Pumpellyosite alteration in the oceanic crust as marker of chemically evolved hydrothermal discharge and its relation to volcanogenic massive-sulphide (VMS) deposits

Reactions of seawater and fresh basalts below the seafloor are crucial for the formation of black-smoker type volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposits. Improved understanding of hydrothermal alteration processes can therefore help to improve the genetic model of VMS deposits, facilitating targeting in mineral exploration. Reactions of downwelling seawater with fresh basalts creates Ca-depleted, Mg- and Na- enriched “spilite” alteration (albite+chlorite+hematite+titanite±augite±epidote±quartz±calcite). The fluid in turn becomes enriched in Ca and depleted in Mg and Na. This chemically evolved, upwelling fluid can create Ca-enriched, Mg- and Na-depleted “epidosite” alteration (epidote+quartz+titanite+hematite). Epidosites have often been proposed as being the source-rocks for metals in VMS deposits. The more rarely described “pumpellyosite” alteration (pumpellyite+quartz+titanite) exhibits a very similar metasomatism to epidosite alteration and is assumed to represent the low-T equivalent of epidosite alteration.

            We recently discovered large, km²-sized areas of pumpellyosite alteration in the Semail ophiolite (Oman), allowing us to study the transition from epidosite to pumpellyosite alteration. We use reactive-transport modelling to investigate the mechanism responsible for the change from epidosite to pumpellyosite alteration. Pumpellyosite alteration was observed up to few meters below the palaeo-seafloor, indicating that evolved fluids discharged directly onto the seafloor. However, no sulphide mineralisation was observed on or below the palaeo-seafloor. This observation makes the involvement of pumpellyosite alteration in the VMS-forming system questionable. The metasomatic fingerprint of pumpellyosite alteration also strongly contrasts with the chlorite-quartz alteration typically found below VMS deposits. Since epidosite and pumpellyosite alteration appear to be genetically linked, epidosites may likewise be unrelated to the genesis of VMS deposits.