Porphyry Short Course — Part 3

Porphyry Cu-Mo-Au Systems

Part 3: Upper crustal magmatic

processes

Jeremy P. Richards
Dept. Earth & Atmospheric Sciences
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 2E3, Canada
Jeremy.Richards@UAlberta.CA

Adapted from Winter (2001)

© Richards (2012)

Upper crustal
magma
chambers

Modified from Richards, J.P., 2003,

Tectono-magmatic precursors for
porphyry Cu-(Mo-Au) deposit
formation: Economic Geology, v. 98, p.
1515–1533.

© Richards (2012)

© Richards (2012)
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Porphyry Short Course — Part 3

Mid- to upper crustal plutons inflated by dike injection, with

roof uplift and/or floor depression

Cruden, A.R., 1998,

On the emplacement
of tabular granites: J.
Geol. Soc. London,
v. 155, p. 853–862.

Magma Ascent
• Relative buoyancy is the primary driving force for
magma ascent.
• Magma supply rate is the main rate-limiting factor in
granitoid plutonism. This is because magmas lose
heat to the country rocks and will tend to freeze-up
unless an adequate supply of fresh hot magma
maintains expansion of the magma chamber or
extension of the dike.
• Magma transport in dikes is characterized by a
balance between magma buoyancy and viscous
drag (i.e., pressure drop).

© Richards (2012)

Dike Propagation
• Crack-tip propagation:
Local stress intensification
occurs at crack tips due to
amplification of far-field
applied stress (such as
magma pressure).
• Amplification effect
depends on the crack-tip
radius.
• Elastic forces in the host
rock are secondary except
near the crack tip.
Rubin, A.M., 1995, Propagation of
magma-filled cracks: Ann. Rev. Earth
Planet. Sci., v. 23, p. 287–336.

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Porphyry Short Course — Part 3

Dike Propagation
Crack-tip cavity: Because of the
viscosity of the magma and the
elastic deformation of the host
rock, a cavity will actually exist at
Crack-tip
the crack-tip, characterized by low
cavity
pressure. It is this low P that
draws magma upwards and into
the extending crack.
The rate of dike propagation is
controlled by the viscosity of the
magma, not the resistance to
fracture.

Rubin (1995)

The ill-fated Comet 1, with square windows

and escape hatches (top and left), and
redesigned Comet 1A with round windows.

Dike Propagation
• Fractures will become self-propagating, possibly
catastrophically, if magma pressure is maintained
and magma supply rate is sufficient to prevent
freezing in the body of the dike.
• Freezing at the crack tip is not a problem,
because the fracture will simply propagate
through the blockage as if it was just part of the
country rock.
• Other factors that contribute to propagation are:
• Buoyancy drive (density contrast),
• Expansion from decompression, and
• Hydrolytic weakening of the crack tip.

© Richards (2012)

© Richards (2012)
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Porphyry Short Course — Part 3

Dike Propagation
• Localized volatile exsolution results from the
generation of a low-pressure zone at the crack tip.
Volatile exsolution may reach a point that the
negative pressure in the crack tip is reduced, and
magma is no longer drawn into the crack. Instead,
the crack may propagate as a volatile-filled fracture,
which may be even more catastrophic because the
viscous drag in a volatile phase is minimal. This may
lead to breccia pipe formation.
• Magma buoyancy: Only 7% of vesicles in a basaltic
magma is required to lower the density sufficiently to
drive dikes >10 km-long.

© Richards (2012)

Carrigan, C.R., Schubert, G., and Eichelberger, J.C., 1992, Thermal and dynamical regimes of single-
and two-phase magmatic flow in dikes: Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 97, p. 17,377–17,392.

