©2009 Society of Economic Geologists, Inc.

Economic Geology, v. 104, pp. 857–868

SCIENTIFIC COMMUNICATIONS

A PROCESS-BASED APPROACH TO ESTIMATING THE COPPER DERIVED FROM RED BEDS IN

THE SEDIMENT-HOSTED STRATIFORM COPPER DEPOSIT MODEL

ALEX C. BROWN1
13250 rue Acadie, Pierrefonds, Quebec, Canada, H9A 1K9

Abstract
Most estimates of the total tonnage of copper metal leached from footwall red beds to form sediment-hosted
stratiform copper deposits are based on the amounts of copper at ppm levels that might have been derived
from the volume of red beds underlying given sediment-hosted stratiform copper deposits. That static calcula-
tion is replaced here with a process-based approach in which the release of copper results from the progres-
sive diagenetic alteration of the footwall aquifers by oxygen-rich meteoric water driven by topographic recharge
in highlands adjacent to the intracontinental rift basins hosting these deposits. The total amount of liberated
copper depends on the volume of meteoric water, its oxygen content, and the duration of the diagenetic leach-
ing of copper. Estimates suggest that adequate amounts of copper may be derived from footwall red beds
within reasonable periods of early, and possibly more advanced, diagenesis.

Introduction
The source of copper in sediment-hosted stratiform copper
deposits is commonly attributed to the leaching of copper
from large volumes of footwall red beds (possibly including
reddened footwall sediments, volcanic and basement rocks)
(Rose, 1976; Boyle et al., 1989; Borg, 1991; Hitzman et al.,
2005). Traditionally, the amounts of copper available to form
these deposits have been estimated from the trace levels of
copper (typically, 5–50 ppm) which may have been leached
from identified volumes of footwall red beds (commonly,
hundreds of km3: White, 1971; Hitzman, 2000; Hitzman et
al., 2005). This static (ppm × km3) approach is supported by
chemical analyses which indicate that tens of ppm copper
were removed from the red beds underlying various sedi-
ment-hosted stratiform copper deposits (e.g., Lustwerk,
1989; Borg, 1991). The leaching of copper from source red
beds is generally attributed to the ability of low-temperature,
interstitial, chloride-rich brines to dissolve important amounts
of copper under oxidizing, near-neutral pH conditions
(Brown, 1971, 2005; Rose, 1976, 1989). The hematitic pig-
ment of the red beds is commonly offered as evidence that
conditions were oxidizing within the circulating brine.
However, petrographic and chemical analyses show that the
hematitic pigment of the first-cycle sediments underlying
sediment-hosted stratiform copper deposits is a product of
early diagenetic oxidation of mafic mineral constituents by in-
filtrating oxygen-rich meteoric water (Walker, 1967, 1989;
Zielinski et al., 1983). This diagenetic reddening is part of a
broader diagenetic alteration of all labile mineral constituents,
both mafic and nonmafic, which leads to the liberation of sig-
nificant trace levels of copper. Thus, the hematitic pigment of
footwall red beds was not present in the aquifers to control
the Eh level of pore solutions prior to the influx of large vol-
umes of oxygen-bearing water. Walker and colleagues pro-
posed that topography-driven recharge water from highlands
1 E-mail: acbrown@polymtl.ca
adjacent to the rift basin was responsible for the long-term in-
troduction of oxygenated meteoric water. Descending mete-
oric water could have become saline and able to leach and
carry copper by the assimilation of subsurface evaporitic salts
(Kirkham, 1989; Brown, 2005).
Guided by these perspectives, this communication sug-
gests that the quantity of copper that may be derived from
red beds1 should be proportional to the influx of topography-
driven meteoric water and its initial atmosphere-equilibrated
oxygen content. Using simple approximations for the vol-
umes of meteoric water infiltrating highland recharge areas,
calculations may be made of the volumes of footwall aquifers
reddened through early diagenetic time, followed by esti-
mates of the tonnages of copper liberated during that diage-
nesis. These process-based model estimates of released cop-
per may then be compared with the actual tonnages of
copper found in well-known sediment-hosted stratiform cop-
per deposits.
The Appropriate Meteoric Recharge Model
A key component of the following presentation is the valid-
ity of the meteoric recharge model as an effective means to
leach copper from footwall red beds and the appropriate dri-
ving force to circulate the ore-forming solution to form down-
stream sediment-hosted stratiform copper deposits (Brown,
2005). Other driving mechanisms (e.g., sediment compaction
and thermal convection) cannot be denied as possibly impor-
tant in the history of intracontinental rift-basin sediments that
host these deposits, but none are appropriate for the neces-
sary low-temperature dissolution and transport of copper, as
discussed below.
Fortunately, there is widespread agreement on many ge-
netic aspects of sediment-hosted stratiform copper-type of
1 Note that established expressions such as the leaching of copper “from
red beds” are retained in this communication even though metal leaching in
such traditional usages is said to be essentially coincident with the reddening
process.

Submitted: January 13, 2009

0361-0128/09/3841/857-12 857 Accepted: August 14, 2009
858 SCIENTIFIC COMMUNICATIONS
mineralization, such as the source of copper (footwall red
beds) and the means of copper transport (a low-temperature,
oxidized brine). The so-called overprint model, including
widely accepted depositional aspects (Fig. 1), may be sum-
marized as follows: (1) an oxidizing, low-temperature chloride
brine leaches copper from footwall aquifers (e.g., the rapidly
deposited, coarse-grained, first-cycle clastic sediments of an
intracontinental rift basin), (2) the cupriferous brine circu-
lates through the footwall red beds and into overlying gray
beds (commonly carbonaceous shales, siltstones, sandstones,
and/or carbonates), and (c) disseminated cupriferous sulfides
are deposited in the gray beds by reactions of the introduced
copper with in situ sulfides and/or H2S in hydrocarbons (see
Boyle et al., 1989; Kirkham, 1989, 1995; Brown, 1992, 1997,
2005; Hitzman et al., 2005).
In his paleohydrologic analysis of the White Pine mineral-
ization of northern Michigan, White (1971) concluded that
both compaction-driven and meteoric recharge-driven sys-
tems were adequate if the ore solution contained 50 ppm cop-
per. Cathles et al. (1993) explained the immense tonnage of
copper in the Polish sector of the Kupferschiefer copper belt
based on a compaction process and a brine containing 127
ppm copper. In the case of the Central African Copperbelt
where thick evaporite units may have once overlain or under-
lain the gray beds, Hitzman et al. (2005) propose that density-
driven brines resulting from the dissolution of hanging-wall
evaporites could have driven sediment-hosted stratiform cop-
per deposit-forming solutions through deep footwall aquifers.
Anomalous deep-basin heat has also been advocated as an
alternative energy source to move cupriferous brines within
footwall red beds. Jowett (1986) presented arguments for the
convective recirculation of brines within the extensive red
beds underlying the mineralized Permian Kupferschiefer,
based on the exceptional mantle heat that could be expected
to have underlain the Zechstein basin sediments during Tri-
assic rifting. The ore-forming brine was assumed to contain
1,000 ppm copper. Blundell et al. (2003) proposed that oxi-
dized red bed brines seeped into a network of fractures in the
Graybeds
SSC
Deposit
Interstitial brine with
Cu-chloride complexes
Redbeds
FIG. 1. General depositional model for sediment-hosted stratiform copper mineralization (adapted from Brown, 1992).
Bn = bornite, Cc = chalcocite, Cp = chalcopyrite, Ga = galena, Py = pyrite, Sph = sphalerite.
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00
pre-Zechstein basement of the Kupferschiefer copper belt
and were injected back into the Rotliegendes red bed aquifer
as hot, ore-forming solutions during repeated seismic events,
again associated with Triassic rifting and anomalous heat in
the basement. In this case, the observed tonnage of copper
metal in the Fore-Sudetic ore deposits could be explained
with a copper concentration of 60 ppm copper in the footwall
brine.
All genetic models for this type of mineralization recognize
that the low-temperature, ore-forming brine must be oxidiz-
ing in order to dissolve and transport copper, but no model,
other than the meteoric recharge-driven system, provides ad-
equate explanations for the specific oxidizing conditions suit-
able for important copper solubilities. All of the cited com-
paction- and heat-driven models call upon the existence of a
hematitic pigment in footwall red beds to assure that the cir-
culating brine would be oxidizing and therefore capable of
carrying copper. However, aside from possible primary ter-
restrial red beds, the formation of the red beds themselves is
basically a diagenetic process requiring a major postsedimen-
tary influx of oxygen, such as that carried by infiltrating oxy-
gen-rich meteoric water (Walker, 1967, 1989; Zielinski et al.,
1983; Brown, 2005). Moreover, in spite of its broad Eh-pH
stability field (above the above the magnetite-hematite field
boundary of Fig. 2), the mere existence of hematite does not
assure that conditions would be sufficiently oxidizing to attain
the moderate Eh-pH levels favorable for significant copper
solubilities (see middle ellipse of Fig. 2). Subsurface waters
long isolated from contact with an oxygen-rich atmosphere,
such as compaction water or formation water which have un-
dergone even minor internal early diagenetic reequilibration
within their source sediments, would have lost essentially all
of their oxygen through the oxidation of mafic minerals and
are unlikely to attain Eh levels above the barest minimum for
hematite stability (see the short dotted arrow of Fig. 2). Con-
sequently, such solutions remain incapable of attaining condi-
tions suitable for copper dissolution and transport. Alterna-
tively, an oxidant such as the abundant sulfate of evaporites
Typical sulfide zoning
Peneconcordant
Py ± Ga, Sph upper limit of copper
mineralization
Cp
Bn
Cc
Redox
Boundary
858
 SCIENTIFIC COMMUNICATIONS 859

