Apatite evidence for a fluid-saturated, crystal-rich magma reservoir forming the Quellaveco porphyry copper deposit (Southern Peru)

Abstract

AbstractLarge volume, intermediate-felsic magma reservoirs are the source of melt and mineralising fluids which generate porphyry copper deposits. Cooling and crystallisation of hydrous magmas drives the exsolution and expulsion of a magmatic volatile phase—a process which remains challenging to constrain in porphyry Cu systems where the record of magma volatile compositions is rarely preserved. Here, we use the halogen compositions of apatite inclusions shielded as inclusions within zircon to constrain volatile evolution in magma reservoirs which pre-date and are synchronous with porphyry Cu mineralisation at Quellaveco, Southern Peru. Geochemical and textural data confirm that the zircon-included apatites escaped re-equilibration with hydrothermal fluids, unlike apatites found in the groundmass of the same rocks. We, therefore, recommend that future studies attempting to reconcile magmatic volatile budgets using apatite in porphyry Cu systems should focus on apatite inclusions in zircon. By combining the apatite inclusion data with numerical modelling, we find evidence that the magma reservoir sourcing porphyry Cu mineralisation remained fluid-saturated for the entire period recorded by apatite crystallisation. By contrast, the pre-mineralisation batholith shows more variable, potentially fluid-undersaturated behaviour. Our modelling suggests that in order to attain the porphyry melt volatile compositions inferred from apatite, the magma reservoir must have exsolved a large proportion of its volatile budget, consistent with having been held at high crystallinity (40–60% crystals). This crystallisation interval coincides with peak chlorine and copper extraction from intermediate-felsic magmas, and would have permitted efficient fluid migration and accumulation at the roof of the system. We suggest that the storage of large-volume, long-lived, crystal-rich magma reservoirs in magmatic arcs may be a critical step in generating world-class porphyry copper deposits.