Fluid characteristics of the world-class, carbonate-hosted Las Cuevas fluorite deposit (San Luis Potosí, Mexico)

Levresse, Gilles; Gonzáléz-Partida, Eduardo; Tritlla, J.; Camprubí, Antoni; Cienfuegos-Alvarado, Edith; Morales-Puente, Pedro

doi:10.1016/s0375-6742(03)00145-6

Cited by 18 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…San Luis Potosí is the leading Mexican state in fluorite production. Such wealth comes from the Las Cuevas deposit, which is widely regarded as the largest individual producer of fluorite in the world [2][3][4], both acid-and metallurgic-grade. It forms a prominent cluster of deposits with the Río Verde area (El Realito, El Refugio, and La Constancia deposits) between the states of San Luis Potosí and Guanajuato (Figure 1).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It forms a prominent cluster of deposits with the Río Verde area (El Realito, El Refugio, and La Constancia deposits) between the states of San Luis Potosí and Guanajuato (Figure 1). The origin of such fluorite deposits has been intermittently debated, between models that formulate a hydrothermal origin sustained by local magmatism [5,6] and a scenario similar to a Mississippi Valley Type (MVT) model [2,4] in which meteoric water would have had a paramount role as an agent for mineralization. However, in spite of the massive size and world-class status of the Las Cuevas deposit, no depositional model has been soundly established so far.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A recent wealth of information [1,2,4,[7][8][9][10][11] has allowed for the determination that ore-forming fluids of many Zn-Pb, fluorite, celestine, and barite deposits that occur across formerly marginal basins of the paleo-Gulf of Mexico are compatible with basinal brines with diverse degrees of interaction with meteoric water or evaporites and, therefore, can be generically ascribed to an MVT model. Such is also the case with red-bed-hosted epigenetic copper deposits [1,2,9,11,12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous works on the "E" and "G" orebodies at Las Cuevas [4,6] have provided (A) fluid inclusion data that indicated very dilute and low-temperature mineralizing fluids (salinity mostly <0.2 wt % NaCl equiv and a temperature of homogenization <130 • C) that are compatible with heated meteoric water, and (B) isotopic data that are suggestive of organic matter maturation and decarbonation processes during the formation of the deposits. In this work, we provide new data on the morphology of ore bodies, the microthermometry of fluid inclusions, oxygen and carbon isotope geochemistry, with the aim of contributing to the definition of a likely model of formation for the ensemble of fluorite deposits in the Las Cuevas and Río Verde mineralized areas.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Giant Fluorite Mineralization in Central Mexico by Means of Exceptionally Low Salinity Fluids: An Unusual Style among MVT Deposits

et al. 2019

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The origin of the mineralization at the world-class Las Cuevas (the largest single fluorite deposit in the world) has been historically disputed, essentially between skarn-related and Mississippi Valley Type (MVT) models. A systematic study of fluid inclusions in these deposits revealed that they were formed by low temperature (49 to 177 °C) and low salinity (0 to 1.9 wt % NaCl equiv) fluids. The obtained δ13C (between −2.39 and 0.20‰ VPDB) and δ18O (between −14.03 and −7.37‰ VPDB) data from local host limestones agreed with regionally representative values in the literature. The obtained δ13C (between −15.60 and −12.99‰ VPDB) and δ18O (between −5.56 and −1.84‰ VPDB) data from hydrothermal calcite associated with fluorite mineralization indicated that the isotopic composition of hydrothermal fluids initially reflected buffering by the host rocks, and then recorded the interaction between meteoric water and basinal brines. It is likely that such processes occurred with concurrent maturation of organic matter, and that the obtained compositions may also have recorded a thermal effect on the local limestones. Halogen geochemical studies in inclusion fluids showed a distribution that suggests that solutes in mineralizing fluids were due to scavenging of Na+ and Cl− through water–rock interaction or halite dissolution, and that secondary sources would have been the evaporation or infiltration of seawater. The basinal brines with which the formation of these deposits was associated were massively diluted by deeply evolved meteoric water, thus making a significant fluorine input by basinal brines unlikely. Fluorine would have been provided by local groundwater through its interaction with Oligocene topaz rhyolites and other F-rich volcanic and hypabyssal rocks. Such a possibility is supported by present-day groundwater, which presents a regional endemic case of fluorosis. The precipitation of fluorite is possible at low temperatures (at which the solubility of this mineral is very low) by means of chemical reactions and physical interactions among very diluted F-poor basinal brines, F-rich groundwater, and host carbonate rocks. The latter systematically experienced hydrothermal karstification, which would have provided Ca2+ for reaction with F− and resulted in the precipitation of fluorite. This scenario stands for a depositional model that recalls those proposed for MVT and associated industrial mineral deposits, but is distinct from common models with regard to the primal source for fluorine and the extremely low salinities of inclusion fluids.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Giant Fluorite Mineralization in Central Mexico by Means of Exceptionally Low Salinity Fluids: An Unusual Style among MVT Deposits