dense brines draining downward from active evaporite pans

o
T = 25 C on the rift basin sediment surface (Fig. 3). A close regional af-
Contours of filiation of sediment-hosted stratiform copper deposits with
0.8 copper rift-basin evaporites and with low paleolatitudes where exten-
` solubility sive evaporites may form under hot, arid surface conditions

Cu4 (OH)6 Cl 2
-4
10 (6 ppm) O has been well established (Davidson, 1965; Glennie, 1989;
-3 2
10 (64 ppm) H Kirkham, 1989).
2O
As the oxygen-rich brine circulates through deep, coarse-
2+ grained aquifers of the rift basin as a result of continuous
Cu Meteoric recharge in the highland area, it oxidizes ferrous iron in mafic
Water
Conditions mineral constituents to form ferric oxides and oxyhydroxides
0.4 (yellowish-brown limonitic goethite) which mature with age
Eh (v)

favorable for
6p
pm

significant copper and burial diagenesis to form the reddish hematitic pigment
Fe

2- solubilities in
CuCl 3 typical of rift red beds (Walker, 1967, 1989; Zielinski et al.,
+ redbeds 1983). This diagenetic interpretation of rift-basin red beds is
He

-
m

CuCl 2 supported by the occurrence of hematitic coatings on frame-

CuO
work clasts except at the points of grain-to-grain contact in
the Carboniferous Cumberland basin in Nova Scotia-New
Fe

0 Brunswick (Ryan et al., 1989). An authigenic hematitic pig-

2+

Cu2 O
Cu-Sulfides Deep
Ground
H Water
2 O
H
2 netic alterations of labile silicate and/or carbonate con-
Ma Hem
g stituents of the aquifer would lead to important changes in
-0.4
3 5 7 9
pH
FIG. 2. Solubility of copper as cuprous chloride complexes in a low-tem-
perature brine, on a Cu-O-H-Cl Eh-pH stability diagram, with aΣS = 10–4, Cl–
= 0.5 M, T = 25°C (from Rose, 1976, 1989). The upper and lower dotted el-
lipses identify Eh-pH conditions typical of rainwater and deep groundwater,
respectfully, as identified by Garrels (1960). The central gray ellipse outlines
optimum Eh-pH conditions for the solution and transport of copper (>64
ppm Cu for a low-temperature brine with Eh = +0.1 ± 0.1 v and pH near
neutral). The overlain Fe-O-H stability diagram (thin dashed lines) highlights
the fields of predominantly ferrous species (e.g., magnetite) and ferric
species (e.g., hematite). The short, upward-pointing heavy dotted arrow pass-
ing from magnetite to hematite stabilities illustrates the possible oxidizing ef-
fect of hematite on an initially reduced fluid originating from sediment com-
paction or otherwise equilibrated with crustal material at depth. The
hematitic pigment of a red bed could raise the Eh of an initially O2-depleted
fluid (e.g., a compaction fluid) to the magnetite-hematite transition but
would be incapable of raising Eh conditions to those suitable for the dissolu-
tion and transport of copper (central gray ellipse). Adapted from Rose (1976,
1989) and Brown (2003, 2005).
may be invoked (Cathles et al., 1993), but sulfates should re-
main effectively inert at the low temperatures typical of con-
ventional sediment-hosted stratiform copper deposition (nor-
mally, 100°–120°C max).
On the other hand, after its assimilation of evaporitic salts,
the meteoric water of the highland recharge model (Figs. 3,
4) is inherently suitable for the leaching and transport of cop-
per, considering that the meteoric water would have equili-
brated with an oxygen-rich atmosphere prior to its infiltration
of the footwall aquifers (see upper ellipse of Fig. 2). Accord-
ing to the model, the genesis of this type of mineralization be-
gins with the influx of atmosphere-equilibrated, slightly acid
rainwater infiltrating highlands adjacent to an intracontinen-
tal rift basin. This water evolves into a low-temperature brine
by the leaching of subsurface evaporites or by mixing with
ment was also identified in paleomagnetic analyses of the
footwall Copper Harbor Conglomerate in the White Pine dis-
trict, Michigan (Elmore, 1981).
Cu The diagenetic reddening process and parallel early-diage-
the Eh-pH conditions within the meteoric water. Initially oxy-
11 gen-rich and slightly acidic (upper ellipse of Fig. 2), the me-
teoric water would slowly lose oxygen through oxidation of
mafic minerals and lose acidity through the hydrolysis of sili-
cates and/or reactions with carbonates, eventually attaining
the moderately oxygen-rich conditions at which copper is par-
ticularly soluble (middle ellipse of Fig. 2; Brown, 1971; Rose,
1976, 1989). Brown (2005) noted that this particularly favor-
able Eh level lies midway along the Eh-pH path that high-Eh
and slightly acid surface water should follow as it descends
into the rift basin, reacts with mineral constituents of its
aquifer, and eventually becomes low-Eh, neutral-pH ground-
water (lower ellipse of Fig. 2).
Copper released from all altered labile minerals during the
reddening process may be temporarily fixed by adsorption on
amorphous goethite and within early diagenetic smectite, but
eventually, as goethite matures to hematite and smectite to il-
litic clays, most of the copper is liberated to the moderately
oxidizing interstitial brine. With continued recharge-driven
circulation, more and more of the footwall aquifer is red-
dened and the released copper encounters downstream gray
beds (Fig. 4) and precipitates as sediment-hosted stratiform
copper-type mineralization (Fig. 1). The diagenetic redden-
ing process and the accompanying liberation of copper to the
circulating brine may be active for millions of years (Walker,
1967, 1989; Zielinski et al., 1983).
A Process-Based Estimate of the Amount of
Copper Derived from Red Beds
The total amount of copper liberated from footwall red beds
to form these deposits may be estimated from the tonnage of
copper released as a result of progressive reddening, followed
by the extension of that amount over geologically reasonable
periods of reddening. Combined with the original topography-
driven circulation model (Fig. 3), this approach ties the source

