Magmatic and hydrothermal quartz of the São Jorge gold deposit, Tapajós Gold Province, Pará: Petrography, scanning electron microscopy-cathodoluminescence and metallogenetic implications

Studies in crystals of quartz present in the mineral associations to the area of the São Jorge gold deposit, Tapajós Gold Province, southwest of the Pará state, identified four morphological and textural types (Qz1, Qz2, Qz3 and Qz4) by scanning electron microscopy-cathodoluminescence images. In the more preserved rocks of the Younger São Jorge Jovem granite, rich in amphibole and biotite (associations 1 and 2), anhedral crystals of magmatic quartz with high to moderate luminescence (Qz1) dominate. In the partly altered rocks (associations 2 and 3), post-magmatic to hydrothermal fluids affected the granite, and filled fractures in Qz1 and crystallized not luminescent (dark) Qz2. In the most intensely altered rocks (association 4), successive alteration, dissolution and recrystallization processes gave rise to typically hydrothermal zoned, subhedral (Qz3) and euhedral (Qz4) quartz crystals. Images by backscattered electrons and semiquantitative analysis by energy dispersive spectroscopy identified two generations of gold: Au1, enriched in Ag (4.3 to 23.7%) and associated to pyrite crystals; Au2, enriched in Te (1.1 to 17.2%) and included or associated to Qz4. The scanning electron microscopy-cathodoluminescence study provided important information that was preserved in the quartz structure. The morphological and textural evolution of this mineral in different stages shows the gradual action of the hydrothermalism in the rocks and minerals associations of São Jorge deposit. Gold mineralization of the deposit was chemically (energy dispersive spectroscopy) and paragenetically (pyrite, sphalerite and Qz4) characterized, and it can be divided into different generations or mineralizing events. The effectiveness of the methodology used in this study was established, allowing its application in studies of other hydrothermal deposits.