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The mineralogy, sulfur-isotope composition and origin of some copper deposits in the Belt Supergroup, Southwest Alberta, Canada

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Abstract

Stratabound Cu mineralization in the Precambrian, red-bed sequences of the Belt-Purcell Supergroup of SW Alberta, Canada is described. Local enrichment of mineralization has been effected by younger Precambrian dioritic intrusions and by hydrothermal activity adjacent to normal faults. Data from mineralogic and sulfur isotope studies suggest that the base metal deposits were originally syngenetic or diagenetic and that they have suffered redistribution and concentration during contact metamorphism and perhaps low grade regional metamorphism. The primary metal-bearing fluids may have been derived by exhalative activity associated with a Precambrian aulacogenic structure which possibly underlies the region.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

    R. D. Morton

  2. Kintla Explorations Ltd., Edmonton, Canada

    R. J. Goble

  3. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

    P. Fritz

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  1. R. D. Morton
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  2. R. J. Goble
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  3. P. Fritz
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Morton, R.D., Goble, R.J. & Fritz, P. The mineralogy, sulfur-isotope composition and origin of some copper deposits in the Belt Supergroup, Southwest Alberta, Canada. Mineral. Deposita 9, 223–241 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00203997

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00203997

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