The Watershed Tungsten Deposit, Northeast Queensland, Australia: Permian Metamorphic Tungsten Mineralization Overprinting Carboniferous Magmatic Tungsten

Abstract

Abstract The Watershed tungsten deposit (49.2 Mt avg 0.14% WO3) lies within the Mossman orogen, which comprises deformed Silurian-Ordovician metasedimentary rocks of the Hodgkinson Formation intruded by Carboniferous-Permian granites of the Kennedy Igneous Association. The Hodgkinson Formation in the Watershed area comprises skarn-altered conglomerate, psammite, and slate units that record four deformation events evolving from ductile, isoclinal, colinear folding with transposition (D1–D3) to brittle ductile shear zones (D4). Multiple felsic to intermediate dikes cut across the metasedimentary rocks at Watershed including the following: (1) Carboniferous, monzonite dikes (zircon U/Pb age of 350 ± 7 Ma) emplaced during D1–2; and (2) Permian granite plutons and dikes (zircon U/Pb ages of 291 ± 6, 277 ± 6, and 274 ± 6 Ma) and diorite (zircon U/Pb age of 281 ± 5 Ma) emplaced during D4. Tungsten mineralization is largely restricted to skarn-altered conglomerate, which preserves a peak metamorphic mineralogy formed during ductile deformation and comprises garnet (Grt40–87 Alm0–35Sps1–25Adr0–16), actinolite, quartz, clinopyroxene (Di36–59Hd39–61Jhn1–5), and titanite. A first mineralization event corresponds to the crystallization of disseminated scheelite in monzonite dikes (pre-D3) and adjacent units, with scheelite grains aligned in the S1–2 fabric and affected by D3 folding. This event enriched the Hodgkinson Formation in tungsten. The bulk of the scheelite mineralization formed during a second event and is concentrated in multistaged, shear-related, quartz-oligoclase-bearing veins and vein halos (muscovite 40Ar-39Ar weighted average age of 276 ± 6 Ma), which were emplaced during D4. The multistage veins developed preferentially in competent, skarn-altered conglomerate units and formed synchronous with four retrograde alteration stages. The retrograde skarn minerals include clinozoisite after garnet, quartz, plagioclase, scheelite, and phlogopite with minor sodium-rich amphibole, which formed during retrograde stages 1 and 2, accompanied by later muscovite, calcite, and chlorite formed during retrograde stage 3. Retrograde stage 4 was a late-tectonic, noneconomic sulfide stage. The principal controls on scheelite mineralization at Watershed were the following: (1) early monzonite dikes enriched in scheelite; (2) D4 shear zones that acted as fluid conduits transporting tungsten from source areas to traps; (3) skarn-altered conglomerate lenses that provide a competent host to facilitate vein formation and a source for calcium to form scheelite; and (4) an extensional depositional environment characterized by vein formation and normal faulting, which provide trapping structures for tungsten-bearing fluids, with decompression being a likely control on scheelite deposition. The coexistence of scheelite with oligoclase in monzonite dikes and veins suggests that tungsten was transported as NaHWO40. Exploration in the area should target Carboniferous monzonite, associated with later syn-D4 shear zones cutting skarn-altered conglomerate.