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Economic Geology
Vol. 59, 1964, pp. 1551-1563

SPECIAL BRECCIAS ASSOCIATED WITH HYDROTHERl\1AL

DEVELOPMENTS IN THE ANDES 1

PAUL KENTS

ABSTRACT

To explain the mechanism involved in the formation of copper por-

phyries, a new concept is brought forward based on magmatic pulsations
providing the forces necessary to drive hydrothermal and mineralizing
solutions, and also to produce structures. This mechanism appears to be
applicable to all copper porphyries.
The basic type of breccia particular to hydrothermal developments is
rupture breccia, formed by hydraulic ramming of hydrothermal solutions
into overlying rocks. This breccia when heaved up or subsided by mag-
matic pulsations can be changed dependent on their direction, frequency,
and amplitude into subsidence, heave, kneaded or milled breccias. The
burst and late-magmatic breccias are also caused though more indirectly
by magmatic pulsations.

SPECIAL BRECCIAS

COPPER porphyries are normally associated with at least some degree of frac-
turing and self-brecciation, the causes of which have remained difficult to ex-
plain. The application of conventional tectonic, volcanic, mineralization stop-
ing, or other mechanisms have worked in some cases, but none has been
entirely satisfactory for the breccias as the whole. Such an unfortunate situ-
ation was noted by H. E. McKinstry (7) in his review of fifty years progress
in the knowledge of the structure of ore deposits:
"But so far no plausible mechanism has been proposed that seems to apply
satisfactorily to all deposits . . . meanwhile until some generally applicable
mechanism is established we may have to live with the rather unsatisfactory
compromise-conclusion that mineralizing solutions were not choosy about the
origin of the fractures that they utilized and that the causes of fracturing were
different in different districts."
Fracturing and self-brecciation obviously younger than the thermal con-
traction joints in rocks formed during their original cooling are not limited to
copper porphyries, but found also in a whole series of structures called hydro-
thermal developments (6). These have been formed by large scale en masse
penetration and percolation into the rocks of a wave or waves of hydrothermal
solutions. In the field, such structures are manifested by leached outcrops,
bleached outcrops, or altered zones. Besides copper porphyries and other
still unnamed structures, hydrothermal developments also include tourmaline
breccia-pipes.
1 Permission to publish granted by the U. N. Techn. Asst. Board, Santiago, Chile.
1551
1552 PAUL KENTS

I t has been long recognized that most manifestations of volcanic activity

occur at regular intervals, particularly the raising and sinking of the level ill
lava lakes, these due to their direct connection with magma chambers below,
indicate that magmatic pulsations must take place in their deepsea ted reser-
voir (5). Such pulsations can also cause alternating inflows and withdrawals

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FIG. 1. Index map.

 SPECIAL BRECCIAS 1553

of some amounts of magma in their interconnected batholiths. The swelling

phase of such pulsations if strong enuugh may heave up the enclosing rocks
abuve the hatholith, to subside again in the ebbing phase. Such vertical move-
ments can produce tectonic disturbances of local and relatively limited nature,
commonly present in the vicinities of batholithic intrusions.
Somehow, the concept of magmatic pulsations has not received the atten-
tion it might perhaps deserve, particularly in relation to ore-forming and associ-
ated processes. It is quite possible that hydrothermal solutions separated from
the cooling magma during the ebbing phase of magmatic pulsations; because
of their lesser density and viscosity they may gather on top of a batholith, and
form there a wet cap of volatiles. Such accumulated solutions will be at the
fore-front of the next magmatic onrush, to become rammed into the enclosing
rocks above the batholith, which they may then permeate and percolate along
original thermal contraction fractures. These solutions in order to provide
space for themsleves will force the fractures open, which once pried apart

FIG. 2. Rupture breccia, La Paloma.

somehow do not close as tight as before, thus giving them later on an appear-
ance as if the fracturing had become somewhat accentuated. The solutions by
wedging fractures open, divide or break up the enclosing rocks to fragments,
and envelope them. The solutions lodged in fractures have a lubricating effect,
so that when the rocks are heaved or subsided, they no longer respond as a
compact unit, but as the resultant of individual behaviors of its component
fragments. The fragments may shift, tumble, and become abraded, which re-
sults in the formation of different types of breccias.
Another factor often little considered, although an essential one to induce
self-brecciation, is the existence of a tight cap above the hydrothermal de-
velopment, to compel solutions to remain confined in the development, and to
spread there laterally. Remnants of such compact caps are the rhyolites above
the porphyry copper orebody at EI Salvador, and banded andesite cappings
above hydrothermal developments at Elquina, Arboleda, Alcaparrosa and
Palmilla, against which hydrothermal alteration ceases rather abruptly.
1554 PAUL KENTS

