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At least 919 records · Page 51Linked to original sources
USGS1986

Palladium, platinum, and rhodium contents of rocks near the lower margin of the Stillwater complex, Montana

S Palladium, platinum, and rhodium concentrations are reported for rocks belonging to the Peridotite zone of the Ultramafic series and the Basal series of the late Archcan Stillwater Complex, a suite of Stillwater-associated sills and dikes, and the metamorphic rocks lying within the contact aureole of the complex. Mean values do not exceed 20 ppb for any rock unit and the tenth percentile rarely exceeds 200 ppb. The concentration of Pd is greater than Pt for most rock groups; both of these elements have higher concentrations than Rh.A large part of the variability in the data appears to be related to rock types containing different proportions of sulfide. It is also notable that sulfur does not correlate with the platinum-group element concentrations for many lithologies, and when it does, it commonly is not a useful predictor of platinum-group element content. Further, calculated values of R, the mass ratio of silicate liquid which has equilibrated with sulfide liquid, are low (1 to 320). Analysis of this information suggests that the immiscible sulfide liquids, from which the sulfides formed, did not completely equilibrate with the silicate liquids with respect to their platinum-group element contents and that the silicate liquids were characterized by different concentrations and ratios of platinum-group elements.

Economic Geology↗
USGS1986

Platinum-group element geochemistry of zoned ultramafic intrusive suites, Klamath Mountains, California and Oregon

Three postorogenic Alaskan-type ultramafic to mafic intrusive suites in the Klamath Mountains, ranging in age from 142 to 163 m.y. and intruding metavolcanic, metasedimentary, or ophiolitic cumulate ultramafie to gabbroic rocks, were examined for their platinum-group element content. The Lower Coon Mountain pluton consists of layered clinopyroxene-rich lithologies occurring in chronological sequence whereas the intrusive suite at Tincup Peak consists of a cogenetic sequence of wehrlite, clinopyroxenite, magnetite clinopyroxenite, feldspathic hornblende-magnetite clinopyroxenite, dunite-olivine clinopyroxenite, and hornblende gabbro. The ultramarie-mafic intrusive suite at Chanchelulla Peak, part of the Wildwood pluton, consists predominantly of clinopyroxenite, minor interlayered dunite, and wehrlite with minor hypabyssal gabbroic rocks. Clinopyroxene compositions in the three intrusive suites are calcium rich and range from Wo (sub 54.7) -En (sub 45.1) -Fs 19 to Wo (sub 44.9) -En (sub 43.8) -Fs (sub 11.3) and resemble clinopyroxene with alkalic affinities. Olivine ranges from Fo 72 to Fo 83 and plagioclase from An 68 to An 96 . Cyclic units of layered cumulus magnetite + spinel (+ or -ilmenite) and coarse interstitial magnetite occur at Tincup Peak and Lower Coon Mountain. All three intrusive suites contain disseminated pyrrhotite + chalcopyrite + or - pentlandite, but the Chanchelulla Peak intrusive body also contains lenticular zones of disseminated to interstitial sulfides near its contact with sulfide-bearing horn-felsic rocks. Characteristics of rocks from these three Klamath Mountains Alaskan-type intrusive suites are (1) Rh contents of near or less than 1 ppb, (2) Ir and Ru contents less than 100 and 20 ppb, (3) variable Pd contents between rock units within intrusive suites and among suites, and (4) relatively similar Pt contents within intrusive suites and among suites. Concentrations of Pd average 6.3 ppb at Lower Coon Mountain, 13.7 ppb at Chanchelulla Peak, and 36.4 ppb at Tincup Peak. Cohen-corrected abundance data for individual rock units within each intrusive suite yield a Pt/(Pt + Pd) ratio that is greater in olivine-rich rocks than in clinopy-roxenite than in gabbro suggesting chemical fractionation of Pd within intrusive suites.

