Role of metalliferous mudstones and detrital shales in the localization, genesis, and paleo-environment of volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits of the Tally Pond volcanic belt, central Newfoundland, Canada

The Cambrian Tally Pond volcanic belt in central Newfoundland contains numerous volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposits and prospects associated with exhalative metalliferous mudstones. Deposits in the belt are bimodal felsic VMS deposits that are both base metal-bearing (e.g., Duck Pond/Boundary), and base- metal and precious metal-bearing (Lemarchant). At the Lemarchant deposit metalliferous mudstones are stratigraphically and genetically associated with mineralization. In the remainder of the Tally Pond belt, detrital shales occur predominantly in the northeastern part of the belt (mostly as unrelated mid-Ordovician structural blocks) in the upper sections of the Cambrian volcanic stratigraphy, but locally also are intercalated with metalliferous mudstones. Their relationships to massive sulphides are less obvious, with many spatially, but not necessarily genetically related to mineralization. Upper Cambrian to Lower Ordovician black shales from Bell Island, which represent pelagic sedimentation not associated with hydrothermal activity and volcanism, are compared to the Tally Pond belt mudstones and shales. Exhalative mudstones, like those at Lemarchant, have elevated Fe/Al and base-metal values, and have shale-normalized negative Ce and positive Eu anomalies, indicative of deposition from high temperature (>250The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author