74 2 Hydrothermal Processes and Wall Rock Alteration

Hydrothermal alteration patterns and associated mineral assemblages are

discussed under the relevant mineral systems in the chapters ahead. In this
chapter, I review the general aspects of hydrothermal alteration processes in
intrusion-related, porphyry and epithermal systems, skarns and alteration (or
hydrothermal metamorphism) of oceanic crust at spreading centres, inevitably
with some repetition, with the aim of providing a ‘‘road map’’ for field-based
studies. Indeed, the mapping of alteration mineral assemblages can be very
useful for the identification of hydrothermal conduits, which in turn may lead
to the discovery of buried ores. In addition, I examine the overprint of regional
metamorphism on hydrothermally altered rocks, considering that there are
instances in which it may difficult to separate the two, because the same mineral
phases can be formed (e.g. chlorite, biotite, calcite, garnet, amphibole, etc.),
under conditions of regional metamorphism and hydrothermal circulation.
I conclude with overviews on the use of geochemistry and stable isotope
systematics in the study of hydrothermal processes and the detection of regional
alteration patterns from spectral remote sensing.

2.1.1 The Main Components of a Hydrothermal System

It is said that Leonardo da Vinci thought that there are two cycles of water on
Earth. One is the surface cycle (evaporation, precipitation, runoff), the other
is an internal cycle. Although Leonardo was not a geologist, he probably
suspected that water issuing from springs had something to do with internal
processes. A hydrothermal system can be loosely defined as the distribution of
hot fluids circulating, laterally and vertically at various temperatures and
pressures, below the Earth’s surface. The presence and movement of these
fluids, whether or not they discharge at the surface, constitute hydrothermal
activity. More rigorous definitions would have to include the geological environ-
ment within which the circulation of fluids is generated and maintained for a
period of time long enough to form an anomalous concentration of metallic
minerals. Whether this anomalous concentration constitutes an orebody or not,
is generally an artificial parameter dictated by the global and/or local social,
economic and political framework of organised human societies, at a given time.
A hydrothermal system consists of two essential components: a heat source,
which provides the necessary energy (magmatic, geothermal gradient, radiogenic
decay, metamorphism), and a fluid phase, which includes solutions derived
from magmatic/juvenile fluids, metamorphic fluids, meteoric, connate waters
or seawater. A hydrothermal system necessitates a plumbing structure (fault,
fracture, permeable lithologies) that focuses the solutions to a depositional site.
An actively convective hydrothermal cell will consist of: a recharge system,
a circulation cell and a discharge system. A hydrothermal mineral deposit is
formed by the circulation of warm to hot fluids (about 50 to > 5008C) that
leach, transport and subsequently precipitate their mineral load in response to
2.1 Introduction 75

changing physico-chemical conditions. Mineral deposits are usually formed at

the discharge site, whether this is a single conduit, or a series of channelways, or a
fine network of small fractures. Seen in a different perspective, a hydrothermal
system can be considered in terms of a fluid flow regime. In this view, shown in
Fig. 2.1, the development of a hydrothermal mineral system requires that fluids
are transported from a large-volume reservoir through progressively smaller
pathways to a depositional site. Cox (2005) envisaged in this hydrothermal
mineral system an upstream part flow regime and a downstream part flow regime
(Fig. 2.1). The depositional sites are faults, fractures networks and shear zones.
The rocks within which the deposit is formed undergo varying degrees of
hydrothermal alteration, the intensity of which as a rule decreases away from
the discharge site(s), and hence from the mineralised body. As mentioned

