Abstract
The Red Hills intrusion hosts the easternmost porphyry copper-molybdenum system in southwestern North America and consists of quartz-sulfide stockwork veins in sericitized porphyritic quartz monzonite. Zircon U-Pb and molybdenite Re-Os analyses yield ages of 64.2 ± 0.2 Ma and 60.2 ± 0.3 Ma, respectively, indicating that the Red Hills intrusion and mineralization are distinctly older than all other Tertiary magmatism (48-17 Ma) in the Trans-Pecos region of Texas, including the nearby 32 Ma Chinati Mountains caldera. The Red Hills intrusive system is contemporaneous with and genetically related to other Laramide magmatic systems (75-54 Ma) that host porphyry copper deposits in Arizona, southwestern New Mexico, and northern Mexico. These results significantly extend the Laramide magmatic province eastward and suggest that Laramide subduction-related magmatism and deformation are coextensive over a broad area of southwestern North America.
Original language | English |
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Journal | Geology |
Volume | 31 |
Issue number | 5 |
Pages (from-to) | 447-450 |
Number of pages | 4 |
ISSN | 0091-7613 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2003 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Copper
- Laramide
- Magmatism
- Porphyry
- Texas
- Trans-Pecos