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Geology

Erosion and collapse of volcanoes: Causes of telescoping in intrusion-centered ore

deposits
Richard H. Sillitoe

Geology 1994;22;945-948
doi: 10.1130/0091-7613(1994)022<0945:EACOVC>2.3.CO;2

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Erosion and collapse of volcanoes: Causes of telescoping in
intrusion-centered ore deposits
Richard H. Sillitoe 27 West Hill Park, Highgate Village, London N6 6ND, United Kingdom

ABSTRACT three alteration environments may be ob-

Telescoping is the process of juxtaposing or overprinting early, deep mineralization, served within 500 to < 100 m of one another.
commonly of porphyry type, and late, shallow, generally epithermal styles of precious- and Gold deposits displaying extreme telescop-
base-metal mineralization. Telescoping is attributed to synhydrothermal degradation of ing are plentiful in youthful volcano-plu-
volcanic paleosurfaces, as a result of either rapid erosion under pluvial conditions or sector tonic arcs of the circum-Pacific region and
(and, less probably, caldera) collapse of the volcanic edifices. Paleosurfaces may be lowered are typified by Marte, northern Chile
easily by 1 km during the ~ 1 m.y. total life spans of hydrothermal systems, leading to the (Fig. IB) and Ladolam in Lihir Island,
vertical compression of any contained ore deposits by at least 1 km. Sector collapse may Papua New Guinea (Fig. 1C).
be triggered by volcanic tumescence due to synmineralization intrusion, and it may be The mid-Miocene porphyry Au deposit at
facilitated by hydrothermal weakening of volcanic edifices. Sector collapse causes extensive Marte comprises gold-bearing, quartz vein-
ingress of meteoric and/or ocean water to the magmatic environment and a decrease in let stockworks, accompanied by sericite,
confining pressure. The latter may induce hydrothermal brecciation, boiling and possible clay, and chlorite after preexisting K-silicate
epithermal Au precipitation, and even accelerated efflux of magmatic fluids. Telescoped alteration, in a composite diorite porphyry
systems are believed to possess greater potential for the existence of both porphyry-type stock. The stock is in sharp contact upward
deposits at shallower than normal depths and giant ore deposits. with comagmatic andesitic volcanic rocks
displaying advanced argillic alteration (Vila
INTRODUCTION ated with K-silicate alteration in and around et al., 1991; Fig. IB), which contains only
Telescoped ore deposits are those in porphyry stocks. The fluids responsible were minor Au and enargite of high-sulfidation
which alteration and mineralization that are high-temperature, saline brines under litho- epithermal type. Acid-leached, andesitic
characteristic of late, shallow, low-tempera- static conditions (e.g., Gustafson and Hunt, volcanic rocks, barren of metals but rich in
ture environments are compressed vertically 1975). (2) Epithermal Au and/or Ag miner- native S, are preserved only 200 m higher in
onto early, deep, high-temperature environ- alization, of a variety of styles, in overlying, elevation than the base of the advanced
ments. Such juxtaposition of incompatible typically volcanic rocks. The fluids involved argillic zone (Vila et al., 1991) and are in-
alteration and mineralization types is con- were much lower in temperature and salin- ferred originally to have been far more wide-
sidered traditionally to be a consequence of ity, the former being controlled under hy- spread (Fig. IB). Marte is hosted by the co-
the steep geothermal gradients induced by drostatic conditions by boiling point for eval Pastillitos stratovolcano, 10 X 10 km in
approach to paleosurfaces in volcanic ter- depth constraints. Epithermal deposits may basal dimensions, which is breached on one
