Petrology and Geochemistry of Mafic-Ultramafic Fragments from the Aguablanca Ni-Cu Ore Breccia, Southwest Spain

Piña, Rubén; Hernández, Rosario Lunar; Menor, Lorena Ortega; Gervilla, Fernando; Alapieti, T. T.; Martínez, César

doi:10.2113/gsecongeo.101.4.865

Cited by 60 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Compressional settings are implicated in the deposits of the northern Appalachian Belt in Maine (Thompson and Naldrett, 1984), the Svecofennian Raahe-Ladoga and Vammala Belts in Finland (Peltonen, 1995, Barnes et al, 2009, Eilu et al, 2012, Aguablanca in Spain (Ortega et al, 2004, Pina et al, 2006 and possibly Jinchuan in China (Lehmann et al, 2007) among others.…”

Section: Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

The mineral system approach applied to magmatic Ni–Cu–PGE sulphide deposits

Barnes

Cruden

Arndt

et al. 2016

Ore Geology Reviews

234

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Most magmatic Ni-Cu-PGE sulphide deposits occur within long-lived magma pathways fed by high degree partial melts of the mantle. Holistic mineral-system analysis for such deposits has some parallels with dominantly hydrothermal systems, but also some important differences.Major provinces are associated with large volumes of magma erupted at margins of ancient Archaean cratons, and are associated with small intrusions through which large volumes of magmas have passed. There is no demonstrable association with any particular magma type, although in most provinces the ores are found associated with the most primitive available magmas, whatever these may be. Or-bearing intrusions tend to form early in the evolution of the host province, although exceptions exist to this rule, and these intrusions typically account for very small proportions of the volumes of the province as a whole.Ore deposition is favoured by prolonged high-volume flow over a horizontal floor. This floor may take the form of the base of a channelized sill, tube or blade-shaped dyke, which account for most of the known host igneous bodies to significant ore deposits. Deposition mechanisms may be chemical or physical, but large high-grade deposits require a major component of transported sulphide liquid, initially carried as droplets. Late stage migration of sulphide liquid as gravity currents within intrusion networks, coupled with infiltration and melting of floor rocks, accounts for the common observation in mafic intrusion hosted deposits of cross cutting relationships between massive sulphides, host intrusions and country rocks.The following set of criteria is proposed in targeting and evaluating Ni-Cu-PGE sulphide systems: 1) nature of magmatism and relationship to pre-existing cratonic architecture; 2) magmatic and structural controls on the development of protracted-flow magma conduits; 3) access to crustal S A C C E P T E D M A N U S C R I P T ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPTNi-Cu-PGE mineral systems Barnes May 2015 2 sources at some point along the pathway; 4) favorable intrusion geometry and emplacement style for deposition, reworking and upgrading of sulphide magmas, and 5) favorable structural history and erosional level for preservation and detectability.These components can be translated into mappable geological criteria. At the predictive targeting scale, the key features are proximity to ancient cratonic boundaries and long-lived, trans-crustal structures, and relationship to voluminous mafic or ultramafic magmatism typically with high Mg and low Ti contents, but otherwise lacking distinctive characteristics. At the detection scale, there are two distinct approaches: recognition of high volume magma pathways with prolonged flow-through operating at length scales of km based on morphological, petrological, geophysical and structural observations; and identification of the petrographic and geochemical signals of accumulation or extraction of sulphide liquid.

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Section: Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

The mineral system approach applied to magmatic Ni–Cu–PGE sulphide deposits

Barnes

Cruden

Arndt

et al. 2016

Ore Geology Reviews

234

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show abstract

“…With these data, the Variscan age of the Ni-Cu-PGE ore is very well constrained since it was formed after the Aguablanca stock crystallization (341 ± 1.5 Ma) but before the dioritic dike's intrusion (338.6 ± 0.8 Ma), which crosscut both the mineralized breccia and the Aguablanca stock. Tornos et al, 2001;Ortega et al, 2004;Romeo et al, 2006a;Piña et al, 2006 on October 4, 2012 gsabulletin.gsapubs.org Downloaded from…”

Section: Geologic Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Aguablanca deposit represents an exceptional case in a region (SW Europe) where no other Ni-sulfi de deposit had been documented. Another unusual feature of the Aguablanca Ni-Cu sulfi de deposit is that it is hosted by a subvertical magmatic breccia, located in the northern part of the Aguablanca stock, which has been interpreted to have been derived from an underlying magma chamber in which segregation of a sulfi de melt took place Piña et al, 2006). The emplacement mechanisms of sulfi de ores in typical metallogenetic settings as stratifi ed magmatic chambers, sills, or magma conduits in stable cratons or rifted intraplate areas, are generally well understood (Barnes and Lightfoot, 2005, and references therein).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several systematic studies have focused on the geochemistry, mineralogy, and petrology of the host igneous rocks Piña, 2006;Piña et al, 2006) and the Ni-Cu sulfi des (Ortega et al, 2004;Piña et al, 2008) and have led to an increase in the understanding of the origin and evolution of the orebodies and the magmatic evolution of the host igneous rocks. Recently, other studies have attempted to determine the emplacement mechanisms of the Santa Olalla Igneous Complex using structural and gravity data (Romeo, 2006;Romeo et al, 2006bRomeo et al, , 2007aRomeo et al, , 2008.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Origin and emplacement of the Aguablanca magmatic Ni-Cu-(PGE) sulfide deposit, SW Iberia: A multidisciplinary approach

Piña

Romeo

Menor

et al. 2010

Geological Society of America Bulletin

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“…Moreover, the inferred arc-related geodynamic setting for these Ni-Cu ± PGE prospects is unusual for magmatic sulfide deposits (Naldrett, 2004). Only few studies have discussed deposits originating in subduction-related magmatic arcs, even if such deposits are of economic interest (e.g., Aguablanca deposit in Spain; Casquet et al, 2001;Tornos et al, 2001Tornos et al, , 2006Piña et al, 2006). Thus, understanding the petrogenetic history of the Portneuf-Mauricie Domain (PMD) sulfide-bearing intrusions advances the overall understanding of plutonic systems formed in subduction-related arcs and of magmatic sulfide deposits related to subduction zones.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%