Tectonic and metallogenic evolution of the Curaçá Valley Copper Province, Bahia, Brazil: A review based on new SHRIMP zircon U-Pb dating and sulfur isotope geochemistry

More than three hundred mafic-ultramafic bodies of different sizes, containing copper sulfide mineralization, are present in the Curaca River Valley Copper Province, northeastern Sao Francisco Craton, Bahia State, Brazil, covering an area of about 1700 km2. The basement, supracrustal sequence, and mafic-ultramafic intrusive rocks underwent granulite facies metamorphism and were reworked during the evolution of the Itabuna-Salvador-Curaca Orogeny, resulting in retrograde metamorphism to the amphibolite facies, partial migmatization, and intrusion of granitic and syenitic rocks. During the slow and progressive rise of the terrain, hydrothermal reactions mainly along shear zones retrogressed part of these rocks to assemblages characteristic of the greenschist metamorphic facies. The main orebodies with copper sulfide minerals are associated with pyroxenite, mica-rich (glimmerite) and noritoid rocks. The present investigation focuses on the major Caraiba, Sussuarana, Surubim, and Vermelhos deposits. Chalcopyrite and bornite compose the ore, in a ratio of 70–30%, with copper grade varying between 0.69% and 1.4%, and associated gold and silver. The sulfide minerals are invariably accompanied by magnetite. Two mineralization styles are distinguished: (i) disseminated in non-altered mafic-ultramafic rocks; and (ii) tectonic controlled related to hydrothermal alteration zones. New geochronological data show that quartz-microcline metasomatites of the Caraiba Mine contain Neoarchean inherited zircons (upper intercept at 2723 ± 51 Ma), related to the early stages of magmatism, whereas Orosirian ages (2047 ± 12 and 2042 ± 15 Ma) are related to the main hydrothermal mineralization activity. Norite from the Surubim Mine has a Paleoproterozoic age (2047 ± 11 Ma), and the dated gabbro shows Pb loss in the Neoproterozoic, probably related to the Brasiliano Orogeny (670–490 Ma). Previous studies have demonstrated that the main hydrothermal event is Paleoproterozoic. Phlogopite Ar-Ar dating from the Caraiba Mine yields plateau-ages around 2000–2100 Ma. A cluster of δ34S values approaching zero is related to interstitial sulfide minerals in the least-altered ultramafic rocks, while values above and below zero are related to remobilized sulfides. These data support the hypothesis of the existence of a primary (magmatic) mineralizing event, alleged to have precipitated disseminated, interstitial sulfide minerals, and a second (hydrothermal) event, responsible for the economically more important mineralization, which is structurally controlled and related to significant potassic alteration. The sulfide minerals are associated with different generations of magmatic and hydrothermal magnetite, as well as distal plagioclase and microcline alteration halos. The combination of these features reaffirms the concept that the Curaca Valley deposits may be part of the same alteration system, as described in IOCG deposits, with the deepest deposits being located further south. Based on the data obtained during the present study, it is possible to establish a tectono-metallogenic evolutionary model to explain the genesis of the copper mineralization in the Curaca Valley. The mafic-ultramafic bodies were emplaced as multiple intrusions in Neoarchean arc-related gneisses and chemical sediments, along with bornite and chalcopyrite mineralization. The sulfide minerals that preserve the characteristics of this stage are chalcopyrite or bornite, both with δ34S values around 0‰V-CDT. A continental collision affected the Caraiba arc and the related sequences between 2100 and 2080 Ma. During this Rhyacian-Orosirian orogeny, deformation and amphibolite-granulite facies metamorphism, the rocks underwent partial melting, and sapphirine formation developed. Between 2050 and 2020 Ma, the main mineralization stage took place at Caraiba, Vermelhos, and Surubim, which corresponds to an earlier stage in the Sussuarana deposits. The southern deposits were formed deeper than those to the north, resulting in less extensive potassic alteration and related hydrothermal mineralization. The sulfide minerals of the deeper deposits have negative δ34S (between 0‰ and −6.81‰), to slightly positive values, where the igneous protoliths are best preserved. This alteration took place near the brittle-ductile boundary, mainly associated with ductile structures. The latest stage of mineralization took place between 1950 and 1920 Ma, in the Caraiba, Vermelhos and Surubim deposits, along with major sulfide remobilization in Sussuarana. This stage was characterized by the participation of oxidizing fluids, possibly meteoric waters, which raised the δ34S values up to +11.77‰.