Stable Isotope Variability of Altered Sanidine Feldspars within the Bear Lodge Alkaline Intrusive Complex, Wyoming: Implications for Mineral Exploration Near a Late-Stage Carbonatite Ore Body

Abstract:

In a brecciated intrusive complex, mineral assemblages from non-ore-stage hydrothermal alteration may be mistakenly associated with ore body emplacement during exploration. The ability to differentiate mineralizing from non-mineralizing alteration by stable isotope analysis, and to map the fluid pathways, is a useful tool for future exploration. The Bull Hill diatreme, central Bear Lodge Mountains, contains porphyritic alkaline clasts and cross-cutting megacrystic sanidine trachyte dikes. The K feldspar (Kfs) phenocrysts reacted with and recorded the passage of hydrothermal fluids, likely derived from post-diatreme carbonatite intrusions. A study of the δ¹⁸O values of Kfs in the complex can assist mineralization mapping by revealing the late hydrothermal fluid pathways and provenance. Dike and breccia samples were split from three drill holes at regular distances, moving away from carbonatite dikes and large veins. Eighteen samples were prepared for oxygen isotope analysis by physical separation of megacrysts, or by crushing and hand-picking Kfs fragments from the breccia. A carbonatite Kfs sample was prepared by partial HCl digestion. Oxygen isotope ratios were measured at the Washington State University GeoAnalytical Laboratory using a Finnegan Delta S Mass Spectrometer. Kfs δ¹⁸O values range between 7.69‰ and 9.09‰ in the diatreme breccia xenocrysts, 5.28‰ to 8.12‰ in the megacrystic dike phenocrysts, and 7.15‰ in the carbonatite phenocrysts. Results suggest no clear relationship between the δ¹⁸O values in Kfs and the different phases of intrusion. This may be due to δ¹⁸O variability introduced by zoned and multi-crystal samples, limited variations of δ¹⁸O values among intrusion fluids, or that the final carbonatite intrusion pervasively altered all samples within the study area. Therefore, this method may not be particularly useful for identifying potential ore-bearing units in the Bear Lodge Intrusive Complex.