FLUID RESERVOIR

METAL SOURCE ROCKS

FRACTURE/FAULT
HIGH PERMEABILITY PATHWAYS
CONTROLLED
DOWNSTREAM SECTION

IMPERMEABLE
BARRIER

HYDROFRACTURING
ORE DEPOSIT

SPENT/DISPERSED
FLUIDS -
NO MINERALISATION

Fig. 2.1 Fluid flow in a fracture-controlled hydrothermal system; the upstream section
consists of a large volume fluid source from which the fluids are channelled along
progressively smaller pathways, to interact with a metal(s) source rocks, to a downstream
section where fluids may encounter an impermeable barrier, which will preclude the upward
flow resulting in a pressure build up, followed by effervescence or boiling, hydrofracturing
and metal deposition; if the fluids do not encounter a barrier, then it is possible that these fluid
become dispersed or spent and produce no mineralisation. Modified after Cox (2005)
76 2 Hydrothermal Processes and Wall Rock Alteration

above, alteration takes place because the mineral assemblages in the wall rocks
are in physico-chemical disequilibrium with the hydrothermal fluids, and tend
to re-equilibrate by forming new mineral assemblages that are stable under the
new conditions. In this respect it may be appropriate to make a distinction
between mineral assemblages and mineral associations (Seedorff et al. 2005).
A mineral assemblage refers to a group of minerals that formed more or less at
the same time and are stable together. A mineral assemblage essentially defines
the physico-chemical conditions of the system. A mineral association, on the
other hand, is a group of minerals that occurs together, but are not necessarily
in equilibrium and did not form at the same time.
A ‘‘fossil’’ hydrothermal system is the result of ‘‘frozen-in’’ hydrothermal
activity in a given geological and tectonic setting. Although there may be
different opinions amongst geologists as to details of the workings of such a
system, there is little doubt that the hydrothermal activity, in a porphyry Cu-Au
deposit for example, was started by magmatic events relating to the emplace-
ment of a volcano-plutonic complex. Quartz veins are the ‘‘fossil’’ expression of
the discharge of fluids along a narrow structure or channel. Many of the
volcanic-associated precious and base metal deposits (e.g. volcanogenic massive
sulphides, VMS; Chapter 7), both in the subaerial and submarine environ-
ments, represent ‘‘frozen-in’’ hydrothermal systems, with their analogues
being observed in areas of active venting at modern convergent and divergent
plate boundaries. Similarly, some of the Proterozoic-aged, sediment-hosted
massive sulphide deposits or SEDEX, represent a geological record analogue
of sulphide muds accumulating in the brine pools of the axial zone of the Red
Sea. However, not all of the hydrothermal mineral deposits preserved today
have a modern equivalent. For example, some of the ore deposits of Archaean
and Palaeoproterozoic age have no modern analogue. This is because they were
the product of hydrothermal systems activated during particular geodynamic,
metallogenic and/or biogenic and atmospheric conditions, which have not since
been repeated. Amongst these I cite the Witwatersrand Au-U deposits in South
Africa, formed when the atmosphere was clearly O2 poor or the Fe ores of the
banded iron-formation (BIF) formed during a transition to a rise in the levels of
O2 in atmosphere. In other instances, hydrothermal activity occurs at depths
beyond our direct observation. Deep drilling in the continental crust has,
however, indicated the presence of hydrothermal fluids circulating along
major shear zones at depths of several kilometres (see Chapter 9).

2.1.1.1 Hydrothermal Veins

Hydrothermal veins are the best indicators of hydrothermal fluid flow and as such
can also be considered an expression of the conduits or fractures through which
fluids circulate. Textural variations and morphology of vein crystals (usually
quartz and carbonates) and other silica precipitates (e.g. opal, chalcedony) provide
valuable information on the nature of the hydrothermal system from which the
veins were sourced. Much of microthermometric measurements of fluid inclusions
2.1 Introduction 77

