Geology and metallogenesis of the sediment-hosted Cu-Ag deposit of tizert (igherm inlier, anti-atlas copperbelt, Morocco)

Abstract

The Tizert Cu-Ag deposit is the largest of a series of sediment-hosted copper deposits of the Anti-Atlas copper province in Morocco. Mineralized rocks in the deposit contain disseminated sulphides within a Late Ediacaran, dominantly siliciclastic sedimentary formation named the Basal Series. Isopach map of the Basal Series thickness shows that during the Late Ediacaran the area was composed of large subsiding zones separated by paleohighs. The ore-grade zones are well developed along basin margins adjacent to the basement paleohighs. These mineralized zones display a lateral sulphide zoning with central bornite-chalcocite zones grading outward to intermediate chalcopyrite and external pyrite zones. There is also a vertical sulphide zoning with evolution from bornite and chalcocite dominant mineralized rocks at the bottom to chalcopyrite and pyrite dominant mineralized rocks at the top of the lithostratigraphic succession. A second style of mineralization is represented by sulphide filled fractures and veins present in the Basal Series, as well as in the basement and the overlying dolomites. The similarity of the paragenetic sequences between the disseminated and the vein-hosted mineralization suggests that they may be related to the same mineralizing event, the disseminated style of mineralization being rapidly followed by the onset of the vein-style mineralization.