Genetic constraints from paleomagnetic dating for the Aliva zinc–lead deposit, Picos de Europa Unit, northern Spain (original) (raw)
Related papers
Ore Geology Reviews, 2017
The Caravia-Berbes district is a major fluorite producing area in Europe. The fluorite occurs as mantos replacing breccio-conglomerates of the Middle Permian Caravia Formation and as veins and irregular replacive bodies in the unconformably underlying limestone of the Late Carboniferous Caliza de Montaña Formation. Paleomagnetic analyses were done using alternating field and thermal step demagnetization and saturation remanence methods. Ten sites (82 specimens) in massive and disseminated fluorite ore from the Emilio manto yielded a stable chemical remanent magnetization (CRM) in hematite inclusions with a direction of Decl. 20.1°, Incl. 67.3°(α 95 = 6.1°). After correction for Neogene Pyrenean tilt, the manto's paleoinclination gives a CRM acquisition age of 206 ± 8 Ma that dates a major hydrothermal and ore emplacement event. The age is coeval with the onset of Pangea's break up as the Iberian microplate began to split from the Armorican terrane of Eurasia as part of the ocean-forming CAMP (Central Atlantic Magmatic Province) event. Another 11 sites (109 specimens) of silicified dolostone of the Caliza de Montaña Formation just below the Cueto L'Aspa manto yielded a stable CRM that resides in single and pseudosingle domain magnetite inclusions that has a direction of Decl. 328.7°, Incl. 76.6°(α 95 = 4.9°). After Neogene tilt correction, the altered zone's paleopole gives a CRM acquisition age of 115 ± 3 Ma. This age shows that the western Cantabrian basin also underwent a major hydrothermal alteration and remagnetization event by fluid flow through steep reactivated faults when Iberia rotated 35 ± 2°a way from Eurasia during Aptian-Albian time.
Mineralium Deposita, 2000
The Eastern Iberian Central System has abundant ore showings hosted by a wide variety of hydrothermal rocks; they include Sn-W, Fe and Zn-(W) calcic and magnesian skarns, shear zone- and episyenite-hosted Cu-Zn-Sn-W orebodies, Cu-W-Sn greisens and W-(Sn), base metal and fluorite-barite veins. Systematic dating and fluid inclusion studies show that they can be grouped into several hydrothermal episodes related with the waning Variscan orogeny. The first event was at about 295 Ma followed by younger pulses associated with Early Alpine rifting and extension and dated near 277, 150 and 100 to 20 Ma, respectively (events II–IV). The δ18O-δD and δ34S studies of hydrothermal rocks have elucidated the hydrological evolution of these systems. The event I fluids are of mixed origin. They are metamorphic fluids (H2O-CO2-CH4-NaCl; δ18O=4.7 to 9.3‰; δD ab.−34‰) related to W-(Sn) veins and modified meteoric waters in the deep magnesian Sn-W skarns (H2O-NaCl, 4.5–6.4 wt% NaCl eq.; δ18O=7.3–7.8‰; δD=−77 to −74‰) and epizonal shallow calcic Zn-(W) and Fe skarns (H2O-NaCl, <8 wt% NaCl eq.; δ18O=−0.4 to 3.4‰; δD=−75 to −58‰). They were probably formed by local hydrothermal cells that were spatially and temporally related to the youngest Variscan granites, the metals precipitating by fluid unmixing and fluid-rock reactions. The minor influence of magmatic fluids confirms that the intrusion of these granites was essentially water-undersaturated, as most of the hydrothermal fluids were external to the igneous rocks. The fluids involved in the younger hydrothermal systems (events II–III) are very similar. The waters involved in the formation of episyenites, chlorite-rich greisens, retrograde skarns and phyllic and chlorite-rich alterations in the shear zones show no major chemical or isotopic differences. Interaction of the hydrothermal fluids with the host rocks was the main mechanism of ore formation. The composition (H2O-NaCl fluids with original salinities below 6.2 wt% NaCl eq.) and the δ18O (−4.6 to 6.3‰) and δD (−51 to −40‰) values are consistent with a meteoric origin, with a δ18O-shift caused by the interaction with the, mostly igneous, host rocks. These fluids circulated within regional-scale convective cells and were then channelled along major crustal discontinuities. In these shear zones the more easily altered minerals such as feldspars, actinolite and chlorite had their δ18O signatures overprinted by low temperature younger events while the quartz inherited the original signature. In the shallower portions of the hydrothermal systems, basement-cover fluorite-barite-base metal veins formed by mixing of these deep fluids with downwards percolating brines. These brines are also interpreted as of meteoric origin (δ18O< ≈ −4‰; δD=−65 to −36‰) that leached the solutes (salinity >14 wt% NaCl eq.) from evaporites hosted in the post-Variscan sequence. The δD values are very similar to most of those recorded by Kelly and Rye in Panasqueira and confirm that the Upper Paleozoic meteoric waters in central Iberia had very negative δD values (≤−52‰) whereas those of Early Mesozoic age ranged between −65 and −36‰.
