Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T04:11:58.289Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Preservation of Clay Minerals in the Precambrian (1.1 GA) Nonesuch Formation in the Vicinity of the White Pine Copper Mine, Michigan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2024

Gejing Li ,
Jeffrey L. Mauk  and
Donald R. Peacor
Gejing Li
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1063
Jeffrey L. Mauk*
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1063
Donald R. Peacor
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1063
*
2Present address: Geology Department, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand.
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The Middle Proterozoic (1.1 Ga) Nonesuch Formation, host of the stratiform copper deposit at White Pine, Michigan, consists of 200 m of principally dark grey clastic sediments which contain detritus obtained dominantly from underlying mafic to intermediate volcanic rocks. Clay minerals from samples collected from the mine area and drill holes up to 100 km away have been studied using SEM, EMPA, TEM and AEM. Two morphologies of phyllosilicates, both including white mica and chlorite, occur in the ‘lower’ Nonesuch Formation: (1) detrital-shaped and (2) matrix. Detrital-shaped phyllosilicate grains are up to 450 microns long with long axes parallel to bedding. Matrix phyllosilicates occur as packets typically <200 Å thick and as pore-filling cement.

TEM images of detrital-shaped chlorite generally display 14-Å periodicity, although 24-Å corrensite- like units occur locally. Most detrital-shaped chlorite from the mine area samples have a relatively restricted range of Fe/(Mg+Fe) ratios from 0.52 to 0.58, but the Fe/(Fe+Mg) ratios of detrital-shaped chlorite outside the mine area range from 0.27 to 0.64. TiO2 crystals occur within and surrounding the detrital-shaped chlorite. Matrix chlorite has Fe/(Fe+Mg) ratios of 0.47 to 0.63, indicating that it is relatively homogeneous and enriched in Fe compared to detrital-shaped chlorite.

Detrital-shaped white mica occurs as a 2Mi polytype and generally has a phengitic composition. Matrix illite-rich I/S occurs as a 1Md polytype, is K and Al deficient relative to end-member muscovite and contains significant Fe and Mg.

The data are consistent with homogenization of detrital-shaped chlorite in the White Pine mine area by hydrothermal fluids during copper mineralization. The TiO2 crystals and corrensite-like units in detrital- shaped chlorite imply that it is at least in part derived from alteration of biotite. The presence of immature 1Md illite-rich I/S and a one layer chlorite polytype with stacking disorder suggests that the matrix clays are in their original, post-smectite state of formation as consistent with an authigenic origin during early burial diagenesis; i.e., they have not undergone subsequent transformation even though sedimentation and ore deposition occurred prior to 1 Ga.

Keywords

ChloriteDiagenesisIlliteMixed-layer illite/smectiteNonesuch FormationWhite mica
Type
Research Article
Information
Clays and Clay Minerals , Volume 43 , Issue 3 , June 1995 , pp. 361 - 376
Copyright
Copyright © 1995, The Clay Minerals Society

Footnotes

1

Contribution No. 500 from tlIe Mineralogical Laboratory, Department of Geological Sciences, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1063.

