Characterization Of The Dat Zone, Eastern Alaska Range, Alaska: A Calcic Iron (Copper-Gold) Skarn Prospect

Abstract

I studied a Cu-Fe-Au prospect in the eastern Alaska Range, Alaska, informally known as 'the DAT Zone'. Previous workers disagreed about the prospect's genesis; my work conclusively shows it to be a calcic iron skarn deposit with late quartz-pyrite-gold mineralization, broadly coeval with the host Pennsylvanian island arc-related volcanic and associated sedimentary rocks. A sericite-quartz-pyrite altered shear yields a $\sp{40}$Ar/$\sp{39}$Ar age similar to that of a nearby quartz monzodiorite pluton (300 Ma $\pm$ 1 Ma). The skarn consists of andradite extensively retrograded to ferrotremolite, quartz, magnetite, hematite, calcite, and chalcopyrite. Based on alteration pseudomorphs, the prograde assemblage was clinopyroxene with 20-40 %Hd, wollastonite, and andradite. The main-stage fluids were approximately 600$\sp\circ$C, moderately oxidized, and extremely saline ($>$60% NaCl equivalent). This fluid was clearly different from those of volcanogenic massive sulfide, metamorphic, or epithermal deposits. The lack of explosive textures is inconsistent with the DAT Zone as a porphyry copper deposit. <p>