The role of the Kupferschiefer in the formation of hydrothermal base metal mineralization in the Spessart ore district, Germany: insight from detailed sulfur isotope studies

Abstract

The Spessart district (SW Germany), located at the southwestern margin of the Permian Kupferschiefer basin in Central Europe, hosts abundant stratabound and structurally controlled base metal mineralization. The mineralization styles identified are (1) stratabound Cu-Pb-Zn-(Ag) ores in Zechstein sedimentary rocks, (2) structurally controlled Cu-As-(Ag) ores in Zechstein sedimentary rocks, (3) crosscutting Co-Ni-(Bi)-As and Cu-Fe-As veins, (4) stratabound metasomatic Fe-Mn carbonate ores in Zechstein dolomite, (5) barren barite veins, and (6) Fe-Mn-As veins in Permian rhyolites. Building on previous work that involved mineralogical, textural, and chemical characterization of the major mineralization types, we have performed a comprehensive sulfur isotope study that applied both conventional and novel laser-ablation multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry techniques. The δ

Fluid evolution and mineralogy of Mn-Fe-barite-fluorite mineralizations at the contact of the Thuringian Basin, Thüringer Wald and Thüringer Schiefergebirge in Germany

“…The mineralizations on the southern edge of the Thuringian Basin bear a number of similar features to numerous deposits and occurrences throughout post-Variscan Europe, such as deposits in France (Charef & Sheppard 1988;Munoz et al 1994Munoz et al , 2005McGaig et al 2000), Spain (Halliday and Mitchell 1984;Wickham & Taylor 1990;Canals and Cardellach 1993;Galindo et al 1994;Subías and Fernández-Nieto 1995;Johnson et al 1996;Crespo et al 2002;Piqué et al 2008), Sardinia (Muchez et al 2005;Boni et al 2009), Germany (Behr & Gerler 1987;Mertz et al 1989;Boness et al 1990;Lüders & Möller 1992;Meinel 1993;Hähnel et al 1995;Krahn & Baumann 1996;Meyer et al 2000;Zeh & Thomson 2000;Wagner & Lorenz 2002;Schwinn et al 2006;Baatartsogt et al 2007;Staude et al 2007Staude et al , 2011Wagner et al 2010), Poland (Leach et al 1996;Heijlen et al 2003;Schmidt-Mumm & Wolfgramm 2004), Slovakia (Hurai et al 2002(Hurai et al , 2008, Belgium (Slobodnik et al 1994), Hungary (Benkó et al 2014), Czech Republic (Kučera et al 2010), England …”

“…11), which fall between 9.7 and 12.6 ‰ in the Zechstein evaporites and 12.2 to 20.8 ‰ in the Triassic evaporites (Kramm & Wedepohl 1991;Kampschulte et al 1998). Hence, most of the dissolved sulphate in the hydrothermal fluids was derived from groundwater and/or seawater that had interacted with the evapo-rites (Wagner et al 2010). Barite with more positive δ 34 S values than the average Zechstein sulphates could be explained by a contribution of sulphates from Triassic evaporites.…”

“…(Liessmann 2010) or in the Spessart Mts. (Wagner et al 2010;Fusswinkel et al 2013Fusswinkel et al , 2014. Hence, this close spatial relationship cannot be overlooked and must be taken into account when one looks for an explanation for the observed mineralizations.…”

Curvature Attribute from Surface-Restoration as Predictor Variable in Kupferschiefer Copper Potentials

“…The main minerals in the polymetallic Kupferschiefer ore in the Fore-Sudetic area are Cu(Cu-Ag) sulfides and other mineral species such as arsenides, sulphosalts, thiosulfates, arsenates and precious metals (Oszczepalski 1999;Piestrzyń ski et al 2002). At least three stages are involved in the ore-Kupferschiefer formation (Vaughan et al 1989;Wodzicki and Piestrzyń ski 1994;Speczik 1995;Wagner et al 2010), which represent broadly the main post-Permian tectono-magmatic events in central Europe (Schmidt Mumm and Wolfgramm 2004). The first stage is associated with diagenesis during a Triassic to Early Jurassic rifting event (Ziegler 1982;Bechtel et al 1999).…”

“…First, these structures have driven fluid migration from brines in deeper parts of bedrock (Jowett 1986;Blundell et al 2003;Muchez et al 2005;Wedepohl and Rentzsch 2006;Hitzman et al 2010). Second, relative high permeability and porosity, required for circulation and accumulation of metals during mineralization, occurred near to basement fault systems (Forster and Smith 1989;Wagner et al 2010). have shown several examples of close relationship between major tectonic structures and Kupferschiefer ores in central Germany.…”