0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 859

860 SCIENTIFIC COMMUNICATIONS

Precipitation

Rift-margin
highland
SSC Evaporite pans

Meteoric
recharge

Evaporite
beds

Brine with Reddening

lt
brine

fau
Cu-chlorides

argin
Coarse-grained diagenetic
redbeds (progressively oxidixed)

Rift-m
FIG. 3. General basin-scale genetic model for sediment-hosted stratiform copper mineralization, based on meteoric water
driven by highland recharge (after Brown, 2005). The depicted across-basin flow is unnecessary; in three dimensions, it is
only necessary that the highland be connected hydrologically to the depositional site.

of copper closely to the diagenetic reddening event in both
time and space (Fig. 4). For simplicity, it is assumed that a
more-than-adequate abundance of labile minerals occurs in an
essentially inexhaustible volume of aquifer sediment.
Copper mobilized per million years of footwall reddening
An initial basic model estimate of the tonnage of liberated
copper is made for reddening over a 1-m.y. period as a result
highland recharge from an area measuring 10 × 10 km, with
an assumed 100 percent-efficient curvilinear flow of meteoric
water into the rift-basin aquifers (Fig. 4). The amount of oxy-
gen introduced to the subsurface would depend on the aver-
age annual rainfall and the portion retained as groundwater,
as well as on the ambient temperature and atmospheric pres-
sure at the recharge altitude. For a temperature of 10°C at an
altitude of 1,000 m, the oxygen content would be approxi-
mately 10 mg/liter (Table 1). Assuming a rainfall of 20 cm/
year (associated with a prevailing hot, arid climate conducive

SSC deposit Highland recharge

s
in graybeds bed Precipitation surface
ay
(1.1Mt Cu per Gr
million years)
10
Ri

Km
ft-

(Y
m

)
(Y)

ar
gin

Ore-forming Oxygen-rich
Km

fa
ul

brine brine
10

10 km
10 Km (X)
pl
an

1 km
e

depth
2.4 km along aquifer (per Myr)

Footwall sediment
(fully reddened)

FIG. 4. Principal components of the genetic model for sediment-hosted stratiform copper mineralization based on high-
land recharge (at right), reddening of first-cycle footwall sediments, and leaching of copper into a moderately oxidizing brine
(center), and deposition of copper in receptive gray beds (at left). As in Figure 3, an across-basin flow is unnecessary; it is
only necessary that the highland be connected hydrologically to the depositional site. Approximately 1.1 Mt of copper could
be leached from the footwall sediments per million years of diagenetic reddening.

0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 860

 SCIENTIFIC COMMUNICATIONS
TABLE 1. Oxygen Content (mg/liter) of Water as a
Function of Temperature and Altitude
Altitude (m) 500 1000 1500
Pressure (mm Hg) 716 674 634
Temperature 0 13.8 13.0 12.2
(°C) 10 10.6 10.0 9.2
20 8.6 8.1 7.6
From general chemistry online: http://antoine.frostburg.edu/chem/senese/
101/solutions/faq/predicting-do.shtml.
to the formation of basin evaporites at lower altitudes) and an
infiltration rate of 50 percent (after evaporation and surface
drainage), a recharge area of 100 km2 could contribute about
1010 liters of water and 1011 mg of oxygen annually to the sub-
surface, or 1017 mg of oxygen over 1 m.y. (see the Appendix
for more complete calculations).
For the reaction 2FeO + 1/2O2 → Fe2O3 (for which ½ mole
or 16 mg of O2 would oxidize 2 moles or 110 mg of ferrous
iron), 1017 mg of oxygen would oxidize almost 7 × 1017 mg of
ferrous iron (see Appendix). Assuming that initially the first-
cycle footwall sediments have a ferrous iron content of about
2.5 percent (using the example of the Gulf of California rift
sediments studied by Zielinski et al., 1983) and that 50 per-
cent of that iron is oxidized by the infiltrating oxygen-rich me-
teoric water (sufficient to produce a distinct reddening), the
amount of footwall aquifer oxidized over 1 m.y. would be
about 55 × 109 t. For a specific gravity of approximately 2.3,
that tonnage could represent about 24 km3 of footwall red-
dening (for example, a block measuring 10 km parallel to the
rift-margin fault, 1 km in vertical thickness, and 2.4 km in the
flow direction, as illustrated in Fig. 4). Note that, if the initial
ferrous iron content of the aquifer were higher than 2.5 per-
cent, the zone of reddening would be correspondingly smaller
(or correspondingly larger for a lower initial ferrous iron con-
tent), but the destruction of labile minerals and the release of
copper would remain essentially identical.
To estimate the amount of copper that would be leached
from 24 km3 of reddened footwall sediment, we would re-
quire detailed chemical analyses of all individual labile min-
erals in preleached sediments as well as analyses of their al-
teration products after leaching. In the absence of such data,
we may refer to numerous published analyses of footwall red
beds associated with sediment-hosted stratiform copper de-
posits, as summarized by Hitzman (2000) and Hitzman et al.
(2005). In most cases, several tens of ppm copper must have
been leached from the red beds to account for the total cop-
per (economic and noneconomic) found in major deposits of
this type. Lustwerk and Rose (1983) detected significant de-
pletions of copper (e.g., 20 ppm) from red beds underlying
the Redstone deposit of the Northwest Territories, Canada,
and Borg (1991) concluded that at least 30 to 40 ppm copper
were leached from reddened volcanic rocks closely associated
with red beds beneath the Kupferschiefer sediment-hosted
stratiform copper deposits of Poland.
Walker (1967, 1989) and Zielinski et al. (1983) determined
the trace copper content of original labile mineral constituents
of first-cycle sediments (e.g., pyroxene, biotite, hornblende,
magnetite, and feldspars) accounting for a major portion of
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00
861
the framework fraction in the Pliocene-to-Holocene rift sedi-
ments of the Gulf of California (Table 2). Combined with the
2000 levels of destruction of those constituents during diagenetic
596 reddening (ranging as high as 50% for hornblende and pla-
gioclase, and moderately less for biotite), it appears that the
11.5 reddening process could readily release at least 20 ppm cop-
8.8
7.1
per. At this level of leaching, 55 × 109 t of footwall sediments
would yield 1.1 × 106 t of copper over 1 m.y. of reddening
(see Appendix).
Adjusting input parameters
The basic model tonnage obtained above should be ad-
justed to account for reasonable durations of meteoric alter-
ation and for more realistic recharge areas. Recall also that,
while some studies assume copper leachings as high as 60
ppm (e.g., Blundell et al., 2003), only 20 ppm is assumed to
have been leached in our model calculations. If justified,
other input parameters (e.g., annual rainfall, loss to surface
drainage) could be changed as well. For example, the average
temperature and altitude of the recharge area could be higher
or lower than those that are assumed here (see Table 1 for the
oxygen contents of fresh surface water equilibrated with the
modern atmosphere for temperatures of 0° to 20°C and alti-
tudes of 500–2000 m).
The inputs of water and oxygen into the groundwater sys-
tem across the highland recharge area are particularly crucial
aspects in the above calculation because the liberation of cop-
per should be directly proportional to labile mineral alter-
ation. The infiltration of rainwater into the groundwater
regime could be significantly different from the 50 percent
chosen above; as much as 70 percent of rainfall is lost to evap-
oration in some arid highlands (e.g., northwestern India).
Note, too, that the rainfall in cool, high-altitude recharge
areas may be appreciably greater than the rainfall in nearby
low-level rift basins where hot, arid conditions simultaneously
produce evaporites. Wide-ranging streams and rivers in adja-
cent highlands could bring more surface water into the
recharge area or, alternatively, rivers could drain surface
water out of the recharge area.
Walker (1967, 1989) and Zielinski et al. (1983) observed
that the current progressive reddening of rift-basin sediments
in the Gulf of California has been continuous since at least
Pliocene time (i.e., for 5 m.y. or more), and thus it seems
probable that other ore-forming systems could be active for a
minimum of 5 m.y. and would thus mobilize a minimum of 5
m.y. × 1.1 Mt/m.y. or 5.5 Mt of copper per 10 km of mar-
ginal-fault length. Furthermore, the along-fault dimension of
a recharge area could be several tens of kilometers for a
TABLE 2. Copper Content of Common Labile Minerals
in First-Cycle Sandstones (from Walker, 1989)
No. of Average Cu
analyzed samples content (ppm)
Pyroxene 90 120
Biotite 660 86
Amphibole 40 78
Magnetite 250 76
Plagioclase 108 62
K-feldspar 70 1–20
861
862 SCIENTIFIC COMMUNICATIONS