et al. 2019

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“…El fenómeno de substitución representa una ganancia de porosidad neta debido a la gran abundancia de cavidades parcialmente tapizadas por cubos de fl uorita amarilla tardía. Estas texturas ritmíticas son similares a las halladas en otros depósitos mexicanos de fl uorita encajonados en carbonatos de edad similar Levresse et al, 2003;Tritlla et al, 2004b) así como en el resto del mundo (MVT, subtipo fl uorítico).…”

Section: Depósitos De Fl Uoritaunclassified

Depósitos de Pb-Zn-Cu-Ba-F-Sr epigenéticos estratoligados en series sedimentarias en relación con salmueras de cuenca: depósitos de tipo “Mississippi Valley” (MVT) y similares en México

Tritlla¹,

Levresse²,

Corona-Esquivel³

et al. 2006

BSGM

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ResumenLos depósitos de Pb-Zn-Cu-Ba-F-Sr epigenéticos estratoligados en series sedimentarias han constituido una de las mayores fuentes de metales en la historia de la humanidad. Aún en la actualidad continuan siendo un objetivo prioritario de exploración para las compañias mineras, debido tanto a su fácil metalurgia como a los grandes tonelajes que presentan los distritos clasifi cados bajo esta tipología.En México existen todo un conjunto de mineralizaciones de Pb-Zn-Ba-F que han sido sistemáticamente consideradas como pertenecientes a tipologías diversas (skarns, reemplazamientos de alta temperatura, epitermales, etc.) que, bajo una nueva pespectiva, responden a un modelo de circulación de fl uidos de cuenca enriquecidos en metales, fl úor y bario durante su tránsito por la serie sedimentaria. Estos fl uidos han dado lugar a un conjunto de cuerpos mineralizados estratoligados que aparecen encajonados dentro de las series de plataforma carbonatada mesozoicas del centro, N y NE de México. Típicamente, no están asociados genéticamente a magmatismo alguno, no causan una alteración muy acusada en la roca encajonante, suelen estar asociados a la presencia de materia orgánica (hidrocarburos líquidos, bitúmen), presentan una mineralogía muy sencilla, a menudo casi monominerálica (barita, celestina, fl uorita, esfalerita, galena) y suelen presentar temperaturas de formación dentro del rango de 90-150 °C con salinidades variables. Todo este conjunto de características hacen a estos depósitos plenamente comparables con los MVT del subtipo Alpino-Apalachiano.En este artículo se lleva a cabo una revisión sobre el conocimiento que se tiene sobre este tipo de depósitos a nivel global para, después, pasar a discutir la presencia de esta tipología en suelo mexicano y sus características geológicas y geoquímicas más relevantes.Palabras clave: Depósitos de tipo MVT, generalidades, geoquímica, depósitos en México, estado del arte. AbstractThe low temperature, epigenetic and stratabound Pb-Zn-Cu-Ba-F-Sr-bearing ore deposits enclosed within sedimentary series have been one of the major sources of metals in history. Presently, exploration companies still fi nd these deposits

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Comments on “(U–Th)/He dating of fluorite: application to the La Azul fluorspar deposit in the Taxco mining district, Mexico” by Pi et al. (Mineralium Deposita 39: 976–982)

Tritlla¹,

Levresse²

2006

Miner Deposita

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Fluid characteristics of the world-class, carbonate-hosted Las Cuevas fluorite deposit (San Luis Potosí, Mexico)

Cited by 18 publications

References 7 publications

Giant Fluorite Mineralization in Central Mexico by Means of Exceptionally Low Salinity Fluids: An Unusual Style among MVT Deposits

Giant Fluorite Mineralization in Central Mexico by Means of Exceptionally Low Salinity Fluids: An Unusual Style among MVT Deposits

Depósitos de Pb-Zn-Cu-Ba-F-Sr epigenéticos estratoligados en series sedimentarias en relación con salmueras de cuenca: depósitos de tipo “Mississippi Valley” (MVT) y similares en México

Comments on “(U–Th)/He dating of fluorite: application to the La Azul fluorspar deposit in the Taxco mining district, Mexico” by Pi et al. (Mineralium Deposita 39: 976–982)

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