The
40Ar/
39Ar geochronological method was applied to date magmatic and hydrothermal alteration events in the Mantos Blancos mining district
in the Coastal Cordillera of northern Chile, allowing the distinction of two separate mineralization events. The Late Jurassic
Mantos Blancos orebody, hosted in Jurassic volcanic rocks, is a magmatic-hydrothermal breccia-style Cu deposit. Two superimposed
mineralization events have been recently proposed. The first event is accompanied by a phyllic hydrothermal alteration affecting
a rhyolitic dome. The second mineralization event is related to the intrusion of bimodal stocks and sills inside the deposit.
Because of the superposition of several magmatic and hydrothermal events, the obtained
40Ar/
39Ar age data are complex; however, with a careful interpretation of the age spectra, it is possible to detect complex histories
of successive emplacement, alteration, mineralization, and thermal resetting. The extrusion of Jurassic basic to intermediate
volcanic rocks of the La Negra Formation is dated at 156.3 ± 1.4 Ma (2
σ) using plagioclase from an andesitic lava flow. The first mineralization event and associated phyllic alteration affecting
the rhyolitic dome occurred around 155–156 Ma. A younger bimodal intrusive event, supposed to be equivalent to the bimodal
stock and sill system inside the deposit, is probably responsible for the second mineralization event dated at ca. 142 Ma.
Other low-temperature alteration events have been dated on sericitized plagioclase at ca. 145–146, 125, and 101 Ma. This is
the first time that two distinct mineralization events have been documented from radiometric data for a copper deposit in
the metallogenic belt of the Coastal Cordillera of northern Chile.
Keywords
40Ar/39Ar - Cu mineralization - Jurassic - Coastal Cordillera - Chile
Editorial handling: R. King