Mixed Magmatic–
breccia hydrothermal breccia
dike
Pachapaqui Pb-Zn-Ag
deposit, Péru

“Live”
magma

Hydrothermal
cavity filling

© Richards (2012)

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Porphyry Short Course — Part 3

Contact breccia
(peperite) with
cavity space filled
by later
hydrothermal
minerals
Porgera gold deposit,
PNG

© Richards (2012)

Intrusive breccias
and breccia pipes:
commonly barren
when emplaced but
later mineralized
due to permeability
Pachapaqui Pb-Zn-Ag
deposit, Péru

© Richards (2012)

Mammoth
breccia
pipe, Utah
Formed by
fluids exsolved
from porphyry
(light grey)
intruded at
depth, which
precipitated Cu
minerals during
breccia
formation.
Anderson, E.D., Atkinson
Jr., W.W., Marsh, T., and
Iriondo, A., 2009, Geology
and geochemistry of the
Mammoth breccia pipe,
Copper Creek mining
district, southeastern
Arizona: evidence for a
magmatic–hydrothermal
origin: Mineralium Deposita,
v. 44, p. 151–170.

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Porphyry Short Course — Part 3

Formation of plutons
• The local nature of the force balance suggests that it is
local density contrasts rather than total hydrostatic head
that controls the height of magma ascent — level of
neutral buoyancy (LNB).
• Overshoot of a few kilometers may occur, but magma
mostly ponds as sills at the LNB.
• Increased pressure due to build up of magma at the LNB
may fracture the rock laterally along the LNB. Lateral
dikes will form where stresses are extensional, and sills
where stresses are compressional or where the LNB
represents a rheological boundary (such as between
crystalline basement and sedimentary cover).

© Richards (2012)

Formation of plutons
Dikes cease to propagate due to:
(a) Reduction of magma pressure and supply rate (usually
interrelated) leading to reduced flow rate and freezing;
(b) Blunting of crack tip (increases crack tip radius) by
intersection of a highly ductile layer (such as a limestone or
shale), or
(c) Intersection of a very brittle zone which results in dispersal
of stress across many crack tips in a breccia zone, or
(d) Intersection of a freely-slipping fracture, which diverts
strain, or
(e) Cook-Gordon mechanism, whereby crack-tip tensile stress
causes failure along horizontal discontinuities ahead of the
crack, and results in magma ponding to form laccolithic or
tabular plutons.
© Richards (2012)

Clemens
& Mawer
(1992)

Cook-Gordon mechanism
(analogue of crack development in windshield)
Clemens, J.D., and Mawer, C.K., 1992, Granitic magma transport
by fracture propagation: Tectonophysics, v. 204, p. 339–360.

© Richards (2012)
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Porphyry Short Course — Part 3

Emplacement in the Shallow Crust

Source of magma overpressure:
Pluton inflation requires an overpressure, which may
arise from:
(1) Hydrostatic magma overpressure arising from
magma buoyancy;
(2) Volatile pressure;
(3) Tectonic stress (may exceed 500 MPa [5kb]; cf.
tensile strength of brittle rock ≤20 MPa).

© Richards (2012)

Shape of plutons:
• Lateral expansion (sills)
• Roof-lifting (laccoliths)
• Floor-depression (lopolith)

de Saint-Blanquat, M., Law, R.D., Bouchez, J.-L., Morgan, S.S., 2001, Internal structure and
emplacement of the Papoose Flat pluton: An integrated structural, petrographic, and
magnetic susceptibility study: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 113, p. 976–995.

Expansion of plutons from thin sills to thick batholithic complexes

Corazzato, C., and Groppelli, G., 2004, Depth, geometry and emplacement of sills to laccoliths and their host-rock
relationships: Montecampione group, Southern Alps, Italy, in Breitkreuz, C., and Petford, N., eds. Physical geology of
high-level magmatic systems: Geological Society, Special Publication 234, p. 175–194.

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Porphyry Short Course — Part 3

Effect of Tectonic Stress

The local upper crustal stress regime will affect
the orientation of dikes, alignments of dike-fed
volcanic vents, and styles of eruption.

