Untitled Document
Copper concentrations in silicate mineral phases of
the Boggy plain zoned intrusion
Jung Woo Park and Ian H. Campbell
Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra,
ACT 0200, Australia
Image captionFigure 1.Copper concentration in plagioclase of
the Boggy Plain zoned pluton. Values below detection limits are on
the x-axis and numbers in the brackets are number of analysis points
of them.
Understanding copper geochemistry in an evolving magmatic system is important
because it may give the information about the relationship between copper
mineralization and the magma and the variation of physical and geochemical
condition, e.g. oxidation state and sulfur and water contents, of the
magma.
Copper is a distinctively chalcophile element and therefore it strongly
partitions into sulfide melts if the magma is S-saturated. However, depending
on the physical and chemical condition of magma, dissolved copper in
the magma as Cu+1 or Cu+2 can be trapped in a silicate mineral as an
intrinsic element. Cu+2 is likely to be substituted for Fe+2 or Mn+2 in Fe-Mg silicates and Cu+1 for Na+1 in feldspar or hornblende because
of their similar charge and radius (Stanton, 1994). Ewart et al. (1973)
obtained 11-53 ppm copper in pyroxenes and 0-27 ppm in plagioclases of
the Tonga-Kermadec volcanic island chain and found the copper levels
in the plagioclases have positive correlation with whole-rock copper
concentration. Wedepohl (1974) lists mean copper contents of 9.4-18,
9-17 and 2-45 ppm in amphibole, biotite and plagioclase of granitic rocks
respectively.
Copper concentrations in silicate minerals were analyzed by LA-ICPMS
in order to document variations in copper contents in the selected minerals
during differentiation of the Boggy Plain magma, and their relationship
with whole rock copper concentration.
Copper concentration in plagioclase are slightly higher in the mafic
rocks of FeOt+MgO>14.5 per cent, and copper contents of the northern
gabbro which contains the highest whole rock copper concentration is
distinctively enriched in copper compared with the felsic rocks of Boggy
Plain zoned pluton (Figure 1). Except for several anomalously high copper
values, the majority of them of plagioclases from outer/inner granodiorite
and adamellite (FeOt+MgO<14.5 %) are lower in order of 2-5 than them
of mafic rocks. The mean copper contents of intermediate-felsic rocks
range from 0.2 to 1 ppm showing a flat trend along with further magma
differentiation. The Average values of copper concentration in plagioclase
of Boggy Plain zoned pluton (0.18-2.2 ppm) is significantly less than
that of the El Abra-Pajonal suite intrusion (0.4-69.1 ppm; Dianne 2008).
This difference between the two suites can be partly explained by higher
whole rock copper contents (12.5-5493 ppm) of the El Abra-Pajonal suite
intrusion.
In order to estimate the amount of copper hosted by silicates phase,
copper concentrations in other major silicate minerals are measured and
mass balanced. This analysis yields silicate selective copper abundances
ranging from 0.5 to 7.3 percent of whole-rock copper abundance. It indicates
that the subtraction of copper by silicate crystallization is insufficient
for the observed decrease of whole-rock copper in Boggy Plain rocks of
FeOt+MgO<14.5 per cent and the additional mechanism is required, e.g.
the formation of Cu-bearing sulfide or Cu loss in vapor phase.
Ewart F, Bryan W, Gill, J. (1973) Mineralogy and geochemistry of the
younger volcanic islands of Tonga, SW Pacific. Journal of Petrology 14:
429-465
Dianne LV (2008) The geology, geochemistry and geochronology of the El
Abra mine, Chile, and the adjacent Pajonal-El Abra suite of intrusions,
Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, The Australian National University, 777 p.
Stanton RL (1994) Copper. In Ore elements in arc lavas: New York, Oxford
University Press, p. 53-74.
Wedepohl, K.H. (1974). Copper. In Handbook of geochemistry (ed. K. H.
Wedepohl). Springer-Verlag, Berlin.