Anatomy, Evolution, and Metallogenic Significance of the Supergene Orebody of the Cerro Colorado Porphyry Copper Deposit, I Región, Northern Chile

Bouzari, Farhad; Clark, Alan H.

doi:10.2113/gsecongeo.97.8.1701

Cited by 56 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…An apparent younging‐with‐depth trend observed after 16 Ma was attributed to aridity‐induced incision of a nearby canyon (the Quebrada de Parca) which continues to control the local water table today. These geochronology data show that regional climate can control water table movement and the progression of weathering via canyon incision, and that hematite precipitation persisted long after supergene enrichment ended (at ∼14.6 Ma; Bouzari & Clark, 2002), suggesting that hematite is not a proxy for enrichment. However, the response of the water table in different locations to desiccation of the Atacama Desert, and the impacts of this response on the supergene development of different PCDs are yet to be determined.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…Previous studies have constrained the timing of enrichment of Andean PCDs via K‐Ar and 40 Ar/ 39 Ar dating of supergene alunite group minerals; K‐bearing sulfates formed as by‐products of sulfide leaching (Alpers & Brimhall, 1988; Arancibia et al., 2006; Bouzari & Clark, 2002; Sillitoe & McKee, 1996). A major limitation on the usefulness of alunite is that it can form under oxidising conditions above the water table (Sillitoe & McKee, 1996) and under reducing conditions beneath it (Alpers & Brimhall, 1988), implying that samples separated by hundreds of meters within a weathering profile may have formed “anytime from several million years apart to synchronously” (Sillitoe, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, burial may cause the ultimate redox front to be “drowned” beneath an elevated water table, so that infiltrating water is moving through rocks already leached of copper (Brimhall et al., 1985; Enders et al., 2006; Sillitoe & McKee, 1996). Ages of paleo‐surfaces and ash layers within gravel units allow PCD weathering ages to be viewed within a sedimentological framework of pre‐versus post‐cover deposition (Bouzari & Clark, 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Rusty Record of Weathering and Groundwater Movement in the Hyperarid Central Andes

Shaw

Evenstar

Cooper

et al. 2021

Geochem Geophys Geosyst

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Rusty Record of Weathering and Groundwater Movement in the Hyperarid Central Andes

Shaw

Evenstar

Cooper

et al. 2021

Geochem Geophys Geosyst

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“…18.8). Lacustrine environments in the western zone deposited evaporites at times of enhanced aridity and fresh water mudstones, limestones and Vergara et al (1986), Muñoz and Sepú lveda (1992), Muñoz and Charrier (1996), Bouzari and Clark (2002), Far ıas et al (2005), Victor et al (2004), and Muñoz (2007). Chronological controls south of 20 20 0 S published in Blanco and Tomlinson (2006), Hoke et al (2007), and Jordan et al (2010).…”

Section: Paleoclimate and Sedimentary Faciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Pampa del Tamarugal Forearc Basin in Northern Chile: The Interaction of Tectonics and Climate

Nester

Jordan

2011

Tectonics of Sedimentary Basins

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The nonmarine Pampa del Tamarugal forearc sedimentary basin has existed on the west flank of the Andes Mountains in northern Chile from Late Oligocene to modern times. The highly elongate, trench-parallel intramassif basin lies on continental crust and overlaps the roots of the Cretaceous through Eocene magmatic arc. The basin fill is lensshaped with a central axis that reaches 1000-1800 m thickness, tapering eastward to the western edge of the Altiplano plateau and volcanic arc, and westward to a low range that is the erosional relict of a Mesozoic arc system. Most of the sedimentary fill was derived from erosion of the Andes and eruption of the Western Cordillera volcanic arc. For at least the first half of its history (25-11 Ma), the entire basin was a sediment trap, but during the last 11 million years the northern half largely ceased accumulation of strata while accumulation in the south decelerated. The basin exhibits first-order sedimentary responses to a climate that evolved from semi-arid to hyperarid, while simultaneously exhibiting first-order expressions of 3000 m of tectonic and surface uplift of the eastern margin of the basin that was contemporaneous with its fill. During the Early and Middle Miocene, 2000 m of uplift accumulated across a set of stair-step-like small-scale westfacing monoclines, whereas during the Late Miocene through Quaternary the eastern 30-45 km of the basin became the limb of a single long-wavelength west-facing monocline that produced another 1000 m of uplift.

