No mass-independent sulfur isotope fractionation in auriferous fluids supports a magmatic origin for Archean gold deposits

Xue, Yunxing; Campbell, I. H.; Ireland, Trevor; Holden, Peter; Armstrong, Richard

doi:10.1130/g34186.1

Cited by 101 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Sedimentary pyrites from the associated black shales have positive MIF ∆ 33 S anomalies with a wider range of δ 34 S values, similar to other reported sedimentary sulfides from Yilgarn Craton (see Bekker et al, 2009;Xue et al, 2013;and Fig. 3A), but distinct from the hydrothermal pyrites analyzed in this study.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 86%

Multiple Sulfur Isotope Analyses Support a Magmatic Model for the Volcanogenic Massive Sulfide Deposits of the Teutonic Bore Volcanic Complex, Yilgarn Craton, Western Australia

Chen¹,

Campbell²,

Xue³

et al. 2015

Economic Geology

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We report sensitive high mass resolution ion microprobe, stable isotopes (SHRIMP SI) multiple sulfur isotope analyses ( 32 S, 33 S, 34 S) to constrain the sources of sulfur in three Archean VMS deposits-Teutonic Bore, Bentley, and Jaguar-from the Teutonic Bore volcanic complex of the Yilgarn Craton, Western Australia, together with sedimentary pyrites from associated black shales and interpillow pyrites. The pyrites from VMS mineralization are dominated by mantle sulfur but include a small amount of slightly negative mass-independent fractionation (MIF) anomalies, whereas sulfur from the pyrites in the sedimentary rocks has pronounced positive MIF, with ∆ 33 S values that lie between 0.19 and 6.20‰ (with one outlier at -1.62‰). The wall rocks to the mineralization include sedimentary rocks that have contributed no detectable positive MIF sulfur to the VMS deposits, which is difficult to reconcile with the leaching model for the formation of these deposits. The sulfur isotope data are best explained by mixing between sulfur derived from a magmatic-hydrothermal fluid and seawater sulfur as represented by the interpillow pyrites. The massive sulfide lens pyrites have a weighted mean ∆ 33 S value of -0.27 ± 0.05‰ (MSWD = 1.6) nearly identical with -0.31 ± 0.08‰ (MSWD = 2.4) for pyrites from the stringer zone, which requires mixing to have occurred below the sea floor. We employed a twocomponent mixing model to estimate the contribution of seawater sulfur to the total sulfur budget of the two Teutonic Bore volcanic complex VMS deposits. The results are 15 to 18% for both Teutonic Bore and Bentley, much higher than the 3% obtained by Jamieson et al. (2013) for the giant Kidd Creek deposit. Similar calculations, carried out for other Neoarchean VMS deposits give value between 2% and 30%, which are similar to modern hydrothermal VMS deposits. We suggest that multiple sulfur isotope analyses may be used to predict the size of Archean VMS deposits and to provide a vector to ore deposit but further studies are needed to test these suggestions.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 86%

Multiple Sulfur Isotope Analyses Support a Magmatic Model for the Volcanogenic Massive Sulfide Deposits of the Teutonic Bore Volcanic Complex, Yilgarn Craton, Western Australia

Chen¹,

Campbell²,

Xue³

et al. 2015

Economic Geology

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“…In contrast to the conclusions above for the  34 S data, recent work showing an absence of mass independent fractionation (MIF) for sulfur isotopes from the gold deposits of the Yilgarn craton has suggested instead a felsic magmatic or mantle sulfur source, and has been further interpreted to eliminate meteoric water or metamorphism of metasedimentary rocks in the ore formation process (Xue et al, 2013). This is consistent with a scenario such that felsic volcanic or mafic/ultramafic rocks, which would lack MIF sulfur because it couldn't circulate to the deeper ocean floors given the abundance of dissolved iron in the Archean oceans (Andy Tomkins, written commun., 2015), are permissive sulfur sources.…”

mentioning

confidence: 70%

Orogenic gold: Common or evolving fluid and metal sources through time

Goldfarb

Groves

2015

Lithos

785

256

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“…Emphasis is variably placed on either 'pre-enrichment' of particularly favourable source rocks (e.g. Large et al, 2011;Gaboury, 2013) As an example of this debate, Gaboury, (2013) and Xue et al (2013) presented compelling, but conflicting, evidence for auriferous ore fluids being sourced from carbonaceous shales and from felsic magmas, respectively. Both studies were carried out on greenstone hosted orogenic gold deposits of similar age, but utilising different analytical datasets, which are thus difficult to compare (residual gas analysis of fluid inclusions and multiple sulphur isotopes, respectively).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Discriminating fluid source regions in orogenic gold deposits using B-isotopes

Lambert-Smith

Rocholl

Treloar

et al. 2016

Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta

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The genesis of orogenic gold deposits is commonly linked to hydrothermal ore fluids derived from metamorphic devolatilisation reactions. However, there is considerable debate as to the ultimate source of these fluids and the metals they transport. Tourmaline is a common gangue mineral in orogenic gold deposits. It is stable over a very wide P-T range, demonstrates limited volume diffusion of major and trace elements and is the main host of B in most rock types. We have used texturally resolved B-isotope analysis

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No mass-independent sulfur isotope fractionation in auriferous fluids supports a magmatic origin for Archean gold deposits

Cited by 101 publications

References 30 publications

Multiple Sulfur Isotope Analyses Support a Magmatic Model for the Volcanogenic Massive Sulfide Deposits of the Teutonic Bore Volcanic Complex, Yilgarn Craton, Western Australia

Multiple Sulfur Isotope Analyses Support a Magmatic Model for the Volcanogenic Massive Sulfide Deposits of the Teutonic Bore Volcanic Complex, Yilgarn Craton, Western Australia

Orogenic gold: Common or evolving fluid and metal sources through time

Discriminating fluid source regions in orogenic gold deposits using B-isotopes

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