In most cases a tight cap above hydrothermal developments may also have
heen sufficiently competent to form a natural arch over the subsiding portion
at the time some of the magma is withdrawn from below. The formation of
such arches seem structurally feasihle enough over the relatively small areas
involved in most hydrothermal developments. This is amply demonstrated at
Cananea, Mexico, where V. D. Perry (8) has described the upward termina-
tion of breccia pipes by dome-like toppings beneath the roofs of un brecciated
rocks. Such a natural arch will support the load of overlying rocks, thus per-
mitting the hydrothermally affected rocks to subside by their own weight alone.
This subsidence results in the gradual detachment of rock fragments and
widening the spaces between loosened breccia fragments.
Rupture Breccia.-Also known as stockwork, shatter breccia, fracture
breccia, and crackle breccia. The rupture breccia is characterized by multi-
tudes of random criss-crossing cracks, which by intersecting and joining one
another divide the original rock into angular fragments (Fig. 2). The most
distinctive feature about rupture breccia is that its individual fragments have
not become detached, dislodged, slipped, shifted, or rotated among themselves.
The significant phenomenon has been fracturing, whereas brecciation is thus
but consequential. Individual cracks in rupture breccia begin at one fracture
and terminate at some other. Normally the cracks are more or less straight,
of different lengths and magnitude, in which respect there can be an order
amongst them: the first order fractures or fissures are longest and strongest,
their length traceable for meters; the second order fractures take off from
them, to the last order cracks which are the shortest and weakest, barely a
few centimeters long and extend only from one fracture to the next. Dead-end
cracks that start at one side of breccia fragment and end in the middle, do
occur, but seldom.
The fractures that have been affected by early hydrothermal solutions only,
may not always be discernible as such, because these solutions did not leave
any vestiges behind. On the other hand, later solutions generally leave some
alteration products in fractures, such as sericite or clay which make them
readily visible. More noticeable are the fractures that have been lined by
silica envelopes, whereas the best visible ones are those along which sulfides
have been deposited, which upon oxidation become stained red.
Generally there is no particular orientation among fractures, however, in
some cases certain trends may predominate, along which fractures occur more
commonly; or, there may be fewer fractures but stronger instead, like those at
Chuquicamata.
The spacing of fractures is more or less even throughout hydrothermal de-
velopment, indicating thus an even distribution of stresses that had caused
them; such an even distribution of stresses cannot be explained by any con-
ventional tectonic, volcanic or mineralization stoping means, rather, it appears
to have been formed by a combined action of hydrothermal solutions and
magmatic pulsations. Hydrothermal solutions when rammed under high pres-
sure into enclosing rocks, pry existing fractures open and form new ones by
wedging action. The stresses that cause fracturing are the pressures exerted
by advancing magma from below, transmitted to the site of fracturing by hy-
 SPECIAL RRECCIAS 1555

drothermal solutions themselves. The principle involved is that of a hydraulic

press, and the process itself comparable to a technique applied in oil-fields to
shatter tight producing horizons.
The spacing of fractures, which also determines the size of individual
fragments in rupture breccia, appears to have been dependent at least to some
extent on the character of hydrothermal solutions involved. In early stages
of hydrothermal development the solutions were more pervasive hence able

FIG. 3. Bottoming of rupture breccia at Mocha. The two vertical feeder frac-
tures in lower half spread into multitudes of small fractures in upper half; the two
feeder fractures are 2.8 m. apart.

to penetrate the enclosing rocks along their thermal contraction joints without
much damage to them. In later stages, however, as solutions became more
siliceous they also seem to become more viscous, which requires greater pres-
sure to force them into the enclosing rocks. This is manifested by more in-
tense fracturing normally associated with sericitic and silica stages of hydro-
thermal alteration. Fracturing is particularly intense in zones where intro-
duced silica predominates, diminishing rather rapidly away from such silicified
bodies. Subsequently the silicified fractures were sealed tight so that later on
1556 PAUL KENTS

