13TH QUADRENNIAL IAGOD SYMPOSIUM 2010

ADELAIDE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA 6-9 APRIL

Symposium Proceedings
 Edited by:
Nigel J. Cook, Ross Large, Lynton Jacques, Lindsay Gilligan, Ian Plimer, Nick Oliver, David Mason , Tim Baker, David Giles, David
Phillips, Andrew McNeill, Jeff Foster, Mark Barley, Tony Christie, Jeff Mauk, Khin Zaw, Stuart Smith, Franco Pirajno, Jingwen Mao,
Cristiana Ciobanu, Elena Belousova, Nikolay Goryachev, Bert De Waele, David Lentz, Paul Spry, Eduardo Zappetini, David Huston,
Steve Barnes, Dan Layton-Mathews, Reid Keays, Rodney Allen, Baohong Hou, Harald Dill, Allan Pring, Peter Williams, Graham
Heinson, Martin Fairclough, Michel Cuney, Frank Bierlein, Cornel deRonde, Bruce Gemmell, Lin Sutherland and Brendan Laurs.

The opinions expressed in the abstracts are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily represent the views of IAGOD,
the symposium organising committee, PIRSA or of All-Occasions Group.

ISBN 978-1-921399-35-0

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 Chapter 13
World Regions
North, Central
and South America

SESSION CONVENORS: DAVID LENTZ1, PAUL SPRY2 AND

2. Iowa State University, Amer, Iowa, USA

3. Instituto de Geología y Recursos Minerales, Buenos Aires, Argentina

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 LOWER JURASSIC ALGOMA-TYPE BIF MINERALIZATION AT CORDILLERA
DEL VIENTO, NW NEUQUÉN, ARGENTINA

Eduardo O. Zappettini1
Marcelo Dalponte2

1. Instituto de Geología y Recursos Minerales - Servicio Geológico Minero Argentino

Stratiform beds of interlayered jasper and hematite-magnetite, typical of banded iron formations, and interpreted as an Algoma-
type deposit, have recently been discovered by the authors in an unidentified volcaniclastic marine succession within the Choiyoi
Group, from Cordillera del Viento, Neuquén, Argentina. The deposits originated from hydrothermal plumes related to a back arc
bimodal marine volcanism (Zappettini and Dalponte, 2009). The volcaniclastic sequence, locally more than 1km thick, is composed
of volcanic flows, graywackes and volcanic sandstones. Volcanics include basalts/andesites, dacites/rhyolites and acid ignimbrites,
varying from bimodal to acid explosive lithologies; the latter being dominant in the upper section. Basic flows are alkaline with
evidence of spilitization. Jaspilite layers are distributed throughout the sequence, interlayered with basaltic lavas, sandstones and
graywackes. They are up to 13 m thick and up to 1 km long, and can be traced in an area of 200 km2. Main outcrops are located
in the Huaraco Norte, Colomichicó and Butalón Norte valleys. Locally, white chert layers of up to 50 m thick have been identified in
the upper section of the volcaniclastic sequence.

Jaspilite consist mainy of alternating bands of magnetite-hematite and jasper, ranging from 1 mm to 1 cm thick, grading 20 to
30% Fe. Microbanding from 10 to 50 microns is also noticeable. The mineralogy includes opal, jasper, hematite, magnetite,
minor stilpnomelane, calcite and barite and traces of pyrite, chalcopyrite, arsenopyrite, galena and tornebohmite (Ce), as well as
secondary goethite, digenite, delafossite and arrojadite. Usually, sulfide minerals are concentrated as individual crystals of less
than 10 microns in size in the jasper layers. Late hematite-quartz veins are common. Magnetite is present as 5 to 10 micron sized
octahedral crystals, which were partially martitized. Hematite consists of 1 to 5 micron sized lamella associated with magnetite
or forming monomineral bands; spherulitic structures in the chert bands were found. Dusty hematite is disseminated in the chert
conferring its typical red color. Late hematite crystals are up to 500 microns in length. Brecciated jasper bands and associated basic
lava layers show a distinctive potassic alteration characterized by a widespread distribution of adularia, indicating the circulation of
hydrothermal fluids. The sequence of rocks was not affected by regional metamorphism and deformation is limited. Primay beds
are subhorizontal and synsedimentary folding as well as boudinage and slump structures are common features.