copper belt such as that hosting the Kupferschiefer deposits
of the Polish copper belt and much more again for the many
segments of the 500-km-long Central African Copperbelt. Al-
though the along-fault dimension of the base model recharge
area (Y in Fig. 4) has been arbitrarily fixed at 10 km, the di-
mension extending back into the hinterland (X) could be con-
siderably greater (or less).
Additional caveats should be noted while applying the cal-
culated tonnage of mobilized copper to actual field situations.
First, an ideal rectilinear flow, without lateral dispersion or
convergence along the flow path, is adopted here, but this
need not be the case in reality. Second, as noted in Brown
(2005), the early expulsion of most compaction fluids could
delay the initiation of an ore-forming meteoric recharge
regime (Galloway, 1984; Person and Garven, 1992; Harrison
and Tempel, 1993; Fig. 5). Third, during the active leaching
of copper, the downstream fine-grained gray beds receiving
copper could eventually become aquitards, if not aquicludes,
due to sediment compaction. As a result, useful reddening
(that portion leading to the formation of sediment-hosted
stratiform copper-type mineralization) could terminate while
overall reddening continued to release copper in the footwall
aquifer, as illustrated in Figure 5. Undoubtedly, once basin
compaction has subsided, the mineralization of gray beds is
favored by an early diagenetic meteoric flow regime, unless
later deformation opens a pervasive network of channels in
the consolidated gray beds (Jowett, 1986; Lustwerk and
Wasserman, 1989).
Comparisons with the Copper Tonnages of
Known Sediment-Hosted Stratiform Copper Deposits
Two well-preserved, major deposits are chosen to compare
the estimated model amount of copper released by infiltrating
meteoric water with the known tonnages of copper in actual
deposits: the White Pine district in northern Michigan, and
the Kupferschiefer copper belt in Poland. Other examples of
this mineralization, such as those of the Central African Cop-
perbelt or the Redstone deposits of the Northwest Territories,
Canada, are generally too disturbed by postore deformation or
not yet sufficiently well defined to evaluate.
The White Pine district, northern Michigan
At White Pine, well-preserved stratiform copper mineral-
ization is hosted by the basal gray beds of the Nonesuch For-
mation overlying extensive Copper Harbor Conglomerate red
beds. These sediments represent post-rift fillings within the
Midcontinent Rift System which in part underlies the pre-
sent-day Lake Superior district (Fig. 6A). The total volume of
Copper Harbor Conglomerate in the rift basin to the north of
White Pine is immense, considering that this alluvial fan se-
quence exceeds 2 km in thickness toward the rift axis (White,
1971; Elmore, 1981; Cannon et al., 1989).
The White Pine mine area measures about 10 km across
(Fig. 6) and contained about 3.8 Mt of copper (Mauk, 1993).
Approximately 80 to 85 percent (i.e., ~3.3 Mt) is classic sed-
iment-hosted stratiform copper-type copper, whereas the

Indefinite period
of diagenesis Decreasing copper release
as labile minerals are altered
Delay due
to the early
prevalance
of a com-
paction
Copper released

regime
per unit of time

Gray bed
compaction
effect

Main stage of useful reddening

and liberation of copper

Diagenetic Time

FIG. 5. An illustration of the useful release of copper during diagenetic reddening of footwall sediments. After an early
expulsion of compaction fluid (Person and Garven, 1992), the liberation of copper with reddening rises rapidly in early di-
agenetic time as the footwall meteoric-recharge circulation system become established, remains high over an extended pe-
riod of reddening, and then decreases significantly as the gray beds (host of sediment-hosted stratiform copper-type cop-
per deposition) become compressed and less permeable (gray bed compaction effect). Additional copper may be released
with continued reddening (dotted line, decreasing slightly with time as labile minerals become more and more altered), but
as the gray beds become impermeable, that copper is not usefully deposited as sediment-hosted stratiform copper-type
mineralization.

0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 862

 SCIENTIFIC COMMUNICATIONS 863

O N T AR I O L ake
S uper ior
A B

MN

Ri
n t
ne

ft S
ti
on

yst
idc Lake

em
M M

Map
I
C
H Superior II
I
Area G
A I
N
WI S C O N S I N

White Pine
White Pine mine area
mine area CH
Presque Ile NS
Syncline FS
Presque Isle
Syncline
CH t lt
NS ul u
Fa Fa
w aw
PV na en
w ee N we
Ke Ke
Mic
Wi

O 25 km Porcupine Volcanic O 25 km
Complex
sc

h.
.

