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Sulphide Re-Os geochronology links orogenesis, salt and Cu-Co ores in the Central African Copperbelt

Saintilan, N.J.; Selby, D.; Creaser, R.A.; Dewaele, S.

Sulphide Re-Os geochronology links orogenesis, salt and Cu-Co ores in the Central African Copperbelt Thumbnail


Authors

N.J. Saintilan

R.A. Creaser

S. Dewaele



Abstract

The origin of giant, sedimentary rock-hosted copper-cobalt (Cu-Co) provinces remains contentious, in part due to the lack of precise and reliable ages for mineralisation. As such, no consensus has been reached on the genetic model for ore formation, and the relationships between tectonism, palaeo-fluid circulation and mineralisation. Here, we link the timing of Cu-Co mineralisation in the Central African Copperbelt to compressional tectonics during the Lufilian Orogeny by using new ca. 609–473 Ma ages given by rhenium-osmium (Re-Os) isotope data for individual Cu-Co sulphides (carrolite and bornite) from the Cu-Co Kamoto deposit. The initial Os isotope composition of carrolite is compatible with the leaching of Os and Cu(-Co) from Mesoproterozoic Cu sulphide deposits hosted in fertile basement. In contrast, the ca. 473 Ma Cu-Au mineralisation stage, which is coeval with late- to post-compressional deformation, may be a distal expression of fluid flow and heat transfer caused by magmatic intrusions in the core of the collisional orogen. The Re-Os ages support a model for mineralisation driven by evaporite dissolution and percolation of large volumes of dense brines in the Katangan Basin during the Lufilian Orogeny.

Citation

Saintilan, N., Selby, D., Creaser, R., & Dewaele, S. (2018). Sulphide Re-Os geochronology links orogenesis, salt and Cu-Co ores in the Central African Copperbelt. Scientific Reports, 8(1), Article 14946. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-33399-7

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Sep 11, 2018
Online Publication Date Oct 8, 2018
Publication Date Oct 8, 2018
Deposit Date Oct 8, 2018
Publicly Available Date Oct 9, 2018
Journal Scientific Reports
Electronic ISSN 2045-2322
Publisher Nature Research
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 8
Issue 1
Article Number 14946
DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-33399-7
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1312573

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http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Copyright Statement
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.






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