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Carbon and oxygen isotope constraints on fluid sources and fluid–wallrock interaction in regional alteration and iron-oxide–copper–gold mineralisation, eastern Mt Isa Block, Australia

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Abstract

The source of metasomatic fluids in iron-oxide–copper–gold districts is contentious with models for magmatic and other fluid sources having been proposed. For this study, δ 18O and δ 13C ratios were measured from carbonate mineral separates in the Proterozoic eastern Mt Isa Block of Northwest Queensland, Australia. Isotopic analyses are supported by petrography, mineral chemistry and cathodoluminescence imagery. Marine meta-carbonate rocks (ca. 20.5‰ δ 18O and 0.5‰ δ 13C calcite) and graphitic meta-sedimentary rocks (ca. 14‰ δ 18O and −18‰ δ 13C calcite) are the main supracrustal reservoirs of carbon and oxygen in the district. The isotopic ratios for calcite from the cores of Na–(Ca) alteration systems strongly cluster around 11‰ δ 18O and −7‰ δ 13C, with shifts towards higher δ 18O values and higher and lower δ 13C values, reflecting interaction with different hostrocks. Na–(Ca)-rich assemblages are out of isotopic equilibrium with their metamorphic hostrocks, and isotopic values are consistent with fluids derived from or equilibrated with igneous rocks. However, igneous rocks in the eastern Mt Isa Block contain negligible carbon and are incapable of buffering the δ 13C signatures of CO2-rich metasomatic fluids associated with Na–(Ca) alteration. In contrast, plutons in the eastern Mt Isa Block have been documented as having exsolved saline CO2-rich fluids and represent the most probable fluid source for Na–(Ca) alteration. Intrusion-proximal, skarn-like Cu–Au orebodies that lack significant K and Fe enrichment (e.g. Mt Elliott) display isotopic ratios that cluster around values of 11‰ δ 18O and −7‰ δ 13C (calcite), indicating an isotopically similar fluid source as for Na–(Ca) alteration and that significant fluid–wallrock interaction was not required in the genesis of these deposits. In contrast, K- and Fe-rich, intrusion-distal deposits (e.g. Ernest Henry) record significant shifts in δ 18O and δ 13C towards values characteristic of the broader hostrocks to the deposits, reflecting fluid–wallrock equilibration before mineralisation. Low temperature, low salinity, low δ 18O (<10‰ calcite) and CO2-poor fluids are documented in retrograde metasomatic assemblages, but these fluids are paragenetically late and have not contributed significantly to the mass budgets of Cu–Au mineralisation.

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Acknowledgements

This contribution stems from a Ph.D. research by LJM at James Cook University, funding for which was provided by JCU and the pmd*CRC. Logistical support was provided by MIM Exploration (now Xstrata Copper Australia). Ernest Henry Mining arranged access to drill core at the Ernest Henry deposit. The samples for isotopic analyses from the Mt Elliott and Eloise deposits are from the JCU research sample collection. Unpublished analyses from the Starra and Osborne deposits were collected by GJD. Geordie Mark is thanked for allowing the use of recent data from the Ernest Henry deposit. Ian Cartwright (Monash University) undertook the majority of new (and many of the previously published) isotopic analyses. Hans Machel and Jeff Lonnee (University of Alberta) are thanked for assistance with CL equipment. Kevin Blake (JCU) assisted with microprobe analyses. The interpretation of the data has benefited from input by Tim Baker, Ian Cartwright, Bin Fu, Greg Dipple, Geordie Mark, Andrew McCaig, Mike Roberts, Bruce Yardley and others. The comments on earlier versions of the manuscript by Derek Thorkelson, Stephen Cox and Louise Corriveau and constructive reviews by Richard Naslund and an anonymous reviewer are gratefully acknowledged.

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  1. Lucas J. Marshall

    Present address: , Teck Cominco Limited, #600-200 Burrard Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6C 3L9, Canada

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  1. School of Earth Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, 4811, Australia

    Lucas J. Marshall & Nicholas H. S. Oliver

  2. Centre for Ore Deposit Research, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 79, Hobart, Tasmania, 7001, Australia

    Garry J. Davidson

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Marshall, L.J., Oliver, N.H.S. & Davidson, G.J. Carbon and oxygen isotope constraints on fluid sources and fluid–wallrock interaction in regional alteration and iron-oxide–copper–gold mineralisation, eastern Mt Isa Block, Australia. Miner Deposita 41, 429–452 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00126-006-0069-3

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