are carried out on vein quartz and carbonate minerals. Hydrothermal veins
have a very wide size range from submicroscopic to several km in length. Giant
quartz veins from the Abitibi greenstone belt are estimated to have formed from
1  1018 g of fluids, precipitating 9  1014 g of Si, 9  1013 g of CO2 as carbonate,
and 1  1013 g of K (Jia and Kerrich 2000). Hydrothermal veins mostly form
from silica-bearing fluids that originate from (Jia and Kerrich 2000): (1) igneous
intrusions; (2) deeply convecting meteoric fluids; (3) metamorphic devolatilisation;
(4) mantle-derived fluids. Quartz veins are commonly found in low-grade rocks,
typically within or above the brittle-ductile crustal stress field, forming around
2–3 kbar and 200–3508C (Bons 2001). Hydrothermal veins can be syntectonic to
post-tectonic.
Bons (2001), using an example from intrusion-associated quartz veins in
western New South Wales, Australia, proposed an interesting model of veins
forming by rapid ascent of batches of fluids along hydrofracture systems. This
author reasoned that quartz should precipitate close to the source as the
ascending fluids cools because the solubility of silica dramatically decreases
with temperature. Instead quartz veins are observed in the upper crustal levels
at and above the brittle-ductile transition. This indicates that silica-bearing
fluids move very fast and, because of this, these fluids would have no time to
equilibrate with cooler and lower pressure environments. Bons (2001) proposed
that silica-bearing fluids do not flow through the fracture, but move with a
water-filled hydrofracture which, according to this author, can move at speeds
of 1 m/s and therefore propagate 10 km in about 3 hours. Ascending micro-
fractures are likely to arrest their movement once they enter the brittle regions in
the upper crust, where pore fluid pressure is lower than lithostatic pressure. The
region of brittle-ductile transition and above it is where quartz veins are formed.
Hydrofractures move by stress concentration at the upper fracture tip, which is
where the fluid is overpressured. In this way the hydraulic fracture propagates
upward and its contained fluid moves with it. Tectonic stresses determine the
orientation of the hydrofracture that, as explained in Chapter 9, tend to form
along the least compressive stress s3.
Much of the hydrothermal mineral systems that are associated with igneous
intrusions are primarily characterised by vein systems that are spatially and
genetically associated with these intrusions. Mineralised vein systems that
are formed in the metamorphic environment by devolitilisation reactions are
treated in some detail in Chapter 9.
Vearncombe (1993) examined vein morphologies from Archaean Au depos-
its, based on growth direction of quartz and listed seven categories, namely:
(1) face-controlled, characterised by quartz addition along crystallographic
axis; (2) displacement-controlled, characterised by growth along trace of incre-
mental opening; (3) parallel controlled, characterised by bands parallel to the
vein margins; (4) radiating, characterised by growth from a point; (5) non-
directional controlled, characterised by unrestricted and homogeneous
growth; (6) replacement, characterised by quartz replacing earlier textures;
and (7) modified, characterised by deformation. Figure 2.2 schematically
78 2 Hydrothermal Processes and Wall Rock Alteration

(1) face control (2) displacement control

inclusion band

(3) parallel control (4) radiating from a

point-control

Fig. 2.2 Seven categories of quartz that form in quartz veins, according to Vearncombe
(1993): (1) face-control refers to unidirectional growth, in this example along the c-axes;
(2) displacement-control with quartz addition along the direction of the vein opening, inclu-
sion bands are left behind at each incremental opening; (3) parallel-control with addition of
parallel growth bands, with banding mimicking the shape of the host surface; (4) radiating
growth from a single point, forming quartz/chalcedony rosettes; (5) non-directional control,
quartz crystals nucleate randomly; (6) replacement textures, in which a pre-existing mineral,
other than quartz, is replaced by silica; (7) modification texture, in the example shown a
pre-existing quartz vein is sheared with its original inclusions of wall rock, which form ribbons
2.1 Introduction 79

illustrates Vearncombe’s seven categories. Vein textures that can be recognised

in the field are very important because these can help in assessing not only the
nature and origin of the vein, but also the associated mineral system. Vein
textures and corresponding explanations are listed in Table 2.1.

