154 Hydrothermal ore deposits I: magmatic and orogenic environments

100,000 E 102,000 E
(a) Missio
nary fa
A A′
ult
Missionary vein

30,480 m E

30,632 m E
(b)
Volcanic dome
core phase Little Annie vein
boundary elevation
Open pit boundary Dexter vein 3700 m Au ≥ 0.89 ppm

N Premining surface Au ≥ 0.34 ppm

0 200 m
Au < 0.34 ppm
52,000 N

Nellie zone
0 25 50m
A Open pit boundary

A Copper Hill zone

Highland Mary zone

lowa zone Original bedrock surface
3600 m
Volcanic dome
core phase
Hidden vein boundary Pit boundary
50,000 N

Aztec vein

(c) Summitville
So

gold deposit Tcr - Cropsy rhyolite

ut
h

(18 - 20 Ma)
M

un
o

ta Estimated top of original

Au ≥ 0.34 ppm in
fa
ul
South South volcanic dome Tm - Quartz monzonite porphyry
Underground stopes and t
Cristobalite/Opal Mountain Mountain
ore zones with Au ≥ 10 ppm Tql - South Mtn. quartz latite
deposit Fault
Elevation (m) Tcr porphyry (22 Ma)
Missionary Fault
Tql
4,000 Tql Tpd - Park Creek rhyodacite
Wightman Fork
Tpd (26 - 29 Ma)
Tpd Tpd
Ta - Summitville andesite
Tql (26-28 Ma)
3,500 Ta ? Ta
Ta ? Ta ? Tt - Treasure Mtn. tuff
Ta (28-30 Ma)
Tm
Altered Rocks
Tt? Tt? Tm
3,000 Tt? Cristobalite
Tt? Tt?
acid - sulfate
West North
0 500 1000 m Sericite

Figure 3.29 Ore geology and setting of the mid-Cenozoic high-sulfidation epithermal Au–Ag deposit at
Summitville, Colorado, USA (after Gray and Coolbaugh, 1994). (a) Map showing the trellis-like distribution
of ore with multiple orientations of ore zones which formed along and adjacent to fractures of different sets.
(b) Cross section A–A0 showing a section through partly eroded multiple ore shoots, each of which has
approximately inverted tear-drop shapes with heads at about the same altitude. (c) Interpreted setting of the
ore body with the host volcanic sequence. The deposit is within a porphyritic intrusion that was the feeder
pipe to a lava dome that extruded above the cupola of a larger intrusion about 1 km beneath the surface. The
faults are ring faults of the host caldera. The cristobalite–opal deposits that are shown are presumed to have
formed at the same time as the ore at the palaeosurface.

calderas, especially below lava domes that have built up within a caldera (Figure 3.29), or
beneath lava domes and central craters in fields of intermediate to felsic volcanoes. In
other cases the deposits formed under the flanks of large stratovolcanoes rather than
immediately under the positions of craters (Figure 3.30). Phreatic breccia pipes which
splay upwards are a common host to ore or parts of an ore body.
The larger deposits are often composed of effectively closely spaced clusters of
individual ore bodies scattered over areas of about 2 km2 in the case of Summitville,
Colorado, USA (Figure 3.29) or Pascua, Chile. In each of these deposits, the ore is
restricted essentially to within a relatively narrow altitude range of 200–300 m and forms
an overall blanket. The large Yanacocha deposit in Peru is exceptional in that multiple ore

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155 3.2 Hydrothermal deposits formed around magmatic centres

NW eroded volcanic edifice SE

196 214 238 245 241

254 267
Lepanto 232 219
237 245
high-sulfidation 252
epithermal deposit upper
li
223 259 of brin mit
es
294
FSE
280 porphyry

