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Economic Geology; January 2001; v. 96; no. 1; p. 133-143; DOI: 10.2113/96.1.133
© 2001 Society of Economic Geologists
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Assessment of Grid-Based Whole-Rock {delta}D Surveys in Exploration: Boulder County Epithermal Tungsten Deposit, Colorado

Clive M. Rice{dagger}

Department of Geology and Petroleum Geology, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 3UE, Scotland

Russell S. Harmon

Engineering and Environmental Sciences Division, Department of the Army, Army Research Office, P.O. Box 12211, North Carolina 27709-2211

Adrian J. Boyce and Anthony E. Fallick

Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, East Kilbride, Glasgow G75 0QF, Scotland

{dagger} Corresponding author: e-mail,c.rice{at}abdn.ac.uk

Important epithermal tungsten mineralization in the Boulder County district is mainly hosted by quartz-ferberite (FeWO4) veins. Isotopic studies based on an extensive grid ({delta}D) and individual samples of wall-rock alteration and mineralization ({delta}D, {delta}O) have demonstrated the dominance of meteoric fluids during alteration processes. However, the involvement of magmatic fluids during the deposition of the ferberite veins cannot be ruled out. The fluids responsible for alteration exchanged with the country rocks to produce a large {delta}D anomaly but no concomitant {delta}18O anomaly, indicating that water/rock ratios were small. The {delta}D anomaly coincides closely with those produced by H2O+ and Rb/Sr, used as a proxy for hydrothermal alteration, but does not correlate closely with either lithochemical W anomalies or areas of greatest W production. It is concluded that the fluids responsible for district-wide hydrothermal alteration are distinct from those that produced the W mineralization and that {delta}D anomalies, while a sensitive technique for highlighting areas of significant fluid-rock interaction, must be used with caution for identifying drilling targets. The study has provided an estimate of the stable isotope composition of early Tertiary meteoric water in the Front Range (ca. {delta}D = –140{per thousand}, {delta}18O = –18.7{per thousand}).




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J. L. Mauk and M. P. Simpson
Geochemistry and Stable Isotope Composition of Altered Rocks at the Golden Cross Epithermal Au-Ag Deposit, New Zealand
Economic Geology, August 1, 2007; 102(5): 841 - 871.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


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