FIG. 6. Geologic context of the proposed meteoric recharge systems responsible for the sediment-hosted stratiform cop-
per deposits of the White Pine district, situated within Nonesuch shales (NS) which overlie Copper Harbor Conglomerate
red beds (CH) along the southern margin of the midcontinent rift system. A. Geology of the White Pine district. B. A 10-
km-wide flow system for the mineralization of the White Pine mine (arrow I) and a 50-km-wide flow system for the entire
White Pine district, including the mineralization of the Presque Isle syncline and mineralization to the northeast of the White
Pine mine (arrow II). PV = Porcupine Volcanics, FS = Freda Sandstone.

remaining 10 to 15 percent is attributed to a late, structurally Mt of this type of copper in the mine area is adequately ex-
controlled, second-stage, dominantly native copper mineraliza- plained if the reddening process continued at a leaching rate
tion (Mauk, 1993). White (1971) assumed that the copper of of 1.1 Mt per million years over a period of 3.3 Mt/1.1 Mt/m.y.
the White Pine mine could have been derived from a volume or 3 m.y. For the entire 50-km-long White Pine-Presque Isle
of red beds measuring 2 km in thickness, 10 km parallel to the district, the recharge area and circulation system can be as-
rift-margin Keweenaw fault (the Y-dimension, equivalent to sumed to have been five times broader (Fig. 6B, arrow II).
the east-west width of the mine area proper), and 40 km to the With this recharge area, the 7 Mt of classic copper of this type
north-northwest (representing about one-half of the estimated could have been leached within 7 Mt/(5×1.1 Mt/m.y.) or 1.3
distance across the rift basin during full rift extension). m.y. Compared to the duration of the on-going Gulf of Cali-
The White Pine mine and surroundings, including White fornia recharge system (at least 5 m.y.), the White Pine min-
Pine-like sections and grades in the Presque Isle syncline eralization is readily accounted for with an active recharge
(Fig. 6), contain ~8 Mt of copper metal (Kirkham, 1989; system of 3 m.y. or less.
Mauk, 1993). With 10 to 15 percent removed as late, struc- Interestingly, the late, structurally controlled native-copper
turally controlled copper, the remaining mineralization mineralization excluded from the above analysis has been at-
amounts to ~7 Mt of traditional sediment-hosted stratiform tributed to a regeneration of meteoric recharge in the Ke-
copper-type copper. An along-fault dimension of 50 km would weenaw aquifers during the Grenvillian closure of the mid-
be a conservative estimate for the east-northeast–west-south- continent rift system, analogous to the deposition of major
west dimension of the complete White Pine-Presque Isle native copper lodes on the Keweenaw peninsula (Brown,
copper district (Fig. 6). 2006). In other words, a late influx of meteoric water with a
Applying the dynamic footwall reddening model, meteoric correspondingly late reddening event probably produced the
recharge would ideally have begun with the elevation of high- second-stage native copper at White Pine. In theory, that cop-
lands on the northern side of the rift basin, as proposed in the per could also be evaluated using the basic model estimate
recharge model of White (1971). In reality, the position of the developed here. Considering the lack of solid geologic infor-
recharge area could have been at any location around the mation on which to base such an analysis (e.g., an adequate
western Lake Superior rift basin, as long as it was connected knowledge of the structural plumbing), but recognizing again
hydrologically to the Copper Harbor Conglomerate aquifer the vast volumes of deep aquifers available, there should have
and to the White Pine-Presque Isle district during post-rift been no lack of leachable copper to explain the second-stage
sedimentation and early diagenesis. A simple rectilinear flow native copper in the White Pine area.
from a highland to the north-northwest is assumed here, such
that the circulation of topography-driven brine would have The Kupferschiefer district of southwest Poland
been toward the south-southeast (see broad arrows of Fig. The well-preserved sediment-hosted stratiform copper de-
6B). posits of the Polish portion of the Central European copper
With a recharge area having a Y-dimension of 10 km and a belt (Fig. 7) occur principally along the Fore-Sudetic Mono-
useful circulation of the same width (Fig. 6B, arrow I), the 3.3 cline, in the Kupferschiefer shale and overlying Zechsteinkalk

0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 863

864 SCIENTIFIC COMMUNICATIONS

B N
A
Po Py
lis Zn
? Po h
Cu
Pb
lish W
Pozna n Ba Approx. area of
sin Cu >0.1 m-%
Rote Fo H
re
Fäule Mo-Sud
no eti Approx. eastern
cli c limit of
Fo
re ne bimodal volcanics
-
Bl Sud
oc et
k ic
? Wroclaw

W 50 Km
ol
sz
ty
n Ba
? Cu äul A’
sin
Ro
te

Su
F

lf i d

Fo Hig
es
hla
e

re- nds
Mo Su
no de
cli tic
A ne
No F or
rt e-
Tr h Su Su Lubin-Sieroszowice
??
ou d de mine area
gh eti
c t ic
Bl
Konrad- oc
Lena k
mine area

0 50 Km

SW NE
A A’
Present-day Surface

Cenozoic and Mesozoic 0.5 km

Zec
h s te Kupferschiefer 5 km
in
Rot
l i eg
end
es

Rote Kupferschiefer
Carboniferous and Fäu le Zechstein
Older Basement Cu-Ag

Pb Zn Pyrite

Fore-
Sudetic Rotliegendes
C Block ? D

FIG. 7. Geologic context and flow systems responsible for the formation of sediment-hosted stratiform copper deposits
on the Kupferschiefer copperbelt of southwest Poland. A. Location of the Lubin-Sieroszowice (L-S) mining district on the
Fore-Sudetic Monocline and downdip from the up-thrown Fore-Sudetic block; breadth of most copper mineralization (en-
closed by heavy dotted line); eastern limit of bimodal volcanic rocks within the footwall Rotliegendes red beds (light dashed
line); a major area of Rote Fäule to the west of the mining district; lateral zoning of ore-stage copper, lead, and zinc sulfide,
overprinting syndiagenetic pyrite in the Kupferschiefer shales of the Polish Basin toward the east and northeast (long arrow
labeled Cu, Pb, Zn, Py); apparent direction of flow of meteoric recharge-driven ore-forming solutions from the large Rote
Fäule area and toward the east and northeast in footwall Rotliegendes sediments (double-headed arrows); original southern
limit of the Zechstein Basin (heavy dashed line); and present-day southern limit of the Zechstein sediments (solid heavy line).
WH = Wolsztyn Highlands, basement highlands buried by Rotliegendes and Zechstein sediments. B. Enlargement of A, also
showing the possible, generally west-to-east flow of meteoric recharge-driven ore-forming solutions within the footwall
Rotliegendes sediments (broad arrows); and the ~70 × 190 km area (vertically barred) of important copper mineralization
on the Fore-Sudetic Monocline, as outlined by Cathles et al. (1993). Adapted mainly from Hitzman et al. (2005). C. Flow
(along section A-A' identified in B) of ore-forming solutions (black arrows) toward the left and updip in the footwall
Rotliegendes sediments at depth, and then to the right and along the base of (and into) the Kupferschiefer shales at shallow
levels, as proposed by Jowett (1986) and others. Adapted mainly from Cathles et al. (1993). D. Detail of C, showing the shal-
low-level infiltration of ore-forming solutions into the Kupferschiefer shales, with the development of an early diagenetic
zoning passing progressively to the right from Rote Fäule to copper, lead, and zinc sulfide zones, overprinting the original
syndiagenetic pyrite of the Kupferschiefer. Adapted from Oszczepalski and Rydzewski (1997).