References

Aguirre, L., and Atherton, M. P. 1987. Low-grade metamorphism and geotectonic setting of Macuchi Formation, western Cordillera of Ecuador. J. Metam. Geol. 5: 473–494.Google Scholar
Ahn, J. H., and Peacor, D. R. 1985. Transmission electron microscopic study of diagenetic chlorite in Gulf Coast argillaceous sediments. Clays & Clay Miner. 33: 228–236.Google Scholar
Ahn, J. H., and Peacor, D. R. 1986. Transmission and analytical electron microscopy of the smectite-to-illite transition. Clays & Clay Miner. 34: 165–179.Google Scholar
AlDahan, A. A., and Morad, S. 1986. Chemistry of detrital biotites and their phyllosilicate intergrowths in sandstones. Clays & Clay Miner. 34: 539–548.Google Scholar
April, R. H., and Keller, D. M. 1992. Saponite and vermiculite in amygdules of the Granby basaltic tuff, Connecticut Valley. Clays & Clay Miner. 40: 22–31.Google Scholar
Arehart, G. B., 1992. Age and fluid chemistry of sediment-hosted disseminated gold deposits in the Great Basin, Nevada: Ph.D. thesis. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 163 pp.Google Scholar
Bailey, S. W., and Brown, B. E. 1962. Chlorite polytypism: I. Regular and semi-random one-layer structures. Amer. Mineral. 47: 819–850.Google Scholar
Banos, J. O., Amouric, M., Fouquet, C., and Baronnet, A. 1983. Interlayering and Interlayer slip in biotite as seen by HRTEM. Amer. Mineral. 68: 754–758.Google Scholar
Bayliss, S. W., 1975. Nomenclature of the trioctahedralchlorites. Can. Mineral. 13: 178–180.Google Scholar
Boles, J. R., and Coombs, D. S. 1977. Zeolite facies alteration of sandstones in the Southland syncline, New Zealand. Amer. J. Sci. 277: 982–1012.Google Scholar
Boles, J. R., and Frank, S. G. 1979. Clay diagenesis in the Wilcox sandstones of southwest Texas: Implications of smectite diagenesis on sandstone cementation. J. Sed. Petrol. 49: 55–70.Google Scholar
Brown, A. C., 1971. Zoning in the White Pine copper district, Ontonagon County, Michigan. Econ. Geol. 66: 543–573.Google Scholar
Cannon, W. F., and Nicholson, S. W. 1992. Revisions of stratigraphic nomenclature within the Keweenawan Supergroup of Northern Michigan. U.S. Geol. Surv. Bull. 1970: A1–A8.Google Scholar
Cannon, W. F., 1989. The north American Midcontinent Rift beneath Lake Superior from GLIMPCE seismic reflection profiling. Tectonics 8: 305–332.Google Scholar
Chase, C. G., and Gilmer, T. H. 1973. Precambrian plate tectonics: The midcontinent gravity high. Earth Planet Sci. Letters 21: 70–78.Google Scholar
Cliff, G., and Lorimer, G. W. 1975. The quantitative analysis of thin specimens. J. Microscopy 103: 203–207.Google Scholar
Curtis, C. D., Hughes, C. R., Whiteman, J. A., and Whittle, C. K. 1985. Composition variation within some sedimentary chlorite and some comments on their origin. Mineral. Mag. 49: 375–386.Google Scholar
Daniels, P. A., 1982. Upper Precambrian sedimentary rocks, Oronto Group, Michigan-Wisconsin. In Geology and tectonics of the Lake Superior Basin. Geol. Soc. Amer. Mem. 156: 107–133.Google Scholar
Deer, W. A., Howie, R. A., and Zussman, J. 1966. An Introduction to the Rock Forming Minerals. London: Longman Group Ltd., 528 pp.Google Scholar
Dimberline, A. J., 1986. Electron microscope and electron microprobe analysis of chlorite-mica stacks in the Wenlock turbidites, mid Wales, U.K. Geol. Mag. 123: 299–306.Google Scholar
Eggleton, R. A., and Banfleld, J. F. 1985. The alteration of granitic biotite to chlorite. Amer. Mineral. 70: 902–910.Google Scholar
Elmore, R. D., Milavec, G. J., Imbus, S. W., and Engel, M. H. 1989. The Precambrian Nonesuch Formation of the North American Mid-continent Rift, sedimentology and organic geochemical aspects of lacustrine deposition. Precambrian Research 43: 191–213.Google Scholar
Essene, E. J., and Peacor, D. R. 1995. Clay mineral thermometry—A critical perspective. Clays & Clay Miner. (in press).Google Scholar
Evarts, R. C., and Schiffman, P. 1983. Submarine hydrothermal metamorphism of the Del Puerto ophiolite, California. Amer. J. Sci. 283: 289–340.Google Scholar
Ferry, J. M., 1978. Fluid interaction between granite and sediment during metamorphism, south-central Maine. Amer. J. Sci. 278: 1025–1056.Google Scholar
Ferry, J. M., 1979. Reaction mechanisms, physical conditions, and mass transfer during hydrothermal alteration of mica and feldspar in granitic rocks from south-central Maine, USA. Contrib. Mineral. Petrol. 68: 125–139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grubb, S. M. B., Peacor, D. R., and Jiang, W.-T. 1991. Transmission electron microscopy observations of illite polytypism. Clays & Clay Miner. 39: 540–550.Google Scholar
