The c. 1.9 Ga old Stollberg sulphide and Mnrich skarn iron ores and sulphide ores in Bergslagen, south-central Sweden are hosted by hydrothermally altered and metamorphosed felsic volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks. The ores are underlain by comformable alteration zones characterized by albite-gedrite-quartz and biotite-muscovite-plagioclase-K-feldspar-quartz + / -garnet assemblages. The present mineralogies are interpreted as medium-grade metamorphic equivalents to the original alteration mineral assemblages. PT-conditions during prograde regional metamorphism are semiquantatively determined to be 510 to 560 ~ at approximately 3 kbar. With increasing modal content of gedrite and biotite in the alteration zones, the Mg/Fe ratios and XMg' S in octahedral positions of these minerals also increase. In the gedrite-bearing strata, whole-rock Mg/Fe ratios remain constant, whereas in the biotite-rich unit the wholerock Mg/Fe trend is parallel to that of the biotites.The trends in the metamorphic mineral composition are interpreted to be a product of original changes in fluid composition during the evolution of a sub-seafloor hydrothermal system. During the initial stage of alteration, Fe-Mn-rich fluids altered the rocks, and during a later stage, the fluids became more Mg-rich, possibly due to entrainment of fresh seawater, and the alteration zones became relatively more Mg-rich. Sulphide precipitation was contemperaneous with Mg metasomatism, suggesting base metal precipitation was a function of the mixing of cool seawater with hydrothermal fluid. It is proposed that early hydrothermal alteration was associated with the deposition of areally extensive Fe-oxide formation, and that Mg metasomatism defines a second stage of hydrothermal activity during which sulphide mineralization overprinted the earlier formed Fe-oxide deposit.
a b s t r a c t U-Th-Pb (zircon and monazite) ion probe data have provided constraints on the timing of emplacement and metamorphism of magmatic rocks close to the Palaeoproterozoic, Falun base metal sulphide deposit in the Bergslagen lithotectonic unit, Fennoscandian Shield, Sweden, and, thereby the timing of mineralisation. Hydrothermal alteration and mineralisation at Falun are constrained to a short interval of several million years between a 207 Pb/ 206 Pb weighted average age of 1894 ± 3 Ma for a rhyolitic sub-volcanic rock in the felsic volcanic to sub-volcanic host rock suite, and a 207 Pb/ 206 Pb weighted average age of 1891 ± 3 Ma for a post-sulphide, porphyritic dacite dyke. Magmatism also included the emplacement of granite plutons with igneous crystallization ages of 1894 ± 3, 1894 ± 2 Ma and 1893 ± 3 Ma. The felsic sub-volcanic to volcanic activity and the emplacement of dacite dykes and granite plutons overlap in age within their respective analytical uncertainties, indicating hydrothermal alteration and sulphide mineralisation inside a narrow time span of intense magmatic activity, and burial of the supracrustal rocks. Two distinct patchy and homogeneous metamorphic monazite types in a felsic volcanic rock around and hydrothermally altered rocks at the Falun deposit yield 207 Pb/ 206 Pb weighted average ages of 1831 ± 8 Ma and 1822 ± 5 Ma, respectively. These ages fall well within the temporal range of a younger 1.84-1.81 Ga (M 2 ) metamorphic episode during the 2.0-1.8 Ga Svecokarelian orogeny, with the older episode (M 1 ) inside the Bergslagen lithotectonic unit at around 1.86 Ga. This shows the major influence of the M 2 event in the north-western part of this unit, leading to a complete resetting of the U-Th-Pb isotope system in monazite.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.