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Trace element composition of quartz from porphyry systems: a tracer of the mineralizing fluid evolution

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Abstract

Trace element composition of hydrothermal quartz reflects the P-T-X conditions of the mineralizing fluids and can be a potential tracer of the fluid evolution. To explore this potential, quartz trace element data from 21 porphyry Cu-(Au-Mo) and epithermal polymetallic deposits were compiled. In addition, quartz trace element data from six granite-related systems (granite, pegmatite, greisen, Sn-W-Mo veins) and from a subset of calc-alkaline arc-related volcanic rocks were also compiled for comparison. For porphyry Cu-(Au-Mo) deposits, quartz compositions are from publications in which the sequence of quartz-bearing veins and their potential reopening were documented as well as their precipitation temperatures and pressures. The compiled dataset shows that trace element composition of quartz continuously evolved between the different porphyry veins and quartz generations (A, B, C, D, and E). The observed evolution reflects the cooling and/or compositional variations of the hydrothermal fluids. The quartz Al/Ti, Sb/Ti, Ge/Ti, and (Sb+Ge)/Ti ratios allow for the discrimination of quartz from different vein generations of porphyry Cu-(Au-Mo) deposits. This study shows that quartz composition preferentially combined with cathodoluminescence images is an efficient proxy for tracing the evolution of the hydrothermal fluids in porphyry systems and can be used as a vectoring tool to target the centers of porphyry systems.

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Acknowledgments

A part of the compiled data is from the PhD theses of the authors that were supervised by Lluís Fontboté and Kalin Kouzmanov. They are gratefully acknowledged for their support and stimulating discussions. We are grateful to Mike Baker, Jens Götze, associate editor Pete Hollings, and an anonymous reviewer for their constructive comments which significantly improved the manuscript.

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  1. Département de Géologie et Génie Géologique, Université Laval, Québec, Canada

    Bertrand Rottier

  2. Centre de recherche sur la géologie et l’ingénierie des ressources minérales (E4m), Québec, Canada

    Bertrand Rottier

  3. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Geneva, 1205, Geneva, Switzerland

    Vincent Casanova

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Correspondence to Bertrand Rottier.

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Rottier, B., Casanova, V. Trace element composition of quartz from porphyry systems: a tracer of the mineralizing fluid evolution. Miner Deposita 56, 843–862 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00126-020-01009-0

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