Economic Geology↗
USGS1986

Stratigraphic setting and mineralogy of the Arctic volcanogenic massive sulfide prospect, Ambler district, Alaska

The Arctic prospect, south central Brooks Range, is among the 30 largest of 508 volcanic-hosted massive sulphide deposits in the world. The massive sulphide lenses are interlayered with graphitic schist between metamorphosed rhyolite porphyries in Middle Devonian to early Mississippian metamorphosed volcanic, volcaniclastic and sedimentary rocks. Hydrothermal alteration is of three types: chloritic, phyllic s.l., and pyrite-phengite, each type strata-distinctively and respectively below, in, and above the sulphides. Maximum alteration conforms with metal zoning in the sulfides to suggest predominantly northwestward dispersal from a linear vent area in the elongate basin containing the deposit.-G.J.N.

Economic Geology↗
USGS1986

Genesis of the Spar Lake strata-bound copper-silver deposit, Montana: Part I. Controls inherited from sedimentation and preore diagenesis

Mineable zones of the Spar Lake deposit occur where argentiferous copper sulfides and native silver formed cements and replaced certain earlier cements and clasts in the gently dipping middle quartzite beds of the upper member of the Revett Formation, middle Proterozoic Belt Supergroup. The copper sulfides and native silver are part of a large, zoned system of authigenic ore and gangue minerals at Spar Lake. Mineral zone boundaries of ore and gangue phases cross all five stratigraphic units of the upper member.Deduced depositional environments for the host sedimentary rocks include beach and near-shore slope environments for the lower quartzite beds and subtidal(?) channels for the middle quartzite beds. The deposit must be epigenetic because mineral zone boundaries cross every facies in the sequence of beach and nearshore slope sediments.Mineral zonation has been mapped, and seven major associations, each named for its most abundant sulfide and/or most characteristic gangue cement, are recognized. Zones that appear to be developed on a regional scale include, in spatial order, pyrite-calcite, chalcopyrite-ankerite, and the lavender (hematitic) zone. Minor concentrations of base and precious metals occur along boundaries between the hematite and chalcopyrite-ankerite zones, and between the chalcopyrite-ankerite and pyrite-calcite zones; however, at the major concentrations of metals in the Revett Formation, including the Spar Lake deposit, additional mineral zones are developed between the chalcopyrite-ankerite and pyrite-calcite regional zones. Mineral zones at the deposit are, from northwest to southeast: pyrite-calcite, galena-calcite, chalcopyrite-calcite, bornite-calcite, chalcocite-chlorite, and chalcopyrite-ankerite. Gangue minerals, including carbonates, Fe-Ti oxides, chlorite, barite, authigenic feldspars, and apatite, are zonally distributed with boundaries parallel to the sulfide-mineral zone boundaries. Bornite-calcite and chalcocite-chlorite zones form ore grades in certain, but not all, quartzite intervals.As observed at unmetamorphosed deposits where sulfide-mineral zonation is similar, some pyrite-calcite-zone minerals were probably replaced by galena-calcite-zone minerals, which were probably succeeded, in sequence, by minerals of the chalcopyrite-calcite, bornite-calcite, and chalcocite-chlorite zones. This inferred paragenesis suggests that the chalcocite-chlorite zone is more proximal to the source of ore solutions than the galena-calcite or pyrite-calcite zones. The subeconomic chalcopyrite-ankerite zone, found farthest to the southeast at the Spar Lake deposit, was apparently even more proximal to the source than ore. Ore deposition took place during diagenesis from solutions that migrated upward and laterally through the sediments from a southeasterly source.The distributions of mineral zones and ore grades were controlled by two factors, one inherited from sedimentation and the other from preore diagenesis. All mineral zones spread out within coarser grained portions of quartzite units, suggesting that lateral migration of ore solutions was controlled by primary permeability of the sediments. However, high grades of copper and silver are found only in certain of the coarser grained beds. The distributions of higher grades suggest that ore mineral abundances reflect the abundances of preore diagenetic phases which were involved in the ore precipitation reactions. Preore reactant phases were evidently more abundant in sandstones deposited in subtidal(?) channels (the ore-grade middle quartzite beds) than in sandstones deposited in beach and nearshore slope environments (the lower quartzite beds). The identity of the reactant phases and the processes that resulted in their concentration at the site of later ore deposition remain unknown, although a preore sulfide- and hydrocarbon-bearing pore fluid appears to be the best hypothesis as to the identity of the reactants.

