Wall-rock Alteration Relating to Tungsten-Tin-Copper Mineralization at the Ohtani Mine, Japan

대곡(大谷) W-Sn-Cu 광상(鑛床)의 열수변질작용(熱水變質作用)

The ore deposit of the Ohtani mine is one of repesentatives of plutonic tungsten-tin veins related genetically to acidic magmatism of Late Cretaceous in the Inner zone of Southwest Japan. Based on macrostructures of vein filling on the order of ore body, three major mineralization stages, called stage I, stage II, and stage ill from earliest to latest, are distinguished by major tectonic breaks. The alteration zories are characterized by specific mineral associations in pseudomorphs after biotite. The alteration zones can be divided into two parts, i. e. a chlorite zone and a muscovite zone, each repesenting mineralogical and chemical changes produced by the hydrothermal alteration. The chloritic alteration took place at the beginning of mineralization, and muscovite alteration in additions to chloritic alteration took place at stage II and ill. The alteration zones are considered to be formed by either of two alteration mechanism. 1) The zones are formed by reaction of the rock with successive flows of solution of different composition and different stage. 2) The zones are formed contemporaneously as the solution move outward. Reaction between the solution and the wall-rock results in a continuous change in solution chemistry. The migration of the successive replacement of the fresh zone$\rightarrow$the chlorite zone$\rightarrow$the muscovite zone may have transgressed slowly veinward, leaving metasomatic borders between the different zones.