MSc.

Gastn Loyola Puma

UNSA
2017
CAPITULO 1. CARACTERISTICAS GENERALES DE LA TIERRA Y
EVOLUCION DE LAS TEORIAS DE DEPOSICION DE

Ncleo

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Estructura Interna de la Tierra

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Distribucin de Escudos (Cratones)

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Formacin de un Geosinclinal

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Evolucin de las Teoras de Deposicin Mineral

Hasta el siglo 18 las teoras fueron puramente imaginativas con un

fuerte contenido eclesistico.
- La tierra animada, en donde la tierra exhalaba peridicamente
mineral, en una forma de metabolismo terrqueo
- Otros consideraban que las menas crecan desde semillas, otros
consideraban que exista un rbol de oro subterrneo, y cuyas
ramas la conformaban varios metales y cuyas races y tronco
estaban conectados al centro de la tierra.
En el siglo 15 se comenzaron a usar las varas mgicas para localizar
yacimientos minerales.
Sin embargo, en el siglo 16 las bases para las modernas teoras de
yacimientos minerales fueron dadas por Georgious Agricola, siendo
considerado como el primer gelogo econmico.

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Evolucin de las Teoras de Deposicin Mineral

Agrcola escribi varios tratados, siendo el mas importante De Re Metallica

(1556). Su mayor contribucin fue el tratar de clasificar las menas, basado en
su origen y su forma, por ejemplo vetas en fisuras, impregnaciones, depsitos
horizontales, etc. Dos principios fundamentales en adicin a su clasificacin:
- Los canales de mineralizacin son caractersticas secundarias mas
jvenes que las rocas de caja, y
- Las menas fueron depositadas por soluciones circulando a travs de estos
canales.
Durante el siglo 17, Nicols Steno argumentaba que las menas son producto
de condensacin desde vapores ascendiendo a travs de fisuras.
Durante el siglo 18, la mayor parte de los avances en teoras de deposicin
mineral fueron hechos en Alemania. Henkel (1725) y Zimmerman (1727)
reconocieron la importancia de las soluciones hidrotermales y vapores de
origen profundo en la deposicin de menas, asimismo reconocieron los
procesos de metasomatismo y reemplazamiento.

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Evolucin de las Teoras de Deposicin Mineral

Charpentier (1778, 1799) profesor de la academia minera de Freiberg (Alemania

del Este), public dos libros en los que postulaba que los metales y minerales de
las vetas de la mina Freiberg (Ag-Pb) eran el resultado de reacciones de alteracin
entre las rocas de caja que hospedan las vetas y agua que paso a travs de ellas .
Gerhard (1781) consideraba que las vetas eran fisuras abiertas rellenadas con
minerales lixiviados de las rocas adyacentes (moderna teora de la secrecin
lateral).
Durante la parte final del siglo 18, James Hutton, un escocs, y Abraham Werner,
alemn, dominaron el pensamiento geolgico.
Hutton, el plutonista , pensaba que las rocas gneas y los depsitos de mena
fueron derivados de magmas fundidos en profundidad y fueron transportados en
estado liquido a sus posiciones actuales. No daba crdito a la depositacion de
menas desde fluidos acuosos (fluidos hidrotermales).
Werner, el neptunista, argumentaba que los basaltos, areniscas, calizas y los
depositos de mena fueron formados como sedimentos en un ocano primitivo. El
concebia las vetas formadas como fracturas en el fondo del ocano, y luego
rellenadas con precipitados qumicos.

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Evolucin de las Teoras de Deposicin Mineral

Durante la primera parte del siglo 19, muchas minas en Europa fueron
operadas, y como consecuencia, los mtodos de minado tambin tuvieron
muchos avances. Fue durante este periodo que los gelogos comenzaron a
distinguir entre depsitos de filiacin gnea de aquellos de filiacin
sedimentaria.
Nace el concepto de los cinturones orognicos, el cual es ampliamente
utilizado hasta nuestros das. Se reconoci asimismo que cierto tipo de menas
son comunes dentro y en los alrededores de cierto tipo de masas intrusivas.
(Ni asociado a noritas y peridotitas, Cu diseminado asociado a monzonitas y
cuarzo monzonitas, etc.)
A mitades del siglo 19, el francs Elie de Beaumont pens que las soluciones
hidrotermales jugaron un papel importante en la formacin de depsitos de
mena, y los relacion con centros intrusivos.
En la ltima mitad del siglo 19, muchos eminentes cientficos contribuyeron
con las teoras de transporte y deposicin de menas. Quedo sentado
claramente que una simple teora no poda explicar la formacin de los
diferentes yacimientos minerales.

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Evolucin de las Teoras de Deposicin Mineral

A principios el siglo 20, varios cientficos entre los que destacan Waldemar
Lindgren, L. Ransome, W.H. Emmons, B. .S Butler, entre otros, formularon las
teoras modernas de deposicin de menas. El SEG nace en 1905
precisamente para discutir y estudiar problemas especficos.
Llego a establecerse la importancia de la geologa estructural en la
localizacin de depsitos de mena y su relacin en el transporte de fluidos.
Asimismo, se mejoraron las clasificaciones genticas de los depsitos.
Waldemar Lindgren hizo su primera clasificacin de los depsitos minerales
en 1913 , considerando si fueron formados por concentraciones mecnicas o
qumicas, y si son qumicas si fueron depositados por aguas superficiales ,
magmas o dentro de cuerpos de rocas.
La mayor controversia ocurre sin embargo en la clasificacin de vetas
hidrotermales, la cual cae dentro de su grupo depsitos qumicos introducidos
en cuerpos de roca por procesos gneos , lo cual no precisamente correcto a
la luz del conocimiento actual.

