ELA-ICP-MS U-Pb zircon geochronology of regional volcanism hosting the Bajo de la Alumbrera Cu-Au deposit: implications for porphyry-related mineralization

ELA-ICP-MS U-Pb zircon geochronology has been used to show that the porphyritic intrusions related to the formation of the Bajo de la Alumbrera porphyry Cu-Au deposit, NW Argentina, are cogenetic with stratigraphically well-constrained volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks of the Late Miocene Farallón Negro Volcanic Complex. Zircon geochronology for intrusions in this deposit and the host volcanic sequence show that multiple mineralized porphyries were emplaced in a volcanic complex that developed over 1.5 million years. Volcanism occurred in a multivent volcanic complex in a siliciclastic intermontane basin. The complex evolved from early mafic-intermediate effusive phases to a later silicic explosive phase associated with mafic intrusions. Zircons from the basal mafic-intermediate lavas have ages that range from 8.46 ± 0.14 to 7.94 ± 0.27 Ma. Regionally extensive silicic explosive volcanism occurred at ∼8.0 Ma (8.05 ± 0.13 and 7.96 ± 0.11 Ma), which is co-temporal with intrusion of the earliest mineralized porphyries at Bajo de la Alumbrera (8.02 ± 0.14 and 7.98 ± 0.14 Ma). Regional uplift and erosion followed during which the magmatic-hydrothermal system was probably unroofed. Shortly thereafter, dacitic lava domes were extruded (7.95 ± 0.17 Ma) and rhyolitic diatremes (7.79 ± 0.13 Ma) deposited thick tuff blankets across the region. Emplacement of large intermediate composition stocks occurred at 7.37 ± 0.22 Ma, shortly before renewed magmatism occurred at Bajo de la Alumbrera (7.10 ± 0.07 Ma). The latest porphyry intrusive event is temporally associated with new ore-bearing magmatic-hydrothermal fluids. Other dacitic intrusions are associated with subeconomic deposits that formed synchronously with the mineralized porphyries at Bajo de la Alumbrera. However, their emplacement continued (from 7.10 ± 0.06 to 6.93 ± 0.07 Ma) after the final intrusion at Bajo de al Alumbrera. Regional volcanism had ceased by 6.8 Ma (6.92 ± 0.07 Ma). The brief history of the volcanic complex hosting the Bajo de la Alumbrera Cu-Au deposit differs from that of other Andean provinces hosting porphyry deposits. For example, at the El Salvador porphyry copper district in Chile, magmatism related to Cu mineralization was episodic in regional igneous activity that occurred over tens of millions of years. Bajo de la Alumbrera resulted from the superposition of multiple porphyry-related hydrothermal systems, temporally separated by a million years. It appears that the metal budget in porphyry ore deposits is not simply a function of their longevity and/or the superposition of multiple porphyry systems. Nor is it a function of the duration of the associated cycle of magmatism. Instead, the timing of processes operating in the parental magma body is the controlling factor in the formation of a fertile porphyry-related ore system. © Springer-Verlag 2003.