Origin of the Matauri Bay halloysite deposit, Northland, New Zealand

At the Matauri Bay halloysite deposit, economically valuable halloysite-rich clays are hosted by a sanidine rhyolite dome (Ar-Ar dated at 10.1 +/- 0.03 Ma). The rhyolite dome intrudes an older basalt and is overlain by alluvial sediments and a younger basalt (4.0 +/- 0.7 Ma). A blanket-like, halloysite-rich zone is restricted to depths of 10-30 m from the present day erosion surface. Primary sanidine and plagioclase phenocrysts in rhyolite are completely leached out in the halloysite-rich zone but are only partially leached out at greater depth. Halloysite was formed by hydrolysis and cation leaching of sanidine and plagioclase phenocrysts and groundmass glass in the rhyolite, resulting in loss of K, Ca, Na and Si and enrichment in OH (LOI 6-10%) and Al2O3 (20-30%) relative to least-altered rhyolite with 1.8% LOI and 14.5% Al2O3. Oxygen and hydrogen isotope data indicate the halloysite is supergene rather than hydrothermal in origin, which is consistent with the absence of pyrite, alunite and other acid-sulphate type hydrothermal minerals, and with the blanket-like alteration profile. The dominance of halloysite over kaolinite was favoured by water-saturated weathering conditions during the late Miocene-Pliocene subtropical weathering regime in Northland.