Sandstone-hosted lead-zinc mineral deposits and their relation to the tectonic mobilization of the baltic shield during the Caledonian orogeny—a reinterpretation (original) (raw)
Summary
Sandstone-hosted lead-zinc impregnation deposits in Scandinavia occur in Vendian to Cambrian and, locally, Ordovician sandstones that rest unconformably on the deeply eroded Baltic Shield. The sandstones are overthrust by the Caledonian nappes or form part of the lowermost Caledonian thrust units. Sandstone-hosted lead-zinc deposits, that occur along the present erosional front of the Caledonides, contain galena and sphalerite cementing fractures and pore space. The deposits formed by fluid-mixing processes in the sandstones. Early ore genetic models considered the ore-hosting sandstones, because of the positive correlation between ore grade and palaeo-permeability, as main aquifer for the metalliferous fluids that were interpreted to be either ground-waters or hot basinal brines driven out from geosynclinal sediments during the Caledonian orogeny.
It is suggested here that the distribution of sandstone-hosted lead-zinc deposits is controlled by Caledonian reactivated basement structures, as the ores overlay faults and lithologic discontinuities in the basement. The geographic distribution of the Scandinavian sandstone-hosted lead-zinc deposits coincides with areas that show both extensive thrust sheets of the Lower Allochthon unit at the front and basement culminations in the interior of the Caledonian orogen. These areas are characterized by deeper thrusting levels and probably more intense reactivation of basement faults, which made the basement more susceptible to large-scale fluid migration. Metalliferous fluids emerging from Caledonian reactivated basement faults mixed with fluids in the sedimentary cover, which resulted in metal precipitation. The lead-zinc deposits in sandstones that formed by these processes occur selectively in the lowermost permeable cover.
Zusammenfassung
Entlang der erosiven Front der kaledonischen Decken treten Bleiglanz- und Zinkblendeimprägnierungen in wendischen bis kambrischen, sowie teilweise ordovizischen, Sandsteinen auf, welche auf dem tief erodierten proterozoischen Baltischen Schild abgelagert und von den kaledonischen Decken überschoben worden sind. Die Bleiglanz- und Zinkblendeimprägnierungen waren infolge der Mischung von zwei hydrothermalen Lösungen in den Sandsteinen gebildet worden. ältere erzgenetische Modelle betrachteten die vererzten Sandsteine infolge der positiven Korrelation zwischen den Erzgehalten und der Faläopermeabilität als hautpsächlichen Zufuhrsweg für die vererzenden Fluide. Die Erzlösungen wurden entweder als Grundwässer und frühdiagenetische Lösungen oder als während der kaledonischen Deckenüberschiebung aus geosynklinalen Sedimenten ausgepreßte Lösungen interpretiert.
Es wird hier vorgeschlagen; daß die Bildung der Vererzungen, welche Verwerfungen und Gesteinskontakte im Grundgebirge überlagern, von Strukturen im kaledonisch reaktivierten Grundgebirge kontrolliert wurde. Die geographische Verbreitung der Blei Zinkvererzungen in den Sandsteinen fällt sowohl mit mächtigen Überschiebungsdecken des Unteren Allochthons an der Gebirgsfront als auch mit Grundgebirgsaufwölbungen im Gebirgsinnern zusammen, welche beide einen tieferen Abscherungshorizont und eine möglicherweise damit zusammenhängende kräftigere Verschuppung des Grundgebirges bedingen. Eine lokal intensivere tektonische Beanspruchung des Grundgebirges resultierte in einer erhöhten großräumigen Durchlässigkeit für hydrothermale Lösungen. Aus dem Grundgebirge austretende Fluide mischten sich mit in der Überlage vorhandenen Fluiden und fällten dadurch ihren Metallgehalt aus. Das selektive Auftreten von Blei-Zinkvererzungen in den Sandsteinen ist durch deren Lage als unterste auf dem Grundgebirge abgesetzte fluidführende lithologische Einheit bedingt.
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- Department of Economic Geology, Luleä University, S-95187, Luleä, Sweden
R. L. Romer
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Romer, R.L. Sandstone-hosted lead-zinc mineral deposits and their relation to the tectonic mobilization of the baltic shield during the Caledonian orogeny—a reinterpretation.Mineralogy and Petrology 47, 67–85 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01165298
- Received: 19 June 1992
- Accepted: 24 August 1992
- Issue Date: March 1992
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01165298