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Evolucin de las Teoras de Deposicin Mineral

Los depsitos hidrotermales, fueron subdivididos por Lindgren de acuerdo a

su temperatura y profundidad de formacin:
- Hipotermales, grandes profundidades y alta T (300-500C)
- Mesotermal, profundidades intermedias, T (150-300C)
- Epitermal, profundidades someras, T (50-150C)
En 1933, Graton introdujo el termino teletermal, depsitos cerca a superficie
formados por soluciones residuales.
En 1935, Buddington introdujo el termino xenotermal para depsitos de alta
temperatura y cercanos a superficie.
La tendencia entre gelogos americanos actualmente es mantener algunas
partes de la clasificacin de Lindgren, pero sin atribuir una filiacin gentica al
termino hidrotermal

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Evolucin de las Teoras de Deposicin Mineral

Muchos de los trminos propuestos por Lindgren son usados actualmente,

como los trminos epitermal y mesotermal, pero ahora las clasificaciones
han evolucionado en relacin al conocimiento mas detallado de los depsitos,
usndose trminos como prfidos de cobre o sulfuros masivos
vulcanognicos
La clasificacin de Lindgren impulso mucho la ciencia geolgica, y el es aun
considerado como el mas el mas conocido y el gelogo econmico que mas
influenci en la historia de esta disciplina.

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CHAPTER 2. ORE-BEARING FLUIDS

Four important questions of how the ore deposits form:

The source and character of the ore-bearing fluids,

The sources of the ore constituents and how they are placed into
fluids.
The migration of the ore-bearing fluids,
The manner of deposition of the ore minerals from them.

Liquid or gases in almost all cases is the best transporting media for
ore-bearing fluids.

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Classification of Ore-Bearing Fluids
Six categories are considered:
1. Silicate-dominated magmas or derived oxide, carbonate or sulfide-rich
magmatic liquids
2. Water-dominated hydrothermal fluids that separate from magmas,
3. Meteoric waters, those that have passed through the atmosphere,
4. Seawater
5. Connate waters trapped in sediments
6. Fluids associated to metamorphic processes.

1. Magma and Magmatic Fluids

Magma is a naturally occurring rock material generated within the earth and
capable of intrusion and extrusion (AGI glossary).
Most magmas are not homogeneous in composition: some parts may be rich in
ferromagnesian, others in silica, sodium or potassium compounds, volatiles,
reactive xenoliths and other substances.
Magmas are not static and in fact are not closed systems, so its composition is
thought to be constantly changing due to chemical reactions.

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1. Magma and Magmatic Fluids

As magma cools, it crystallizes and separate into fractions by

processes of fractional crystallization.

Metallic elements can be concentrated by rock-forming mechanisms in

various portions of the resulting igneous assemblages, and specific
minerals such as chromite may be so abundant locally that the
resulting rock itself constitutes ore.
During differentiation, the more mafic parts of the magma are enriched
in Cr, Ni, Pt, and some other elements. In contrast, the more silicic
units are enriched in Th, Sn, Zr and others.
If a partly crystallized magma is subjected to differential external
stresses, the fluid fraction can be squeezed away from the crystalline
mush. This process known as filter pressing, helps explain the origin
of some deposits.

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1. Magma and Magmatic Fluids

At the gabbro stage, for instance, a crystal mush of plagioclase and

augite can contain interstitial magma that is ferromagnesian-
titanium-oxide-dominated. If that liquid is squeezed out into the
surrounding rocks, the process is known as magmatic injection, and
if that liquid is rich enough to constitute a valuable ore, then it is known
as a magmatic injection deposit.
Oxide or sulfide-dominated magmas or magmatic fractions that
solidify directly as ore are called ore magmas
Since ore magmas are true melts, and not aqueous solutions, they
behave as molten rocks too.
The process of crystallization, including differentiation and crystal
settling, gradually increases the concentration of the more volatile and
fugitive constituents, if the substances have no means of escape.

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2. Hydrothermal Fluids

As crystallization of magmas proceed, the lighter, more alkalic and

more hydrous volatile fractions along with the compounds that
crystallize at lower temperatures later in the crystallization history,
accumulate near the top of the magma chamber.

As these volatiles travel upward ultimately to contribute to the

development of an ore-mineral occurrence, they carry with them the
dregs of the differentiation process of the magma.

These fluids are called magmatic waters or juvenile in the sense of

they are new, fresh, and uncontaminated, never having appeared
previously at the surface.

Such waters containing volatiles and dissolved minerals of low

freezing point are the mother liquors of pegmatites and the
hydrothermal or gaseous fluids of magmatic affiliation.

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2. Hydrothermal Fluids

Mineralizers elements include the more mobile elements present in

small but ubiquitous amounts in all magmas and probably all rocks,
they are Cu, Pb, Zn, Ag, Au and others.

LIL (large-ion lithophile) elements such as Li, Be, B, Rb and Cs; and
significant amounts of alkalis, alkali earths and volatiles, especially
Na, K, Ca, Cl, S and CO2; playing an important role in the late
hydrothermal transportation of metals.
In general, they are elements of low atomic weight and small ionic radius,
which decrease the viscosity of magmas and lower the freezing points of
minerals and assemblages and make possible the development of
minerals and complexes that would not form in a dry melt.

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2. Hidrothermal Fluids

The composition of magmatic waters are believed to be determined by

(White, 1957):
a) Magma type and crystallization history,
b) Temperature and pressure relations during and after separation
from the magma,
c) The nature of other waters that might mix with them as they move,
and
d) Reactions with wall rocks.

Water is a principal mobile constituents of all magmas, increasing in

amount with increasing differentiation, playing a leading part in the
transportation of many ore components.

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2. Hidrothermal Fluids

The generation of residual aqueous fluids is increasingly apparent and

important with progressive differentiation.

In addition to water, other elements and ions occur, including S, Cl, F,

B, P, CO2 and As.

Micas clay minerals, zeolites, and amphiboles contain small amount of

chemically bonded water;
Tourmaline and axinite contain B,
Scapolites contain Cl;
And many others common minerals in altered rocks around plutons,
such as fluorite, apatite, and topaz are evidence of a wide range of
volatile constituents.

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Representation of Igneous rock types, differentiation and hydrothermal fluid involvement associated
with fractional crystallization. Probably no one melt passes through al these stages, although the
overall flow sheet is realistic.

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2. Hydrothermal Fluids

Once magmas proceed with cooling and crystallization, a

water-rich fluid (liquid and gas) is exsolved and expelled
(second boiling).

Melts crystallize from the outside inward, if external forces

crack the wall rocks and crystalline shells, the previously
confined liquids can escape. Breccia columns and
mineralized veins may result.

