Age, geological setting, and paragenesis of heavy rare earth element mineralization of the Tanami region, Western Australia

Nazari-Dehkordi, Teimoor, Spandler, Carl, Oliver, Nicholas H.S., and Wilson, Robin (2020) Age, geological setting, and paragenesis of heavy rare earth element mineralization of the Tanami region, Western Australia. Mineralium Deposita, 55. pp. 107-130.

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Abstract

Metasedimentary rock-hosted heavy rare earth element (HREE) mineralization occurs as numerous orebodies distributed across a large district of the Tanami region of central Australia, close to a regional unconformity between Archean metasedimentary rocks of the Browns Range Metamorphics (BRM) and overlying Proterozoic Birrindudu Group sandstones. The orebodies consist predominantly of quartz, xenotime, and minor florencite and occur along steeply dipping structures within a stockwork of hydrothermal veins and breccias. Paragenetic stages of the mineralization include (1) a pre-ore stage of a greenschist-facies overprint of detrital minerals including quartz, alkali feldspar, plagioclase, and muscovite aligned in the premineralization foliation; (2) syn-ore quartz and white mica alteration associated with a multistage mineralization of the ore minerals, primarily in breccias and veins; and (3) a post-ore stage of veining and brecciation forming several generations of quartz, plus hematite, barite, anhydrite, and pyrite. In situ U-Pb dating of xenotime from several deposits/prospects yielded an age range for mineralization of 1.65 to 1.60 Ga; this timeframe lacks local magmatism or orogeny and is significantly younger than the ca. 1.72 Ga Ar-40/Ar-39 age of the pre-ore muscovite. Far-field stresses associated with the distal Isan and Liebig Orogenies are invoked as drivers of large-scale fluid flow and fault (re)activation in the region. We propose that ore formation was achieved via fluid leaching of REE from the BRM, followed by fluid mixing in fault zones, especially in the vicinity of the unconformity between the BRM and overlying Birrindudu Group sandstones. This mineralization style shares many features with unconformity-related U deposits, and there is significant potential for discovery of further REE orebodies of this style, especially in the vicinity of regional unconformities, in intercontinental sedimentary basins.

Item ID: 62352
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1432-1866
Keywords: Rare earth elements, Xenotime, Unconformity, Isotopic dating, Tanami region
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Copyright Information: Copyright Springer
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A version of this publication was included as Chapter 3 of the following PhD thesis: Nazari Dehkordi, Teimoor (2018) The origin and evolution of heavy rare earth element mineralisation in the Browns Range area, Northern Australia. PhD thesis, James Cook University, which is available Open Access in ResearchOnline@JCU. Please see the Related URLs for access.

Funders: Northern Minerals Ltd., Australian Research Council (ARC)
Projects and Grants: ARC 12010098
Date Deposited: 26 Feb 2020 07:35
FoR Codes: 37 EARTH SCIENCES > 3705 Geology > 370508 Resource geoscience @ 100%
SEO Codes: 84 MINERAL RESOURCES (excl. Energy Resources) > 8401 Mineral Exploration > 840107 Titanium Minerals, Zircon, and Rare Earth Metal Ore (e.g. Monazite) Exploration @ 50%
97 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 970104 Expanding Knowledge in the Earth Sciences @ 50%
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