Abstract
New geochronological data presented here improves the understanding of the temporal evolution of the Cananea Mining District, and particularly of the Milpillas porphyry copper deposit (northeastern Sonora, Mexico). Uranium-lead zircon analyses, using laser ablation ICP-MS multi-collector, from the quartz monzonite porphyry unit that host the mineralization at the Milpillas deposit, yielded a crystallization age of 63.9 ± 1.3 Ma (2-sigma). Re-Os molybdenite ages from two drill core samples from more than 500 m depth yielded an identical age of 63.1 ± 0.4 Ma (2-sigma), suggesting a restricted period of mineralization. These ages indicate that the Milpillas deposit is the oldest Laramide porphyry copper deposit recognized so far in the Cananea District.
Our new Re-Os data in addition to previous Re-Os data, suggest that mineralization within the district, occurred within a ~4 m.y. period in three discrete pulses at ~59 Ma, ~61 Ma and ~63 Ma. This is in contrast to the previous model in which mineralization at the Cananea District was the result of a continuous hydrothermal system that started at ~62 Ma and ended at ~52 Ma.
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