Despite long and intense scrutiny some of the most basic questions concerning ore deposits, such as age, duration and source, remain poorly constrained for many deposit types. This collaborative research effort between Washington State University and the University of Arizona is designed to investigate the age, duration and evolution of a large copper deposit in Canada. The evolution of the GaspÚ hydrothermal system in both space and time will be determined utilizing primarily three isotopic systems: [1] Sm-Nd in garnet, pyroxene, scheelite and fluorite; [2] Re-Os in molybdenite, chalcopyrite and pyrite; and [3] U-Pb in titanite, allanite, zircon and garnet. The compositional contrasts among magma, skarn and wall rocks combined with multiple minerals which can be analyzed with these systems, provide an unparalleled opportunity for investigating the age and duration of mineralization, the age of individual mineralization/alteration episodes/zones, the sources of metals, and the behavior of different isotopic systems in a complex hydrothermal environment. The insights gained from this research will be applicable to a wide variety of ore deposits.
