The importance of different types of magmatism in VHMS mineralisation: Evidence from the geochemistry of the host volcanic rocks to the Benambra massive sulphide deposits, Victoria, Australia

The Wilga and Currawong Cu-Zn massive sulphide deposits in southeastern Australia are hosted by a deformed sequence of Upper Silurian basaltic to rhyolitic volcanic and sedimentary rocks. The syn-volcanic mineralisation occurs immediately above a thick package of rhyolitic volcanic rocks and volcaniclastic rocks (Thorkidaan Volcanics), and is overlain by relatively thin intercalated sills, intrusive domes and flows of basalt, andesite and dacite (Gibson's Folly Formation). The Thorkidaan Volcanics have epsilon(Nd(420Ma)) = - 2.2 to - 9.8 and are considered to have been derived by partial melting of older crustal rocks, whereas the basalt-andesite-dacite hangingwall sequence has epsilon((Nd(415Ma)) = - 0.5 to + 2.0 suggesting derivation from a relatively undepleted mantle source. Relatively high-Ti andesitic to dacitic rocks from the Bumble Creek area have epsilon(Nd(415)) = + 5.2 to + 5.9 suggesting affinities with Ordovician volcanic rocks elsewhere in the Lachlan Fold Belt. The Thorkidaan Volcanics display a limited silica range (73 to 79 wt.%), but have distinctive minor and trace element variations indicating a substantial fractionation history involving feldspar and several accessory phases. Major and trace element compositions of the basalt-andesite-dacite suite display regular variations consistent with a cogenetic relationship by fractional crystallisation. The basaltic rocks mostly have low TiO2 (< 0.8 wt.%) and other chemical characteristics such as high Zr/Nb and La/Nb which suggest formation in a subduction-related setting; probably an embryonic back-are basin developed on stretched continental lithosphere, or in small pull-apart basins developed adjacent to a transtensional margin. The magmatic history and paleogeography reflect an extensional tectonic and magmatic cycle comprising uplift, rhyolitic magmatism from crustal melting, extension, subsidence, and penetration of a mantle-derived basalt-andesite-dacite suite up extensional faults to the sea floor. Massive sulphide ores are located exactly at the stratigraphic change from rhyolitic to more mafic mantle-derived magma types. Consideration of the types of mineralisation associated with crustal, S-type granitoids, coupled with thermal constraints limiting the capacity of small bodies of silicic magma to initiate and sustain hydrothermal convection cells of reasonable size, suggests that in the absence of coeval mafic magmatism, S-type crustal-derived silicic volcanic packages are likely to be barren of VHMS deposits. Mineralisation occurs in association with mantle-derived basalt-andesite-dacite suites that either provide the necessary heat to facilitate leaching of the footwall volcanic rocks, or contribute metal-rich hydrothermal solutions during fractional crystallisation, or both.