weathering does not reopen them. Such silicified fractures exercise little con-
trol on how the hreccia breaks. On the other hand argillized fractures yield
and the breccia tends to hreak amI crumble easily along the111.
Another factor affecting the fracturing of rupture hreccia is the nature of
host rocks: those which have heen argillizecl are more compact and tougher to
resist brecciation; whereas those which have been only chloritized or sericitized
are more accommodating. The effectiveness of such difference is well con-
spicuous at Mocha, where at several places, but particularly on the walls of
Paraicoyo canyon, actual bottoming of rupture breccia is exposed. The lower
two-thirds of the canyon walls are compact, smooth, and composed of a mineral
aggregate of secondary quartz, sericite, and montmorillonite. This is in
marked contrast with the slightly overhanging upper portions of the canyon
walls, which are rough and represent a chloritized and silicified alteration zone.
The compact lower portion is penetrated by a few vertical feeder fractures
which upon reaching the upper overhanging portion of the canyon walls, have
spread out there into a tight maze of fractures-a typical rupture breccia
(Fig. 3). Fractures in the upper zone have been lined with silica envelopes,
which is causing their increased hardness, hence also their overhang, whereas
in the montmorillonized zone below, silica envelopes are absent. The bottom-
ing of rupture breccia in Paraicoyo canyon-a very unusual phenomenon to be
seen exposed, is accomplished within less than half a meter. It lies in a hori-
zontal position, and as similar bottoming is also encountered a kilometer to the
southwest and approximately at same elevation, would indicate that the well-
defined bottoming of rupture breccia is fairly flat over most part of the hydro-
thermal development at Mocha.
Subsidence Breccia may be either a rupture breccia or any other hydro-
thermally affected rock in which some detachment of fragments has taken
place. This is indicated by the loosening of rock mass along its original joint-
ing; or as in rupture breccia, by opening and widening some of its fractures
(Fig. 4). Voids were formed into which have become lodged smaller loose
fragments detached from nearby. Subsequently the voids may be filled with
sulfides, oxides, or quartz and tourmaline.
To some extent the loosening and fragmentation of subsidence breccia may
be assisted by hydrothermal solutions lodged in fractures, which by en-
veloping individual fragments effectively separate them, thus requiring but
little effort to detach them. On the other hand, the solutions in fractures un-
der high pressures may pry the fragments loose and detach them, when the
pressures from below are easing. Aside from minor crushing, no significant
milling takes place, and the dislodged breccia fragments retain their original
angularity.
The most distinctive and significant feature about subsidence breccia is the
formation of voids among dislodged fragments, and their remaining open at
depths of some 4 km. This could be explained by the sinking of hydrother-
mallly affected rocks, in response to the withdrawing of some magma from the
batholith below. The subsidence of that nature appears to be limited to the
hydrothermally affected portions only, whereby the overlying unaffected rocks
retain their original firmness to form a natural arch over the subsiding portion,
 1.1.17

which holds back the weight of the overlying rocks. The loosening, detaching
alld subsiding of rl1pt urc hreccia is chiefly hy ;lct iOll ()i gra \ity, anel as it re-
l11ains unaffected hy the \\"('ight ()i (J\Trlying rucks. the \()icis het \H'CI1 dislodged
breccia fragments call rel11ain opell.
The character of suhsidence breccia is heterogel1olls; it can cover the whole
range of particle sizes. In respect to dislocation, it may extend from relatively
undisturhed rupture breccia to a chaotic array. The hreccia may be com-
posed of large blocks measured in meters, with inten-ening fragments only a

FIG. 4. (Left) Subsidence breccia, :Manto Verde. Voids between detached

fragments filled by hemati te and suI fides (seen dark on photo).
FIG.S. (Right) Heave breccia at Copaquire; note a conjunction of several11lilli-
faults.

few centimeters in size; or, it may be a chaotic aggregate of particles of about

equal size, obviously derived hy detaching a rupture breccia_ In a way, the
process of forming a suhsidence breccia is comparable to the well-known block
ca ving method in mining.
A good example of subsidence breccia at its beginning state is l\1anto
Verde; a 1110re ad\-anceel anel deranged variety is present at To(}uepala. Perno
where it is known as "ore hreccia_" Elsewhere, a well-known subsidence
breccia is described by V. D. Perry (8 ) at Cananea, l\1exico.
1558 PAUL KENTS

H eave Breccia is an agglomeration of large hlocks and slahs up to several

meters in size, which have heen shifted among themselves. Consequently, the
most characteristic features of heave hreccia in soft rocks are multitudes of
mini-faults, small shears, and slip planes, whereas in silicified and other harder
rocks slickensiding predominates. These minor structures are of relatively
limited length, and appear to have been formed by a magmatic push of moder-
ate strength from below, assisted to some extent by hydrothermal solutions;
that is, solutions in fractures lubricated them so that when rocks are heaved
up they break and yield along fractures that turn into mini-faults, shears and
slip planes. Individual blocks shift in different directions and amounts, result-

FIG. 6. Kneaded breccia at Pedernales.