350 500 m
500-550
Bato dacite (1.18 ± 0.09 - 0.96 ± 0.29 Ma) High-sulfidation epithermal Au-Cu ore
Breccia pipe (1.42 ± 0.08 Ma)
Quartz diorite porphyry (1.43 ± 0.21 Ma) Porphyry Cu-Au ore
(1.41 ± 0.05 Ma)
Imbanguila dacite (2.19 - 1.82 Ma)
Meteoric water
Cretaceous to Miocene metavolcanics
Low-salinity magmatic water
Water temperature (⬚C)
Figure 3.30 Cross section through the Lepanto (high-sulfidation epithermal deposit) and
adjacent FSE (porphyry deposit), Philippines. The Lepanto deposit straddles the basement–
lava-pile contact under a flank of the central volcano, whereas the porphyry deposit mantles a
quartz–diorite porphyritic stock at about 1 km depth (Arribas et al., 1995). The two deposits
give indistinguishable radiometric ages with uncertainties constraining the time of formation to
within less than 0.12 million years. Interpreted fluid flow paths are shown. All fluid inclusions
contain low-salinity fluids above the ‘upper limit of brines’ whereas both high-salinity and
low-salinity inclusions are present below this level. Water temperatures (in  C) are measured
from fluid inclusions and document progressive cooling of the magmatic-hydrothermal fluid as
it migrates away from the source and mixes with groundwater.

bodies are scattered over about 100 km2 within an extensive volcanic field of lave domes.
In this deposit the different ore bodies formed over a time period of about 5 million years,
probably beneath lava domes and craters that were active at slightly different times.
The term lithocap describes a sub-horizontal body of erosionally resistant, strongly
silicified, intensely altered rock that is generally barren of ore and that forms at and just
below the surface at many volcanic centres in volcanic arcs. A lithocap is in most cases
the host to high-sulfidation ores where they are developed.

Nature of the ores

Ore minerals are disseminated through irregular ore bodies that are hosted in many cases
in much larger volumes of intensely altered rock. Ore may be concentrated along and
adjacent to fractures in the host-rocks, to give a trellis-like pattern in map view. Veins
are generally not a significant host to ore, except in the deepest levels of a few deposits.
An inverted tear-drop shape is characteristic of many isolated ore bodies. These are

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156 Hydrothermal ore deposits I: magmatic and orogenic environments

Hydrothermal breccias Alteration facies

?

Lavas Residual (vuggy) silica

Advanced argillic
alunite - kaolinite
Pyroclastics (alunite - pyrophyllite at depth)
Argillic
smectite
(smectite - illite at depth)

Propylitic / Unaltered

Andesite lavas

?
0 50m

Deep quartz veining approximately

Figure 3.31 Schematic cross section through a typical high-sulfidation epithermal Au deposit –
based on Iwato deposits in the Nansatsu district, Kyushu, Japan (after Hedenquist et al., 1994).
Gold ore is hosted in residual silica, and is associated with pyrite, enargite, covellite and native
sulfur. Hydrothermal fluid migrated upwards through the volcanic pile, but high permeability
of pyroclastic beds allowed lateral fluid infiltration. The hydrothermal breccias bottom out at
about the same level as the ore zone and may be the result of boiling of groundwater where it
was heated by magmatic vapour.

narrow, vein-like ore zones at depth that splay upwards into wider ‘mushroom heads’ of
ore. The larger deposits are often composed of effectively closely spaced clusters of
such inverted tear-drop-shaped ore bodies or irregular-shaped high-grade ore centres
(Figure 3.29b).
There is characteristic zonation of alteration facies around the ore bodies (Figure 3.31).
The central ore zone of most deposits consists of porous to massive quartz-rich (up to 95%
quartz) rock. This style and mineralogy of alteration is known as vuggy silica, or residual
silica. In essence, all major chemical components of the rock other than silica have been
leached by the hydrothermal fluids. Primary volcanic quartz phenocrysts may be distin-
guishable from fine-grained quartz that crystallised from the silica component of leached
matrix minerals, for instance feldspars. In general, however, primary rock textures are not
preserved. Millimetre- to centimetre-sized vughs are scattered throughout the altered rock
and comprise up to a few per cent of the rock. These formed during alteration as a result of
overall leaching of matter from the rock.
The immediately surrounding alteration zone shows advanced-argillic alteration. The
essential minerals of this facies are quartz, alunite (KAl3(SO4)2(OH)6), and a clay of the
kandite series, most commonly kaolinite or dickite. Anhydrite (CaSO4) is common in this
alteration facies. Pyrophyllite is an important mineral at deeper levels with advanced-
argillic alteration and may replace alunite. In rare cases andalusite is present. The alunite
may occur as pseudomorphs after original feldspar. This assemblage marks slightly lower

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