Jaspilite layers were locally enriched by contact metamorphism where intruded by a granodioritic pluton; massive hematite-
magnetite recristallized layers up to 5 m thick and grading up to 60% Fe were thus formed.

The iron mineralization is likely to be Upper Paleozoic in age, considering the existence of similar deposits of that age in Chile
(Nahuelbuta Fe Province, Collao et al., 1990), and because of a very limited stratigraphic control. A subsequent detailed mapping
program of the mineralized area, supported with preliminary geochronological data, including U-Pb SHRIMP data from zircons from
the basic lavas and Pb-Pb isotopes on jasper layers, point to a Lower Jurassic (Pliensbachian) age.

Minor layers (< 0.5 m thick) of manganese oxides, 250 km to the south of the studied area, are spatially associated with a
fossiliferous Pliensbachian marine sequence including silicified limestones with radiolarian fossils, ferriferous chert and dacitic
tuffs (Leanza et al., 1988). In their genetic model, they interpreted the Mn mineralization to have formed distal to the source in a
manner similar to that ascribed to the formation of banded iron formation model and assigned to the same metallogenic episode.
Known volcanism during Lower Jurassic in west central Argentina is related to a continental extension related to the collapse of
the Permian-Triassic orogen in the proto Pacific margin of Gondwana. This setting led to the formation of the back-arc Neuquén
Basin that initiated the generation of isolated syn-rift depocentres. The bimodal volcanism of the syn-rift to late-rift sequences points
to a mixed mantle-crust magmatic source (Franzese et al., 2006). In this setting, conditions were favorable for the formation of
submarine hydrothermal plumes that produced the Algoma-type banded iron formations Fe deposits and the distal Mn deposits.
The presence of these units in the region are not only of economic interest but are also geologically important because they are
potentially associatied with volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits.

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References
Collao, S., Alfaro, G., Hayashi, K. 1990. Banded Iron Formation and Massive Sulfide Orobodies, South-Central Chile: Geologic and
Isotopic Aspects. En Stratabound Ore Deposits in the Andes (L. Fontboté, G. C. Amstutz, M. Cardozo, E. Cedillo y J. Frutos, eds.):
209-219. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.
Franzese, J. R., Veiga, G. D., Schwarz, E., Gómez-Pérez, I., 2006. Tectonostratigraphic evolution of a Mesozoic graben border
system: the Chachil depocentre, southern Neuquén Basin, Argentina. Journal of the Geological Society, London, Vol. 163: 707-721.
Leanza, H. A., Brodtkorb, M. k. de, Brodtkorb, A., Danieli, J. C. 1988. La formación Chachil y sus niveles manganesíferos en
el área del Cerro Atravesada, provincia del Neuquén, Argentina. 3º Congreso Nacional de Geología Económica, 3: A171-186.
Olavarría.
Zappettini, E., Dalponte, M. 2009. Hallazgo de hierro bandeado en el basamento del sector noroccidental de la Cordillera del
Viento, provincia del Neuquén: Aspectos estratigráficos y metalogenéticos. Asociacion Geológica Argentina. Revista 64(3): 550-
554. Buenos Aires.

Biography
Eduardo Zappettini obtained a Ph.D. at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina and Docteur d’Université, from the Université de
Limoges, France. He is the Director of Geological and Mineral Resources at the Geological and Mining Survey of Argentina. He
has authored more than 100 papers on metallogeny, regional geology and petrology. He is also editor of the treatise on Mineral
Resources and the Metallogenic Map of Argentina 1999, the coordinator of the Metallogenic Map of South America 2005-2007, the
President of the Subcomission for Metallogenic Maps, and the Vice President for South America of IAGOD.

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