Economic Geology↗
USGS1987

Source of lead and mineralizing brines for rossie-type Pb-Zn veins in the Frontenac axis area, New York ( USA).

Veins composed mainly of calcite and some galena, sphalerite, fluorite, and other minerals are widespread in the Frontenac axis area of New York and Ontario. In New York, the veins (Fig. 1) occur mainly west and northwest of Gouverneur (Brown, 1983). The veins, mined in the 1800s for lead, were first described by Emmons (1838). Smyth (1903) called these the "Rossie lead veins," a name now used locally for all veins of this type. Similar veins in southeastern Ontario were described by Uglow (1916) and Sangster (1970). The steeply dipping veins are aligned along extensional fractures in metamorphic rocks of the Grenville Complex and in Paleozoic sedimentary rocks, including the Potsdam Sandstone of Late Cambrian age, and limestones as young as Middle Ordovician. However, the age of emplacement of Rossie veins is unknown. The veins are mineralogically simple, consisting of calcite (~95%) with minor and approximately equal amounts of sphalerite and galena, and sparse fluorite, barite, celestite, and chalcopyrite (Brown, 1983). Paragenetically early minerals are crushed and granulated; later undeformed minerals fill open spaces (Fig. 2). Sandstone dikes that originated from either the overlying Potsdam Sandstone or stratigraphically higher arenaceous rocks cut into the Rossie veins and occupy all available space. Their unstratified nature suggests that sand was intruded under high hydraulic pressure during tectonic events that reopened the veins. Most veins are vertical and narrow (1-3 cm wide) and those that were mined are as much as 1.7 m wide. The veins trend mainly northwest-southeast but have a local east-west orientation. The fractures and veins show evidence of strike-slip faulting with a right-lateral offset due to late reactivation of north-east-trending faults that originally formed during the Proterozoic Grenville orogeny. Relatively rare inclined veins, termed gash veins (Brown, 1983), occur in proximity to some of the regional northeast-trending faults. These veins contain open spaces lined with large, undeformed crystals of calcite (~90%) and green fluorite (~5%). The minerals of the northeast-trending gash veins, which dip to the northwest, are believed to be paragenetically late results of the same mineralization and tectonic event that produced the Rossie veins. For example, the green fluorite in the gash veins is similar in color and occurrence to small fluorite crystals in vugs in the vertical Rossie veins. Associated with the fluorite in both occurrences is coarse crystalline calcite containing tiny tetrahedra of chalcopyrite aligned along crystallographic planes. The present study of fluid inclusions and lead isotopes was done to understand better the nature and possible source of the mineralizing solutions for both vertical and gash veins and the possible origin of the lead and zinc mineralization. Large deposits of essentially syngenetic sphalerite with minor to trace galena occur in the Proterozoic rocks of this region (e.g., Balmat-Edwards, New York). Although none of these deposits are known in the immediate vicinity of Rossie veins, the possibility that Rossie veins contain remobilized metals from these older deposits was considered.

New York↗
USGS1987

Sulfur and lead isotope studies of stratiform Zn-Pb-Ag deposits, Anvil Range, Yukon: Basinal brine exhalation and anoxic bottom-water mixing (Canada)

