Hydrothermal alteration and Cu-Ni-PGE mobilization in the charnockitic rocks of the footwall of the South Kawishiwi intrusion, Duluth Complex, USA

摘要

In the Neoarchean (similar to 2.7 Ga) contact metamorphosed charnockitic footwall of the Mesoproterosoic (1.1 Ga) South Kawishiwi intrusion of the Duluth Complex, the primary metamorphic mineral assemblage and Cu-Ni-PGE sulfide mineralization is overprinted by an actinolite + chlorite + cummingtonite + prehnite + pumpellyite + quartz + calcite hydrothermal mineral assemblage along 2-3 cm thick veins. In calcite, hosted by the hydrothermal alteration zones and in a single recrystallized quartz porphyroblast, four different fluid inclusion assemblages are documented; the composition of these fluid inclusions provide p-T conditions of the fluid flow, and helps to define the origin of the fluids and evaluate their role in the remobilization and reprecipitation of the primary metamorphic sulfide assemblage. Pure CO2 fluid inclusions were found as early inclusions in recrystallized quartz porphyroblast. These inclusions may have been trapped during the recrystallization of the quartz during the contact metamorphism of the footwall charnockite in the footwall of the SKI. The estimated trapping pressure (1.6-2.0 kbar) and temperature (810-920 degrees C) conditions correspond to estimates based on felsic veins in the basal zones of the South Kawishiwi intrusion.