FIG. 7. Burst and boil breccia; tourmaline breccia, Cabeza de Vaca.

ing in breccia-like structures for which no appropriate name has yet been
proposed. A heave breccia, when composed of blocks of rupture breccia,
possesses a peculiar aspect of a breccia having been brecciated.
During the course of heaving and shifting, some of the blocks became
caught between others, and were shattered to kneaded breccia resulting in iso-
lated pockets of intensely fragmented rocks lodged in less fractured surround-
ings. The size of such crushed fragments ranges from 5 to 20 cm, and there
is a notable lack of any finer debris. This paucity of finer fragments might
have been caused by hydrothermal solutions that permeated the host rock and
lubricated its fractures, thus cushioning the dislocated fragments and pre-
venting their further abrasion.
 SPECIAL BRECCIAS 1559

Good examples of heave breccia are at Los Pelambres, Copaquire (Fig. 5),
and Las Pintadas, whereas slickensiding has developed at Inca de Oro. Else-
where, the innumerable minor shears penetrating the orebody at Climax, Colo-
rado, may have been caused by upheaving.
Kneaded Breccia is a disorderly array of detached subangular fragments
ranging in size up to cobbles or small boulders, and mingled with finer angular
debris (Fig. 6). The presence of finer debris and the absence of voids in this
breccia distinguishes it from the tumbled variety of subsidence breccia.
Kneaded breccia forms well defined pipe-like structures up to 100 m in
diameter. The breccia fragments in these pipes are the same as the wall rock,
no introduction of breccia particles seems to have taken place. Individual
fragments in such pipes have not moved far from their places of origin.
The kneaded breccia may be considered as a somewhat advanced stage
in the development of rupture breccia, described above, caused by magmatic
pulsations in the batholith below. Such pulsations may not have been of
large magnitude, but instead were focused into parts of the rupture breccia,
and developed into a breccia pipe. In physical appearance there is a marked
contrast between the mobile and the stationary portions; the boundary between
them is well defined. The alternate heaving and sinking of the breccia in the
pipe breaks it up and kneads it.
As described under heave breccias, a somewhat different variety of kneaded
breccia is formed by crushing of heave breccia, but this type is confined to
isolated small pockets and does not form pipes.
A normal type of kneaded breccia is present at Quetena, also at Cerro
Violeta; whereas isolated pockets of crushed breccia are present at Copaquire,
Pedernales, and El Sauce. Elsewhere, a kneaded breccia has been diagram-
matically presented by Johnston and Lowell (4) at Copper Basin, Arizona.
Milled Breccia has the appearance of a conglomerate composed of rounded
pebbles embedded in a matrix of finer rock-meal. It has been lucidly described
by Howell and Molloy (3) at El Teniente copper porphyry, where its appear-
ance is similar to freshly broken concrete. Milled breccia could form when
kneaded breccia is subjected to further oscillatory up-and-down motion, which
would round out the fragments. A similar effect could be achieved if the
natural arch above subsidence or kneaded breccia collapsed and subjected the
loosened breccia to the full weight of overlying rocks. This would result in
crushing and abrading the individual fragments, eliminate voids and give a
tighter packing to the breccia. Such a mechanism appears to have been in-
volved at Toquepala, Peru, where the resulting breccia (the "pebble-breccia")
is composed of rounded pebbles only a few centimeters in size, embedded in
a matrix of finely shredded sericite and alunite. Elsewhere, pipes of milled
hreccia have been described by Gates (2) at Shoshone Range, Nevada.
Late-magntatic Breccia may form when any of the above mentioned brec-
cias is subjected to some modest degree of igneous intrusive activity. N or-
mally. the late-magmatic breccia is composed of fragments of hydrothermally
altered rocks set in or cemented hy quartz-aphanite paste. Hydrothermal
developments in the Andes are commonly associated with quartz-aphanite in-
trusions in the form of dikes or small stocks of light colored jaspery rock COl1l-
1560 PAUL KENTS