0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 864

 SCIENTIFIC COMMUNICATIONS
carbonates (the Zechstein marine host), and in the immedi-
ately subjacent grayish-white Weissliegendes sandstone (the
footwall clastic host). Although the Weissliegendes ore is
patchy and highly variable in grade and thickness in compar-
ison to the consistent, widespread stratiform ores of the
Kupferschiefer-Zechsteinkalk horizon, the overall produc-
tion of copper is divided about equally between these two
stratigraphic levels. Associated gold-PGE mineralization
(Kucha and Przybyłowicz, 1999; Piestrzyński and Wodzicki,
2000; Piestrzyński et al., 2002; Borg et al., 2005) and late di-
agenetic fracture-controlled copper mineralization (Jowett,
1986) are not considered here because of their relatively
minor abundances.
The 50-km-long Lubin-Sieroszowice mining district has
economic deposits containing 68 Mt of copper metal, as well
as important amounts of silver (Cathles et al., 1993; Wodzicki
and Piestrzyński, 1994; Hitzman et al., 2005). Deeper
Kupferschiefer mineralization occurs downdip to the north,
east, and southeast of the Lubin-Sieroszowice district on the
Fore-Sudetic Monocline, extending well into the Polish basin
(Fig. 7A, B). Cathles et al. (1993) estimate that 350 Mt of cop-
per metal occur within a broad area measuring 70 × 190 km
and including the Lubin-Sieroszowice mining district and
surrounding areas. Although an additional 1.3 Mt of copper
metal was obtained from the Konrad-Lena mining district in
the North Sudetic trough southwest of Lubin-Sieroszowice
(Fig. 7B), the present discussion is restricted to the more ex-
tensive continuous area enclosing the 350 Mt of copper metal
outlined on the Fore-Sudetic Monocline.
In this area, the Kupferschiefer-Zechsteinkalk mineraliza-
tion occurs immediately to the east of a large area of Rote
Fäule (Fig. 7A, B), a hematitic reddening of the ore horizons
attributed to oxidation by the ore-forming brine. Within this
marine sequence, the peneconformable (combining both ver-
tical and lateral zonings), fine-grained disseminated sedi-
ment-hosted stratiform copper-type sulfide mineralization ex-
tends laterally from copper mineralization adjacent to the
identified large Rote Fäule area, to lead and zinc mineraliza-
tion farther to the east and north, and then to insignificantly
mineralized pyritic gray beds in still more distal portions of
the Kupferschiefer (Fig. 7A). The source of footwall copper is
generally thought to have been Upper Rotliegendes red bed
sediments (averaging over 500 m in thickness on the Fore-
Sudetic Monocline), altered bimodal volcanic units in the
Lower Rotliegendes, and possibly basement rocks (Jowett,
1986; Oszczepalski, 1989, 1999; Borg, 1991; Cathles et al.,
1993; Blundell et al., 2003; Hitzman et al., 2005). Marginal
rift highlands needed to drive meteoric recharge systems dur-
ing early diagenetic and later times may be presumed to have
formed initially during Early Permian (Rotliegendes) rifting,
with additional riftings in Triassic and later Mesozoic times
(Jowett, 1986; Oszczepalski, 1999).
Based on the regionally zoned ore-stage sulfides, the gen-
eral flow of ore solutions for this classic mineralization at the
level of the Kupferschiefer-Zechsteinkalk sequence appears
to have been from west to east or northeast within or along
the base of the Kupferschiefer (see double-headed arrows of
Fig. 7A and broad arrows of Fig. 7B). In that case, the direc-
tion of flow deeper within the footwall aquifer may also have
been from west to east, presumably from an unidentified
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 865
865
highland recharge area to the west. However, most com-
paction- and thermal-driven models for the emplacement of
the Kupferschiefer mineralization envisage deep flow from
the northeast (see left-directed arrows in Fig. 7C), followed
by shallow flow toward the northeast (see right-directed ar-
rows immediately beneath and within the Kupferschiefer in
Fig. 7C, D) (Jowett, 1986; Cathles et al., 1993; Oszczepalski
and Rydzewski, 1997; Hitzman et al., 2005). Given the re-
gional distribution of ore-stage sulfides, the flow away from
the Fore-Sudetic block (i.e., toward the northeast) at shallow
aquifer levels is retained here. However, no particular con-
straint is placed on the direction of flow at deep levels in the
Rotliegendes, consistent with the conclusion, as with White
Pine, that the only essential requirement is that the recharge
area must have been connected hydrologically to the footwall
aquifers and the downstream gray beds. Also, as in the case of
the White Pine mineralization, the length Y of the recharge
area is assumed to have been approximately equivalent to the
length of the Lubin-Sieroszowice mine district (~50 km) or
the length of the entire Polish copper belt (~190 km, as out-
lined by Cathles et al., 1993).
The origin of the underlying Weissliegendes-hosted miner-
alization is less certain and may have resulted from the same
meteoric recharge system which formed the Kupferschiefer-
Zechsteinkalk mineralization or from a separate system. Well-
mineralized Weissliegendes consists largely of cementing
cupriferous sulfides in fluvial-eolian sandstones, with high-
grade zones especially prevalent in the crests of eolian sand
dunes. The basal units of the overlying marine series (Kupfer-
schiefer and Border Dolomite) are typically thin or missing
over the dune crests, and the association of high-grade min-
eralization with dunes in the Weissliegendes has been attrib-
uted to the downward flux of reduced and possibly sulfide-
bearing solutions from the marine series where there were
gaps in compact basal marine units (Kucha and Pawlikowski,
1986; Hitzman et al., 2005), similar to reduced mineralized
sediments observed beneath the deposits at White Pine,
Michigan (Hamilton, 1967) and Juramento, Argentina (Durieux
and Brown, 2007). This concept is supported by carbonate
and anhydrite cements in the dune crests, with carbon and
oxygen isotope ratios similar to those of equivalent con-
stituents in the marine series. On the other hand, heavier sul-
fur isotope ratios among Weissliegendes sulfides compared to
Kupferschiefer sulfides favor a separate sulfide source, possi-
bly from mobile hydrocarbons derived from basement Car-
boniferous strata and known to occur in Rotliegendes reser-
voirs north of the Fore-Sudetic Monocline (Kirkham, 1989,
1995; Pikulski and Zielinska-Pikulska, 2003; Hitzman et al.,
2005). Such explanations suggest more complex local flow
systems and perhaps a separate diagenetic genesis and timing
from that of the conventional sediment-hosted stratiform
copper-type mineralization in the overlying marine series,
which clearly resulted from an obliquely upward-directed ore
solution. The basin-scale flow of solutions responsible for the
Weissliegendes mineralization is not revealed by a clearly de-
fined regional zoning of ore-stage sulfides in the Weissliegen-
des sandstone.
Most descriptions and explanations of the Weissliegendes
copper recognize important differences between this miner-
alization and that of the overlying marine series, but they tend
866 SCIENTIFIC COMMUNICATIONS
to assign both to a single diagenetic event (e.g., Oszczepalski,
1989, 1999; Vaughan et al., 1989; Oszczepalski and Ry-
dzewski, 1997; Piestrzyński and Wodzicki, 2000; Hitzman et
al., 2005). Fortunately, precise explanations for the genesis of
these stratigraphically distinct deposits are not crucial to the
calculation of the time required to form these mineralized
areas using the meteoric recharge model. The observed ton-
nages of copper may be considered to be the products of two
successive, approximately equally important ore-forming sys-
tems or a single, all-encompassing system. The essential ele-
ments for present purposes are the existence of sufficiently
