Geochemical Aspects of Hypogene Hydrothermal Alteration Zones in the Chol-qeshlaghi Area, NW Iran: Constrains on REEs

Chol-qeshlaghi altered area lies in the northwestern part of the post-collisional Urumieh-Dokhtar magmatic arc, NW Iran. Pervasive silicic, argillic, phyllic and propylitic altered zones appears to be intimately affiliated to the fluids derivative of upper Oligocene Khankandi granodiorite. This paper is dedicated to the identification of geochemical characteristics of hydrothermal alterations, focusing on the determination of the mass gains and losses of REEs, to gain significant insights regarding the chemical exchanges prevailed between the host rocks and hydrothermal fluids. The low pH and high activity of SO(4)(-2)ligands in silicic alteration fluids, resulting in depletion of entire REEs. Decreasing of LREEs appeared in argillic zone may attributed to reduce in adsorption ability of clay minerals in low pH; whereas HREEs enrichment in phyllic zone was inclined to put it down to the abundance of sericite (+/- Fe oxides). A significant reduction of Eu/Eu* ratio in silicic zone can be attributed to negligible sulfides and clay minerals as some effective agents in adsorption of released Eu+2. Factors such as changes in pH, the abundance of absorptive neomorph mineral phases, activity of ligands play an important role in controlling the distribution and concentration of REEs in Chol-qeshlaghi alteration system.