ranes (e.g., Graton, 1933). However, this hy- be of either high-sulfidation (acid-sulfate) flank by an amphitheater-like depression to
pothesis fails to explain satisfactorily the ex- type, where advanced argillic alteration expose the alteration and Au deposit (Vila
treme telescoping, including extensive and high-sulfidation sulfide assemblages et al., 1991).
overprinting, of shallow, epithermal and (commonly including enargite) result from The Ladolam Au deposit was generated
subvolcanic, porphyry-type alteration and relatively oxidized, acidic fluids, or low- during the past 1 m.y. within the small (10 X
mineralization recognized recently from sulfidation (adularia-sericite) type, where 6 km) Luise stratovolcano of alkalic, inter-
many Au and base-metal deposits devel- assemblages containing illite or sericite mediate composition, which is breached to
oped in subduction-related, volcano-plu- adularia accompanied by low-sulfidation the ocean, giving rise to a caldera-like de-
tonic arcs. Extreme telescoping is attributed sulfides (e.g., the minor Cu as chalcopyrite) pression (Moyle et al., 1990). A multiphase
to the effects of lowering of paleosurfaces are generated by reduced, neutral-pH fluids monzonitic stock that underwent K-silicate
and associated paleo-water tables during (Hedenquist, 1987; Heald et al., 1987). (3) alteration and low-grade porphyry Cu-
the life spans of hydrothermal systems (Sil- Metal-deficient, advanced argillic-altered Mo-Au mineralization is located from 0 to
litoe, 1989). This concept is explored further rocks, products of steam-heated, surficial 200 m beneath this depression, and it is
here by considering the interplay between ground waters formed in the vadose zone overlapped by an extensive, flat-lying, tabu-
rates of paleosurface degradation and dura- between the paleo-water table and paleo- lar zone of breccia-hosted Au mineraliza-
tions of hydrothermal activity, the conse- surface (e.g., Hedenquist, 1991). The pow- tion of low-sulfidation epithermal type
quences for ore deposition in Au-rich hy- dery nature of these near-surface, acid- (Moyle et al., 1990; Fig. 1C). The epithermal
drothermal systems, and some implications leached rocks is a principal distinction from Au zone, in turn, is partially overlain and
for exploration. the mineralogically similar alteration asso- probably overprinted by a native S-bearing,
ciated with the high-sulfidation epithermal acid-leached zone (Fig. 1C), which is still
environment. partly active, as shown by acidic hot springs
TELESCOPED DEPOSITS
Precious- base-metal-bearing, intru- In systems that underwent little or no tele- and steaming ground (Moyle et al., 1990).
sion-centered systems developed beneath scoping, these three alteration environ- Intrusion-related, Au and/or Ag base-
stratovolcanoes and large flow-dome com- ments span at least 2 vertical km, as at Red metal deposits other than those of porphyry
plexes, as well as in areas lacking apprecia- Mountain, Arizona. There a porphyry Cu- type may also be telescoped. For example, at
ble volumes of volcanic products, may be Mo deposit is separated by 600 m from an Porgera, Papua New Guinea, fault-con-
subdivided into three distinctive alteration overlying zone of advanced argillic and trolled epithermal Au ore of low-sulfidation
environments diagnostic of relative pa- sericitic alteration of high-sulfidation epi- type overprinted Au-Ag-Zn-Pb-bearing
leodepth (Fig. 1): (1) Porphyry-type, stock- thermal type (Quinlan, 1981; Fig. 1A). In sulfide stockworks in calcareous siltstones
work Cu and/or Au mineralization associ- contrast, in highly telescoped systems, all alongside small alkalic diorite stocks and