Five stratiform Zn-Pb-Ag deposits are known in Early Cambrian metapelitic rocks along a curvilinear trend in the Anvil Range, central Yukon. The Anvil Range deposits occur along the southwestern boundary of the Selwyn basin in the stratigraphic transition zone between metapelites of the Mt. Mye unit and calcareous phyllites of the overlying Vangorda unit. The massive sulfides are associated closely with anomalously thick graphitic phyllites, apparently related to a second-order basin. A typical Anvil cycle of mineralization begins with a ribbon-banded graphitic-quartzitic-pyritic unit. This grades upward into sulfide-bearing quartzite, quartzitic massive sulfide, massive sulfide, and finally a baritic massive sulfide horizon. Sericitic alteration envelopes irregularly encompass each deposit and locally are developed best in footwall rocks. Detailed sulfur isotope studies have been carried out on the DY and Grum deposits and on one representative drill hole from the Faro deposit. The delta 34 S values of sulfide minerals generally range from 10 to 22 per mil and are similar in all three deposits. The delta 34 S values of pyrite in unmineralized samples from the district exhibit a wider range, from 6 to 34 per mil, and show distinct upward stratigraphic increase due to a stagnation cycle in the basin. The delta 34 S values of barite samples are strongly dependent on bottom-water conditions and mode of mixing during brine exhalation. They range from 22 to 26 per mil in the Faro deposit to 36 to 42 per mil in the DY deposit. These variations are due to mixing of isotopically light sulfate (18-20ppm) in Ba-bearing ore fluid and isotopically heavy residual sulfate (30-60ppm) in anoxic seawater. Thirty-eight samples of galena from the DY, Grum, Faro, SB, and Swim deposits have been analyzed for lead isotope ratios. In general, the lead isotope ratio data indicate an upper crustal lead source, with the Proterozoic Grit unit which is inferred to underlie the district being the most likely source rock. A small component of mantle leads from mafic igneous rocks or due to source rock inhomogeneity is also indicated. Graphitic host lithologies, lack of stratiform iron oxides, delta 34 S values of sedimentary pyrite, and sulfide sulfur-organic carbon variations in unmineralized cores indicate formation of the Anvil deposits in strongly reduced bottom water related to a previously unknown Early Cambrian anoxic event.

Economic Geology↗
USGS1988

Integrating spatial and frequency information in the search for kuroko deposits of the Hokuroku District, Japan

A new method (FINDER) that uses the area of influence and Bayesian statistics to aid in selection of target areas on the basis of one or more variables and multiple observations was tested with drill hole data. A previously defined bimodal distribution of Na 2 O with the low sodium group confined to a 1.5 X 3.0-km zone beneath the cluster of deposits at Fukazawa was used as a control area for one test of FINDER. Using the Na 2 O means and standard deviations for the control area and minimum Na 2 O values from 174 drill holes, a probability map of centers of sodium depletion is produced for the Hokuroku district. High probability areas correspond to the known deposits that should have been rediscovered and to several areas without known deposits.Use of X-ray data from 165 drill holes, some of which also have chemical analyses, led to the identification of two additional variables, sericite and gypsum plus anhydrite, that allow more drill holes to be used and that expand the areas of influence around drill holes. Sericite is enriched up to 2.15 km and gypsum plus anhydrite up to 3.5 km from the centroid of the control area Fukazawa deposits. For the deposit groups with X-ray data nearby, Fukazawa, Shakanai, and Furutobe, a pattern of sericite enrichment, kuroko deposits, and gypsum plus anhydrite enrichment over 4 or 5 km is shown.With sodium, sericite, and gypsum plus anhydrite, FINDER's high probability areas include each of the four groups of kuroko deposits that should have been rediscovered and only one known deposit that is much smaller than Fukazawa is missed. Several large areas that are favorable centers of undiscovered deposits and other areas that are unlikely centers of deposits are also identified.

