Geological summary and perspective of porphyry copper deposits in southwestern north. The darrehzar porphyry cumo deposit is located in southwestern iran 70 km southwest of kerman city. These giant porphyry deposits formed relatively rapidly, typically over a period of 30 to 860 k. Implications on thermal gradient of subducted oceanic slab, depth of dehydration and partial melting along the kerman copper belt in iran. In advances in geology of the porphyry copper deposits southwestern north america, titley, s. Some of the biggest manmade holes in the ground are porphyry copper mines. The known porphyry deposits with metal content exceeding 300 t au and 5 mt cu all formed later than 5 ma, suggesting an important change in the metallogeny of the arc at this time. Major coppermolybdenum porphyry systems, southwestern usa selected references general references, southwestern u.
Andes, porphyry copper deposits, 40ar39ar geochronology, hydrothermal. Advances in geology of the porphyry copper deposits, southwestern. Porphyry ore deposits are the source of much of the copper, molybdenum, gold and silver used by humans. Titley editor, carol hicks editor see all 4 formats and editions hide other formats and editions.
Porphyry ore typically forms in magmatic arcs above subduction zones. Skarn including crd, porphyry, epithermal, snw, iocg, orogenic au. Southwestern north america hardcover march 1, 1982 by spencer r. Geology and porphyry coppertype alterationmineralization. Pdf preliminary model of porphyry copper deposits researchgate. Tectonics and geology of porphyry cuau deposits along the. The sombrero butte breccia pipe system is located at the southern end of the copper creek bunker hill mining district in the laramide porphyry copper province of southwestern north america titley, 1982. With deeper mining and drilling of known deposits as well as new discoveries during the course of the 20 th century, highquality deposit, district, and regional. Preliminary model of porphyry copper deposits usgs. Porphyry copperdeposits advances in geology ofthe porphyry copper deposits. Studies of individual deposits and districts, and of regional geology, were quickly produced by the scientists of the u. As a mining interested learner, the geology of porphyry copper deposits is vital to your education now in the first exploration geology course i discussed how because our current mining technology all the. A plate tectonic model for the origin of porphyry copper. Request pdf recent advances in the application of mineral chemistry to exploration for porphyry coppergoldmolybdenum deposits.
The southwestern north america porphyry copper province. Because some porphyry mo deposits contain significant w, the few papers that document mow and w porphyry deposits are also provided in this subsection. A new hypothesis on parameters controlling the formation and size of porphyry copper deposits. The porphyries occur as tertiary quartzmonzonite stocks and dikes, ranging in composition from microdiorite to diorite and granodiorite. Distribution of worlds porphyry copper deposits modified from singer et. This approach attempts to capture the rapid and sometimes haphazard application of pxrf in mineral exploration. Porphyry copper mineralisation of western usa allan j.
Hydrothermal alteration and mineralization at darrehzar are centered on the stock and were broadly synchronous with its. Titley sr ed advances in geology of the porphyry copper deposits. Controls on ore metal ratios in graniterelated ore. These are somewhat the giants of the ore deposits world. Resolution is a relatively arsenicpoor system, in strong contrast to the nearby magma vein system. The consistently defined deposits in this file provide the foundation for grade and tonnage models included here and for mineral deposit density models singer and others, 2005. Kesler this book summarizes recent advances in information on the porphyry copper deposits of southwestern north america. Fluid evolution of the magmatic hydrothermal porphyry. The christmas copper deposit, located in southern gila county, arizona, is part of the major porphyry copper province of southwestern north america.
It is a sequel to a n earlier summary volume published by the same group in 1966. Porphyry is a textural term for an igneous rock consisting of largegrained crystals such as feldspar or quartz dispersed in a finegrained silicate rich, generally aphanitic matrix or groundmass. The porphyry model is built on a long record of study dating back to the 1960s which has been gradually refined to encompass differences and complexities in. Ray porphyry copper deposit, pinal county, arizona, chapter 10 in advances in the geology of the.
A comparative study of porphyrytype copper deposit. Although christmas is known for skarn deposits in paleozoic carbonate rocks, oregrade porphyrytype copper mineralization also occurs in a composite granodioritic intrusive complex and adjacent mafic volcanic country rocks. Geological survey of canada, 601 booth street, ottawa, ontario k1a. Field mapping in porphyry copper environments cerro colorado mine, chile august 1114, 2002 erich u. A total of 31 samples from porphyry copper deposits of the western cordillera were examined. Copper resources a geological cross section through the batu hijau porphyry deposit, indonesia 920 million tons of ore grading 0. Pdf advances in geological models and exploration methods for. Dismemberment and tilting of many deposits in the basin and range extensional province has exposed deep and distal portions of certain.
