Extensive mineralization occurs in southwest Poland as zoned blankets of Cu‐Ag‐(Pb‐Zn) sulphides in the Kupferschiefer and Zechstein Limestone across the base of the Late Permian Zechstein restricted marine sequence, and in the Weissliegendes sandstone at the top of the Early Permian Rotliegendes continental volcanic and siliciclastic sequence. The Rote Fäule (RF) zone, an oxidized, hematitic equivalent of the normally pyritic basal Zechstein, directly underlies the copper ore and is part of the metal zoning. Although the origin has generally been considered to be syngenetic, geologic controls of the RF‐ore systems in Poland suggest a late diagenetic origin by converting metalliferous brines migrating through the Rotliegendes clastic redbeds up along basement highs, oxidizing the pyritic Kupferschiefer to form the RF, and precipitating base and precious metals on the reduced side of this oxidation‐reduction front. A paleomagnetic study of the ore zone in five mines in Poland, the RF zone in three mines, and of the barren pyritic basal Zechstein from outcrops and quarries in Poland, Germany, and England was undertaken to determine the absolute age of the mineralization. In the barren pyritic rocks and the copper sulphide ore, thermal demagnetization and vector subtraction revealed an unstable low‐temperature first‐remanence component (76.9°N, 12.2°E; A63 = 1.6°), parallel to the ambient field, and a second, higher temperature component (82.6°N, 145.9°E; A63 = 1.9°), which could be Miocene (10–20 Ma) or, less likely, Cretaceous (110 Ma) or Jurassic (180 Ma). This second component is erased at 350°–400°C and is thought to be carried by a product of weathering after Alpine age uplift and erosion. No primary magnetization could be isolated in the copper or pyritic zones. The RF hematite, however, contained a very stable third, reversed component (49.0°N, 157.2°E; A63 = 2.2°) which was revealed typically between 500° and 620°C, and is considered to represent a secondary chemical remanent magnetization acquired during the mineralizing process. In order to date the isolated magnetic components, Carboniferous to Neogene apparent polar wander (APW) paths for Europe and Russia were constructed using paleopole catalogs. Mean paleopoles every 10 Ma from 350 to 0 Ma, with A63 circles of confidence, were calculated as running averages using overlapping 20‐ and 30‐Ma time intervals. The RF pole, corresponding to the third remanence component, coincides extremely well with a Middle Triassic age of 240 Ma on the 20‐Ma APW path and a Late Triassic age of 230 Ma on the 30‐Ma APW path. Statistical analysis yields upper and lower age limits of 250 and 220 Ma. This Triassic paleomagnetic age supports the proposed late diagenetic origin of the Kupferschiefer ore deposits, and suggests that the RF‐ore systems were formed immediately after Triassic continental rifting associated with the opening of the Tethys ocean to the south—a likely source of the thermal anomaly necessary to initiate adequate convective velocities within the Rotliegen...
Regional "background" 6 348 values of pyrite-(marcasite) nodules throughout the Zechstein basin in Poland have been measured to help estimate the proportion of externally derived sulphur in the Kupferschiefer Cu-Ag ores. The 6 34S values of the 17 FeS 2 nodules measured range widely, from -25.2 to -51.9%o, similar to the previously published -28 to -43%0 range in disseminated pyrite in the Kupferschiefer. The wide variation cannot be attributed to pyrite versus marcasite mineralogy, amount of contained chalcopyrite or sphalerite, carbonate versus shale host rock, early versus late formation, percent of included calcite, or to size, shape, or texture. There is also no relation with proximity to the centres of copper mineralization in southwestern Poland where sulphides are typically isotopically heavier. The 5 34S values do, however, vary directly with percent of host-rock fragments included in the nodules. Repeat samples that were washed with acid or hot water show the same wide variation, indicating that contamination by sulphate sulphur in the host rock is not a factor. Neither is organic sulphur because of its small volume. Instead, the sulphur composition may be fundamentally controlled by the formation mechanism of the nodule, whereby 34S-rich sulphide is preferentially concentrated, possibly replacing anhydrite lenses. Alternatively, a network of host rock inclusions might act as a more accessible conduit for later, 34S-rich fluids to infiltrate the nodule and add to earlier, 34S-poor pyrite.In the ore deposits, higher 6348 values of ore nodules suggest less indigenous sulphur in limestone than shale lithologies. An isotopic temperature of 61 ~ from a chalcopyrite-galena pair agrees with other estimates of < 105~ Higher values in ore nOdules/veinlets than in adjacent disseminations, and the calculated ~34Spy value from a pyrite-bornite mixture support the idea that metal-bearing 34S-rich fluids penetrated the Kupferschiefer through a network of fractures.
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