FIG. 9. Examples of well-developed metal zoning centered on porphyry Cu deposits. a.

Bingham, Utah, where the porphyry Cu-Au-Mo deposit is followed successively outward by Cu-Au skarn, carbonate-replacement Zn-Pb-Ag-Au, and distal sediment-hosted Au deposits, the latter formerly exploited at Barneys Canyon and Melco (after Babcock et al., 1995). b. Mineral Park, Arizona, where the northwest-striking vein system centered on the porphyry Cu-Mo deposit is zoned outward from Cu through Pb-Zn to Au-Ag (after Lang and Eastoe, 1988). c. Sepon, Laos, where two subeconomic porphyry Mo-Cu centers marked by quartz veinlet stockworks are zoned outward through carbonate-replacement Cu to sediment-hosted Au deposits without any intervening Zn-Pb-Ag zone (summarized from R.H. Sillitoe, unpub. report, 1999). Note the large radii (up to 8 km) of some systems. Scales are different.

FIG. 10. Generalized alteration-mineralization zoning pattern for telescoped porphyry Cu deposits, based on the geologic and deposittype template presented as Figure 6. Note that shallow alteration-mineralization types consistently overprint deeper ones. Volumes of the different alteration types vary markedly from deposit to deposit. Sericitic alteration may project vertically downward as an annulus separating the potassic and propylitic zones as well as cutting the potassic zone centrally as shown. Sericitic alteration tends to be more abundant in porphyry Cu-Mo deposits, whereas chlorite-sericite alteration develops preferentially in porphyry Cu-Au deposits. Alteration-mineralization in the lithocap is commonly far more complex than shown, particularly where structural control is paramount. See text for further details and Table 2 for alteration-mineralization details. Modified from Sillitoe (1999b, 2000).

FIG. 11. Generalized alteration- mineralization zoning pattern for a non telescoped porphyry Cu system, emphasizing the appreciable, commonly barren gap that exists between the lithocap and underlying porphyry stock. Legend as in Figure 10.

FIG. 12. Schematic representation of generalized alterationmineralization sequence in porphyry Cu systems in relation to paleodepth and system life span. The sequence, from potassic with peripheral propylitic (prop) through chlorite-sericite and sericitic to advanced argillic, is the result of increasing acidity consequent upon the declining temperature of the hydrothermal fluids. A broadly parallel increase in sulfidation state of the fluids results in changes in the sulfide assemblage from chalcopyrite (cp)-bornite (bn), through chalcopyrite-pyrite (py) and pyrite-bornite, to pyriteenargite (en) or pyrite-covellite (cv), as charted for several deposits by Einaudi et al. (2003). Note the absence of Cu-bearing sulfides from the early, high-temperature advanced argillic zone. Modified from Sillitoe (2000).