important highlands to drive the subsurface flow of adequate
volumes of oxygen-rich meteoric water, and sufficient leach-
able footwall copper.
Adequate sources of footwall copper remain perplexing for
deposits of the Central European copper belt. Borg (1991)
recognized that the volume and original copper content of
Rotliegendes sediments, in part terrestrially reddened, was
probably inadequate as a source of leachable copper, and
showed that reddened Lower Rotliegendes volcanic rocks
could have played an important role in providing copper. In
their respective compaction- and heat-driven models, Cathles
et al. (1993) proposed that the Carboniferous basement rocks
could have supplied as much copper as all of the Rotliegen-
des sediments and volcanic rocks, while Blundell et al. (2003)
called upon these same basement rocks to have been the
principal source of copper. However, as noted above, those
models do not provide sufficiently oxidized brines to trans-
port copper at significant concentrations to form major sedi-
ment-hosted stratiform copper deposits, whereas meteoric
waters would have attained ideal Eh levels for copper trans-
port through the reddening process. The intervention of one
or more meteoric recharge systems is virtually inescapable in
any explanation of the mineralization of the Polish copper
belt, provided those solutions descended into the Lower
Rotliegendes volcanic and basement rocks to obtain the nec-
essary tonnages of copper.
To estimate the time required to form the principal stages
of copper mineralization on the Polish copper belt using the
meteoric recharge and diagenetic leaching processes es-
poused in this communication, the along-strike dimensions
on the Polish copperbelt are used as the best indication of the
along-fault dimensions (Y) of the recharge areas: for the 50-
km-long Lubin-Sieroszowice mine area, the basic model
length of 10 km would need to be expanded five times, and
for the entire 190-km-long copper belt, it should be expanded
19 times. If the Y-dimensions of the recharge areas were
shorter, the flow would have had to diverge; if it were longer,
the flow might have converged. A simple rectilinear flow is
employed here.
For the copper hosted by the Kupferschiefer-Zechsteinkalk
sequence, the tonnages to be accounted for would be one-
half of 68 Mt for the Lubin-Sieroszowice mine area alone and
one-half of 350 Mt for the full Kupferschiefer copper belt.
Thus, using our basic model estimate of 1.1 Mt of mobilized
copper per million years, the periods of time required to de-
posit this copper would be 34 Mt/(5×1.1 Mt/m.y.) or 6.2 m.y.
for the mine area, and 175 Mt/(19×1.1 Mt/m.y.) or 8.4 m.y.
for the entire copper belt. It is encouraging that neither re-
sult, nor their average of 7.3 m.y., is significantly different
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 866
from the 5 m.y. minimum observed for the reddening of
coarse-grained rift sediments in the Gulf of California.
An equivalent period could account for the remaining one-
half of the copper on the Kupferschiefer copper belt hosted
by the Weissliegendes sandstone. If this copper was deposited
at the same time as the copper in the overlying marine series,
then the copper arriving at the depositional sites would have
been divided equally between the marine host and the foot-
wall clastic host and the total duration of the ore-forming sys-
tem would necessarily be twice the durations defined in the
paragraph above: 12.4 m.y. for the Lubin-Sieroszowice mine
area, and 16.8 m.y. for the entire copper belt. In the case of
two separate meteoric recharge systems, the same figures
would be the minimum durations for the operation of the
complete ore-forming process, assuming a lapse in mineral-
ization between the duration of the individual systems.
Thus, the copper mineralization in the Kupferschiefer cop-
per belt may have been deposited from meteoric recharge
systems operating over a total period as short as ~15 m.y. This
interval, encompassing early diagenesis and perhaps more ad-
vanced diagenesis, is not significantly different from the 12
m.y. proposed by Blundell et al. (2003) for their single-stage
heat- and seismic-induced circulation system. It also com-
pares favorably with the conclusion of Vaughan et al. (1989, p.
1024): “... the Kupferschiefer deposit is seen to be the conse-
quence of a variety of mineralizing processes. Apart from the
later, genetically distinct, structure-controlled (Rücken-type)
mineralization, these processes may have been active for a pe-
riod as long as 20 Ma, commencing with the deposition of the
Kupferschiefer horizon.”
Closing Comments
Admittedly, many assumptions and approximations have
been used in reaching the generally successful application of
the basic model estimates of copper mobilized by meteoric
recharge systems to explain the amounts of copper occurring
in the two well-known copper deposits considered above.
However, the better than order-of-magnitude agreement be-
tween the modeled liberation of copper and the actual
amounts of copper found in the White Pine and Polish
Kupferschiefer deposits suggests that the diagenetic redden-
ing model and its complementary meteoric recharge model
provide suitable explanations for the formation of this type of
copper mineralization in both cases. Unfortunately, the
poorly preserved geological contexts or lack of adequate rift-
scale information for most other sediment-hosted stratiform
copper deposits prevent similar analyses elsewhere.
The estimated basic model tonnage based on a process-ori-
ented approach (1.1 Mt per million years of leaching per 10
km of along-fault recharge-area length) provides a convenient
reference level of the amount of copper that may be mobi-
lized from footwall aquifer units in an idealized intraconti-
nental rift setting. The apparent success of this estimate in
explaining the copper contents of real sediment-hosted strat-
iform copper deposits cannot be taken as proof that the me-
teoric recharge model is the sole satisfactory basin-scale
means to form this kind of mineralization. The arguments for
that claim derive largely from the inability of alternative mod-
els to explain the origins of brines capable of carrying signifi-
cant copper. The common assumption in recent literature
 SCIENTIFIC COMMUNICATIONS
that footwall red beds predating the sediment-hosted strati-
form copper-forming event assure suitably oxidizing Eh-pH
conditions in the ore-forming brine should be questioned se-
riously. Meanwhile, the footwall-reddening model does pro-
vide the necessary Eh-pH conditions for the leaching and
transport of copper. Furthermore, the semiquantitative,
process-based modeling described above gives us an approxi-
mate tonnage of copper that can be expected from red bed as
a result of a meteoric recharge system, and coincidentally that
model forms an ideal driving mechanism to complete the
basin-scale genetic model for sediment-hosted stratiform
copper deposits.
Acknowledgments
Sincerest thanks are due to the delightfully enthusiastic ex-
ploration geologists of Companhia Vale Do Rio Doce (Vale),
whom I asked, in a short course, to determine how much
copper could be mobilized from footwall strata to form a sed-
iment-hosted stratiform copper deposit based on the mete-
oric recharge model. Their problem became a larger chal-
lenge than I initially appreciated and led to my personal best
answer, above. The comments of David Broughton on an
earlier version of this communication and those of Gregor
Borg on the present version have been very helpful in revis-
ing the presentation.
REFERENCES
Blundell, D.J., Karnkowski, P.H., Alderton, D.H.M., Oszczepalski, S., and
Kucha, H., 2003, Copper mineralization of the Polish Kupferschiefer: A
proposed basement fault-fracture system of fluid flow: ECONOMIC GEOL-
