modern San Andreas fault systems, refinementof the approximatedateof 26 m.y. (Arm-
a two-stageopeningof the Gulf of Californiain the strongand Higgins, 1973) for the inceptionof basal-
mid-Tertiary and subsequent to 5 m.y., and exten- tic or bimodalmagmatismin that region.
sionalBasin-Rangefaulting (Hamilton and Myers, 7. The ellipticalcluster of porphyry depositsin
1966; Gastil et al., 1972; Gastil and Jensky, 1973; southwesternNorth America is commonly empha-
Armstrong and .Suppe,1973) have resultedin the sized, but the approximately northwest-trending
presentremoteness of the provincefrom the Pacific linear arrays of depositsparallel to both the con-
littoral. tinentalmargin and the inferredpositionof the late
4. Unusually low heat flow in the Sierra Nevada Cretaceous-mid-Tertiary trenchare strikingand very
regionis interpretedby Roy et al. (1972) to demon- similarto narrowbeltsof depositsin southernPeru,
stratethat the cool,updipportionof a possiblyshal- northern Chile, and elsewhere. Such belts of de-
low-dippingunderthrustslab underlay that region posits are thought here to be most easily related to
in the early Cenozoic,with a high heatflow magmaticmagmagenerationalongnarrow zoneson, or above,
provinceto the east. and parallelto the strike of, an underlyingsubduction
5. K20/SiO2 ratios determinedfor early- to mid- zone. Lowell's (1974) assumptionthat suchlinear
Tertiary and someLaramide magmaticrocks from arrays are a result of control by "inconspicuous"
western North America increase in an eastward crustal lineaments,althoughpossiblycorrect, seems
direction. This is comparableto the landward in- to lack adequatesupport. The N65øE-trendingbelt
creasein alkali contentsacrossactive arcs (Dickin- of porphyry depositsin the Southwestprovincemay
son and Hatherton, 1967), and suggestsa model of possibly be explained as a result of emplacement
magmagenerationrelatedto two subparallelimbri- abovea boundaryzoneperpendicularto, and separat-
cate sectionsof underthrustslab dippingeastwai'dat ing, two individual segmentsof oceaniclithosphere
20 to 25ø (Lipman et al., 1971, 1972). The south- that were subductedtogetherbut as separateentities
west North American porphyry copperprovinceis (Stoiber and Carr, 1974; Sillitoe, 1974b). In the
located above the zone of overlap interpreted as Andes, volcanicsand certain porphyry depositsin
existing betweenthe two sectionsof the imbricate beltstransverseto the orogenmay be related to such
slab. The shallowdip of an underthrustslab would boundaryzones.
result in magmatismand mineralizationrather more 8. The presenceof Jurassic (Bisbee) and mid-
distantfrom the continentalmargin and in a broader Tertiary (Rock House Canyon) depositsand con-
1476 SCIENTIFIC COMMUNICATIONS

temporaneousvolcanicsand barren intrusives (Mar- unusually enriched in these metals. The presence
vin et al., 1973) interspersedwith the Laramide of Precambriancupriferous massivesulfideand vein
porphyriesis easilyexplicablein terms of the super- depositsin the provinceis cited in supportof the
positionof magmaticloci, a fairly commonfeature hypothesis.By analogy,therefore,the large tonnage
in zones of long-activeplate convergence. The of copperin late Paleozoicand Megozoicmassive
northwest-southeast decreasein the K-Ar ages of sulfidedepositsin southwestern Japan might also
porphyrycopperdepositsin the Southwestprovince be considered
as evidencefor a deepcopperanomaly
is not incompatiblewith a subductionorigin for the in that region, but subsequentcalc-alkaline mag-
deposits,and couldperhapsbe explainedin terms matism there has apparentlyfailed to producepor-
of progressivelymorerapid uplift, erosion,and cool-phyrycopperdeposits.Furthermore,it is clear that
ing of intrusive bodiesfrom the northwest to the the inheritancehypothesisis difficultto sustainfor
southeast;Lowell (1974) has suggesteddeeperero- all porphyry copper provincessince they possess
sion of porphyry depositsin the northwestpart of such a specific,linear distributionalong active or
the province. A northwestto southeastdecreasein inactivemagmaticarcs (Sillitoe, 1972). Therefore,
emplacement agescannotbe verifieduntil more U- I prefer the notion of extraction of metals from
Pb dates on zircons are available. subductedoceaniccrust, a modelthat is more widely
applicable.In fact, if subductionas a processis
Comparisons with Other Regions viable,then copperand molybdenumseemcertain
The spatialdistributionof porphyrydeposits and to be suppliedto calc-alkalinemagmaseither during
prospectsformed within a restrictedtime interval partial fusion of metalliferouslayer-1 sedimentsor
in southwestern North America and in the Andes of layer-2 basaltsor by their expulsionas components
Chile and Argentina is not markedly dissimilar. of brinesthat subsequently inducemagmaproduc-
Linear arrays attract attentionin both regionsbut tion by partial fusionin the overlyingmantlewedge.
the clusteringof depositscould also be remarked Conclusions
on, althoughit is lesswell developed in the Andes.
Mid- to late-Tertiary depositsin Argentina are In view of the evidenceassembledabove,in par-
still underlain at a depth of about 200 km by an ticular that pertinentto petrogenesis, and the fact
active,shallow-dipping (•20 ø) subduction zoneand that the southwestNorth American porphyry copper
were emplacedup to 500 km from the Pacificmar- provinceis indivisiblefrom the muchmore extensive
gin of South America at a time when the locusof westernAmericaspo.rphyry,and Cordilleranoro-
magmatismwas considerablywider than in the genic, belts, an intimate relationshipbetweensub-
Mesozoic,earlyTertiary, andHolocene. This figure ductionandporphyrycoppergeneration is preferred.
is comparable to the 350 to 750 km notedaboveas On the basisof the informationcurrently available
the reconstructeddistanceof the Southwestprovince from the region, it seemsunnecessaryto propose a
from the continentalmargin in Laramidetimes. distinct mode of origin for the southwestNorth
It is tentativelysuggested that the Mioceneto American depositsor to doubt the porphyry copper
Recenttrans-Mexicovolcanicbelt providesa modern formation/subdu6tionrelationship establishedfor
analogfor certainfeaturesof the volcanicbelt that geologicallysimpler regions.
is here suggestedto have onceoccupied the south-
west North American porphyry province. This Acknowledgments
trans-Mexicobelt is up to 220 km wide and, at its The manuscriptwas reviewedby Drs. F. J. Saw-
easternend, is locatedas muchas 360 km from the kins and M. Soloman.
Pacificmarginof Mexico. The geochemistry of the
calc-alkalinevolcanicssupportsan origin relatedto RICHARD H. SILLITOE
DEPARTMENT OF MINING GEOLOGY
a subduction
zone(.Gunnand Mooser,1971) which
now extends from the Middle America trench be- ROYAL SCHOOL OF MINES
IMPERIAL COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
neath the volcanicfront. Stoiber and Carr (1974) PRINCE CONSORT ROAD '
correlatedprominenttransverse
beltsof more abun- LONDONSW7 2BP, ENGLAND
dant recent volcanics in the trans-Mexico volcanic
October25, 1974; June 13, 1975
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