Age and Paleotectonic Setting of Volcanogenic Massive Sulfide Deposits in the Guerrero Terrane of Central Mexico: Constraints from U-Pb Age and Pb Isotope Studies

Mortensen, James K.; Hall, Brian V.; Bissig, Thomas; Friedman, Richard M.; Danielson, Thomas J.; Oliver, James L.; Rhys, David A.; Ross, Kika V.; Gabites, Janet

doi:10.2113/gsecongeo.103.1.117

Cited by 81 publications

(70 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…This difference suggests that Zacualpan silver was not used for coins analyzed so far. The Pb isotope compositions are consistent with what is known of the Mexican sulfide ores in the region of colonial Spanish mining in the center and the north of the country (48,49). Andes.…”

supporting

confidence: 85%

Isotopic Ag–Cu–Pb record of silver circulation through 16th–18th century Spain

Desaulty

Télouk²,

Albalat³

et al. 2011

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

103

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Estimating global fluxes of precious metals is key to understanding early monetary systems. This work adds silver (Ag) to the metals (Pb and Cu) used so far to trace the provenance of coinage through variations in isotopic abundances. Silver, copper, and lead isotopes were measured in 91 coins from the East Mediterranean Antiquity and Roman world, medieval western Europe, 16th-18th century Spain, Mexico, and the Andes and show a great potential for provenance studies. Pre-1492 European silver can be distinguished from Mexican and Andean metal. European silver dominated Spanish coinage until Philip III, but had, 80 y later after the reign of Philip V, been flushed from the monetary mass and replaced by Mexican silver.A particularly momentous time during the early history of modern European economy was the attempt by Hamilton (1) to demonstrate that the great Price Revolution (1520-1650) was largely fueled by the influx of American silver rather than by widespread coinage debasement and minting of the lowdenomination copper "vellón". The idea connecting silver influx to European inflation was actually proposed as far back as the16th century by the French philosopher Jean Bodin (2) and is commonplace in classical economics. Huge amounts of silver, ∼300 t annually (3-5), were mined in the Spanish Americas from the 16th to the 18th centuries. That much silver could not be absorbed locally by the American economy and therefore headed for the European market through major Spanish harbors (6), notably Seville (7), and to the Far East either directly through the Philippines or indirectly through Europe (8). The thesis that the Price Revolution in Spain was fueled by the influx of American silver has, however, become controversial in recent literature (9-11). More specifically, some authors emphasized that the arrival of American metals (ca. 1550 to ca. 1809) does not coincide with the period of inflation (ca. 1520 to ca. 1650) (9-11). Understanding silver monetary mass and circulation relies on three types of primary data: (i) the register of taxes collected when the silver bars received the royal stamp (the Quinto in Peru and the Diezmo in Mexico) (12, 13), (ii) the register of the European harbors used to import the silver shippings (1), and (iii) the compilation of contemporaneous gazettes (9). These data are imprecise or even incomplete, especially for trade registers between 1660 and 1809 (9), and do not take contraband and piracy silver into account (8,(14)(15)(16)(17). In addition, any memory of the origin of the metal is lost by recoinage, whenever silver is exported or a new king comes to power, or upon debasement. Reliable tracers of the monetary mass and exchange that can see through the destructive alterations of coinage silver therefore are needed. Over the last 30 years, lead isotope compositions of metallic ores have been collected and gathered into large databases and broadly used as a tool for provenance studies of archaeological artifacts (18)(19)(20). The main factors of provenance analysis are (i) the...