posed of aphanitic quartz and feldspars. Quartz-aphanite may be similar to

late hydrothermal silica, hence if no definite igneous criteria are present, a
distinction may not always be possible between igneous quartz-aphanite and
hydrothermal jaspery silica. Quartz-aphanites represent silicious late mag-
matic liquor strained out from the slowly cooling batholith after the exhaustion
of its supply of hydrothermal solutions. A small quartz-aphanite stock at
Cerro Violeta has fine flow banding that molds itself around earlier consoli-
dated portions, thus indicating that the aphanite at the time of intrusion was
already in a viscous or semisolid state. Fifteen kilometers eastward is Cerro
Colorado, the core of whose solitary bell-shaped hill is a breccia composed of
angular to subangular fragments of quartz-sericite rock set in an aphanitic
matrix of gray quartz. The igneous origin of this aphanite is indicated by a
few vitreous smoky quartz phenocrysts, similar to those present in quartz
porphyries. Structurally the breccia is an intrusive plug that pierces a pre-
existing quartz-sericite alteration zone. The hydrothermally altered rock was
dislodged and pushed aside by the intrusive, and cemented by siliceous fluids,
forming the breccia.
At Toquepala, Peru late-magmatic fluids appear to have penetrated into
some portions of milled breccia, cemented them and formed what is known
there as "dacite agglomerate."
Burst Breccia is normally composed of angular fragments packed so loosely
that they barely touch one another, or they may appear to be suspended in a
matrix of finely granular quartz and tourmaline (Fig. 7). This breccia is
confined to well-defined carrot-shaped pipe-like structures, commonly known as
tourmaline breccia-pipes. Except the extraordinarily large pipe at Disputada
such pipes are generally of modest size, their boundaries are sharp, and the
breccia fragments apparently were brought up from below. No indigenous
igneous rocks are present, hence these pipes do not reach an igneous source.
Tourmaline breccia pipes are commonly present in the vicinities of hydro-
thermal developments. They are particularly numerous in the Cabeza de
Vaca area where about one hundred pipes are located within an area of about
two square kilometers. Another swarm of about twenty pipes is located in
the Los Azules area. Many of these pipes are only 10 to 20 m in diameter:
but most of them are in the 30 to 50 m range; the largest is about 200 m in
diameter: A number of tourmaline breccia pipes are also present in the EI
Tigre area, in which the breccia fragments have been brought up from a quartz-
sericite alteration zone not outcropping in that area.
In many cases the wall rocks of tourmaline breccia pipes have not heen
hydrothermc1l1y altered, but some pipes are surrounded hy concentric altera-
tion halos of moderate width. Structurally, tourmaline hreccia pipes appear
to he associated with the uppermost portions of hydrothermal developments.
Thus, the pipes with alteration halos arol111d them lie inside the limits of hy-
drothermal development such as that at Agua del l\rfedio. whereas those without
alteration halos lie outside.
Burst hreccias apparently were formed hy jets or streams ()f hydrothermal
solutions that forged their way upward toward the surface. As they rose, they
encountered decreasing pressures, and eventually reached a critical stage at
 SPECIAL BRECCIAS 1561

which the super-heated aqueous solutions turned into steam, which then blew
off the rocks above it with explosive violence. On the surface this became
expressed by steam-blast eruption such as Krakatau, Mt. Pelee, or Saku-
rajima. The sudden release of pressure caused the vent to narrow downward
to .depths where pressure equilibrium was reestablished, but in no case has
reached deep enough to tap directly its magmatic source. A rapid flaring of
the tourmaline breccia pipe at Rio Blanco copper porphyry is well shown.
Through the vent thus formed, hydrothermal solutions made their escape.
Beyond the initial blast, the shaping of vent walls was accomplished by
bursting and spalling, that is, hydrothermal solutions rammed earlier from the
conduit laterally into the walls and expanded there when the steam blast had
reduced the pressure in the conduit. This expansion and bursting was di-
rected towards the axis of the vent. The size of spalled fragments do not vary
greatly, rather they lie within that of the normal range of rupture breccia with
no large blocks. The fragments torn off from the walls were not blown out but
were boiled up by hydrothermal solutions. As they were suspended in
ascending solutions they had little opportunity to be abraded and mostly
preserved their original angularity. After the supply of boiling water was
exhausted, the loose rock fragments settled down into the vent and formed a
breccia. To a certain extent, the narrowness of the vent must have con-
tributed to the loose packing of fragments in the pipe.
In its upper portions where the vent is wider, the breccia fragments are
more closely packed; there is also considerably more fine debris present among
the coarser components, and the breccia may contain fragments derived from
elsewhere than the walls, that is, from above as well from below.