Hayes, J. B., 1970. Polytypism of chlorite in sedimentary rocks. Clay & Clay Miner. 18: 285–306.Google Scholar
Hillier, S., and Velde, B. 1991. Octahedral occupancy and the chemical composition of diagenetic (low-temperature) chlorites. Clay Miner. 26: 149–168.Google Scholar
Hite, D. M., 1968. Sedimentology of the upper Keweenawan sequence of northern Wisconsin and adjacent Michigan: Ph. D. thesis. University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, 217 pp.Google Scholar
Hover, V. C., Peacor, D. R., and Walter, L. M. 1995. STEM evidence for preservation of diagenetic fabrics in Devonian Shales: Implications for fluid/rock interaction in cratonic basins. J. Sedim. Res. (in press).Google Scholar
Hower, J., Eslinger, E. V., Hower, M. E., and Perry, E. A. 1976. Mechanism of burial metamorphism of argillaceous sediments: 1. Mineralogical and chemical evidence. Bull. Geol. Sci. Amer. 87: 725–737.Google Scholar
Ilton, E. S., and Veblen, D. R. 1988. Copper inclusions in sheet silicate from porphyry Cu deposits. Nature 334: 516–518.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ilton, E. S., Earley, D. III, Morazas, D., and Veblen, D. R. 1992. Reaction of some trioctahedral micas with copper sulfate solutions at 25°C and 1 atmosphere: An electron microscope and transmission electron microscopy investigation. Econ. Geol. 87: 1813–1829.Google Scholar
Jiang, W.-T., 1993. Diagenesis and very low-grade metamorphism of pelitic rocks from the Gaspé Peninsula, Québec: Ph. D. thesis. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 269 pp.Google Scholar
Jiang, W.-T., Nieto, F., and Peacor, D. R. 1992. Composition of diagenetic illite as defined by analytical electron microscope analyses. Implications for smectite-illite-muscovite transition. (abstr.). 29th IGC Meeting, Kyoto, Japan, 100 pp.Google Scholar
Kim, J.-W., Peacor, D. R., Tessier, D., and Elsass, F. 1995. A technique for maintaining texture and permanent expansion of smectite interlayers for TEM observations. Clays & Clay Miner. (in press).Google Scholar
Kisch, H. J., 1983. Mineralogy and petrology of burial diagenesis (burial metamorphism) and incipient metamorphism in clastic rocks. In Diagenesis in Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks. Larsen, G., and Chilingar, G. V., eds. New York: Elsevier, 289–493.Google Scholar
Laird, J., 1988. Chlorites: Metamorphic petrology. In Hydrous Phyllosilicates. Bailey, S. W., ed. Mineralogical Society of America, Reviews in Mineralogy, 19: 405–453.Google Scholar
Lee, J. H., Peacor, D. R., Lewis, D. D., and Wintsch, R. P. 1984. Chlorite-illite/muscovite interlayered and interstratified crystals: A TEM/STEM study. Contrib. Mineral. Petrol. 88: 372–385.Google Scholar
Lee, J. H., Ahn, J. H., and Peacor, D. R. 1985. Textures in layer silicates: Progressive changes through diagenesis and low temperature metamorphism. J. Sed. Petrol. 55: 532–540.Google Scholar
Lee, J. H., Peacor, D. R., Lewis, D. D., and Wintsch, R. P. 1986. Evidence for syntectonic crystallization for the mudstone to slate transition at Lehigh Gap, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. J. Struct. Geol. 8: 767–780.Google Scholar
Livi, K. J. T., Veblen, D. R., and Ferry, J. M. 1988. Electron microscope study of anchizone and epizone metamorphosed shales from the central Swiss Alps. Geol. Soc. Amer. Abstracts with Programs 20: A244.Google Scholar
Li, G., Peacor, D. R., Merriman, R. J., Roberts, B., and van der Pluijm, B. A. 1994. TEM and AEM constraints on the origin and significance of chlorite-mica stacks in slates: An example from central Wales, U.K. J. Struct. Geol. 16: 1139–1157.Google Scholar
Mauk, J. L., 1993. Geological and geochemical investigations of the White Pine sediment-hosted stratiform copper deposit, Ontonagon County, Michigan: Ph. D. thesis. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 194 pp.Google Scholar
Mauk, J. L., and Hieshima, G. B. 1992. Organic matter and copper mineralization at White Pine, Michigan. Chem. Geol. 99: 189–211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mauk, J. L., Kelly, W. C., and van der Pluijm, B. A. 1992. Relations between deformation and sediment-hosted copper mineralization: Evidence from the White Pine portion of the Midcontinent rift system. Geology 20: 427–430.Google Scholar
Meinschein, W. G., Barghoorn, E. S., and Schopf, J. W. 1964. Biological remnants in a Precambrian sediment. Science 145: 262–263.Google Scholar