Recent advances in the application of mineral chemistry to. The importance of porphyry deposits as a copper and gold resource gold resources. Geological studies of mining districts of the southwest reported mostly by geologists. Ip survey can used for the sulfide mapping not for porphyry copper. In titley s r ed advances in geology of the porphyry copper deposits, southwestern north america. Bingham copper mine, utah, and chuquicamata in chile, and two of the largest. In its nongeologic, traditional use, the term porphyry refers to the purplered form of this stone, valued for its appearance. Coarse muscovite veins and alteration in porphyry systems. These activities can be divided into two major fields of research. Sillitoe abstract the theory of lithosphere plate tectonics, embodying the concepts of seafloor spread. Sericitic and advanced argillic mineral assemblages and. Advances in geological models and exploration methods for copper gold porphyry deposits. Advances in geology of the porphyry copper deposits. Fracture and dike patterns in laramide plutons and their structural and tectonic implications.
The purpose of this publication is to make this kind of information available in digital form for porphyry copper deposits. Recent advances in porphyry base metal deposit research. Pdf porphyry deposits are the worlds most important source of cu. This paper focuses on the relationships between the geological model and exploration techniques for porphyry cu au deposits, with reference to the discovery. If youve seen a picture of a great big openpit mining operation odds are that it was a porphyry copper deposit. Aiken, geology of the sierritaesperanza deposit, chapter 21 in advances in the geology of the porphyry copper deposits, the university of arizona press, 1982, isbn 0816507309. Porphyry copper deposits of the american cordillera. Copper was mostly removed from the sericitic capping, but iron, molybdenum, and gold were relatively immobile during supergene leaching. Breccias associated with porphyry copper deposits have been a source of fascination for many researchers.
Zhaoshan chang department of geology and geological. Pima county, arizona, in advances in geology of the porphyry copper deposits, southwestern. Exploration for porphyry copper deposits has been guided by hydrothermal alteration patterns, which have been a focus of study for over a century e. Few porphyry copper deposits are greater than 340 million years old. Although copper has been mined from a number of different types of mineral deposits, porphyry copper deposits are the most important source for copper, accounting for more than 60 percent of the annual world copper production and approximately 65 percent of the known total copper resource. Porphyry copper deposits commonly contain hundreds of millions of metric tons of ore that averages a fraction of 1 percent copper by weight. Wholerock composition was estimated over three points of analysis by pxrf. See all 2 formats and editions hide other formats and editions. What the best geophysical survey method for exploring and discovering a porphyry copper deposit. Most of the worlds copper is extracted from a type of mineral deposit called a porphyry copper. Formed at relatively shallow depths in the earths crust less than 15,000 to 30,000 feet in areas characterized by high rates of. Porphyry copper deposit, large body of rock, typically a porphyry of granitic to dioritic composition, that has been fractured on a fine scale and through which chalcopyrite and other copper minerals are disseminated. The radiometric survey its important to discover the alteration k u t. White vieps, the university of melbourne, victoria 3010, australia porphyry copper deposits of western usa are very large low grade deposits dominated by disseminated cu mineralisation but commonly with appreciable mo and au.
Porphyry copper deposit wikipedia republished wiki 2. Here lets understand the geology of porphyries and iron oxide copper gold deposits or iocg as they are known. Copper skarn deposits occur near many porphyry copper host intru sions that intruded carbonatebearing units einaudi and others, 1981, and skarn mineral zoning patterns may be useful in the targeting of a potentially associated porphyry copper deposit meinert and others, 2005. This book summarizes recent advances in information on the porphyry copper deposits of southwestern north america. After doing an extensive literature survey at the best university library i find these exploration methods. Porphyry copper deposits of the american cordillera rosemont. In the past decade, significant research efforts have been devoted to mineral chemistry studies to assist porphyry exploration. Aiken, geology of the sierritaesperanza deposit, chapter 21 in advances in the geology of the porphyry copper deposits, the university of arizona press, 1982, banks, norman g.