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Origin of the supergiant Olympic Dam Cu-U-Au-Ag deposit, South Australia: Was a sedimentary basin involved?

journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-17, 08:58 authored by Jocelyn McPhieJocelyn McPhie, Vadim Kamenetsky, Chambefort, I, Ehrig, K, Green, N
The supergiant Olympic Dam Cu-U-Au-Ag ore deposit of South Australia occurs in a tectonic-hydrothermal breccia complex that is surrounded by Mesoproterozoic granite. The breccia is composed mainly of granite clasts and minor amounts of Mesoproterozoic volcanic clasts. Very thick (>350 m) sections of bedded sedimentary facies that occur in the breccia complex include laminated to very thin planar mudstone beds, thin to medium internally graded sandstone beds, and thick conglomerate beds. The bedded sedimentary facies extend continuously across a 1.5 km × 0.9 km area and are not limited to small separate maar craters, as previously thought. Detrital chromite and volcanic quartz in the bedded sedimentary facies cannot be matched with local sources, and imply that the provenance extended beyond the area of Olympic Dam. The lateral continuity, provenance characteristics, great thickness, below-wave-base lithofacies, and intracontinental setting suggest that the bedded sedimentary facies are remnants of a sedimentary basin that was present at Olympic Dam prior to formation of the breccia complex. We conclude that the Olympic Dam hydrothermal system operated beneath and partly within an active sedimentary basin, was not confined to maar craters, and did not vent. This new view of the setting raises the possibility that sedimentary processes were involved in ore genesis.

History

Publication title

Geology

Volume

39

Issue

8

Pagination

795-798

ISSN

0091-7613

Department/School

School of Natural Sciences

Publisher

Geological Society of America

Place of publication

Inc, PO Box 9140, Boulder, USA, CO. 80301-9140

Rights statement

Copyright 2011 Geological Society of America

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Copper ore exploration

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