Merriman, R. J., Roberts, B., and Peacor, D. R. 1990. A Transmission electron microscope study of white mica crystallite size distribution in the mudstone to slate transitional sequence, North Wales, UK. Contrib. Mineral. Petrol. 106: 27–40.Google Scholar
Morad, S., 1986. Mica-chlorite intergrowths in very low-grade metamorphic sedimentary rocks from Norway. Jeues Jahrb. Mineral. Abh. 154: 271–287.Google Scholar
Morad, S., and AlDahan, A. A. 1986. Diagenetic alteration of detrital biotite in Proterozoic sedimentary rocks from Sweden. Sediment. Geol. 47: 95–107.Google Scholar
Nishioka, G. K., 1983. Origin of late veins in the White Pine copper deposits, northern Michigan: M.S. thesis. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 35 pp.Google Scholar
Ohr, M., 1993. Geochronology of diagenesis and low-grade metamorphism in pelites: Ph.D. thesis. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 147 pp.Google Scholar
Peacor, D. R., 1992. Diagenesis and low-grade metamorphism of shales and slates. In Minerals and Reactions at the Atomic Scale: Transmission Electron Microscopy. Buseck, P. R., ed. Mineralogical Society of America, Reviews in Mineralogy 27: 335–380.Google Scholar
Perry, E., and Hower, J. 1970. Burial diagenesis in Gulf Coast pelitic sediments. Clays & Clay Miner. 18: 165–177.Google Scholar
Price, K. L., and McDowell, S. D. 1993. Illite/smectite geothermometry of the Proterozoic Oronto Group, Midcontinent rift system. Clays & Clay Miner. 41: 134–147.Google Scholar
Ramamohan Rao, T., 1977. Distribution of elements between coexisting phengite and chlorite from the greenschist facies of the Tennant Creek area, central Australia. Lithos 10: 103–112.Google Scholar
Shau, Y.-H., Peacor, D. R., and Essene, J. E. 1990. Corrensite and mixed-layer chlorite/corrensite in metabasalt from northern Taiwan: TEM/AEM, EMPA, XRD, and optical studies. Contrib. Mineral. Petrol. 105: 123–142.Google Scholar
Sliney, R. E., 1988. Comparative mineralogy and geochemistry of a stratigraphic unit within the upper shale member of the Nonesuch Formation, White Pine, Michigan. Unpub. M.S. thesis. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 60 pp.Google Scholar
Środoń, J., Morgan, D. J., Eslinger, E. V., Eberl, D. D., and Karlinger, M. R. 1986. Chemistry of illite/smectite and end-member illite. Clays & Clay Miner. 34: 368–378.Google Scholar
Thwaites, F. T., 1912. Sandstones of the Wisconsin coast of Lake Superior. Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey Bulletin 25: 117 pp.Google Scholar
Veblen, D. R., and Ferry, J. M. 1983. A TEM study of the biotite-chlorite reaction and comparison with petrographical observation. Amer. Mineral. 68: 1160–1168.Google Scholar
Velde, B., 1977. Clays and Clay Minerals in Natural and Synthetic Systems. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 218 pp.Google Scholar
Velde, B., Raoult, J. F., and Leikine, M. 1974. Metamorphosed berthierine pellets in Mid-Cretaceous rocks from northeastern Algeria. J. Sed. Petrol. 44: 1275–1280.Google Scholar
Weaver, C. E. R., 1984. Shale-slate metamorphism in southern Appalachian. Development in Petrology. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 239 pp.Google Scholar
White, W. S., 1966. Tectonics of the Keweenawan Basin, western Lake Superior region. U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 524–E: E1–23.Google Scholar
White, W. S., 1971. A paleohydrologic model for mineralization of the White Pine copper deposit, northern Michigan. Econ. Geol. 66: 1–13.Google Scholar
White, W. S., and Wright, J. C. 1966. Sulfide mineral zoning in the basal Nonesuch Shale, northern Michigan. Econ. Geol. 61: 1171–1190.Google Scholar
White, S. H., Huggett, J. M., and Shaw, H. F. 1985. Electron-optical studies of phyllosilicate intergrowths in sedimentary and metamorphic rocks. Mineral Mag. 49: 413–423.Google Scholar
Wiese, R. G. Jr. 1973. Mineralogy and geochemistry of the Parting Shale, White Pine, Michigan. Econ. Geol. 68: 317–331.Google Scholar
Yau, Y.-C., Peacor, D. R., and McDowell, S. D. 1987. Smectite to illite reaction in Salton Sea shales: A transmission and analytical electron microscopy study. J. Sed. Petrol. 57: 335–342.Google Scholar
Yau, Y.-C., Peacor, D. R., Richard, E. B., Essene, E. J., and McDowell, S. D. 1988. Microstructures, formation mechanisms, and depth-zoning of phyllosilicates in geothermally altered shales, Salton Sea, California. Clays & Clay Miner. 36: 1–10.Google Scholar