Direct dating of overprinting fluid systems in the Martabe epithermal gold deposit using highly retentive alunite

Abstract

The Martabe gold deposits in Sumatra formed in a shallow crustal epithermal environment associated with intermediate mafic intrusions adjacent to an active right-lateral wrench system. Gas/fluid temperatures reached 200–350 ∘C. The structural geology suggests episodic switches in stress orientations during a Plio-Pleistocene seismotectonic evolution. Different mineralisation events may have been associated with oscillations in this earthquake cycle, so samples containing alunite were collected for 40Ar / 39Ar geochronology to constrain the timing. 39Ar diffusion experiments were performed to constrain variation in argon retentivity. The age spectra were produced by incremental step-heating with heating times chosen so similar percentages of 39Ar gas release occurred during as many steps as possible. This ensured the detail necessary for analysis of the complex morphology of these spectra by applying the method of asymptotes and limits, which enabled recognition of different growth events of alunite in overprinting fluid systems. It was possible to provide estimates as to the frequency of individual events and their duration. The heating schedule also ensured that Arrhenius data populated the inverse temperature axis with sufficient detail to allow modelling. Activation energies were between 370–660 kJ mol−1. Application of Dodson's recursion determined closure temperatures that range from 400–560 ∘C for a cooling rate of 100 ∘C Ma−1. Such estimates are higher than any temperature to be expected in the natural system, giving confidence that the ages represent the timing of growth during periods of active fluid movement and alteration: a hypothesis confirmed by modelling age spectra using the MacArgon program. We conclude that gold in the Purnama pit resulted from overprinting fluid rock interactions during very short mineralisation episodes at ∼2.25 and ∼2.00 Ma.