Moving nappes as the sources of fluids, energy, and metals for ore mineralizations

• Applicant: Professor Juraj Majzlan, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Mineralogy, Petrology and Geochemistry
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 550535440

This proposal is based on the working hypothesis that the moving nappes, namely their soles, can provide energy, metals, and fluids to form some ore mineralizations. This hypothesis is to be tested in two segments of the Western Carpathians, a mountain range with thick- and thin-skinned tectonics. The thrust planes, investigated there, provided evidence of overpressurized fluids with high salinity and elevated metal content; these fluids were injected into the surrounding rocks and could have been deposited as ore minerals. The basis for the hypothesis and the proposed work is a certain publication of Broska et al. (2024, Chemical Geology) that identified thrusting of granites over granitic basement with the associated pervasive hydrothermal alteration and loss of certain elements. Hence, in the selected quartz-hematite-lazulite and siderite-chalcopyrite mineralizations, we will determine the fluid-inclusion and stable-isotopes parameters and match them to the parameters of the fluids from the soles of the nappes. We will perform detailed mineralogical investigations, determine the precipitation sequence, and the possibility of linking some of the minerals to the fluids that escaped from the thrust plane of the moving nappes. We will use radiometric U-Pb dating of carbonate minerals and hematite to constrain the temporal relationship between the studied minerals and the motion of the Alpine nappes. If the hypothesis is shown to be correct, the concept of the link between ores and nappes can be extended to other orogens.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants