Late Miocene magmatic‐hydrothermal system and related Cu mineralization of the Arakawa area, Akita, Japan

Abstract

The Northeast Japan arc hosts a number of hydrothermal vein‐type copper deposits associated with Neogene felsic intrusions. The Arakawa area is underlain by Cretaceous granites and Tertiary sedimentary rocks, which were intruded by the Miocene Ushizawamata dacite. Zircon grains from the dacite intrusion yield a 206Pb/238U intercept age (laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry) of 8.10 ± 0.30 Ma, consistent with a previously reported K‐Ar illite age (8.1 ± 0.4 Ma) of the Ushizawamata lead and zinc prospect in the Arakawa area. The dacite intrusion and the surrounding Miocene sedimentary rocks were altered by hydrothermal activity on the surface, classified into four alteration zones: (1) biotite‐chlorite, (2) illite, (3) chlorite and (4) smectite, centered on the intrusion. About 20 major vertical sub‐parallel copper‐bearing quartz veins occur in the chlorite alteration zone on the west side of the dacite. The first vein stage is composed of chalcopyrite and chamosite with a minor amount of quartz in brecciated wall rocks, and the second‐stage is characterized by the presence of hematite in addition to the first‐stage mineral assemblage. The third‐stage consists of comb‐shaped quartz veins with a minor amount of chalcopyrite, sphalerite, galena and pyrite, and the fourth‐stage of barite and apatite present in druse in the third‐stage veins. Primary fluid inclusions in quartz of the first‐ and third‐stages are all liquid‐rich and two‐phase. Homogenization temperature and salinity of first‐stage quartz are 263–277°C and 5.7–7.5 wt% NaCl equivalent (eq.); in quartz of the third‐stage, 251–270°C and 2.7–4.2 wt% in the inner zone and 207–250°C and 2.7–3.7 wt% in comb‐shaped quartz on the vein margin. The fluid inclusions in quartz phenocrysts of the Ushizawamata dacite show two distinct assemblages, halite‐bearing polyphase inclusions that coexist with vapor‐phase inclusions and/or vapor‐rich two‐phase inclusions, and liquid‐rich two‐phase inclusions. Homogenization temperature and salinity of the polyphase inclusions are higher than 401°C and 46.7 wt%, respectively, and those of the vapor‐rich two‐phase inclusions report 393–419°C and 2.6–3.7 wt% NaCl, whereas the liquid‐rich two‐phase inclusions returned 344–403°C and 8.0–9.3 wt%, respectively. These results indicate that the ore forming fluid was slightly cooler and lower in salinity than the late‐stage hydrothermal fluid in the Ushizawamata intrusion. The spatial and temporal proximity between the Ushizawamata dacite and the hydrothermal veins indicates that the dacitic magma was genetically related to the vein copper mineralization in the Arakawa area.