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Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences

DOI

10.3906/yer-1301-1

Abstract

The Chahfiruzeh deposit is a newly discovered porphyry-style copper deposit in the southern part of the Cenozoic Urumieh-Dokhtar magmatic arc of Iran. Mineralization is associated with a Miocene quartz-diorite to quartz-monzodiorite porphyritic intrusion (Chahfiruzeh porphyry) intruded into older basaltic and andesitic lava flows and pyroclastic rocks. Alteration assemblages and alteration zoning, typical of porphyry copper deposits, are well developed. Mineralization occurs in quartz-sulfide stockworks and as sulfide disseminations in the porphyritic intrusion and the immediate wall rocks. Pyrite and chalcopyrite are the main hypogene sulfide minerals; bornite and molybdenite are rare. Representative magmatic and alteration minerals, including plagioclase, amphibole, biotite, sericite, and chlorite, are analyzed, and the data are used to constrain the crystallization conditions of the magmas and the nature and evolution of the hydrothermal fluids. The fluorine-chlorine fugacity in the magma during crystallization of the Chahfiruzeh porphyry, represented by log (fH_2O)/(fHF) - log (fH_2O)/(fHCl) and determined from the chemical composition of magmatic biotite, ranges between 5.23 and 6.80 and between 5.05 and 5.13, respectively. A comparison to several other intrusions associated with porphyry-style mineralization suggests that the Chahfiruzeh intrusion crystallized at relatively high fH_2O/fHCl ratios. The intercept value (F/Cl) of the magmatic biotite in the Chahfiruzeh porphyry ranges from 5.5 to 7.02. The calculated F/Cl intercept values for the biotite are consistent with those reported from many other porphyry copper systems. The secondary reequilibrated biotite in the intrusion is distinguished from the primary magmatic biotite by a slightly higher Mg component (X_{Mg} = 0.53-0.68 compared to 0.62-0.66). This can be explained by the consumption of Fe to form pyrite and chalcopyrite. Chlorite occurs as an alteration product replacing magmatic biotite and hornblende, as well as hydrothermal biotite. Chlorite geothermometry indicates a narrow range between 212 and 246 °C for the formation of chlorites from various alteration zones, implying that the whole system equilibrated with a common fluid at low temperatures.

Keywords

Halogen chemistry, chlorite geothermometry, chlorine-fluorine fugacity, Chahfiruzeh porphyry, hornblende-plagioclase thermometer, Iran

First Page

147

Last Page

165

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