Geology, geochemistry, and geochronology of Fe-oxide Cu (+/- Au) mineralization associated with Samli pluton, western Turkey

WOS: 000328869100011The Samli (Balikesir) Fe-oxide Cu (+/- Au) deposit, one of several iron (+ Cu +/- Au) deposits in western Turkey, is hosted by porphyritic rocks of the multi-phase Samli pluton and metapelitic-metadiabasic rocks of Karakaya Complex. Two successive mineralization events are recognized in the area as; i) early magnetite and sulfide and ii) late hematite-goethite-native copper (+/- Au). Alteration associated with the mineralization in Samli is characterized by four distinct mineralogical assemblages. They are, in chronological order of formation, (1) plagioclase-early pyroxene (+/- scapolite), (2) garnet-late pyroxene, (3) chlorite-epidote, and (4) chalcedony-calcite alteration. Geochemical, isotopic (Sr, Nd, O, S) and geochronological (Ar-Ar) data from alteration and magmatic rocks suggest a temporal and genetic link between the multiphase Samli pluton and the hydrothermal system that controls the Fe-oxide-Cu (+/- Au) mineralization. Ar-40/Ar-39 geochronology on hornblende and biotite separates of the Samli pluton yielded an age range between 23.20 +/- 0.50 and 22.42 +/- 0.11 Ma, overlapping with Ar-40/Ar-39 age of 22.34 +/- 0.59 Ma from alteration. The close spatial and temporal associations of Samli mineralization with porphyritic intrusions, pervasive Ca-rich alteration (calcic plagioclase, andraditic garnet, diopsidic pyroxene, scapolite, and epidote) are considered as common features akin to calcic assemblages in typical IOCG deposits. Besides abundant low-Ti ( pyrite) in the deposit; and the derivation of causative magma from subduction-modified subcontinental lithospheric mantle under a transpressional to transtensional regime, are collectively considered as the features in favor of IOCG-type mineralization for the Swill deposit. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Middle East Technical University Research Project Fund [METU-BAP-03-09-2007-04]; OYP-Project [BAP-08-11-DPT-2002K120510]; TUBITAKTwo anonymous reviewers are kindly thanked for their useful comments and constructive reviews to improve the original manuscript. We thank Dr Nigel Cook for his encouragement and support, and Dr Franco Pirajno for his valuable suggestion, support and editorial effort to contribute in this study. This work was supported by Middle East Technical University Research Project Fund (METU-BAP-03-09-2007-04) and OYP-Project (BAP-08-11-DPT-2002K120510). EY also would like to thank TUBITAK for a scholarship (2214-International Doctoral Research Fellowship Programme), which allowed him to spent 9 months in New Brunswick, Canada. Part of the research was supported by a NSERC Discovery grant to D