During cooling, minerals that crystallize the first are

plagioclases, followed by pyroxenes in diorite magmas
and by alkali feldspars or quartz in granite magmas.

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2. Hydrothermal Fluids

Elements exsolved within the water-rich fluids are:

(a) Elements that do not have affinity with feldspar and
mafic silicates and progressively concentrates into late melts,
including LIL (e.g. beryllium, lithium and rubidium), many ore
minerals components and volatiles.

(b) Elements that are more soluble in water or a gas

phase than in silicate melt, including Cl, S, CO and CO2, and
phosphate, borate, tungstate, molybdate, and uranyl
complex ions.

(c) Elements which can form stable, high temperature

complex molecules or ions in water, such as Na+, K+, and Ca+2
and Cu+, Cu+2 and Zn+2 all with Cl, and various other anions.

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2. Hydrothermal Fluids

Metal-halogens complex ions are

the principal carriers of most
base and precious metals,
including Cu, Zn, Pb, S, Fe, Hg,
Ag, Au and Pt in aqueous
solutions.
Fluids are saline in composition.
At 500C, salinity of the fluids
range from 0 to 60% or 70%
NaCl - eq, with many between
30 50% NaCl-eq range.
The pH of the fluid ranges
normally from 5.6 to 7.

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2. Hydrothermal Fluids

Two important facts to the transportation and deposition of ore

minerals are:
Solubilities of volatile and non-volatile solutes in supercritical
water vary with density,
Chloride complexes dissociate approximately as hydrothermal fluid
density decreases.
Base metals can be taken into solution and stably transported at
high P-T and freed for recombination with sulfur to form stable
crystalline sulfides at lower P-T
Boiling is probably important in some hydrothermal systems because
of the expectable drastic decrease of solute solubility with the drop in
density when a fluid boils. Then, it might be expected that some ore
deposits, or at least mineralization, would develop in a boiling zone
where high P-T fluids approach the surface with pressure falling more
rapidly than T

Solubility increases with increased T and increased acidity.

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2. Hydrothermal Fluids

Ore metals do not travel in the ore fluid as sulfides, because the low
solubilities of this compound in ore fluids. For instance, if HgS
(cinnabar) were carried in true solution at 200C and pH 4, one million
times the annual volume of the Tambo River (10,000 MM m3/year)
would be needed to deposit 1 metric tone of cinnabar
The formation of complexes species consisting of combinations of
ions - increases the solubility of some metals by many orders of
magnitude.
Many metals combine as comparatively stable complexes or complex
ions in the form of sulfides, polysulfides, hydrosulfides, halides
(especially chlorides), carbonates, hydroxides, oxides, sulfates and
others
Metal-bearing, chloride-complexes synthetized in lab yielded the
following relative stability sequence, from high to lower P-T
conditions:
Cu+2 Zn+2 Pb+2 Ag+2 Hg+2

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2. Hydrothermal Fluids

Chlorine (Cl) which is dissolved in silicate melts as Cl- is partition

strongly toward the magmatic aqueous phase because:
(a) chloride minerals are not stable in magmas of intermediate and
felsic compositions, and
(b) It forms highly stable, neutral chloride complexes with
hydrogen, alkali, alkaline earths, and heavy metals in
aqueous solutions at magmatic T and low to moderate P
Sulfur (S) dissolves in :
(a) hydrous melts as SH- and
(b) aqueous phase as H2S and SO2.
SO2 is less soluble than H2S in hydrous magmas. Where SO2/H2S
ratio is increased, the sulfur-carrying capacity is also increased
generating the deposition of vast tonnages of metal sulfides
(especially pyrite), depending, however, on the fO2 of the system.

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3. Meteoric Water
Water of whatever origin that has passed through and equilibrated with the
atmosphere is called meteoric water, and includes water from:
(a) rain
(b) snow
(c) mist
(d) dew
(e) frost
(f) windblown microdroplets of fresh or salt water
(which can percolate downward and can react with the lithosphere)
They are important because of their involvement with supergene processes
Genetically significant amounts of meteoric waters can be downdrawn by
convective circulation and incorporated into ore-forming systems.
An end-member situation would be one at which a water-saturated stock,
effectively isolated (neither give nor receive meteoric water), would produce
mineralization-alteration by acting solely as a heat source causing meteoric
waters to convect around it.

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3. Meteoric Water

Measured pH of meteoric waters (rain), shows a range from 5 to 5.5pH

and is mildly oxidizing (Eh at +0.4 to 0.5 mV)
Water T in general increases with depth of penetration. Eh will be
consequently reduced and pH slightly increase by reaction with
feldspars to produce clays.
The content of dissolved mineral substances generally increases as
water T increases.
Descending waters gradually assume chemical and thermal equilibrium
with the enclosing rocks.
Meteoric waters probably contain various amounts of the dominant
crustal elements such as Na, Ca, Mg, and the sulfate and carbonate
radicals, but no the more fugitive elements such as B and F that are
characteristic of juvenile or volcanic waters.
Most waters in the upper kilometer or so of continental environments is
of meteoric origin.

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4. Seawater
The characteristics of seawater as ore-forming fluid are best described
in the context of evaporites, phosphorites, submarine exhalites,
manganese nodules and oceanic crust deposits.
Seawater assumes both:
(a) a relatively passive role as a medium of dispersion of dissolved
ions, molecules and suspended particles and
(b) an active one as a solvent of ions from rocks beneath the seafloor
through which it is conventionally taken.

5. Connate Waters
Water trapped in sediments at the time they were deposited is known as
connate water, or fossil water. This water has been out of contact with
the atmosphere for at least an appreciable part of time.
Connate waters are widely observed in oil field exploration.
Most connate waters are rich in Na and Cl, but also contain appreciable
amounts of Ca, Mg, and bicarbonate, and many others contain Sr, Ba,
and N compounds.

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6. Metamorphic Fluids
Under favorable circumstances, connate and meteoric waters
enclosed in rocks buried below the surface of the Earth may be set in
motion and become chemically reactive by heat and pressure
accompanying magmatic intrusion or regional metamorphism.

