The effect of Alpine metamorphism on an oceanic Cu-Fe sulfide ore: the Herin deposit, Western Alps, Italy

Abstract

Herin mine (Champdepraz, Aosta, Italy), located in Aosta Valley, approximately between 1600 and 1800 m a.s.l., was exploited for at least 250 years for its Cu-Fe sulfide ore. The deposit host rocks belong to the metaophiolitic Zermatt-Saas unit, the eclogitic lower portion of the Piedmont Western Alpine Nappe. The ore mineral association mainly comprises pyrite and chalcopyrite, along with other sulfides such as pyrrhotite, sphalerite, cubanite and oxides (magnetite, rutile, ilmenite). The deposit consists in lenticular massive bodies and thin layers hosted in various greenschist-facies metamorphosed lithotypes. New data on geometric features, mineralogy, mineral chemistry, petrography, minerography were collected and compared with the existing models for massive-sulfide mineral deposits. We suggest a hydrothermal-volcanogenic primary origin of the mineralization with primary characters largely obliterated by subsequent metamorphic history. On the basis of previous works and our results, we identified two parameters as driving criteria for a comprehension of the multistage process that led to the present configuration of the ore: (a) textural characters of pyrite and (b) distribution of selected trace elements (Co, Ni, As) in sulfides. Spot analyses and atomic maps obtained by electron microprobe provided an integration of these two sets of data. Trace elements, in fact, show a zoned distribution, in particular in pyrite, that can be related to specific textural styles. We selected Co as a useful trace element, due to its high concentration and wide range in pyrite (270-22200 ppm). Besides we determined a critical concentration value for cobalt of 3160 ppm, as discriminating between two generations of pyrite. This led to outline a series of dissolution and crystallization events, that describes the metamorphic history of the sulfide ore.