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Geochemistry and genesis of the Lengenbach Pb-Zn-As-Tl-Ba-mineralisation, Binn Valley, Switzerland

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Abstract

The Lengenbach Pb-Zn-As-Tl-Ba mineralisation is located in Triassic dolostones of the Pennínic zone in the Swiss Alps where Alpine metamorphism reached upper greenschist to lower amphibolite grade. Geochemical data are used to constrain the origin of this unique occurrence. Two metamorphic redox environments are present: the As(III)-rich zone is controlled by barite-pyrite while the reduced zone contains graphite or pyrrhotitepyrite and formally zerovalent As. The As(III)-rich zone is characterised by a mineral assemblage consistent withfO2 in the stability field of barite + pyrite. An As-(Pb, Tl)-rich sulphide melt coexisted with a hydrothermal fluid at > 300 °C in this zone. Mineralised dolostones are anomalous in As, Pb, Ag, Tl, Hg, Zn, Ba, Cd, Fe, Cu, Mo, U, V, B, Ga, Cr and possibly Sri and Au (in order of decreasing enrichment). As, Pb and Zn are present in the 0.1 to 1% range, Tl and Ag reach several hundred ppm. Uraninite is concentrated in silicate-rich bands and yields a late Alpine U-Pb age of 18.5 ± 0.5 Ma. Pb- and S isotopic variations are interpreted by metamorphic overprinting and re-equilibration within an isochemically metamorphosed mineralisation. Hydrothermal sulphides are more strongly affected by uranogenic Pb than massive Pb-As-sulphides representing a former sulphide melt. The least overprinted mineralisation is characterised by206Pb/204Pb = 18.44 – 18.56,207Pb/204Pb = 15.60 – 15.75,208Pb/204Pb = 38.44 – 38.84 and δ34S (sulphide) = − 25 ± 2%. S isotopic variations are largely a result of sulphide-sulphate re-equilibration yielding temperatures of 450 ±30 °C.87Sr/86Sr ratios of mineralised samples are lower than or equal to host dolostones, precluding major infiltration of basement-derived fluids during Alpine metamorphism. The Sr source (87Sr/86Sr close to 0.708) probably was seawater with a radiogenic, detrital mineral component. The genesis of the unique Lengenbach mineralisation is interpreted as the result of isochemical metamorphic overprinting of a carbonate hosted stratiform sulphide mineralisation. Well-crystallised sulphide minerals in fissures and druses formed during retrograde cooling of a sulphide melt in equilibrium with a hydrothermal fluid. The primary mineralisation was probably formed at or close below the sea floor and fed by sulphide-poor hydrothermal fluids. Sulphide was largely derived from seawater by open system bacterial sulphate reduction. U, V and Mo may be seawater-derived.

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  1. Natural History Museum of Bern, Bernastrasse 15, CH-3005, Bern, Switzerland

    B. A. Hofmann

  2. Institute of Isotope Geology and Mineral Resources, ETH Zürich, CH-8092, Zürich, Switzerland

    M. D. Knill

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Hofmann, B.A., Knill, M.D. Geochemistry and genesis of the Lengenbach Pb-Zn-As-Tl-Ba-mineralisation, Binn Valley, Switzerland. Mineral. Deposita 31, 319–339 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02280795

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