GEOLOGY, v. 22, p. 945-948, October 1994 945

 A. RED MOUNTAIN least intermittently, for 3 m.y. (Silberman et
al., 1979; Sawai et al., 1989).
WNW ESE
2000-1 VVINVV
Such longevity of hydrothermal activity
requires multiple intrusion and release of
magmatic fluids, for which there is ample
1500- evidence in intrusion-centered systems (e.g.,
Gustafson and Hunt, 1975), because single
intrusive bodies would cool in only 10 000 to
1000- 100000 yr (e.g., Cathles, 1981). This conclu-
sion accords with eruptive spans of 1 m.y. or
LITHOLOGY more for some large composite volcanoes
500" Intrusive rocks | + +1 (e.g., Francis and Rundle, 1976).
Volcanic rocks I I

ALTERATION
DEGRADATION OF VOLCANIC
PALEOSURFACES
Acid leaching | AL |
Hydrothermal
Erosion
metres 1000 breccia-hosted Advanced argillic | A | Subaerial erosion rates may be ten times
Cu-Mo
mineralization Sericitic | S | higher, averaging perhaps 1 m/1000 yr, in
Intermediate argillic r j ^ - i
mountainous regions characterized by steep
B. MARTE overprinting K-silicate 1 1
relief than in those with more subdued to-
5000 K-silicate I * I pography (e.g., Schumm, 1963). In volcano-
plutonic arcs subject to rapid uplift under
Ai
pluvial, tropical conditions, such as the well-
4500- mineralized arcs of the western Pacific re-
gion, seismically induced landsliding is a ma-
jor process of landform degradation (e.g.,
E 4000- Loffler, 1977, p. 161). In mountainous parts
Porphyry A u ore ( > l g / t )
of Papua New Guinea, for example, overall
metres 1000
denudation rates ranging from 0.75 to 4
m/1000 yr have been calculated by various
methods (Ruxton and McDougall, 1967; Sim-
onett, 1967; Pickup et al., 1984). Moreover,
short-term denudation rates as high as 30
m/1000 yr are documented by Oilier and
Brown (1971) for the early, vegetation-free
years of a scoria cone in Papua New Guinea.

Collapse
Stratovolcanoes and large flow-dome
Epithermal A u ore (>1g/t) complexes are degraded even more effec-
metres tively by the process of sector collapsein-
stantaneous gravitational sliding of debris
Figure 1. A: Nontelescoped porphyry Cu-Mo system at Red Mountain, Arizona (after avalanches to leave breached edifices or "av-
Quinlan, 1981), showing 600 m separation between K-silicate core and advanced
argillic-sericitic zone of high-sulfidation type. Undocumented thickness of advanced alanche calderas." Individual debris ava-
argillic alteration and surficial, supra-water table acid-leached zone have been lost lanches may penetrate deeply into volcanoes
to erosion. B: Telescoped porphyry Au system at Marte, Chile (after Vila et al., 1991), and remove >10 km 3 (and as much as 45
showing advanced argillic zone of high-sulfidation type juxtaposed with Au-bearing km3) of volcanic rock (Siebert, 1984; Cran-
quartz veinlet stockwork (of K-silicate parentage) developed in diorite porphyry
dell, 1989). Sector collapse appears to be a
stock. Acid-leached rock generated above paleo-water table is nearby. C: Extremely
telescoped porphyry Cu-Mo-Au system at Ladolam, Lihir Island, Papua New Guinea normal stage in the evolution of large, com-
(after Moyle et al., 1990), showing overprinting of K-silicate-altered, monzonitic in- posite volcanoes, especially those > 2 km
trusion and tabular zone of low-sulfidation epithermal Au mineralization. Acid leach- high and having steep upper slopes due to
ing, locally still active, affects intrusive rocks and is believed to overprint Au mineralization. more felsic, andesitic to dacitic composi-
tions (Siebert, 1984; Francis and Wells,
dikes (Richards, 1992); these intrusions may suggest total durations of hydrothermal ac- 1988). Siebert (1984) estimated that sector
have lacked coeval volcanic products. Simi- tivity in and around the porphyry stocks that collapse occurs worldwide about four times
larly, at Fresnillo, Mexico, low-sulfidation commonly approximate 1 m.y. and, in some each century, as well as taking place as many
epithermal Ag veins and an overlying acid- systems, attain 2 to 3 m.y. (e.g., Silberman, as ten times during the lives of single vol-
leached horizon overprinted carbonate-re- 1985; Whalen et al., 1982). Broadly similar canic edifices (Beget and Kienle, 1992). Sec-
placement ores rich in base metals life spans, on the order of 0.5 to 1.5 m.y., are tor collapse may be triggered by seismic
(Simmons, 1991). documented for several shallow epithermal events, eruptive activity, and/or high-level
systems (Noble and Silberman, 1984; Silber- magma intrusion, the last into the environ-
HYDROTHERMAL LIFE SPANS man, 1985), although the still-active Steam- ment of potential porphyry deposit forma-
Results of radiometric dating of alter- boat Springs, Nevada, and Toyoha (Yuno- tion. Debris avalanches may also act as trig-
ation minerals from porphyry Cu deposits sawa), Japan, systems have been active, at gers for eruptive and explosive activity,

