Earth & Environmental Sciences Research
https://hdl.handle.net/10023/1941
2024-03-28T20:59:20ZLithostratigraphic and structural reconstruction of the Zn-Pb-Cu-Ag-Au Lemarchant volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposit, Tally Pond group, central Newfoundland, Canada
https://hdl.handle.net/10023/12472
The Lemarchant volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposit (1.24 Mt grading at 0.58% Cu, 5.38% Zn, 1.19% Pb, 1.01g/t Au, and 59.17g/t Ag) is a bimodal-felsic VMS deposit hosted within the Late Cambrian ($513–509 Ma) Tally Pond group of the Exploit Subzone in central Newfoundland, Canada. The deposit is hosted by andesitic volcaniclastic and volcanic rocks with subordinate dacite flows. The mineralisation is hosted by the dacites and is overlain by pillowed and massive basalts.Four structural breaks offset the local stratigraphic sequences including: 1) the LJ syn-volcanic shear zone; 2) the KJ syn-volcanic shear zone; 3) the Lemarchant thrust; and 4) the Bam normal fault. Deformation of the Lemarchant likely occurred during the Penobscot orogeny (486–478 Ma). Early deformation is marked with the local deformation of the LJ and KJ syn-volcanic shear zones during NW-SE compression which coincided with the development of the Lemarchant thrust. A late (<465Ma) east trending normal fault, the Bam fault, affected the central portion of the Lemarchant area and down-faulted the southern portion of the study area relative to the northern portion.Immobile element systematics of all the sequences from the Lemarchant deposit are tholeiitic with transitional Zr/Y ratios (1.9–6.6), Lan/Smn ratios <1 (normalised to upper crust), and have primitive mantle extended rare earth elements profiles with slight light rare earth element (LREE)-enriched pat- terns with flat heavy REE (HREE), and weak to strong negative Nb, Zr, and Ti anomalies. Together, these geochemical features, coupled with an FIIIa signature, and existing mineralogical and Nd-Pb iso- tope data, are consistent with the rocks at the Lemarchant deposit having formed within a shallow (<1500 m) arc or migrating cross-arc seamount chain located within a young peri-continental rifted arc along the margin of Ganderia, within the Iapetus Ocean. The estimated shallow water emplace- ment of the deposit likely allowed boiling near or at the rock-sea water interface, ultimately resulting in precious metal enrichment of the Lemarchant deposit. It is suggested that cross-arcs within rifted arc environments may represent favourable exploration targets for precious metal-enriched VMS deposits.
Financial support for this project was provided from a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Collaborative Research and Development Grant to S.J. Piercey. Additional funding was provided by the NSERC-Altius Industrial Research Chair in Mineral Deposits (supported by NSERC, Altius Resources Inc., and the Research and Development Corporation of Newfoundland and Labrador) and an NSERC Discovery Grant to S.J. Piercey.
2017-04-01T00:00:00ZCloutier, JonathanPiercey, Stephen J.Lode, StefanieVande Gutche, MichaelCopeland, David A.The Lemarchant volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposit (1.24 Mt grading at 0.58% Cu, 5.38% Zn, 1.19% Pb, 1.01g/t Au, and 59.17g/t Ag) is a bimodal-felsic VMS deposit hosted within the Late Cambrian ($513–509 Ma) Tally Pond group of the Exploit Subzone in central Newfoundland, Canada. The deposit is hosted by andesitic volcaniclastic and volcanic rocks with subordinate dacite flows. The mineralisation is hosted by the dacites and is overlain by pillowed and massive basalts.Four structural breaks offset the local stratigraphic sequences including: 1) the LJ syn-volcanic shear zone; 2) the KJ syn-volcanic shear zone; 3) the Lemarchant thrust; and 4) the Bam normal fault. Deformation of the Lemarchant likely occurred during the Penobscot orogeny (486–478 Ma). Early deformation is marked with the local deformation of the LJ and KJ syn-volcanic shear zones during NW-SE compression which coincided with the development of the Lemarchant thrust. A late (<465Ma) east trending normal fault, the Bam fault, affected the central portion of the Lemarchant area and down-faulted the southern portion of the study area relative to the northern portion.Immobile element systematics of all the sequences from the Lemarchant deposit are tholeiitic with transitional Zr/Y ratios (1.9–6.6), Lan/Smn ratios <1 (normalised to upper crust), and have primitive mantle extended rare earth elements profiles with slight light rare earth element (LREE)-enriched pat- terns with flat heavy REE (HREE), and weak to strong negative Nb, Zr, and Ti anomalies. Together, these geochemical features, coupled