The Reocín zinc–lead deposit, Spain: paleomagnetic dating of a late Tertiary ore body
Mineralium Deposita, 2009
The Reocín mine in northern Spain's Basque-Cantabrian basin exploited a world-class Mississippi Valley-type Zn-Pb deposit. Its epigenetic mineralization is in Urgonian 116±1 Ma dolomitized limestones of the Santillana syncline, which was formed by Oligocene and mid Miocene pulses of the Pyrenean orogeny. Paleomagnetic results (22 sites, 274 specimens) in mineralization isolated a stable remanence (ChRM) in pyrrhotite and minor magnetite inclusions in ore specimens, Zn concentrate, and tailings. A fold test shows that the ChRM is substantially post-folding. The mineralization's paleopole lies on the European apparent polar wander path and indicates that the mineralization was formed at 15±10 Ma. We postulate that brines originated in underlying Triassic and Lower Cretaceous sedimentary rocks and were driven upward into the host rocks by the hydraulic gradient created by the nearby Asturian massif.
Physics of The Earth and Planetary Interiors, 1994
A composite magnetic polarity sequence has been constructed for the middle and late Oxfordian (late Jurassic) from four overlapping sections situated in both limbs of an anticline. Two stable magnetisation components could be isolated in every sample analyzed. Both components pass the fold test: a low-temperature secondary component, with Dec. = 340.9°and Inc. = 44.9°(a 95 = 1.70), of pre-Oligocene age, showing always normal polarity, and a high-temperature primary component, with Dec. = 324.1°and Inc. = 40.6°(a95 = 2.9°).The latter shows both normal and reversed polarities and provides the geomagnetic record for the late Jurassic. The magnetostratigraphy of the four overlapping sections has given consistent results and indicates that a high frequency of reversals characterises the pattern of the geomagnetic field during the middle to upper Oxfordian. The corresponding Oxfordian paleopole is slat = 251.2°,P1ong = 55•90 (a95 = 3.1).
Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems
In this work, we present 16 directional and 27 intensity high-quality values from Iberia. Moreover, we have updated the Iberian archeomagnetic catalogue published more than 10 years ago with a considerable increase in the database. This has led to a notable improvement of both temporal and spatial data distribution. A full vector paleosecular variation curve from 1000 BC to 1900 AD has been developed using high-quality data within a radius of 900 km from Madrid. A hierarchical bootstrap method has been followed for the computation of the curves. The most remarkable feature of the new curves is a notable intensity maximum of about 80 μT around 600 BC, which has not been previously reported for the Iberian Peninsula. We have also analyzed the evolution of the paleofield in Europe for the last three thousand years and conclude that the high maximum intensity values observed around 600 BC in the Iberian Peninsula could respond to the same feature as the Levantine Iron Age Anomaly, after travelling westward through Europe. Plain language summary Knowledge of the Earth's magnetic field plays an important role on the understanding of its dynamics. By measuring certain rocks or archeological objects from around the world, we can determine the field's shape and intensity in former times. Knowing its evolution is essential to understand how this field is generated, how it has varied through time and how it may behave in the future. In this work, we present new measurements of the magnetic field from the Iberian Peninsula that provide useful constraints on the magnetic field for archeological times that currently lack information. We have updated the compilation of Iberian data for the last 3,000 years and calculated a new reference curve for the magnetic field for this region. We have found that the magnetic field was particularly intense in the Iberian Peninsula about 2,600 years ago. By comparing this result with data from Europe and the Middle East, we observe that this high intensity has been moving from east to west through southern Europe. This feature is probably related with the rapid intensity change (the geomagnetic spike) recently discovered in the Levantine region.
Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 19: 1-20, 2018
In this work, we present 16 directional and 27 intensity high-quality values from Iberia. Moreover, we have updated the Iberian archeomagnetic catalogue published more than 10 years ago with a considerable increase in the database. This has led to a notable improvement of both temporal and spatial data distribution. A full vector paleosecular variation curve from 1000 BC to 1900 AD has been developed using high-quality data within a radius of 900 km from Madrid. A hierarchical bootstrap method has been followed for the computation of the curves. The most remarkable feature of the new curves is a notable intensity maximum of about 80 μT around 600 BC, which has not been previously reported for the Iberian Peninsula. We have also analyzed the evolution of the paleofield in Europe for the last three thousand years and conclude that the high maximum intensity values observed around 600 BC in the Iberian Peninsula could respond to the same feature as the Levantine Iron Age Anomaly, after travelling westward through Europe. Plain language summary Knowledge of the Earth's magnetic field plays an important role on the understanding of its dynamics. By measuring certain rocks or archeological objects from around the world, we can determine the field's shape and intensity in former times. Knowing its evolution is essential to understand how this field is generated, how it has varied through time and how it may behave in the future. In this work, we present new measurements of the magnetic field from the Iberian Peninsula that provide useful constraints on the magnetic field for archeological times that currently lack information. We have updated the compilation of Iberian data for the last 3,000 years and calculated a new reference curve for the magnetic field for this region. We have found that the magnetic field was particularly intense in the Iberian Peninsula about 2,600 years ago. By comparing this result with data from Europe and the Middle East, we observe that this high intensity has been moving from east to west through southern Europe. This feature is probably related with the rapid intensity change (the geomagnetic spike) recently discovered in the Levantine region.
Remagnetizations and postfolding oroclinal rotations in the Cantabrian/Asturian arc, northern Spain
Tectonics, 1994
Devonian carbonates in the Cantabrim• Arc reveal characteristic magnetizations with coherent, shallow, upward inclinations. The magnetizations appear to be carried by magnetite. Within-site directions are very well grouped, but site-mean declinations range from easterly to southsouthwesterly in in situ as well as tilt-corrected coordinates, as has also been observed in previous studies of other fonnations in the arc. The widely varying declinations of all studies roughly correlate with the overall structural trends of the arc and suggest that the sites underwent rotations in a process that involved folding about vertical axes and tightening of arc. Upon tilt correction the inclinations of our study, on the other hand, become scattered, and it is concluded that the magnetizations were acquired after Late Carboniferous folding about horizontal axes. The oroclinal rotations therefore also must have occurred after the Late Carboniferous folding phase. The previous palcomagnetic results had been interpreted mostly as primary magnetizations residing in hematite. However, inclination only fold-tilt tests applied to these results suggest that many, if not all, of the directions were acquired during the earlier stages of the Late Carboniferous folding. Thus all palcomagnetic restilts from the Cantabrian Arc appear to be remagnetizations, but the ages of the remagnetizations vary fi-om pre-to synfolding tbr the mostly hematitic formations to postfolding for the Devonian carbonates. The reversed-polarity inclinations of the hematitebearing formations have mean values ranging from +25 ø to +5 ø whereas the carbonates have a mean inclination of-8 ø. On the basis of inclinations predicted for the area froln restilts froin stable Europe, the Pyrenees, and the Iberian Meseta, the ages of these remagnetizations can be inferred to range froin about 320 Ma to 260 Ma. Because all the remagnetizations reveal rotated declination patterns, the oroclinal rotations occurred well after the main phase of Hercynian deformation (320-280 Ma). While the timing of the rotations is unconstrained at the younger end, they must have occurred during or after the Permian (best estimate is less than 260 Ma), which is much later than anticipated froin other geological considerations.