Nakamura, K., 1977,

Volcanoes as possible
indicators of tectonic
stress orientation—
Principle and proposal:
Journal of Volcanology
and Geothermal
σ2 = σ3
Research, v. 2, p. 1–16.
σ3 σ1

Effect of Tectonic Stress

Tension: Because lower stresses (1/4) are required to
fracture rocks in tension than in compression, magma
emplacement will tend to focus in extensional domains.
However, magma pressure is less opposed by confining
pressure, such that magma ascent will tend to stall at
the LNB. If magma is inviscid and supply rate is high,
may get flood volcanism.

Tosdal &
Richards (2001)

Compression: Under conditions of horizontal

compressional stress and where magma pressure
(buoyancy) is insufficient to overcome rock strength by
crack-tip propagation, horizontal extensional fractures
will form and magma will collect as sills or laccoliths.
In general, compression hinders magma ascent, and
favours MASH zone development and build-up of a
lower-crustal magma reservoir.

Tosdal &
Richards
(2001)

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Porphyry Short Course — Part 3

Transpression (or transtension): Creation of vertical

reduced-stress conduits up jogs and step-overs
along strike-slip corridors during transpression.
Favours development of localized extensional fault
conduits, and focused magma emplacement.

Tosdal &
Richards
(2001)

Upper crustal sub-

volcanic magma
chamber formed at
basement-
supracrustal contact
due to buoyancy or
No vertical
exaggeration rheology contrasts
Modified from Richards, J.P., 2003, Tectono-magmatic precursors for porphyry
Cu-(Mo-Au) deposit formation: Economic Geology, v. 98, p. 1515–1533. © Richards (2012)

Porphyry
pluton
shapes:
cupolas

Norton, D.L., 1982, Fluid

and heat transport
phenomena typical of
copper-bearing pluton
environments, in Titley,
S.R., ed., Advances in
geology of porphyry
copper deposits of
southwestern North
America: Tuscon, Univ.
Arizona Press, p. 59–72.

© Richards (2012)
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Porphyry Short Course — Part 3

Cupola
development

Cupolas develop in
response to extensional
strain in the cover rocks.
Possibility that they are
initiated as vapor-filled
breccia pipes, which are
then back-filled with
magma.

from Tosdal & Richards (2001)

and references therein

Yerington porphyry, Nevada

Proffett, J.M., Jr., and Dilles, J.H., 1984, Geologic map of the Yerington
district, Nevada: Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, Map 77, 1:24,000.

Yerington porphyry, Nevada

Tosdal & Richards (2001) modified from Dilles (1987)

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Porphyry Short Course — Part 3

How much magma is required to form a

giant porphyry Cu deposit (10Mt Cu)?
Average [Cu] in andesite = 60 ppm Cu
ΣCu in giant PCD = 10 Mt Cu
Requires 10 Mt x 16,667 = 1.7 x 1011 t magma
Magma density = 2.7 g/cm3
= 2.7 t/m3
Magma volume required = (1.7 x 1011 / 2.7) m3
= 6.3 x 1010 m3
= 63 km3

Calculation assumes 100% extraction efficiency.

Conclude that magma chambers ≥100 km3 are
required to form giant porphyry Cu deposits, and
perhaps as much as 300 km3 for El Teniente.
© Richards (2012)

Are such magma volumes reasonable?

A 100 km3 magma chamber represents a sphere of
diameter 5.8 km, or a 1 km-thick disk of diameter 11.3
km. Intrusions of these dimensions are common, and
large volcanic eruptions (up to 3000 km3 for a single
flow) demonstrate that such volumes of magma can
exist at a given instant in time.

© Richards (2012)

10 km
Evidence of large
active magma
chambers in the
Central Andes:

10 km 30–50 km-wide
surface deformation
associated with
10 km
magma bodies at 5–
17 km-depth

Pritchard, M.E., and Simons, M.,

10 km 2004, Surveying volcanic arcs with
satellite radar interferometry: The
Central Andes, Kamchatka, and
beyond: GSA Today, v. 14, p. 4–11.