However, the efficacy of metamorphically derived solutions as ore-

forming fluids is inconsequential, it being ordinarily and widely believed
that in regional metamorphism, metallic and volatile constituents are
dispersed rather than concentrated.

High-T metamorphism rarely be convincingly related to ore formation,

but low-T metamorphic effects such as dewatering and local mass
transfer in response to thermal and pressure gradients in some lateral
secretion deposits may have formed ore deposits.

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7. Thermal Springs
On the basis of stable isotope analysis, the comparison between waters
from various thermal springs and surface waters of the surrounding terrane,
indicates that the contribution of magmatic water to these springs was
commonly insignificant, probably no more than 5%
White (1968) arrived to some conclusions:
(a) Most of ore deposits are formed by complex processes rather than by
simple end-member ones.
(b) The ore bearing fluids of base-metal deposits are Na-Ca-Cl brines
(c) Brines of similar major elements may form: (a) magmatically, (b)
connate waters, (c) by solution of salts formed by evaporation of any
dilute saline water, (d) by osmosis of salt into dilute meteoric waters.
(d) The metals are mainly transported as chloride complexes in the
presence of only small amounts of sulfide.
(e) The density of ore-bearing brines is normally higher than that of near
surface waters.

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7. Thermal Springs

Groundwater in regions of recent volcanic activity is commonly

characterized by a relative abundance of NaCl, and apparently grades
into acidic sulfate-chloride waters.
Other waters in volcanic areas contain sodium bicarbonate, sulfuric acid
and sulfate ion, calcium and sodium bicarbonate and borate radicals.
White considers the NaCl -bearing waters to be the most closely-
related to magmatic emanations.
The others types of thermal waters are secondary products of reaction
with wall rocks, changes in the physical environment and groundwater
mixing.
Also he believes than even juvenile fluids can be greatly diluted by
deeply circulating meteoric waters, with mixing at depths of as much as
5 to 6km.
Deep circulation of meteoric waters into convective overturn systems
are important hydrologic components of both thermal springs and ore
deposits.

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CHAPTER 3. MOVEMENT OF THE ORE-BEARING FLUIDS
Ore-forming fluids indeed migrate at all levels of the Earths crust, and
large amounts of such fluids, which can be magmas, aqueous liquids or
gases may be involved.
Aqueous fluids obey the precepts of geohydrology in that their
migration is governed by places of net permeability to the fluid to flow,
the efficiency of this process is influenced by the viscosity and density
of the fluid, the abundance of interconnected pores, fractures or fault
planes, pressure gradients and time.
Magmatic fluids-melts must obey the rules of igneous petrology
1. Migration of Magmas
Magmas do move, generally upward in the Earths crust toward areas
of lower pressure and temperature.
Magma is buoyant, because it is liquid, and contains gases and water
located at the upper parts of the magma chamber. This yields that the
magma is less dense than a solid phase of the same composition.

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1. Migration of Magmas

The emplacement of magmas at high levels is structurally governed

and is greatly influenced by the release of volatiles. Major structures
are regional-scale deep reaching faults or district scale faults at least
tens of kilometers long.
Magmas made their own paths by assimilation, gas fluxion (the
collapse of wall rocks into gasfilled pockets), and by tectonic
squeezing.
Magma-related ore bearing fluids moves and settle at its final
position as (a) water-rich fluids, (b) filter-pressing, (c) late-liquid
gravitative accumulation (sinking of silicate-melt immiscible globules of heavy
liquid, sulfide or oxides), and (d) magmatic injection.

Magmas cannot diffuse through rocks and they cannot travel far
through narrow fissures without losing too much heat to remain
mobile.

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2. Porosity and Permeability
Porosity refers to the ratio of pore volume to total volume of a given
rock or soil, whether those pores are interconnected or not.
Permeability describes the capacity of a rock, sediment or soil to
transmit a fluid, and therefore is a measure of the relative ease of fluid
flow through a rock across a pressure gradient (rocks permeability is
normally measured in millidarcies)
Permeability is the result of different contributing effects:
a) Primary or intrinsic of the rock, are part of what the rock is,
b) Secondary or induced, are expressive of the rock formation and its
geological history

Porosity also can be described as sub-capillary, capillary and

supercapillary.

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3. Migration of Hydrothermal Fluids at Depth
Normally, porosity and permeability both decrease with depth in
the crust, because the pressure of overlying rocks tend to close any
openings.
Almost no rock is really impermeable if flow gradients persists for
hundred of thousands of years.
For rocks at about 10km depth, or for exceptionally tight lithologies
permeabilities are around 10 -14 millidarcies, it means that mass
transport will occur at hundred of centuries.
However, for near-surface rocks (2 to 3 km from surface),
permeabilities are higher, and they can transmit fluids copiously
enough to figure into ore deposit formation.

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Estimated Permeability of Representative Rocks

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3. Migration of Hydrothermal Fluids at Depth

Diffusion is probably a major mechanism of mass transport in

deep environments of restricted mechanical fluid flow

Diffusion is an spontaneous movement of molecular or ionic

particles following concentration gradients that causes one
substance to become intermingled with another, taking place in
the solid, liquid or gas phase.
Water moving through the pores of a rock is not a diffusion, but
the Cu ion moving through this water is.
Field evidence in support of diffusion is found in the trace-
element halos in wall rocks near veins. According to diffusion
theory, the metal content of wall rocks should increase
logarithmically toward the ore deposit.

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3. Migration of Hydrothermal Fluids at Depth

The process of solid-state diffusion is well illustrated by the

phenomenon of exsolution, or unmixing in ore minerals.

At elevated temperatures, the bond strength in a crystal is reduced,

permitting the entrance of similar materials.

For instance, near 400C chalcopyrite can diffuse, disperse and

homogenize at through the expanded structure of sphalerite.

Upon slow cooling, the bonds tighten again, the chalcopyrite

components are rearranged in accordance with the atomic structure
of the sphalerite, and chalcopyrite will form mineral grains along
the boundaries of sphalerite where it is exsolved in great excess
(Edwards, 1954).