Table 2.1 Quartz vein textures, modified after Vearncombe (1993)

Vein texture Explanation
Antitaxial fibre Displacement-controlled; fibres in optical continuity from the vein
margins; growth is from the centre outwards; some wall-parallel of
wallrock slivers may be present
Syntaxial fibre Displacement-controlled; material filling vein is compisitonally similar
to vein wall; fibres form two groups, each crystallographically related
to a corresponding wall; growth is from wall to centre; see also
section
Breccia Quartz clasts, cemented by silica or other materail; commonly due to
hydraulic fracturing or to multiple generations of quartz
Buck or bull Coarse-grained and typically white quartz
quartz
Cockade Parallel-controlled, concentrically banded
Colloform Parallel-controlled, concretionary, mammillary, reinform and spherical
textures; bands at various scales (Fig. 2.3a)
Comb Face-controlled, long axis of quartz crystals perpendicular to cavity or
wall rocks; crystals have rhombohedral terminations; zoning
Comb spider Network of veins cutting host quartz; mostly clear fine, euhedral quartz
veinlets with c-axis oriented perpendicular to vein margins
Composite fibre Displacement-controlled; two mineral species fill the vein and are
zonally arranged; crystals adjacent to vein margins are
compositionally and crystallographically related to host rocks
Crack-seal Texture that derives from an accretionary process, which involves
increments of microcrack opening and sealing. Generally forms in
metamorphic environments and may be typical of orogenic lodes
(Chapter 9)
Crustiform Parallel-controlled; successive bands parallel to vein wall; defined by
variable grain form and size
Drusy Face-controlled; growth in cavity or geode
Laminated or Wall rock mm- or cm-thick laminae; multiple parallel veins containing
ribbon slabs, slivers of wall rock, formed by opening and reopening of the
vein material (type 1); deformed parallel bands of ribbons also
including slivers of wall rock, but deformed or sheared
Lattice and Silica replacement of calcite crystals, resulting in a ‘‘bladed’’ texture; this
replacement is generally due to boiling fluids (Fig. 2.3b)
Plumose Feathery, radial or flamboyant quartz (Fig. 2.3a)
Rosette Radiating crystal growths
Saccharoidal Crystals of uniform grain size and habit; no matrix
Stretched fibre Face- and displacement-controlled; material fllling the vein is
compositionally similar to vein wall, but fibres form a
crystallographic continuum with wall rocks
Stylolite Zones of dark residue; saw-tooth cross-section; product of pressure
solution
80 2 Hydrothermal Processes and Wall Rock Alteration

a) b)

Fig. 2.3 (a) Concretionary and feathery, radial quartz; from a vein system in the Skirmish Hill
area, West Musgrave, Western Australia; (b) bladed quartz from the Hes Daba Au epithermal
occurrence in the Ethiopian flood basalts, Djibouti (photo courtesy of Murray Surtees)

2.1.2 Magma Degassing and Magmatic Hydrothermal Systems

As a prelude to the pages ahead, I describe two models of intrusion-related

magmatic-hydrothermal systems. The first was proposed by Burnham (1979).
The second model, which I believe important because of its implications for
understanding of porphyry-epithermal systems, is that of William-Jones and
Heinrich (2005).

2.1.2.1 Burnham’s Model

Burnham (1979) examined in detail the magmatic hydrothermal system gener-
ated during the cooling of a hypothetical granodiorite intrusive stock containing
3 wt% water. In the discussion that follows, based on Burnham (1979, 1997),
reference must be made to the sketches in Fig. 2.4. Cooling of the intrusive body is
assumed to have taken place in a subvolcanic environment. Therefore, it is
implied that during the initial stages of cooling the system is open, allowing the
escape of volatiles through fractures above the pluton. At a later stage, the
intrusive body becomes a closed system by developing a solidified shell. This
stage is shown in Fig. 2.4A, where line S1 represents the boundary outside which
the stock is below the solidus temperature. Burnham (1979) further assumed that
the maximum temperature in the interior of the stock is 10258C, that the 10008C
isotherm extends to a depth of 2.5 km, and that this isotherm encloses the portion
of the body which is still 90% melt. Upward and outward from the 10008C
isotherm, the H2O content of the residual melt increases to a zone where the melt
is saturated with H2O at 3.3 wt%. At this level and up to the solidus line S1, the
system is made up of a crystalline assemblage containing pyroxene, a residual
melt of granitic composition and an aqueous fluid phase. At greater depths, and
always outward from the 10008C isotherm, hornblende and biotite remain stable
at temperatures between 800–9008C and 780–8508C, respectively. Biotite forms
by reaction of the residual melt with hornblende, and as a result, silica is enriched