학술논문

Multistage development of a hydrothermal W deposit during the Variscan late-orogenic evolution; the Puy-les-Vignes breccia pipe (Massif Central, France)
Document Type
Academic Journal
Source
Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France. 192
Subject
03|Geochronology
02C|Geochemistry - rock, sediment, soil
27A|Economic geology - metal ores
absolute age
Ar/Ar
bismuth ores
breccia pipes
Carboniferous
cassiterite
Central Massif
columbite
Cretaceous
dates
disseminated deposits
Europe
fluid inclusions
France
gold ores
granites
Haute-Vienne France
hydrothermal alteration
hydrothermal conditions
igneous rocks
inclusions
intrusions
Limousin
magmatism
major elements
Mesozoic
metal ores
metals
metamorphism
metasomatism
mineral assemblages
mineral composition
mineral deposits, genesis
niobates
niobium
ore minerals
ore-forming fluids
orogeny
overprinting
oxides
Paleozoic
paragenesis
peraluminous composition
petrography
pipes
plutonic rocks
Puy-les-Vignes Deposit
rutile
silver ores
tantalates
tantalite
tantalum
tin
titanium oxides
trace elements
tungstates
tungsten
tungsten ores
U/Pb
Upper Cretaceous
Variscan Orogeny
Western Europe
wolframite
wolframoixiolite
Language
English
ISSN
0037-9409
Abstract
The Puy-les-Vignes W deposit, located in the northwestern French Massif Central (FMC), is a rare occurrence of a wolframite-mineralized hydrothermal breccia pipe hosted in high-grade metamorphic gneisses. We present an integrated study of this deposit aiming to characterize the ore-forming hydrothermal system in link with the Variscan late-orogenic evolution of the FMC. Based on a set of representative samples from the host rocks and mineralization, we describe a detailed paragenetic sequence and we provide the major and trace element geochemistry of the granitic rocks and W-Nb-Ta-Sn-Ti oxide minerals, in situ U/Pb and 40Ar/39Ar geochronology, and a fluid inclusion study of quartz and wolframite. We demonstrate that the formation of this W-mineralized breccia pipe results from a multistage development related to four major episodes during the late Carboniferous. The first episode corresponds to the emplacement of an unexposed peraluminous granite at ca. 324 Ma, which generated microgranite dykes exposed at the present-day surface. The second episode is the formation of the quartz-supported breccia pipe and wolframite mineralization at ca. 318 Ma at a paleodepth of 7 km. The mineralizing fluids have a H2O-NaCl-CO2-CH4-N2 composition, a moderate-salinity (400°C) during lithostatic to hydrostatic pressure variations caused by hydrofracturing of the host rocks. Wolframite deposition is interpreted to result from a W-rich intermediate-density magmatic fluid that exsolved from an evolved leucogranite and interacted with volatile-rich metasedimentary country rocks and/or possibly mixed with low-salinity metamorphic fluids of deep origin. The third episode corresponds to magmatic-hydrothermal Nb-Ta mineralization overprinting the W-mineralized system interpreted to be related to the intrusion at ca. 311 Ma of a rare-metal granite, which is part of a regional peraluminous rare-metal magmatism during the 315-310 Ma period. Finally, the last episode corresponds to disseminated Bi ± Au-Ag mineralization emplaced at ca. 300 Ma, which shares similar mineralogical features with late Carboniferous orogenic gold deposits in the FMC. The Puy-les-Vignes W deposit records, therefore, a multistage and long-lived development that extends over a timespan of 25 million years in a regional setting dominated by protracted peraluminous magmatism and high-temperature and low-pressure metamorphism. Although the local environment of ore deposition is atypical, our results show that the mineral assemblages, alteration styles, and fluid characteristics of the Puy-les-Vignes breccia pipe are similar to those of other peri-granitic W deposits in the FMC.