with an FIIIa signature, and existing mineralogical and Nd-Pb iso- tope data, are consistent with the rocks at the Lemarchant deposit having formed within a shallow (<1500 m) arc or migrating cross-arc seamount chain located within a young peri-continental rifted arc along the margin of Ganderia, within the Iapetus Ocean. The estimated shallow water emplace- ment of the deposit likely allowed boiling near or at the rock-sea water interface, ultimately resulting in precious metal enrichment of the Lemarchant deposit. It is suggested that cross-arcs within rifted arc environments may represent favourable exploration targets for precious metal-enriched VMS deposits.Styles, textural evolution, and sulfur isotope systematics of Cu-rich sulfides from the Cambrian Whalesback volcanogenic massive sulfide deposit, central Newfoundland, Canada
https://hdl.handle.net/10023/9234
The Whalesback Cu-rich volcanogenic massive sulfide deposit in the Newfoundland Appalachians is a highly deformed deposit found on a steep limb of a closed and boudinaged overturned fold. The deposit was intensely deformed at low temperature but medium pressure (>175 MPa) during the accretion of the composite Lushs Bight oceanic tract-Dashwoods terrane onto the Humber margin at ca. 480 Ma. The ore mineralogy consists of chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite, and pyrite with lesser sphalerite and trace Ag, Bi, and Hg tellurides. Four styles of sulfide mineralization are present: (1) disseminated (5%); (2) vein (50%); (3) breccia (25%); and (4) semimassive to massive (20%). Independent of mineralization style, massive pyrite and pyrrhotite (and some chalcopyrite) are commonly parallel to main S2 schistosity in the deposit, whereas late chalcopyrite piercement veins occur at a high angle to S2. The progressive increase in pressure and temperature produced a remobilization sequence wherein sphalerite was the first sulfide phase to cross the brittle-ductile boundary, followed by pyrrhotite and, finally, chalcopyrite. Maximum temperature was not high enough for the pyrite to cross the brittle-ductile boundary. Instead, pyrite grains were incorporated and transported by pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite during the ductile remobilization events, rounding and fracturing them. Remobilization of the sulfides occurred mainly by plastic flow, but some solution transport and reprecipitation is locally observed. In situ secondary ion mass spectrometry sulfur isotope geochemistry of sulfides yielded values of δ34S ranging from 2.7‰ to 4.7‰ for pyrite, 2.1‰ to 4.0‰ for pyrrhotite, and 1.3‰ to 4.7‰ for chalcopyrite. Sulfur isotope modeling suggests that at least 60% of the sulfur was derived from leaching of igneous rocks (i.e., basalts), with the remainder derived from thermochemical sulfate reduction of seawater sulfate during alteration of the basalts by seawater. At the deposit scale, sulfur isotopes retained their original signature and did not reequilibrate during the secondary deformation and remobilization events.
2015-08-01T00:00:00ZCloutier, JonathanPiercey, Stephen J.Layne, GrahamHeslop, JohnHussey, AndrewPiercey, GlennThe Whalesback Cu-rich volcanogenic massive sulfide deposit in the Newfoundland Appalachians is a highly deformed deposit found on a steep limb of a closed and boudinaged overturned fold. The deposit was intensely deformed at low temperature but medium pressure (>175 MPa) during the accretion of the composite Lushs Bight oceanic tract-Dashwoods terrane onto the Humber margin at ca. 480 Ma. The ore mineralogy consists of chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite, and pyrite with lesser sphalerite and trace Ag, Bi, and Hg tellurides. Four styles of sulfide mineralization are present: (1) disseminated (5%); (2) vein (50%); (3) breccia (25%); and (4) semimassive to massive (20%). Independent of mineralization style, massive pyrite and pyrrhotite (and some chalcopyrite) are commonly parallel to main S2 schistosity in the deposit, whereas late chalcopyrite piercement veins occur at a high angle to S2. The progressive increase in pressure and temperature produced a remobilization sequence wherein sphalerite was the first sulfide phase to cross the brittle-ductile boundary, followed by pyrrhotite and, finally, chalcopyrite. Maximum temperature was not high enough for the pyrite to cross the brittle-ductile boundary. Instead, pyrite grains were incorporated and transported by pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite during the ductile remobilization events, rounding and fracturing them. Remobilization of the sulfides occurred mainly by plastic flow, but some solution transport and reprecipitation is locally observed. In