sga.conference-services.net
Structural complexity and poor stratigraphic control on many local successions of the Iberian pyrite belt prevent from being fully understood promising exploration targets that have been abandoned after unsuccessful drilling. Structural analysis, palynomorph dating, physical volcanology, and ore-related hydrothermal alteration zoning of the footwall succession that hosts the two Gavião orebodies enabled reconstruction of their pre-tectonic ore-forming setting, accounting for a number of reliable exploration vectors. In particular, the sodium-rich ore-related distal alteration envelopes can be detected by means well within reach during exploration, and should constitute a suitable tool to trace paths to massive sulphide mineralization in the Iberian pyrite belt.
U-Pb Geochronology of VMS mineralization in the Iberian Pyrite Belt
Mineralium Deposita, 2002
A geochronology study using U-Pb isotope dilution TIMS analyses of zircon has been conducted to determine the ages of volcanic-associated massive sulfide (VMS) deposits in the Iberian Pyrite Belt (IPB), the world's most prolific VMS province. Ages have been determined for host rocks to four VMS systems that span the IPB: the giant Rio Tinto and Aljustrel districts in the central region, Lagoa Salgada to the west, and Las Cruces to the east. A sample of chloritized quartz porphyritic dacite/rhyolite in the footwall of the San Dionisio massive sulfide deposit of the Rio Tinto district is 349.76±0.90 Ma. This is taken as the best age estimate of the mineralization in the Rio Tinto district, probably the world's largest volcanogenic massive sulfide system. Two xenocrystic zircons from the same sample yielded 207 Pb/ 206 Pb ages of 414 and 416 Ma, which provide a minimum estimate for the age of the inherited component. A biotite tonalite from the Campofrio area, 3.5 km north of the center of the Rio Tinto district, is chemically similar to the felsic host rock protolith at Rio Tinto. The Campofrio sample has an age of 346.26±0.81 Ma, slightly younger and outside of the 2r error for the Rio Tinto age; therefore, this phase of this intrusion was not a heat source for the hydrothermal system that formed the deposits of the Rio Tinto district. The Campofrio sample also has three zircon analyses with 207 Pb/ 206 Pb minimum ages of 534, 536, and 985 Ma, indicating inheritance from Ordovician and Neoproterozoic sources. In the Aljustrel VMS district, a U-Pb zircon age of 352.9±1.9 Ma characterizes the altered Green Tuff host rock of the Algares deposit, which is slightly older than the Rio Tinto age. Two zircons with 207 Pb/ 206 Pb ages of 531 and 571 Ma from this sample indicate inheritance from a Cambrian or older source. The age of mineralization at Lagoa Salgada is given by essentially identical ages of 356.21±0.73 and 356.4±0.8 Ma, for footwall and hanging wall samples, respectively. The hanging wall sample has two zircon analyses with 207 Pb/ 206 Pb ages of 464 and 466 Ma, indicating inheritance from an Ordovician or older source. The age for an altered dacite tuff sample from the hanging wall of the Las Cruces deposit is 353.97±0.69 Ma. One zircon analysis from the Las Cruces sample has a 207 Pb/ 206 Pb age of 1048 Ma, indicating inheritance from a Neoproterozoic source. These U-Pb ages refine the IPB geochronology provided by previous studies, and they suggest that either volcanism progressed toward the center of the IPB, or that volcanism was broadly static and the strata were progressively rifted to the margins during transtensional basin formation. The zircon inheritance provides direct evidence for Proterozoic to Ordovician sources, reflecting either basement rocks beneath the Phyllite-Quartzite Group during VMS formation in late Tournaisian times, or a Proterozoic to Ordovician detrital component in Phyllite-Quartzite Group source rocks. The presence of an older crustal component is consistent with VMS formation during rift development at a continental margin.