The Upper Devonian ABM deposit is a bimodal-felsic, replacement-style volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposit within the Finlayson Lake district in Yukon, Canada. The deposit is hosted by predominantly felsic volcanic rocks of the upper Kudz Ze Kayah formation that were deposited in an active back-arc basin in three sequences consisting of interbedded felsic volcaniclastic rocks and argillites, and felsic lava flows and domes, and felsic and mafic sills. The felsic rocks fall into two groups, Felsic A and Felsic B (FA and FB), based on immobile elements and their ratios. Relative to the FB group, the FA group has high Zr concentrations (>550 ppm) and generally higher contents of high field strength elements. The FA/FB chemostratigraphy roughly coincides with the lithostratigraphic sequences. Sequence 2 hosting the mineralization consists of FB felsic rocks; the hanging-wall Sequence 3 and footwall Sequence 1 felsic rocks have FA signatures. An argillite lens, recording a period of volcanic quiescence, occurs at the upper contact of Sequence 2. From reconstruction of the basin architecture, two sets of synvolcanic faults are inferred. The synvolcanic faults were interpreted based on thickness changes of volcanosedimentary units and the distribution of coherent rocks. During breaks in volcanism, synvolcanic faults acted as conduits for upwelling hydrothermal fluids, which were diverted laterally into unconsolidated volcaniclastic rocks and formed the replacement-style VMS mineralization. Although the mineralized lenses are hosted by FB felsic rocks, their replacement-style nature implies that the mineralizing processes occurred during the break in volcanism and were genetically associated with the overlying FA felsic volcanic rocks.

Felsic igneous complexes and associated volcano-sedimentary rocks in continental back-arc environments host large-tonnage and/or high-grade volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposits. The emplacement mechanisms, style, and preservation of these deposits is thought to be partially dependent on depositional rates of the host lithofacies (i.e., discrete volcanic eruptions) relative to the setting of massive sulfide genesis on the seafloor as mounds and/or via subseafloor replacement of existing strata. The localization and occurrence of subseafloor replacement-style VMS deposits is therefore strongly influenced by the characteristics of the volcano-sedimentary facies in the hosting basin and the rates of their emplacement; the latter are poorly constrained in the literature due to the difficulty of obtaining high-precision dates that make this possible in Phanerozoic and older rocks. New high-resolution U-Pb geochronology and detailed regional stratigraphic investigation indicate that Devonian-Mississippian volcanic rocks and associated VMS mineralization in the Yukon-Tanana terrane in the Finlayson Lake district, Yukon, Canada, were erupted or emplaced during distinct time periods (ca. 363.3, 362.8, and 355.2 Ma) in two discrete submarine basins: the Kudz Ze Kayah formation and the Wolverine Lake group. The VMS deposits in both settings are contained within intrabasinal rocks that accumulated at rapid rates of ~350 to 2,000 m/m.y. over 0.6 to 1.4 m.y. Locally, these rates reach peak rates up to 7,500 m/m.y. in the Wolverine Lake group, which are interpreted to reflect facies deposition by mass transport complexes or turbidity currents. These new dates indicate that rapid accumulation of volcanic rocks in the back-arc basins was critical for localizing subseafloor replacement-style mineralization and the development of the Zn-enriched GP4F, Kudz Ze Kayah, and Wolverine VMS deposits. Rapid depositional processes observed in these deposits and their host basins are interpreted to have an important role in developing highly porous and permeable, water-saturated lithofacies that provide optimal conditions for enhancing zone refining processes and subsequent preservation of massive sulfide mineralization, which are key in the development of high-grade and large-tonnage VMS deposits. It is herein suggested that quantitative basin-scale accumulation rates, as a result of new U-Pb geochronological methods and increased precision combined with detailed stratigraphic and facies analysis, may provide important perspectives on the formation of continental back-arc basins and the localization of VMS deposits in other continental margin environments globally.

The ABM deposit, Finlayson Lake district, Yukon, Canada, is a bimodal-felsic, replacement-style volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposit (19.1 Mt @ 6.6 wt % Zn, 0.9 wt % Cu, 2.0 wt % Pb, 1.4 g/t Au, and 148 g/t Ag) hosted by Late Devonian continental back-arc–related volcanosedimentary rocks of the Kudz Ze Kayah formation. The VMS-related hydrothermal alteration associated with the deposit extends >1 km beyond the mineralization. Zones of pervasive sericite and chlorite alteration occur proximal to the massive sulfide lenses (<50 m) both in the hanging wall and the footwall, and zones of pervasive sericite and moderate sericite ± chlorite alteration extend laterally from the mineralization and into the hanging wall and footwall for hundreds to thousands of meters. Geochemical data and petrographic observations indicate that feldspar destruction and formation of white mica and chlorite were the main alteration processes. In both the hanging wall and footwall to the mineralization, base (e.g., Zn, Cu, Pb) and trace metals (e.g., Sb, Tl, Mo) form halos with elevated values up to 100 and 200 m, respectively. The paragenesis and the formation conditions of the hydrothermal alteration were determined through petrography of hydrothermal alteration assemblages and their crosscutting relationships, electron microprobe analyses of the compositions of white mica, chlorite, and carbonate, and illite-chlorite geothermometry. These data suggest that the sericite ± chlorite assemblage was the earliest and most extensive phase of the hydrothermal alteration that formed at temperatures around 215° ± 30°C. Overprinting the sericite-chlorite assemblage is the pervasive sericite assemblage that formed at temperatures around 250° ± 15°C. The pervasive chlorite assemblage formed at temperatures around 320° ± 10°C and overprints the preceding sericite-rich assemblages. Microprobe analyses of white mica and chlorite generally show that Mg-rich varieties are more common proximal to mineralization and formed earlier in the deposit paragenesis than Fe-rich varieties. Mineralogy derived from short-wave infrared data for mica and chlorite, however, shows no clear spatial trends across the deposit due to complex overprinting relationships between alteration minerals.