Uranium-Copper Systems In Westmoreland Region, Northern Australia: Fluid Inclusion Studies And Geochemical Modelling Of Basinal Fluids  


Authors / CoAuthors

Mernagh, T.P. | Jaireth, S. | Bastrakov, E.N. | Wygralak, A.S.

Abstract

Fluid inclusion studies have been carried out on quartz veining from Jackson's Pit and Eva uranium mines and the Dianne and St Barb copper prospects in the Westmoreland region. Four types of inclusions have been observed. Type A, vapour-rich inclusions, contain 30 - 100 vol.% vapour with varying amounts of CO2 ± N2 ± CH4. Type B, liquid-rich inclusions, contain up to 30 vol.% vapour. Type C inclusions are liquid-only. Type D, three-phase (vapour + liquid + solid) liquid-rich inclusions, contain a small daughter crystal. Type A, vapour-rich inclusions and some Type B, liquid-rich inclusions homogenised over the range 171 to 385°C. Other Type B and Type D inclusions typically homogenised between 100 and 240°C with a mode around 120°C, while the presence of liquid-only inclusions suggests trapping at temperatures below 50°C. This may indicate three phases of fluid flow in the region with progressively cooling fluids. Eutectic melting temperatures as low as -79.8ºC in Type B and C inclusions suggest the presence of CaCl2 and other salts in the fluids. Final ice meeting temperatures for Type B and C inclusions fall into two groups. The first group has final melting temperatures below -10ºC while the second group shows final meeting above -10ºC and more typically close to 0ºC indicating the presence of low salinity fluids. This suggests mixing between saline basinal fluids and low salinity meteoric fluids that continued down to temperatures below 50°C.

Product Type

nonGeographicDataset

eCat Id

70339

Contact for the resource

  Custodian

MNHD  

  Point of contact

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)  
Cnr Jerrabomberra Ave and Hindmarsh Dr GPO Box 378
Canberra
ACT
2601
Australia

Keywords

  • External PublicationAbstract
( Theme )
  • fluid inclusions
( Theme )
  • geochemical modelling
( Theme )
  • geochemistry
( Theme )
  • ore
  • AU-SA
Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)
  • Earth Sciences
  • Published_Internal

Publication Date

2010-04-19T00:00:00

Creation Date

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Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem    

Classification - unclassified

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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence    

Access - restricted

Use - license

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Purpose

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unknown

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geoscientificInformation

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Unknown

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Extents

[-18.0, -17.0, 136.5, 139.5]

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