Version 1
: Received: 12 March 2021 / Approved: 15 March 2021 / Online: 15 March 2021 (13:40:19 CET)
How to cite:
Richardson, M.W.; McFarlane, C.R.; Lentz, D.R.; Falck, H. Apatite Composition and U-Pb Geochronology from the Ptarmigan and Tom Deposits, NWT Canada; Implications for Petrogenesis. Preprints2021, 2021030385. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202103.0385.v1
Richardson, M.W.; McFarlane, C.R.; Lentz, D.R.; Falck, H. Apatite Composition and U-Pb Geochronology from the Ptarmigan and Tom Deposits, NWT Canada; Implications for Petrogenesis. Preprints 2021, 2021030385. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202103.0385.v1
Richardson, M.W.; McFarlane, C.R.; Lentz, D.R.; Falck, H. Apatite Composition and U-Pb Geochronology from the Ptarmigan and Tom Deposits, NWT Canada; Implications for Petrogenesis. Preprints2021, 2021030385. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202103.0385.v1
APA Style
Richardson, M.W., McFarlane, C.R., Lentz, D.R., & Falck, H. (2021). Apatite Composition and U-Pb Geochronology from the Ptarmigan and Tom Deposits, NWT Canada; Implications for Petrogenesis. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202103.0385.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Richardson, M.W., David R. Lentz and Hendrik Falck. 2021 "Apatite Composition and U-Pb Geochronology from the Ptarmigan and Tom Deposits, NWT Canada; Implications for Petrogenesis" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202103.0385.v1
Abstract
The Ptarmigan and Tom mesothermal gold deposits are located 10 km to the northeast of the city of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories in northern Canada. Both gold deposits comprise a series of en echelon veins that are hosted within upper greenschist to lower amphibolite facies ~2630 Ma (peak) rocks. Supracrustal units across the craton are intruded by the ca. 2610–2605-Ma granodiorite, tonalite, monzodiorite, quartz diorite, and affiliated rocks of the Concession Suite. Hydrothermal apatite is a common accessory mineral in both mineralized and non-mineralized quartz veins in the metasedimentary host rocks that constitute the Ptarmigan and Tom deposits. This study characterizes and compares turbidite-hosted hydrothermal apatite from the Ptarmigan and Tom deposits, non-mineralized veins adjacent to the ore body, and magmatic apatite from proximal LCT-pegmatites. Using electron probe microanalyses (EPMA), laser ablation inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), micro-XRF, and cathodoluminescence (CL), the major, minor, and trace element abundances have been quantified and mapped. In addition to utilizing this data to determine if the chemistry of apatite can be used to constrain the source of hydrothermal fluids, the apparent age of the apatite is also evaluated utilizing in situ U-Pb dating.
The distribution and abundance of major, minor, and trace elements from in situ recovered apatite were studied to characterize the nature of mineralizing fluids. Most apatite from mineralized and non-mineralized veins show different Mn, Sr, and Pb contents, as well as chondrite-normalized rare-earth element (REE) and Y abundance patterns. REEs display five unique chondrite-normalized patterns: (1) negative sloped pattern with slight negative Eu anomaly, (2) a flat pattern with a positive Eu anomaly, (3) a positive slope with a negative Eu anomaly, (iv) light rare earth element (LREE) depleted pattern with positive Eu anomaly, and (v) bell-shaped pattern with a negative Eu anomaly. The REE patterns reflect both the source of the auriferous hydrothermal fluids and, perhaps, co-precipitating mineral phases. Apatite from the Ptarmigan vein occurs with both: (1) a flat pattern with a positive Eu anomaly and (2) bell-shaped pattern with a negative Eu anomaly. The bell-shaped and flat patterns typify orogenic gold deposits. Vein-hosted apatite commonly displays compositional zoning with a characteristic yellow cathodoluminescence (CL) emission spectra with darker cores and brighter rims. The cores have lower REE, whereas the rims are notably higher in REE. It is thought that the darker cores in CL images reflect a transition from an early low REE hydrothermal fluid to one enriched in REE. The hydrothermal apatite age of 2585 ± 15 Ma is consistent with the intrusions of the 2605 and 2590 Ma two-mica granites of the Prosperous Suite and associated LCT pegmatites.
Environmental and Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Geology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
