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USGS2005

Environment of ore deposition in the Creede mining district, San Juan Mountains, Colorado: Part VI. Maximum duration for mineralization of the OH vein

The rate at which ore deposits form is one of the least well established parameters in all of economic geology. However, increased detail in sampling, improved technology of dating, and sophistication in modeling are reducing the uncertainties and establishing that ore formation, at least for the porphyry copper-skarn-epithermal base and precious metals deposit package, may take place in surprisingly brief intervals. This contribution applies another approach to examine the duration of mineralization. The degree to which compositional gradients within single crystals has flattened through solid-state diffusion offers a measure of the thermal dose (that is temperature combined with time) that the crystals have been subjected to since deposition. Here we examine the steepness of gradients in iron content within individual single sphalerite crystals from the epithermal silver-lead-zinc deposit in the OH vein at Creede, Colorado. Two initial textures are considered: growth-banded crystals and compositionally contrasting overgrowths that succeed crosscutting dissolution or fractured surfaces. The model used estimates the maximum possible time by assuming a perfectly sharp original compositional step, and it asks how long it would take at a known temperature for the gradient measured today to have formed. Applying the experimentally determined diffusion rates of Mizuta (1988a) to compositional gradients (ranging from 0.4-2.2 mol % FeS/??m) measured by the electron microprobe in 2-??m steps on banded sphalerite formed early in the paragenetic history yields a maximum duration of less than ???10,000 yr. Sphalerite from a solution unconformity in a position midway through the paragenetic sequence is indistinguishable from instantaneous deposition, supporting the conclusion of rapid ore formation. While this formation interval seems very brief, it is consistent with less well constrained estimates using entirely different criteria. ?? 2005 Society of Economic Geologists, Inc.

Economic Geology↗

USGS2001

Overview of the Creede caldera Continental Scientific Drilling Program

No abstract available.

Colorado↗

USGS1996

Occurrence and significance of stalactites within the epithermal deposits at Creede, Colorado

In addition to the common and abundant features in karst terranes, stalactites involving a wide variety of minerals have also been found in other settings, including epigenetic mineral deposits, but these are almost always associated with supergene stages. Here we describe a different mode of occurrence from the Creede epithermal ore deposits, in Colorado, wherein stalactites of silica, sphalerite, galena, or pyrite formed in a vapor-dominated setting, below the paleo-water table, and except possibly for pyrite, as part of the hypogene mineralization. Axial cavities may, or may not, be present. No stalagmites have been recognized. The stalactites are small, from a few millimeters to a few centimeters long and a few millimeters in outer diameter. They represent only a small fraction of one percent of the total mineralization, and are covered by later crystals. Their growth orientation usually is unobservable; however, the parallel arrangement of all stalactites in a given specimen, consistency with indicators of gravitational settling, and the common presence of axial structures make the stalactitic interpretation almost unavoidable. In contrast with common carbonate stalactites, the growth mechanism for the sulfide and silica stalactites requires extensive evaporation. Stalactitic forms have also been reported from other deposits, mostly epithermal or Mississippi-Valley-type occurrences, but we caution that stalactite-like features can form by alternative processes.

Canadian Mineralogist↗