© Richards (2012)
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Porphyry Short Course — Part 3

Evidence of
large, long-
lived (10 m.y.)
volcanic
centres in the
Central Andes:
Antofalla Antofalla
West volcanic
Vn. Antofalla
complex
Hydrothermal
alteration zones
in the AVC,
Salar associated with
Antofalla rhyolitic tuffs and
East de domes.

Antofalla
10 km

© Richards (2012)

Porphyry Cu
systems:
The ~38 Ma
Escondida intrusive
complex
Shallow level diorite and
porphyry intrusions occur
across an area of 20x20 km

Orange: porphyry
Yellow: Eocene tuff
Purple: Eocene andesite
Green: Eocene diorite
Brown: Mesozoic sediments
Dk orange, red: Paleozoic felsic volcanics

Richards, J.P., Boyce, A.J., and Pringle, M.S., 2001,

Geological evolution of the Escondida area, northern Chile:
A model for spatial and temporal localization of porphyry
Cu mineralization: Economic Geology, v. 96, p. 271–305.

Escondida
aeromagnetic
anomaly
Chimborazo
Behn et al. (2001) showed
Zaldívar that the Escondida,
Zaldívar, and Chimborazo
Escondida
PCDs are located within a
~30 km-diameter magnetic
low, which they interpret to
represent an underlying
source plutonic system of
batholithic proportions.

Behn, G., Camus, F., Carrasco, P., and Ware, H., 2001,
Aeromagnetic signature of porphyry copper systems in
northern Chile and its geological implications:
Economic Geology, v. 96, p. 239–248.

© Richards (2012)
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Porphyry Short Course — Part 3

Chuquicamata,
El Abra El Abra
aeromagnetic
anomalies

Behn et al. (2001) showed

similar large magnetic lows
Radomiro
Tomic
associated with the
Chuquicamata Chuquicamata and El Abra
porphyry systems.

MM

Opache Behn, G., Camus, F., Carrasco, P., and Ware, H., 2001,
Aeromagnetic signature of porphyry copper systems in
northern Chile and its geological implications:
Economic Geology, v. 96, p. 239–248.

No vertical
exaggeration

Hence, the scaling in this cartoon

is believed to be realistic © Richards (2012)

The link with volcanism

Sillitoe (1973) was one of the first to suggest that
porphyries are overlain by composite volcanoes.

Sillitoe, R.H., 1973, The

tops and bottoms of
porphyry copper deposits:
Economic Geology, v. 68,
p. 799–815.

© Richards (2012)
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Porphyry Short Course — Part 3

View of Volcán Llullaillaco (~1 Ma) from La Escondida (38 Ma)

© Richards (2012)

Volcanism: Irrelevant, necessary, or

disastrous for PCD formation?

• However, Pasteris (1996) suggested that major

eruptions that discharge a large proportion of magma
chamber contents to surface would destroy porphyry-
forming potential.
• Smaller eruptions may nevertheless be inevitable
products of magma degassing and recharge
processes, both of which are essential for magmatic
hydrothermal ore formation.

Pasteris, J.D., 1996, Mount Pinatubo volcano and “negative”

porphyry copper deposits: Geology, v. 24, p. 1075–1078.

© Richards (2012)

SUMMARY

• Pooling of magmas at level of neutral buoyancy and/or

rheological contrast in the upper crust (5–15 km depth).
• ≥100 km3 upper crustal magma chamber required for
formation of large PCDs.
• Formation of tall, narrow cupola zones, into which volatile-
rich bubbly magmas convect.
• Release of fluids into brittle carapace: +ΔV, brecciation.
• Some volcanism likely, but catastrophic explosive volcanism
may destroy system.

© Richards (2012)

© Richards (2012)
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