situ secondary ion mass spectrometry sulfur isotope geochemistry of sulfides yielded values of δ34S ranging from 2.7‰ to 4.7‰ for pyrite, 2.1‰ to 4.0‰ for pyrrhotite, and 1.3‰ to 4.7‰ for chalcopyrite. Sulfur isotope modeling suggests that at least 60% of the sulfur was derived from leaching of igneous rocks (i.e., basalts), with the remainder derived from thermochemical sulfate reduction of seawater sulfate during alteration of the basalts by seawater. At the deposit scale, sulfur isotopes retained their original signature and did not reequilibrate during the secondary deformation and remobilization events.Drivers of atmospheric methane uptake by montane forest soils in the southern Peruvian Andes
https://hdl.handle.net/10023/8908
The soils of tropical montane forests can act as sources or sinks of atmospheric methane (CH4). Understanding this activity is important in regional atmospheric CH4 budgets, given that these ecosystems account for substantial portions of the landscape in mountainous areas like the Andes. Here we investigate the drivers of CH4 fluxes from premontane, lower and upper montane forests, experiencing a seasonal climate, in southeastern Peru. Between February 2011 and June 2013, these soils all functioned as net sinks for atmospheric CH4. Mean (standard error) net CH4 fluxes for the dry and wet season were −1.6 (0.1) and −1.1 (0.1) mg CH4 – C m−2 d−1 in the upper montane forest; −1.1 (0.1) and −1.0 (0.1) mg CH4 – C m−2 d−1 in the lower montane forest; and −0.2 (0.1) and −0.1 (0.1) mg CH4 – C m−2 d−1 in the premontane forest. Variations among forest types were best explained by available nitrate and water-filled pore space, indicating that nitrate inhibition of oxidation or diffusional constraints imposed by changes in water-filled pore space on methanotrophic communities represent important controls on soil-atmosphere CH4 exchange. Seasonality in CH4 exchange varied among forests with an increase in wet season net CH4 flux only apparent in the upper montane forest. Net CH4 flux was inversely related to elevation; a pattern that differs to that observed in Ecuador, the only other extant study site of soil-atmosphere CH4 exchange in the tropical Andes. This may result from differences in rainfall patterns between the regions, suggesting that attention should be paid to the role of rainfall and soil moisture dynamics in modulating CH4 uptake by the organic-rich soils typical of high elevation tropical forests.
The authors would like to acknowledge the agencies that funded this research; the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC; joint grant references NE/G018278/1, NE/H006583, NE/H007849 and NE/H006753) and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad; via a sub-contract to Yit Arn Teh managed by the Amazon Conservation Association). Patrick Meir was also supported by an Australian Research Council Fellowship (FT110100457).
2016-01-27T00:00:00ZJones, SDiem, TorstenHuaraca Quispe, LCahuana, AReay, DMeir, PTeh, Yit ArnThe soils of tropical montane forests can act as sources or sinks of atmospheric methane (CH4). Understanding this activity is important in regional atmospheric CH4 budgets, given that these ecosystems account for substantial portions of the landscape in mountainous areas like the Andes. Here we investigate the drivers of CH4 fluxes from premontane, lower and upper montane forests, experiencing a seasonal climate, in southeastern Peru. Between February 2011 and June 2013, these soils all functioned as net sinks for atmospheric CH4. Mean (standard error) net CH4 fluxes for the dry and wet season were −1.6 (0.1) and −1.1 (0.1) mg CH4 – C m−2 d−1 in the upper montane forest; −1.1 (0.1) and −1.0 (0.1) mg CH4 – C m−2 d−1 in the lower montane forest; and −0.2 (0.1) and −0.1 (0.1) mg CH4 – C m−2 d−1 in the premontane forest. Variations among forest types were best explained by available nitrate and water-filled pore space, indicating that nitrate inhibition of oxidation or diffusional constraints imposed by changes in water-filled pore space on methanotrophic communities represent important controls on soil-atmosphere CH4 exchange. Seasonality in CH4 exchange varied among forests with an increase in wet season net CH4 flux only apparent in the upper montane forest. Net CH4 flux was inversely related to elevation; a pattern that differs to that observed in Ecuador, the only other extant study site of soil-atmosphere CH4 exchange in the tropical Andes. This may result from differences in rainfall patterns between the regions, suggesting that attention should be paid to the role of rainfall and soil moisture dynamics in modulating CH4 uptake by the organic-rich soils typical of high elevation tropical forests.