Hokuroku District↗
USGS1988

Cyclic development of igneous features and their relationship to high-temperature hydrothermal features in the Henderson porphyry molybdenum deposit, Colorado

The Henderson porphyry molybdenum deposit was formed by the superposition of coupled alteration and mineralization events, of varying intensity and size, that were associated with each of at least 11 intrusions. Deposition of molybdenite was accompanied by time-equivalent silicic and potassic alteration. High-temperature alteration and mineralization are spatially and temporally linked to the crystallization of compositionally zoned magma in the apex of stocks. Differences in hydrothermal features associated with each intrusion (e.g., mass of ore, orientation and type of veins, density of veins, and intensity of alteration) correlate with differences in primary igneous features (e.g., composition, texture, morphology, and size). The systematic relations between hydrothermal and magmatic features suggest that primary magma compositions, including volatile contents, largely control the geometry, volume, level of emplacement, and mechanisms of crystallization of stocks. These elements in turn govern the orientations and densities of fractures, which ultimately determine the distribution patterns of hydrothermal alteration and mineralization.Based on primary igneous features, intrusions are grouped into four types, 1 to 4. The first three types define a potassic series of compositions (normarive orthoclase/albite greater than 1) and form a continuum from texturally and compositionally simple intrusions (type 1) to complex intrusions (type 3). Intensity and volume of high-temperature alteration and mineralization associated with a given stock increase from type 1 (2% of total ore) to type 3 (77% of total ore). Complex and strongly mineralizing intrusions (type 3) are separated from one another in time by relatively simple and weakly mineralizing intrusions (type 1). Stocks of type 4, the youngest intrusions, define a sodic series of compositions (normative orthoclase/albite less than 1) and are associated with the waning stages of mineralization.A number of textural features indicate that highly mineralizing type 3 stocks contained high primary concentrations of volatile components, e.g., the presence of unidirectional solidification textures, aplitic rather than aphanitic groundmass, extreme local textural variability, low percentages of phenocrysts in apices, brecciation of apices, and low volumes of dikes. From apex to root zone, textural units within the Seriate stock (type 3), the most productive stock in the deposit, include: (1) a Brain Rock unit with abundant quartz + or - fluorite crenulate layers, (2) a Border unit of generally low but variable phenocryst content (0-25%), (3) a transition zone, 5 to 10 m wide, of unidirectional solidification textures, (4) an Intermediate unit of moderate phenocryst content (25%), (5) another transition zone, 5 to 10 m wide, of unidirectional solidification textures, (6) a Porphyry unit of high phenocryst contents (40%), and (7) a Granite Porphyry or Granite unit. Crystals in layers of unidirectional textures always project toward the interior of the stock and indicate progressive inward solidification of magma along the walls of a chamber. Variations in texture are accompanied by variations in primary composition: the apex of the Seriate stock (the region above the deepest transition zone of unidirectional textures) is enriched in K 2 O and SiO 2 and depleted in Na 2 O, F, Nb, and Y relative to deeper units.Mineralization in the deposit is controlled by moderately outward-dipping concentric veins of both replacement and open-space origin, and by steeply dipping radial veins of replacement origin. Both sets of veins were formed nearly simultaneously about a stock and are focused in a systematic manner on the apex. A classic stockwork of veins occurs only in regions where vein sets associated with spatially separated intrusions overlap. Fluids that filled outward-dipping concentric structures flowed downward and outward from a stock. Fluid pressures in excess of lithostatic pressures, generated during crystallization of magma, were required to open and fill concentric structures. As magma solidified progressively inward, the zone of fluid evolution also migrated downward and inward. With time, the volume of evolved fluids decreased: vein densities decrease from greater than 200/m in the Seriate Brain Rock unit to less than 0.1/m immediately below the last transition zone separating the Seriate Intermediate unit from Seriate Porphyry unit. Crosscutting relations between veins and high-level dikes associated with the Seriate stock establish that most of the ore related to the Seriate stock was deposited prior to solidification of its deepest transition zone of unidirectional solidification textures.The absence of high-temperature veins and associated hydrothermal alteration in deep cores of stocks, the distribution of ore about the high levels of stocks, the orientation of veins about the apex of stocks, and the crosscutting relations between veins and dikes of the same stock are suggestive of initially high concentrations of molybdenum and volatiles in the apex of a stock immediately prior to the onset of significant crystallization. Additional accumulation of ore components, if any, ceased after solidification of the apex. Assignment of molybdenum in the ore shell about the Seriate stock to the volume of solid occupied by the apex of the Seriate stock yields concentration levels in the apical magma of approximately 13,000 ppm Mo.