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Solid-state Diffusion---Exsolution of cpy in sph

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3. Migration of Hydrothermal Fluids at Depth

The efficacy of diffusion in ore genesis is not high, since it was

determined that only small scale of migration occurs in exsolution.
The migration of fluids through rocks and minerals is greatly
facilitated if the rock is stressed. Fluids tend to migrate along the
planes of tension, that is normal (perpendicular) to the axis of
minimum principal stress.
More importantly, long distance migration of ore-bearing fluids is
undoubtedly controlled by the relatively open channelways provided
by faults and joint systems.
But locally, near ore deposits, where free circulation may have been
impeded, diffusion of metal ions through liquid and solid media
certainly contributes to the movement of materials and to the final
configuration of ore-deposit components.

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4. Migration of Hydrothermal Fluids at Shallow Depth
Induced permeability can be perceived as ground preparation, or
as part of the ore-forming process itself.
Aqueous fluids given off by a shallowly intruded rocks can both
wedge open and lubricate the advancing propagation of fractures
around it, and so the stock can create its own aureole of
permeability rather than being dependent only upon externally
applied shear couples to produce permeability.
Hydraulic pressures of ore-bearing fluids can keep fissures open,
allowing the fluids to circulate and permitting time for reaction and
deposition.
Superimposed permeability due to faults and other secondary
structures is more significant to ore transportation and deposition
than is intrinsic permeability of the rock.

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4. Migration of Hydrothermal Fluids at Shallow Depth

The factors to be considered in the near-surface movement

of fluids include:
Character of the fluid, especially viscosity and density,
The nature of the medium being traversed, especially
porosity and permeability,
The hydraulic load or liquid pressure,
The temperature, and temperature gradient across the
system.

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4. Migration of Hydrothermal Fluids at Shallow Depth

Additionally, other important considerations of extremely

importance to be consuidered are:
The amount of material in solution,
The presence or absence of gases,
The character and heterogeneity of the rocks invaded,
The nature of geological structures,
The temperature and pressure of the fluids

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The Darcys Law - Permeability

Basically, the Darcy's Law considers:

Volume of flow
Time,
Fluid density
Fluid viscosity
Gravity
Pressure along the direction of flow

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5. Ground Preparation
Any process that increases permeability, causes a favorable chemical
change or induces brittleness in the rocks that helps localized
precipitation for orebearing fluids is called ground preparation.
Apply for deposits formed later than the host rocks, because deposits
formed at the same time of the ore are part of the containing rock and
do not require ground preparation.
The type of ground preparation depends on the nature of the country
rock, and the type of preparing agent, heat, fluid, tectonics or the
combination of the three.
Silicification, dolomitization, and recrystallization are common examples
of ground preparation.
Ground preparation, at some places, is clearly an early stage of
mineralization (e.g. metamorphism, metasomatism previous to
formation of ore-bearing skarn deposits)
Much ground preparation is chemical (e.g. silicification, jasperoid
formation, etc.)

60
6. Structural Control
Detailed studies of structure are essential, because they unquestionably
have led to more discoveries of ore than any other approach
7. Primary, or Intrinsic Permeability
Primary structures and textures of rocks can control the distribution of fluids
and hence the localization of ores.
Because any textural or structural feature that influences porosity and
permeability may guide fluids, the variety of primary controls is practically
unlimited. A few of the more obvious are:
(a) Clastic or autobrecciated limestone or dolomite, especially when
covered by impermeable cap rocks,
(b) Reef structures
(c) Well-sorted conglomerates (e.g. Exotica, Cu deposit, northern Chile)
(d) Broken or scoriaceous tops of lava flows
(e) Permeable sandstones (Au deposits, La Arena, northern Peru)
(f) Coarse-grained garnetization in skarn formation (e.g. Tintaya, Peru)

61
8. Secondary, or Superimposed Permeability
In most epigenetic deposits, the path of circulation followed by ore-
bearing fluids has been greatly influenced by structures superimposed
on the rocks.
Faults and folds are probably the most common secondary structures,
although breccia zones, pipes and other features are locally of great
significance.
Because faulting generates gouge at different places and intensities,
along the structure, the places when this gouge occur are less favorable
for ore deposition than are more open fractures.
Veins are tabular bodies or ore and gangue minerals, long in two
dimensions and short in the third, formed along cracks or fissure zones;
fault planes are especially favorable loci. Veins can be simple, complex,
irregular, and anastomosing, or branching
Where many small veinlets are distributes along a tabular zone, the deposit
is called a fissure zone or lode
Richer portions within veins, pipes or other ore forms are called ore shoots

62
Permeability along Veins and
Some Geological structures

63
8. Secondary, or Superimposed Permeability

Pipes or Chimneys are steeply plunging sub-cylindrical bodies relatively

short in two dimensions and long in the third. Pipes are known to
change in attitude from nearly vertical to nearly horizontal. Pipes that
contains broken rocks are called breccia pipes.

Tourmaline Mine, Piura - Peru

64
The Redwell Basin Intrusive and Breccia Complex
65
8. Secondary, or Superimposed Permeability

Tectonic Breccias consist of blocky brecciated material along fault

zones and to rocks shattered by large tectonic forces, such as
shattering of rocks along thrust faults or in the limbs of faults.
Diatremes or high-velocity volcanic explosion vents form where
gases expands at explosive rates, causing the gases and rocks to
rush violently upward.
Normally they are funnel-shaped, with diameters that range in
thickness from 1 km (or more) near the top to 200m at depth.
This process occur at <2km depth (<0.5Kbar lithostatic pressure)

66
Diatremes

67
8. Secondary, or Superimposed Permeability

Folding, when a sequence or beds is folded, the beds tend to slide

over one another, and to undergo compression and plastic flow on
the flanks and dilation along the crests, which become an area of
low pressure
Fractures develop parallel to the axial planes of the folds; they are
prominent features in competent rocks along the crests of anticlines,
but also they are found along the troughs of synclines.
Dissolution is another type of permeability accomplished by
selective dissolution of limestones by groundwater or by early
hydrothermal fluids, enlarging joints and bedding planes.