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supporting

confidence: 85%

Isotopic Ag–Cu–Pb record of silver circulation through 16th–18th century Spain

Desaulty

Télouk²,

Albalat³

et al. 2011

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

103

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“…Sulphide minerals were separated from clean unweathered sulphide-rich samples. Sample preparation, geochemical separations and Pb isotopic measurements were conducted at the Pacific Centre for Isotopic Geochemical Research at the University of British Columbia, using methods as described in Mortensen et al (2008). All measured isotopic ratios were corrected for instrumental mass fractionation of 0.12%/amu based on repeated measurements of the NBS 981 standard and the values recommended by Thirwall (2000).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Tracing of the source(s) of gold in epigenetic occurrences is difficult; however, the isotopic composition of Pb contained in sulphide minerals within the gold-bearing veins provides a useful proxy for gold in metal mobilising systems (e.g., Tosdal et al 1999;Mortensen et al 2008). In this paper, we have determined the Pb isotopic composition of sulphides associated with gold in several gold-bearing deposits through the Southern Alps, representing a range of different structural settings and age.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lead isotope constraints on the origin of Cenozoic orogenic gold systems in the Southern Alps and northwestern Otago, South Island, New Zealand

Mortensen

Craw

MacKenzie

et al. 2010

New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics

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Lead isotopic compositions were determined for sulphides from Pliocene-Pleistocene gold-bearing veins in the Alpine Schist and from Miocene gold-bearing veins and vein breccias from the Shotover-Macetown area in the northwest Otago Schist belt. The lead isotopic signatures are consistent with derivation of Pb in the vein minerals predominantly from metasedimentary rocks that underlie the region. Differences in Pb isotopic signatures between deposits are interpreted to result from lateral and vertical lithological variability within the source rock mass. The host rocks also contain metabasic rocks with N-MORB, E-MORB or within-plate basalt chemistry. However, the observed Pb isotopic signatures in the gold-bearing veins preclude incorporation of significant amounts of Pb from the metabasites. The Pb isotopic signatures of lamprophyre dikes that were intruded into the Otago Schist coeval with Miocene gold mineralisation are distinctly more radiogenic than those of the hydrothermal veins. Thus, although the lamprophyre dikes were emplaced into similar extensional structural sites to the gold-bearing veins, there was no genetic relationship between lamprophyre dikes and gold mineralisation.

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“…Lead isotope compositions of rocks and Cretaceous volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits from the Guerrero terrane. Data field for VMS deposits is from data by Danielson (2000), Cumming et al (1979), JICA-MMAJ (1991), Miranda-Gasca (1995), and Mortensen et al (2008); for Toluca metamorphic rocks from Martinez-Serrano et al (2004); for MORB-EPR from PETDB (2002); for Pacific Ocean sediments (POS) from Hemming and McLennan (2001). References for the evolution curves (UC, OR, and SK) are as in Figure 5 Figure 5.6.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Locations of deposits (central) and regional crustal thickness (in km) across the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt (bottom) are also shown. Data from Cumming et al (1979), Miranda-Gasca (1995), Hosler and Macfarlane (1996), Danielson (2000), Mortensen et al (2008) Pb values of ores from the Cenozoic (top) and Mesozoic (bottom) deposits of the Guerrero terrane with distance increase from the Middle America Trench. Data from Cumming et al (1979), MirandaGasca (1995), Hosler and Macfarlane (1996), Danielson (2000), and Mortensen et al (2008) Figure 6.8.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Isotopic Studies of the Guerrero Composite Terrane, West-Central Mexico: Implications for Provenance of Crustal Rocks and Genesis of Ore Metals

Potra¹

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Age and Paleotectonic Setting of Volcanogenic Massive Sulfide Deposits in the Guerrero Terrane of Central Mexico: Constraints from U-Pb Age and Pb Isotope Studies

Cited by 81 publications

References 36 publications

Isotopic Ag–Cu–Pb record of silver circulation through 16th–18th century Spain

Isotopic Ag–Cu–Pb record of silver circulation through 16th–18th century Spain

Lead isotope constraints on the origin of Cenozoic orogenic gold systems in the Southern Alps and northwestern Otago, South Island, New Zealand

Isotopic Studies of the Guerrero Composite Terrane, West-Central Mexico: Implications for Provenance of Crustal Rocks and Genesis of Ore Metals

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