SUMMARY

This paper is an attempt to organize and present field data on different

types of breccias as observed by this writer in about one hundred hydrothermal
developments in the Andes. This study has disclosed an evident genetic re-
lationship among the different types of breccias, and their possible association
with magmatic pulsations caused by periodic advances and retreats of magma
in its deepseated reservoir. The involved pressures when transmitted to the
top of batholith could heave up the overlying rocks and cause structural
deformations.
Furthermore, besides hydrothermal developments, in many local struc-
tUres such as those commonly associated with mineral deposits, the application
of the conventional strain ellipsoid does not satisfactorily explain their origin.
Consequently, magmatic pulsations may have played an important role in the
formation of mineral deposits hy providing the forces necessary to cause struc-
tures, and to drive mineralizing solutions. In copper porphyries, this mech-
anism appears tu be universally applicable.
The basic type of ]Jreccia particular to hydrothermal develupments is
rupture breccia, and according 10 evidence availahle at Mocha (Fig. 3), its
origin could be explained only by hydraulic ramming caused by magmatic
pulsations providing the pressures necessary to ram hydrothermal solutions
1562 PAUL KENTS

into the overlying rocks. Furthermore, magmatic pulsations can heave up the
rocks or let them subside, and according to the direction, frequency and mag-
nitude of such oscillatory movements, the affected rupture breccias can be
changed to heave, subsidence, kneaded or milled breccias.
Rupture breccia forms large bodies that may measure hundreds of meters
in diameter. Such bodies do not have definite outlines, but instead grade into
surrounding unfractured rocks. This is to be expected because the strength of
hydraulic ramming is bound to decrease towards the fringes of hydrothermal
development, and the fracturing also diminishes. Like rupture breccia, its
less disturbed derivates, the subsidence and heave breccias, also form large
undefined bodies. Essentially, however, these are still rupture breccias that
have been affected by a single magmatic heave or retreat.
On the other hand, kneaded and milled breccias are confined to smaller
but well-defined pipe-like structures that may form when portions of rupture
breccia are subjected to oscillating up-and-down movements. Burst breccias
also form well-defined pipes, but these are apparently caused by spalling and
bursting. Late-magmatic breccias, dependent on their mode of piercing, may
also form breccia pipes. All these pipe-like structures have been referred to as
true breccia-pipes.
The magnitude of magmatic pulsations varies, and dependent on the
pervasiveness of rammed solutions and the tightness of impervious cap above
the hydrothermal development, the affected rocks may respond differently to
hydraulic ramming. In case the cap is tight, rupture breccia results; but,
without the cap, no additional fracturing may ensue other than some accentu-
ation of original thermal contraction joints, like those at Domeyko, Sierra
Overa; both hydrothermal developments although very large, show hardly any
brecciation.
It must he emphasized that magmatic pulsations and hydrothermal activity
are two distinct phenomena that can function independently of the other.
Consequently, self-brecciation is also possible by magmatic pulsations alone,
without being associated with any discernible hydrothermal activity. This
appears to be normal in the hypogene metallogenetic copper province associated
with the Antofagasta coastal batholith in northern Chile, where mineraliza-
tion is confined to small erratic breccia bodies. At the l\1antos Blancos open-
pit such self-brecciation is causing excessive amonnts of over-size breakage in
hlasting on the henches.
The type of breccia encountered most commonly in hydrothermal develop-
ments is rupture breccia. It generally occurs alone, rarely it grades into heave
or subsidence breccias, though mostly it is accompanied by pipes of other
hreccias (kneaded, milled, burst, late-magmatic). In the Andes, the hydro-
thermal development with the widest range of breccias is Toquepala porphyry
copper, "",here, in ascending order of tectonics involved, the following breccias
are present: rupture. suhsidence. milled. late-magmatic. and hurst.
SANTIAGO. CUILE,
May 25, 1964
Present address:
CANADIAN JAVELIN LTD.,
OTTAWA, CANADA
 SPECIAL BRECCIAS 1563

REFERENCES

1. Bryner, Leonid, 1961, Breccia and pebble columns associated with epigenetic ore deposits:
ECON. GEOL., v. 56, p. 488-508.
2. Gates, Olcott, 1959, Breccia pipes in the Shoshone Range, Nevada: ECON. GEOL., v. 54,
p. 790-815.
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