68
9. Hydrothermal Flow Mechanisms
Both mechanisms, diffusion and structural control operate in both
environments of transport. Certainly, diffusion is more important at
depth, and mechanical flow is more important in the upper reaches
(shallow depths).
What forces drives hydrothermal fluids through their channelways?
1. Upward flow is established when hot to warm fluids dissolved in
melts are released as the magma cools.
2. Convection of groundwaters can be started when density
differences are induced in them by local intrusions.
Hot, low density water will rise alongside and over a pluton, and
cooler water on the perimeter sinks and sweeps inward to replace
that driven outward.
Convection and convective mass transfer occur probably in porphyry
systems, epithermal deposits and massive sulfide ores.

69
9. Hydrothermal Flow Mechanisms

3. Solutions migrate when the lithostatic pressure of a compacting

sedimentary sequence reduces initial porosity and extrudes connate
fluids outward and upward (e.g. Mississippi Valley Type)

4. Osmotic pumping is thought to occur where a semipermeable

membrane as a shale unit separates two solutions of different
salinity.
Water will flow through the membrane to equilibrate the system, thereby
dewatering the rocks left behind. This force, probably trivial, can
contribute to MVT deposition.
5. Flow patterns will develop in bodies of water or in permeable rocks
where dense, saline fluids sink and displace less dense fluids
upward. This mechanism certainly contributes to movements of
exhaled volcanic emanations of the seafloor, to evaporite formation,
and to oil-gas-water arrays in oil fields.

70
9. Hydrothermal Flow Mechanisms

6. Flow occurs when there is a difference in hydrostatic head-hydraulic

pressure between the source and the outlet of aquifer.

7. Flow may be created by the metamorphic recrystallization of

hydrous phases, when hydrous minerals are heated by
uncommonly steep geothermal gradients and thus high near-
surface T.

71
Permeability Increase

72
Permeability enhanced by dissolution and collapse in carbonate rocks

73
CHAPTER 4. ALTERATION AND GANGUE

Wall-rock alteration is the reaction effects that results from the

tendency of hot circulating fluids to equilibrate with rocks flanking
the conduits through which they move.

Both the fluids and the rocks adjust; the conduits become lined
with what amounts to a layer of insulation between fresh external
rock and the heated, commonly slightly acid circulation solutions.

The volume occupied by that layer of insulation (i.e. wall rock

alteration) is called alteration zone, alteration halo, envelope or
selvage.

Zoning generally represents a chemical and mineralogical

transition or buffer zone from fresh rock outside to the vein
environment inside
74
75
Relationship between Alteration, Gangue and Mineralization
Alteration is defined as any change in the mineralogical composition of
a rock produced by physical or chemical means, especially by the
action of hydrothermal fluids.
The nature of the alteration products depends upon:
1. The character of the wall rock,
2. The character of the invading fluid, which defines such factors as
Eh and pH, vapor pressure of various volatile species, anion-cation
composition and degree of hydrolysis.
3. The temperatures and pressures at which reactions take place.
Alteration helps a lot in exploration, since that for many deposits the
alteration halos are more widespread and much easier to locate than
the ore bodies within them. For instance, the porphyry copper at
Morenci (Arizona), is only 2 km2 in outcrop, but the readily mappable
alteration cover an area of 72 km2!

76
Relationship between Alteration, Gangue and Mineralization

Alteration may result from:

1. Diagenesis in sediments
2. Regional processes such as metamorphism
3. Postmagmatic or post-volcanic processes associated with cooling,
4. Direct mineralization processes.
For instance, propylitization is the result of low-P-T peripheral
alteration around many orebodies. The propylitic assemblage consists
on epidote, chlorite, Mg, Fe, Ca carbonates and sometimes ab-or, all
involved in partial replacement of wall rock minerals.
However, the same assemblage can be produced by regional
metamorphism of greenschists facies composed by mafic to
intermediate volcanic rocks (saussuritization, replacement of Ca plagioclase
to zoicite, chlorite, amphibole, and carbonates), and can also be produced
during the cooling history of basalt-andesite pile (deuteric effects)
In order to discriminate whether the alteration assemblage is related to
mineralization or not, rock geochemistry can be extremely useful.
77
Temperature, Pressure and Compositional Gradients

In any alteration system, temperature, pressure and composition

gradients probably exist between the circulating fluids and the walls.
Temperatures in and near an active fissure can be expected to be
higher than those in the wall rock, but probably not by much, and not by
long.
Steep thermal gradients in general are not prime movers in alteration,
although total heat flux, whether the system is hot or just warm
certainly is.
Pressure gradients are probably even less important. Pressure will
affect boiling points, degassing of volatiles and even precipitation, but
pressure gradients at the orebody scale have not been translated to
wall-rock alteration effects.
Compositional gradients are more important than the other two in terms
to explain alteration and zoning (a fluid introduced into a fissure will
react in characteristic way with a specific wall-rock).
Summarizing, compositional (chemical) gradients are the most
important, follow by temperature gradients of secondary importance,
and lastly the pressure gradients, which are rarely significant.

78
79
Reactions Between Wall Rocks and Fluids
It is accepted that chemical and thermal gradients are the
principal determinants of the type and extent of wall-rock
alteration.
The reaction products must be largely governed by:
a) The types of alteration reactions that actually proceed,
b) Wall-rock composition,
c) The pressure and temperature of the environment

Wall rock components buffer the fluids, the fluids keeps

attempting to extent its influence, and layers, or zones of
alteration products expand slowly outward from the fissure as the
time lengthen

80
Reactions Between Wall Rocks and Fluids

Reactions most common and important are:

(a) Hydrolysis,
(b) Hydration-dehydration,
(c) Alkali or alkali-earth metasomatism
(d) Decarbonation
(e) Silication
(f) Silicification
(g) Oxidation-reduction
(h) Sulfidation

81
Reactions Between Wall Rocks and Fluids

a) Hydrolysis
Refers specifically to the involvement of H+.
Its is extremely important because hydrolysis of wall-rock minerals serves
both to convert anhydrous silicates like the feldspars to hydrolyzed
silicates like micas and clay minerals and to buffer the pH of the fluid.

It is important to notice that the consumption of H+ to alter feldspar to

muscovite affects the pH of the fluid and the degree of dissociation of
hydrogen-containing complexes including molecular HCl.