946 GEOLOGY, October 1994

especially laterally directed blasts (Voight et
al., 1981).
Edifices weakened by hydrothermal alter-
ation and/or fluid saturation may be partic-
ularly susceptible to sector collapse (Siebert,
1984; Lopez and Williams, 1993); however,
frequent occurrence of the phenomenon in
the central Andes since the mid-Miocene
onset of aridity shows that voluminous
ground water resulting from a pluvial cli-
mate is not a prerequisite (Francis and
Wells, 1988). Indeed, Francis and Wells sug-
gested that a low denudation rate may even
enhance the likelihood of sector collapse
because high volcano slope angles are likely
to be maintained. However, pluvial condi-
tions will ensure more rapid degradation of
an edifice once breached (e.g., Papua New
Guinea; Johnson, 1987).
Vertical collapse, either by magma
eruption or withdrawal, as opposed to large-
scale slope failure of volcanic edifices, gives
rise to circular or elliptical summit calderas
which, when modified and breached by ero-
sion, may be difficult to distinguish from de-
bris-avalanche amphitheaters. However, the
collapsed material involved in caldera for-
mation is retained within the confines of the
volcanoes instead of being redistributed as
debris avalanches.
CONSEQUENCES OF TELESCOPING
FOR ORE GENESIS
If a denudation rate of 1 m/1000 yr is as-
sumed to apply for the 1 m.y. total life span
of an intrusion-centered, hydrothermal sys-
tem, its upper volcanic parts will be lowered
by 1 km if growth by eruptive activity is as-
sumed to be zero. Up to three times this
thickness of rock could be removed synhy-
drothermally by tripling either the erosion
rate or the system's life span; both would be
theoretically feasible, as noted above. These
estimates of synhydrothermal erosion rates
are supported by results of alteration and
fluid-inclusion studies at Palinpinon, Philip-
pines, which show that the surface of this
active, stratovolcano-related hydrothermal
system was lowered by at least 450 m in < 1
m.y. (Reyes, 1990), a minimum denudation
rate of 0.45 m/1000 yr. In contrast, sector
collapse is not restricted to the tropics, and
probably affects most composite volcanoes
at least once. A single sector collapse may
eliminate instantaneously as much as 25%
of an edifice and a rock column > 1 km high
(Fig. 2).
Rapid erosion and sector or caldera col-
lapse of volcanoes may cause either gradual
or abrupt downward displacements, respec-
tively, of active hydrothermal environments
and result in telescoped alteration-mineral-
ization systems. In the early stages of in-
trusion-centered systems, stocks and accom-
GEOLOGY, October 1994
AL
Figure 2. A: Stratovolcano during early stages
of development of porphyry Cu and/or Au de-
posits at depth. High-sulfidation epithermai
environment, including surficial acid-leached
zone, is present high in system. B: Telescop-
ing of epithermai environment and porphyry
Cu and/or Au deposit as result of sector col-
lapse. Epithermai Au Cu mineralization may
develop in telescoped high-sulfidation zone.
Legend as in Figure 1.
panying porphyry-type alteration and
mineralization are emplaced beneath 1-2
km of volcanic cover (Fig. 2). Removal of a
substantial part of this cover during contin-
ued hydrothermal activity permits juxtapo-
sition or overprinting of shallow-level epi-
thermai environments and the originally
deeper porphyry stock, as at Marte and
Ladolam (Fig. 2). Indeed, at Ladolam,
transformation of a porphyry-type to an epi-
thermai environment may have been virtu-
ally instantaneous. Continued paleosurface
lowering during epithermai alteration and
mineralization results in appreciable drop of
paleo-water tables and overprinting of su-
pra-water table acid-leached zones onto
originally deeper epithermai zones, as at
Ladolam and, possibly, Marte (Fig. 1).
Telescoping at Marte is attributed to syn-
hydrothermal collapse, landsliding, and ero-
sion, possibly coupled with hydrothermal
rock dissolution, as proposed by Nairn and
Houghton (1989) to explain the amphithe-
ater-like crater on the flank of White Island
stratovolcano, New Zealand. The breach in
Pastillitos volcano to reveal Marte, like that
at White Island, was not produced by sector
collapse, because there is no obvious out-
ward displacement of the lowermost pre-
served part of the constructional cone. In
