Zn-Pb Ores of Mississippi Valley Type in the Lycksele-Storuman District, Northern Sweden: A Possible Rift-Related Cambrian Mineralisation Event.

The epigenetic Zn-Pb deposits in the Lycksele-Storuman ore district, northern Sweden, are hosted by Paleoproterozoic basement near the margin of the Caledonian mountains. A paleogeographic reconstruction suggests that platform sediments, including Cambrian shales, overlaid the mineralised basement. The mineralisation type, containing sphalerite, galena, calcite and fluorite, is confined to veins and breccias and interpreted to be of Mississippi Valley Type (MVT) style. There is no appreciable wall rock alteration. Fluid inclusion work reveals coexisting aqueous and hydrocarbon fluids. Ore deposition is interpreted to have occurred during mixing of two fluids; a cool (<70 °C) brine with a salinity of 30 eq. mass% CaCl2 and a hot (~200 °C) brine with about 18 eq. mass% CaCl2. The mixing led to complex Sr isotope systematics in the analysed minerals. A tentative sphalerite Rb-Sr isochron age of a 534 ± 13 Ma probably dates mineralisation. The isotope systematics of Pb and Nd are less complex and both elements were essentially leached from basement rocks and transported by the hot fluid. Ore formation is considered to have taken place during rifting, related to the opening of the Iapetus Ocean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]