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“…The area is incised by numerous west-southwest trending valleys (Fig. 1b), among which the Quebrada de Tarapacá (Bouzari and Clark, 2002) exposes the volcanic rocks hosting the Patricia ore deposit.…”

Section: Accepted M Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Patricia Zn–Pb–Ag epithermal ore deposit: An uncommon type of mineralization in northeastern Chile

Chinchilla

Menor

Piña

et al. 2016

Ore Geology Reviews

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The Patricia ore deposit represents an unusual example of economic Zn-Pb-Ag mineralization at the northernmost end of the Late Eocene-Oligocene metallogenic belt in Chile. It is hosted by volcanosedimentary units, which are typically tuffaceous and andesitic breccias. The ore body consists of a set of subvertical E-W vein systems developed under a sinistral strike-slip regime that included transtensive domains with generalized extensional structures where the ores were deposited. The deposit is divided into two blocks by a set of NNW-ESE-trending reverse faults, which uplifted the eastern block and exhumed thicker and deeper parts of the deposit. At least 200 m of volcano-sedimentary pile hosting the mineralization has been eroded in this block. By contrast, the western block exposes a shallower part of the system where cherts, amorphous silica and jasperoids occur. Three main stages of mineralization have been defined: (1) pre-ore stage is characterized by early quartz, pyrite and arsenopyrite, (2) base-metal and silver stage; characterized by sphalerite (6 to 15 mol.% FeS), galena, chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite and Agbearing minerals (freibergite, polybasite, stephanite, pyrargyrite, freieslebenite and acanthite) and (3) post-ore stage; characterized by late quartz, kutnohorite and minor sulfides (arsenopyrite, sphalerite,pyrite, galena, Ag-bearing minerals and Pb-sulfosalts). Whole-ore geochemistry shows two groups of elements that are positively correlated; 1) Ag-Cd-Cu-Pb-Zn related to the base metal sulfides and 2) AuAs-Ge-Sb-W related to arsenopyrite and pyrite. Hydrothermal alteration is pervasive in the outcropping mineralized areas, including silicification and locally, vuggy silica textures. At depth, chloritic and sericitic alteration is developed along vein selvages and is superimposed to the regional propylitic alteration. Fluid inclusions indicate that the base-metal ores were deposited from 250-150º C moderate salinity fluids (1-9 wt % NaCl). The pre-ore stage is characterized by a saline fluid (6-22 wt % NaCl) and between 210 and 250ºC whereas the post-ore stage has salinity of 4-8 wt % and temperature from 175 to 215ºC. Cooling was the mechanism of ore mineral precipitation in the Patricia deposit, although mixing of fluids could have occurred in the pre-ore stage. Mineralogical, geochemical and fluid inclusion evidence is consistent with an intermediate sulfidation (IS) epithermal deposit type. This study highlights the high potential for hidden economic mineralization at depth in the western block and for extension of the ore body both to the south and to deeper levels in the eastern block of the Patricia ore deposit. To a larger extent, the implications of finding such polymetallic epithermal style of mineralization in the northern Chile Precordillera is relevant both to the regional metallogenic perspective and to the exploration potential of the region, where the late Eocene-early Oligocene metallogenic belt apparently disappears.

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Anatomy, Evolution, and Metallogenic Significance of the Supergene Orebody of the Cerro Colorado Porphyry Copper Deposit, I Región, Northern Chile

Cited by 56 publications

References 56 publications

A Rusty Record of Weathering and Groundwater Movement in the Hyperarid Central Andes

A Rusty Record of Weathering and Groundwater Movement in the Hyperarid Central Andes

The Pampa del Tamarugal Forearc Basin in Northern Chile: The Interaction of Tectonics and Climate

The Patricia Zn–Pb–Ag epithermal ore deposit: An uncommon type of mineralization in northeastern Chile

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