SULFIDE COMPOSITION AND ISOTOPIC SIGNATURE OF THE ALTAR Cu-Au DEPOSIT, ARGENTINA: CONSTRAINTS ON THE EVOLUTION OF THE PORPHYRY-EPITHERMAL SYSTEM

LAURA MAYDAGAN; FRANCHINI MARTA; DAVE LENTZ; JOSEFINA PONS; CHRISTOPEHR MC FARLANE

CANADIAN MINERALOGIST

MINERALOGICAL ASSOC CANADA

Lugar: Toronto, Canada; Año: 2013 vol. 51 p. 813 - 840

0008-4476

Sulfides and sulfosalts from the porphyry, transitional, and epithermal high sulfidation stages of the Altar Cu-(Au) deposit (San Juan, Argentina) were investigated by electron microprobe, laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectroscopy (LA-ICP-MS), and S isotopic analysis. Compositional differences found in the trace-element content in pyrite, chalcopyrite, and enargite from different alteration zones and depths of the system have implications in the physicochemical evolution of the hydrothermal fluids and might have potential for exploration in similar porphyry-high sulfidation epithermal environments.Low contents of most analyzed trace elements were found in chalcopyrite ± pyrite from the potassic alteration, except for Zn, Sn, and Ag in chalcopyrite, and Co and Ni in pyrite. During the phyllic alteration, cooling of the fluids and a decrease of its pH (