Economic Geology↗
USGS1988

An oxygen isotope and geochemical study of meteoric-hydrothermal systems at Pilot Mountain and selected other localities, Carolina slate belt

Several epigenetic mineral deposits in the Ca1rolina slate belt are intimately related to meteoric-hydrothermal systems of late Precambrian and early Paleozoic age. At Pilot Mountain, low 18 O rocks correlate well with zones of strong silicic alteration and alkali leaching accompanied by high alumina minerals (sericite, pyrophyllite, andalusite + or - topaz) and anomalous concentrations of Cu, Mo, Sn, B, and Au. The alteration occurs within andesitic volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks and is associated with a subvolcanic(?) dacite porphyry stock on the southeastern slope of the mountain. Tilting and erosion have exposed an oblique section through the original system, interpreted to expose shallower rocks to the northwest. A 4-km 2 central zone of slight 18 O depletion (delta 18 O (sub whole rock) = 4.3-6.1ppm) occurs on the broad and resistant (silicifled) western flank of Pilot Mountain, predominantly within quartz-sericite schist and quartz granofels containing pods of high A1 minerals. A magmatic source for much of the sulfur and metal is likely, and a subordinate magmatic water component in the fluid of the central zone is possible. This central zone is surrounded by a >30-km 2 peripheral zone of low 18 O sericite schists, chlorite-sericite schists, and andesitic volcanic rocks (delta 18 O (sub whole rock) < 3.8ppm), with the lowest values (1.4ppm) occurring in intensely sericitized rocks on the eastern flank of Pilot Mountain, near the apex of the dacite porphyry stock. Rhyolites of the Uwharrie Formation (delta 18 O = 3.8-6.3ppm) are not as strongly altered as nearby andesites and may postdate the hydrothermal alteration. The fluid calculated to be in equilibrium with the lowest 18 O quartz veins and country rocks at 300 degrees + or - 50 degrees C would have delta 18 O approximately -4.5 + or - 2.0 per mil, whereas analyses of radiating pyrophyllite indicate equilibrium with a fluid having delta D approximately -30 per mil, consistent with a slightly 18 O-shifted, low-latitude meteoric water. Subsequent greenschist metamorphism caused intermineral isotopic reequilibration in several samples and may have modified preexisting alteration assemblages, but it did not destroy the large delta 18 O anomaly produced by meteoric-hydrothermal activity at Pilot Mountain. Reconnaissance studies of other alteration zones in the Carolina slate belt have so far disclosed the involvement of meteoric-hydrothermal fluids at the Snow Camp pyrophyllite deposit, at the Hoover Hill and Sawyer Au mines, and probably at the Haile and Brewer Au mines.

Economic Geology↗
USGS1988

Mineral and whole-rock compositions of seawater-dominated hydrothermal alteration at the Arctic volcanogenic massive sulfide prospect, Alaska

The Arctic volcanogenic massive sulfide prospect, located in the Ambler mineral district of northwestern Alaska, includes three types of hydrothermally altered rocks overlying, underlying, and interlayered with semimassive sulfide mineralization. Hydrothermal alteration of wall rocks and deposition of sulfide and gangue minerals were contemporaneous with Late Devonian or Early Mississippian basalt-rhyolite volcanism. Whole-rock analyses of altered rocks surrounding the prospect indicate that strong chemical gradients exist in major and minor oxides and volatiles. These were not homogenized or overprinted by Late Jurassic (?) to Middle Cretaceous greenschist to glaucophane-schist facies metamorphism. Very low alkali contents and moderate to very high contents of Ba, F, and Mg are the major chemical characteristics of the pervasively altered rocks. The strong Mg metasomatism, high Ba contents, and limited extent of altered rocks suggest a rapid influx of relatively cold seawater into a hot hydrothermal vent system. Alteration developed asymmetrically around a linear fissure, suggesting fracture control of ore fluids rather than a point source. Micro-probe analyses of phyllosilicates from the Arctic area indicate two discrete mineral populations. Magnesian chlorite, barian white mica, and barian fiuorphlogopite in hydrothermally altered rocks have compositions distinct from similar minerals (chlorite, phengite, biotite) developed during high-pressure metamorphism in metapelitic and metavolcanic lithologies. These differences in mineral chemistry are the result of differences in protolith composition caused by hydrothermal alteration-metasomatism. Without mineral composition data, the contacts between some alteration assemblages and relatively unaltered metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks with similar mineralogy cannot be determined.

