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The formation of porphyry copper deposits

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Abstract

Copper is a moderately incompatible chalcophile element. Its behavior is strongly controlled by sulfides. The speciation of sulfur is controlled by oxygen fugacity. Therefore, porphyry Cu deposits are usually oxidized (with oxygen fugacities > ΔFMQ +2) (Mungall 2002; Sun et al. 2015). The problem is that while most of the magmas at convergent margins are highly oxidized, porphyry Cu deposits are very rare, suggesting that high oxygen fugacity alone is not sufficient. Partial melting of mantle peridotite even at very high oxygen fugacities forms arc magmas with initial Cu contents too low to form porphyry Cu deposits directly (Lee et al. 2012; Wilkinson 2013). Here we show that partial melting of subducted young oceanic slabs at high oxygen fugacity (>ΔFMQ +2) may form magmas with initial Cu contents up to >500 ppm, favorable for porphyry mineralization. Pre-enrichment of Cu through sulfide saturation and accumulation is not necessarily beneficial to porphyry Cu mineralization. In contrast, re-melting of porphyritic hydrothermal sulfide associated with iron oxides may have major contributions to porphyry deposits. Thick overriding continental crust reduces the “leakage” of hydrothermal fluids, thereby promoting porphyry mineralization. Nevertheless, it is also more difficult for ore forming fluids to penetrate the thick continental crust to reach the depths of 2–4 km where porphyry deposits form.

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Acknowledgements

This is contribution No. IS-2308 from GIGCAS, which is supported by the NSFC (No. 91328204, 41090374, 41121002) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KZCX1-YW-15).

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  1. Weidong Sun

    Present address: Center of Deep Sea Research, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, 266071, China

Authors and Affiliations

  1. CAS Key Laboratory of Mineralogy and Metallogeny, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510640, China

    Weidong Sun, Chan-chan Zhang, He Li, Cong-ying Li & Hua-ying Liang

  2. CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Weidong Sun

  3. State Key Laboratory of Isotope Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510640, China

    Jin-tuan Wang, Li-peng Zhang, Ming-xing Ling & Xing Ding

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  1. Weidong Sun
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Correspondence to Weidong Sun.

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Sun, W., Wang, Jt., Zhang, Lp. et al. The formation of porphyry copper deposits. Acta Geochim 36, 9–15 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11631-016-0132-4

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