82
Reactions Between Wall Rocks and Fluids
Hydrolysis

Reaction of metals with HS- to produce sulfides release H+, such

that mineralization may actually produces alteration.
Further, hydrolysis controls the progressive alkali stripping of
muscovite to kaolin, by:

83
Reactions Between Wall Rocks and Fluids

b) Hydration
Refers to the removal of molecular water from a fluid into a mineral

Dehydration
Refers to the addition of molecular water from the mineral to the fluid.
Normally occurs as pressure or T increases around alteration
assemblages.

84
Reactions Between Wall Rocks and Fluids

(c) Alcali and Alcaline Earth Metasomatism

Refers to the subtraction or addition of chemical components of a rock
through aqueous fluids with the condition that the rock always must maintain
its solid state.
Magnesium metasomatism, for instance, may produce dolomite from
limestone by:

Or chlorite from K-feldspar in a rhyolite or arkose by:

85
Reactions Between Wall Rocks and Fluids

(c) Alkali and Alkaline Earth Metasomatism

Alkaline metasomatism can either cause readjustment of feldspar
composition by:

(d) Decarbonation
Reactions occur at the center of skarn formation, whereby silicates and
oxides are produced by the removal of CO2 from limestone-dolomite
sections and the recombination of components.

86
Reactions Between Wall Rocks and Fluids

(e) Silicification
Refers to the addition of silica as quartz or one of its polymorphs such
as chalcedony, opal or jasper. Silicification is the addition or production
of a quartz-family mineral, as in the silicification of limestones

Or as in the simple precipitation of silica in the pore space,

Or in the breakdown of the orthopyroxene bronzite

87
Reactions Between Wall Rocks and Fluids

(f) Silication
Refers to the process of conversion to, or replacement by, silicate minerals.
Silication occur in contact metamorphism by such reactions as:

Desilication-silicification occur in many skarns according to:

88
Reactions Between Wall Rocks and Fluids

(g) Oxidation-Reduction
Reactions most importantly affect ferrous-ferric iron and sulfur mineralogies
and complexes. Two representative reactions are:

(h) Sulfidation,
Sulfur ranges in valence from S+6 in sulfate radicals, through zero in native
sulfur (S0)to S-2 in bisulfide ion (HS-), hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and many
sulfide minerals. Traces of native sulfur are found where sulfide minerals are
oxidized to sulfates in the weathered portions of ore deposits.

89
Alteration Assemblages
Assemblage: mutual equilibrium growth of the mineral phases
Association: indicates that minerals occur in contact

The principal alteration assemblages and associations found in

aluminosilicate rocks are:
1. Potassic or biotite-orthoclase alteration
2. Propylitic
3. Phyllic
4. Argillic
5. Advanced argillic
6. Greisen
7. Skarn

90
Alteration Assemblages

1. Potassic or biotite-orthoclase alteration involves the presence of

introduced or recrystallized K-feldspar in a rock with or without
biotite and sericite, commonly with any of the characterizing
calcium-salt accessory minerals anhydrite (CaSO4), apatite
(Ca3(PO4)3), fluorite (CaF2), calcite or sideromagnesio calcite ((Ca,
Fe, Mg)CO3), together with chalcopyrite, molybdenite, magnetite or
hematite.

2. Propylitic alteration involves alteration-generation of epidote,

chlorite, and carbonates typically replacing plagioclase (epidote,
chlorite, calcite) and hornblende-biotite (chlorite, epidote,
montmorillonite)

91
Alteration Assemblages

3. Phyllic, or quartz-sericite alteration, so named because the abundance

of the phyllosilicate sericite (fine-grained white mica muscovite,
hydromica, phengite) which results from alteration and metasomatism.
All primary rock-forming silicates and mafic minerals are converted to
sericite plus quartz.

4. Argillic assemblages indicates the dominance of kaolinite after

plagioclase, montmorillonite after amphiboles and plagioclase, and
amorphous allophane after both.
Alkali and alkaline earth leaching and removal are substantial, except
for potassium.
Flecks of sericite may be produced, and argillic commonly merges on its
inner side with phyllic to form phyllic-argilic asemblages.
Argillic alteration forms at relatively low T and low K+/H+ ratios, as the
Al2Si2O5 (OH)4 composition suggests.

92
Alteration Assemblages

5. Advanced Argillic
Represents low K+/H+ and Na+/H+ ratios through both low activities of the alkalies and
strongly acid, high H+ fluids.

Strong leaching of all alkalies occur. At high T (>300C), pyrophyllite, or

phyrophyllite-andalusite occur.

At lower T kaolinite or dickite prevail. Quartz is abundant, and alunite, topaz,

zunyte, tourmaline also occur.

The distribution of advanced argillic alteration is less regular than other alteration
types, but it is most commonly found higher in mineralized systems. Enargite and
tennantite, both Cu-As-S minerals are normal associates

6. Greisen
It is similar to advanced argillic or phyllic, but implies even more sericite or muscovite
and no pyrophyllite. Quartz, muscovite and topaz dominate, with tourmaline, fluorite,
rutile, cassiterite, wolframite, and magnetite as common accessory minerals.
7. Skarn
It is an association of Ca-bearing usually iron-rich silicates including amphiboles,
pyroxenes, garnets, epidote-zoicite and pyroxenoids that have replaced limestone or
dolomite, normally with the introduction of large amounts of silicon, aluminum, iron
and magnesium.

93
Mineral associations in aluminosilicate rocks

94
Distribution of Alteration Assemblages
1. Alteration associated with Magmatic deposits,
It is in general inconspicuous and nondiagnostic. Contacts are sharply
defined, especially in injection-type deposits in which magma was
differentiated at depth prior to emplacement in cold wall rocks.
Wall rock alteration around injection deposits is likely to be very thin or
absent.

2. Alteration associated with Porphyry Base-Metal deposits

The fabric of these deposits are of domal or coaxial arrangements,
outward and upward from a deep core of potassic alteration, a shell of
phyllic merging outward to phyllic-argillic or argillic, and finally an outer
zone of propylitic assemblage.
The phyllic alteration in many districts is generally later, and has
overprinted and earlier, lateral-continuum of potassic outward to
propylitic.
Early alteration is thus characterized more as alkali metasomatism with
minor hydrolysis, with profound hydrolysis-hydration developed later,
amounting, as it does to a retrograde collapse of thermal gradients
and invasion of meteoric waters.

