Sedimentary rock–hosted stratiform copper deposits are the world’s second largest source of copper and the largest source of cobalt, with about 73% of the copper occurring in two basins: the Katangan Basin (Central African Copperbelt) and the Permian Basin (Kupferschiefer). Why these two sedimentary basins are so highly endowed in copper is puzzling because sedimentary rock–hosted stratiform copper deposits have formed since the Paleoproterozoic and they all share remarkably similar ore mineralogy, host-rock characteristics and basin settings. We suggest that this discrepancy is due to the development of these two basins close to the bases of ~ 8000-km-long supermountain belts. The supermountain belts were instrumental in raising oxygen levels in Earth’s atmosphere, as well as providing a voluminous source of groundwater and a powerful and long-lived driver for the fluid-flow system. The elevated oxygen levels facilitated the diagenetic processes that converted copper-bearing labile minerals to amorphous iron-oxides and smectite and then in turn to hematite and illite. When oxidized brines flushed through the basin successions, the liberated copper was transported to units containing carbon-rich mudstone and the metals were deposited. For the Katangan Basin, development of the Transgondwanan supermountain belt along its margins between about 525 and 510 Ma explains the delay of several hundreds of millions of years between basin formation and mineralization in the Central African Copperbelt. In contrast, development of the Mid-Pangean supermountain belt formed penecontemporaneous with the Permian Basin explains the similarity in timing between basin formation and mineralization in the Kupferschiefer.

沉积岩层状铜矿床是世界第二大铜矿床和第一大钴矿床，约 73% 的铜产于两个盆地：加丹干盆地（中非铜矿带）和二叠纪盆地（Kupferschiefer）。为什么这两个沉积盆地的铜储量如此之高令人费解，因为沉积岩赋存的层状铜矿床自古元古代以来就已形成，并且它们都具有非常相似的矿石矿物学、母岩特征和盆地背景。我们认为这种差异是由于这两个盆地的发育接近约 8000 公里长的超级山脉带的底部。超级山脉带有助于提高地球大气中的氧气含量，并为流体流动系统提供大量地下水源和强大而持久的驱动力。升高的氧含量促进了成岩过程，将含铜不稳定矿物转化为无定形氧化铁和蒙脱石，然后转化为赤铁矿和伊利石。当氧化盐水冲过盆地序列时，释放的铜被输送到含有富碳泥岩的单元，金属沉积下来。对于加丹干盆地，大约在 525 Ma 到 510 Ma 之间，外冈瓦南超级山带沿其边缘发育，解释了中非铜矿带盆地形成和矿化之间延迟了数亿年的原因。相比之下，中盘古超级山带的发育与二叠纪盆地准同时期，解释了 Kupferschiefer 盆地形成和矿化时间上的相似性。