contrast, telescoping at Ladolam is ascribed
to sector collapse (Sillitoe, 1989; Moyle et
al., 1990; Lopez and Williams, 1993), fol-
lowed by erosional scarp retreat to generate
the present form of Luise caldera.
It seems likely that erosional degradation
of active intrusion-centered hydrothermal
systems is always sufficiently slow to permit
gradual and progressive changes of the fluid
regime to take place (e.g., Palinpinon, Phil-
ippines; see above). During caldera col-
lapse, the entire system is likely to sink, and
the consequent hydrothermal perturbation
is difficult to predict but could be relatively
passive. In contrast, when sector collapse oc-
curs, the hydrologic regime is certainly dis-
turbed catastrophically. Fluid pressures will
drop, possibly from lithostatic to hydro-
static, with the resulting production of wide-
spread hydrothermal (phreatic) fracturing
and brecciation, as at Ladolam (Moyle et al.,
1990). There is likely to be a concomitant
major ingress of meteoric water causing di-
lution of the exsolving magmatic fluids, as
documented (e.g., Gustafson and Hunt,
1975) for transformation from porphyry-
type to epithermai conditions. Ocean water
may also gain access to some systems in is-
land-arc settings, as inferred at Ladolam
(Moyle et al., 1990). Boiling of deeply cir-
culated meteoric or ocean water-dominated
fluids, induced by reductions in confining
pressure, is an effective means of precipitat-
ing Au in the epithermai environment (e.g.,
Hedenquist, 1987) and seems to have been
instrumental in accumulation of the giant
Au resource at Ladolam (Moyle et al.,
1990).
Sector collapse during early, rather than
late, hydrothermal stages, and possibly even
triggered by tumescence of the edifice dur-
ing synmineralization intrusion, is likely to
modify profoundly the magmatic-hydrother-
mal regime. For example, pressure reduc-
tions imposed on a magma chamber could
be sufficient to change the salinity of exsolv-
ing magmatic fluids (e.g., Cline and Bodnar,
1991). Indeed, it may be speculated that cat-
astrophic pressure reductions triggered by
sector collapse, rather than simply passive
magma crystallization (Burnham, 1979), in-
stigate the exsolution of magmatic fluids re-
quired for stockwork fracturing, orthomag-
matic brecciation, and porphyry-type ore
formation.
EXPLORATION IMPLICATIONS
Telescoping is important economically
because of the potential to generate giant
ore deposits by juxtaposing or overprinting
the products of two or more mineralizing
environments. Ladolam and Porgera, con-
sidered above, are two examples. Further-
more, telescoping may result in hydrother-
mal leaching and reconcentration of metals
deposited early in intrusion-centered sys-
tems, a process that may have assisted grade
development at Ladolam and Porgera (Sil-
litoe, 1989).
Telescoping must be taken into account
during exploration of all intrusion-centered
systems, especially where high-sulfidation
epithermai Au Cu (as enargite) deposits
are being explored, because of the possibil-
947
ity that intrusion-hosted porphyry Cu (as
chalcopyrite-bornite) and/or Au mineraliza-
tion is concealed at much shallower depths
than otherwise might be anticipated. Field
evidence for telescoping may be provided by
either (1) a porphyry intrusion and/or late-
magmatic, vitreous quartz veinlet stock-
works (generated originally as part of a
K-silicate assemblage) overprinted by ad-
vanced argillic alteration and high-sulfida-
tion sulfide assemblages or (2) preservation
of volcano remnants (e.g., Marte and Lado-
lam). Sector collapses have been recognized
from volcanic landforms as old as early Mio-
cene, at least in arid regions like northern
Chile (e.g., Naranjo and Cornejo, 1989). In
the absence of morphologic evidence, de-
bris-avalanche and/or consequent explosive
products containing blocks of altered and
mineralized rock suggest that sector col-
lapse affected the upper parts of a mineral-
ized, and potentially telescoped, hydrother-
mal system.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I thank J. W. Hedenquist, H. Hoogvliet, and
R. W. Johnson for reviews.
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Manuscript received May 5, 1994
Revised manuscript received July 18, 1994
Manuscript accepted July 21, 1994
GEOLOGY, October 1994