95
Alteration of a Porphyry Copper deposit
La Alumbrera, Argentina

96
Distribution of Alteration Assemblages

3. Alteration associated with Skarn deposits

Skarn formation is an integral part of alteration-mineralization
around felsic stocks.
Wall rock alteration associated with skarn deposits around intrusive
masses contain diagnostic minerals; grossularite and andradite
garnets, wollastonite, epidote and pyroxenes (diopside-
hedembergite), amphiboles (tremolita-actinolite), serpentine and
many others.

In turn, shales in igneous metamorphic zones tend to develop the

characteristic fine-grained hornfels.

97
Schematic section across
a Skarn Deposit
Mines Gaspe, Canada

98
Distribution of Alteration Assemblages

4. Alteration associated with Cordilleran Vein deposits

Cordilleran vein deposits refers to fault-fissure-controlled,
polymetallic lead, zinc, copper-mineralized vein districts, such as
Casapalca (Peru), thought to be related to intrusive activity.
Many of the current cordilleran veins are recognized to be peripheral
of larger, porphyry copper systems.
Sericite is the most persistent and abundant alteration mineral
flanking Cordilleran Vein deposits;
Carbonates are common, especially calcite and dolomite; siderite,
rodochrosite and ankerite are localized in places.
Chlorite develops outside the sericite envelope away from the ore zone.
Silica is generally present, and is in many places abundantly added.

99
Schematic Section Across a Cordilleran Vein,
Butte, Montana USA

(Montmorillonite-rich)

100
Distribution of Alteration Assemblages

5. Alteration associated with Epithermal deposits

Epithermal, precious metals bonanza ores are characterized by
enormously high and extensive induced permeability along faults and
fracture zones (currently known as low-sulphidation deposits).
Alteration is broad, and complicated by the fact that a retrograde boiling
zone can be identified in many districts.
In general, a feldspar-stable zone occurs at depth, extending in many
districts close to surface (adularia-albite assemblage). Adularia is a low-
T K-feldspar found in veins.
Depending on level, vein gangue mineralogy at the precious metal
horizon is composed by variable amounts of quartz (opaline or
chalcedonic), adularia, sericite, pyrite (carbonates, barite, fluorite).
Chlorite is one of the most abundant minerals in the wall rocks,
especially andesites. In some deposits host rocks are extensively and
pervasively chloritized to propylitic assemblages.
Sericite is especially abundant in rhyolites and latite wall rocks, but
even here a thin propylitic zone would occur at the margins. In general,
the more felsic the host rock, the higher the sericite/chlorite ratio.

101
Epithermal Systems
After Buchanam, 1981

102
Epithermal Systems,
Corbett, 1996

103
Distribution of Alteration Assemblages

6. Alteration associated with Pegmatites

Alteration zones around complex granitic zoned pegmatites can be
thin and sharply defined or wide and gradational, the former being
more normal, having no value for prospecting.
Among the sparse alteration minerals found near pegmatites are
beryl, topaz, and fluorite; the more widespread are disseminated
feldspars, micas, garnets and tourmaline.
Many pegmatitic fluids are rich in potassium, which may be
introduced into the wall rocks in conspicuous amounts
Additionally conversion of wall rocks-rock amphiboles to biotite is
common.

104
 Pegmatites

Elbaite tourmaline (olive- green) and lepidolite

mica (violet) from a lithium-enriched pegmatite
in Brazil

Proterozic pegmatite swarm in the headwall

of the cirque of a small mountain glacier, NE
Baffin Island,

105
Distribution of Alteration Assemblages

7. Alteration associated with VMS deposits

Alteration associated with these deposits is unusual due to its unilateral
symmetry.
The deposits form by the passage of hot metalliferous brines up through
pipelike conduits in submarine volcanic sections, from which they issue
into marine basin waters.
Minerals deposit in function of its solubility, the least soluble components
are typically sulfides, so concentrations of pyrite, chalcopyrite, and
sphalerite, some with galena and others with pyrrhotite-pentlandite,
stibnite, cinnabar or other minerals are deposited near sometimes on
top of the top of the conduits.
Alteration is dominated by Mg-metasomatism, and pervasive
chloritization. The resultant rock around the conduits is commonly so
massive, fine-grained and dark that is called black chlorite.
The chlorite core of the pipe may yield laterally to propylite-like
assemblages in the more mafic rocks, and to sericite-rich hybrid
transition zones in latite-rhyolite hosts.

106
107
Distribution of Alteration Assemblages

8. Alteration associated with MVT deposits

The alteration products associated with sphalerite-galena deposits
of the Mississipii Valley Pb-Zn type are extensive but quite
inconspicuous.
They are though to have been formed by warm connate brines that
have migrated from deeply buried basins upward and laterally
toward their margins.
Alteration basically consists only of broad, laterally extensive
volumes in which original limestone has been dolomitized, being not
discernible to the explorationist.
Sparse veinlets, bedded zones or bleached fractures contain minor
calcite, dolomite, marcasite and cryptocrystalline silica, but
these are seldom helpful in exploration.
Distinctive dark-gray to black jasperoid is present in some districts.

108
 Mississippi Valley Type Deposits
Pine Point Ore and Host Textures

Dolomitized Limestone Breccia infilled

by sulphides

Sphalerite-galena ore
109
Gangue
Gangue comprises all of the noneconomic, unwanted minerals in
an ore, that cannot be avoided in mining and is later separated and
discarded
A gangue mineral can be a sulfide, a silicate, a carbonate, and so
other minerals that in a particular deposit does not constitute ore.
The most common gangue minerals are silica, silicates and
carbonates, with subordinates oxides, fluorite and sulfates.
Knowledge of a common origin of the ore and gangue minerals can
be especially important for prospecting; if the gangue was produced
in the same way as the ore, its presence may be used as a guide to
ore-bearing structures or potentially favorable environments.
Trace amounts of metals can be detected in gangue minerals, so its
detection can act as guides to ore.
However, a mineral that constitute gangue in one deposit can be ore
in other. Obviously, the distinction between ore minerals and gangue
minerals is purely and simply an ECONOMIC one.

110