Economic Geology↗
USGS1988

Stable isotope geochemistry of sphalerite and other mineral matter in coal beds of the Illinois and Forest City basins

Cleat and clastic dikes of Middle Pennsylvanian-age coal beds of the Illinois and Forest City basins of Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, and Kansas locally contain appreciable amounts of sphalerite within a kaolinite-pyrite-sphalerite (+ or - pyrite)-calcite paragenetic sequence. The sphalerite and associated minerals are of interest as a partial record of the history of fluids in the sedimentary basin and as possible indicators of Mississippi Valley-type mineralization. Moreover, zinc from the sphalerite may represent an exploitable by-product of coal mining and combustion.Pyrite is abundant in these coals both as fine-grained disseminated framboids that formed during early diagenesis and as coarser grained cleat fillings, etc., that formed much later. The delta 34 S values of this later pyrite, the sphalerite, and the coal organic matter range from -12 to 19 per mil. Within individual samples, however, pyrite, sphalerite, and organic matter sulfur delta 34 S values are nearly identical. This similarity strongly suggests related origins. The delta 34 S values of pyrite, sphalerite, and organic matter from coals of the Illinois basin and the central and southern Forest City basin range from -12 to 0 per mil. This range is not unique to the sphalerite-bearing coals; pyrite and organic matter from sphalerite-free high sulfur coals have similar delta 34 S values (Price and Shieh, 1979). We believe that sulfur produced by the breakdown of organosulfur compounds in the coal is incorporated into the epigenetic sulfides. In the northern Forest City basin, however, many samples have delta 34 S values between 8 and 19 per mil. These are similar to the delta 34 S values of sphalerite and pyrite from the Upper Mississippi Valley Zn-Pb district which lies northeast of the Forest City basin and north of the Illinois basin. This similarity suggests input from a Mississippi Valley-type hydrothermal system.Cleat kaolinite has delta D values of -36 to -24 per mil and delta 18 O values of 19.2 to 20.2 per mil. Assuming that clearing postdated the lignite rank of coalification implies that kaolinite was deposited between 40 degrees and 100 degrees C. At the lower temperatures, the kaolinite fluid would have had an isotopic composition similar to seawater; at the higher temperatures, it would have had a composition similar to the sphalerite-depositing fluid. Sphalerite was deposited from a fluid that was chemically and isotopically similar to the fluids responsible for the main-stage ores of the Upper Mississippi Valley Zn-Pb district (75 degrees -113 degrees C, approximately 21 equiv wt % NaCl, delta D = -65 to -3ppm, and delta 18 O = -0.9-9.9ppm). The isotopic compositions (delta 13 C = -12.4 to -2.7ppm and delta 18 O = 21.1-25.8ppm) and paragenetic positions of the cleat calcite samples are similar to those of the late-stage calcite of the Upper Mississippi Valley Zn-Pb and Illinois-Kentucky fluorspar districts. Calcite inclusion fluids had delta D (sub H 2 O) values of -80 and -58 per mil, implying a meteoric water source. At probable temperatures of 15 degrees to 75 degrees C, this calcite formed from fluids having calculated delta 18 O (sub H 2 O) values of -9 to 1 per mil, implying slight to moderate exchange with sedimentary rocks. The diagenetic-epigenetic history of fluids recorded by the cleat minerals probably began with a slightly evolved seawater, followed by a metal-bearing deep basin brine, and concluded with a cooler, slightly evolved, meteoric-water fluid.

Economic Geology↗