OGY, v. 98, p. 1487–1495.
Borg, G., 1991, The significance of Rotliegendes volcanics for the metal
provinces of the Kupferschiefer basin: Zentralblatt für Geologie Paläon-
tologie, v. 1, p. 929–943.
Borg, G., Frotzscher, M., and Ehling, B., 2005, Metal content and spatial dis-
tribution of Au and PGE in the Kupferschiefer of the Mansfeld/Sanger-
hausen mining district, Germany, in Mao, J., and Bierlein, F.P., eds., Meet-
ing the Global Challenge: Mineral Deposit Research, Beijing, Proceedings
of the 8th Biennial SGA Meeting, v. 2, 885–888.
Boyle, R.W., Brown, A.C., Jefferson, C.W., Jowett E.C., and Kirkham, R.V.,
eds., 1989, Sediment-hosted stratiform copper deposits: Geological Associ-
ation of Canada, Special Paper, v. 36, 710 p.
Brown, A.C., 1971, Zoning in the White Pine copper deposit, Ontonogan
County, Michigan: ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, v. 66, p. 543–573.
——1992, Sediment-hosted stratiform copper deposits: Geoscience Canada,
v. 19, no. 3, p. 125–141 (reprinted in Sheahan, P.A., and Cherry, M.E., eds.,
Ore deposit models, v. 2, Geological Association of Canada, Reprint Series
6, 1993, p. 99–115).
——1997, World-class sediment-hosted stratiform copper deposits: Charac-
teristics, genetic concepts and metallotects: Australian Journal of Earth Sci-
ences, v. 44, p. 317–328.
——2003, Redbeds: Source of metals for sediment-hosted stratiform copper,
sandstone copper, sandstone lead, and sandstone uranium-vanadium de-
posits, in Lentz, D.R., ed., Geochemistry of sediments and sedimentary
rocks: Evolutionary considerations to mineral deposit-forming environ-
ments: Geological Association of Canada, Geotext 4, p. 121–133.
——2005, Refinements for footwall red-bed diagenesis in the sediment-
hosted stratiform copper deposits model: ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, v. 100, p.
765–771.
——2006, Genesis of native copper lodes in the Keweenaw district, northern
Michigan: A hybrid evolved meteoric and metamorphogenic model: ECO-
NOMIC GEOLOGY, v. 101, p. 1437–1444.
Cannon, W.F., Green, A.G., Hutchinson, D.R., Myung, L., Milkereit, B.,
Behrent, J.C., Halls, H.C., Green, J.C., Dickas, A.B., Morey, G.B., Sut-
cliffe, R.H., and Spencer, C., 1989, The North American midcontinent rift
beneath Lake Superior from GLIMPCE seismic reflection profiling: Tec-
tonics, v. 8, p. 305–332.
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 867
867
Cathles, L.M., III, Oszczepalski, S., and Jowett, E.C., 1993, Mass balance
evaluation of the late diagenetic hypothesis for Kupferschiefer Cu mineral-
ization in the Lubin basin of southwestern Poland: ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, v.
88, p. 948–956.
Davidson, C.F., 1965, A possible mode of origin of stratafbound copper ores:
ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, v. 60, p. 942–954.
Durieux, C.G., and Brown, A.C., 2007, Geological context, mineralization
and timing of the Juramento sediment-hosted stratiform copper-silver min-
eralization, Salta district, northwestern Argentina: Mineralium Deposita, v.
42, p. 879–899.
Elmore, R.D., 1981, The Copper Harbor Conglomerate and Nonesuch Shale
sedimentation in a Precambrian intracontinental rift, Upper Michigan: Un-
published Ph.D thesis, Ann Arbor, University of Michigan, 192 p.
Galloway, W.E., 1984, Hydrogeologic regimes of sandstone diagenesis, in
McDonald, D.A., and Surdam, R.C., eds., Clastic diagenesis: American As-
sociation of Petroleum Geologists, Memoir 37, p. 3–13.
Glennie, K.W., 1989, A summary of tropical desert sedimentary environ-
ments, present and past, in Sediment-hosted stratiform copper deposits,
Boyle, R.W., Brown, A.C., Jefferson, C.W., Jowett, E.C. and Kirkham, R.V.,
eds.: Geological Association of Canada, Special Paper 36, p. 67–84.
Hamilton, S.K., 1967, Copper mineralization in the upper part of the Copper
Harbor Conglomerate at White Pine, Michigan: ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, v.
62, p. 885–904.
Harrison, W.J., and Tempel, R.N., 1993, Diagenetic pathways in sedimentary
basins, in Horbury, A.D, and Robinson, A.G., eds., Diagenesis and basin
development: American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Studies in
Geology no. 36, p. 69–86.
Garrels, R.M., 1960, Mineral Equilibria: New York, Harper and Brothers,
254 p.
Hitzman, M.W., 2000, Source basins for sediment-hosted stratiform copper
deposits—implications for the structure of the Zambian Copperbelt: Jour-
nal of African Earth Sciences, v. 30, p. 855–-863.
Hitzman, M.W., Kirkham, R., Broughton, D., Thorson, J. and Selley, D.,
2005, The sediment-hosted stratiform copper ore system: ECONOMIC GE-
OLOGY 100TH ANNIVERSARY VOLUME: p. 609–642.
Jowett, E.C., 1986, Genesis of Kupferschiefer Cu-Ag deposits by convective
flow of Rotliegende brines during Triassic rifting: ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, v.
81, p. 1823–1837.
Kirkham, R.V., 1989, Distribution, setting and genesis of sediment-hosted
stratiform copper deposits, in Boyle, R.W., Brown, A.C., Jefferson, C.W.,
Jowett, E.C. and Kirkham, R.V. eds., Sediment-hosted stratiform copper
deposits: Geological Association of Canada, Special Paper 36, p. 3–38.
——1995, Sediment-hosted stratiform copper, in Eckstrand, O.R., Sinclair,
W.D., and Thorpe, R.L, eds., Geology of Canadian mineral deposit types:
Geological Society of America, Decade of North American Geology, Geol-
ogy of North America, v. P-1, p. 223–233.
Kucha, H., and Pawlikowski, M., 1986, Two-brine model of the genesis of
strata-bound Zechstein deposits (Kupferschiefer-type), Poland: Mineral-
ium Deposita, v. 21, p. 70–80.
Kucha, H., and Przybyłowicz, W., 1999, Noble metals in organic matter and
clay-organic matrices, Kupferschiefer, Poland: ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, v. 94,
p. 1137–1162.
Lustwerk, R.L., 1989, Geology and geochemistry of the Redstone stratiform
copper deposit, Northwest Territories, Canada: Unpublished Ph.D. thesis,
Pennsylvania State University, 403 p.
Lustwerk, R.L., and Rose, A.W., 1983, Source and segregation of transition
metals during diagenetic formation of the Redstone stratiform copper de-
posit, Mackenzie Mountains, Northwest Territories, Canada [abs.]: Geo-
logical Society of America, Abstracts with Program, v. 15, p. 632.
Lustwerk, R.L., and Wasserman, M.D., 1989, Water escape structure in the
Coates Lake Group, Northwest Territories, Canada, and their relationship
to mineralization at the Redstone stratiform copper deposit: Sediment-
hosted stratiform copper deposits: Geological Association of Canada, Spe-
cial Paper 36, p. 207–224.
Mauk, J.L., 1993, Geological and geochemical investigations of the White
Pine sediment-hosted stratiform copper deposit, Ontonagon County,
Michigan: Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Ann Arbor, University of Michigan,
194 p.
Oszczepalski, S., 1989, Kupferschiefer in southwestern Poland: sedimentary
environments, metal zoning, and ore controls, in Boyle, R.W., Brown, A.C.,
Jefferson, C.W., Jowett, E.C., and Kirkham, R.V., eds., Sediment-hosted
stratiform copper deposits: Geological Association of Canada, Special
Paper 36, p. 571–600.
868 SCIENTIFIC COMMUNICATIONS

——1999, Origin of the Kupferschiefer polymetallic mineralization in
Poland: Mineralium Deposita, v. 34, p. 599–613.
Oszczepalski, S., and Rydzewski, A., 1997, Metallogenic atlas of the Zech-
stein copper-bearing series in Poland: Pa stwowy Institut Geologiczny, 32 p.
Person, M.A., and Garven, G., 1992, Hydrologic constraints on petroleum
generation within continental rift basins: Theory and application to the
Rhine graben: American Association of Petroleum Geology, Bulletin 76, p.
468–488.
Piestrzyński, A., and Wodzicki, A., 2000, Origin of the gold deposit in the
Polkowice-West mine, Lubin-Sieroszowice mining district, Poland: Miner-
alium Deposita, v. 35, p. 37–47.
Piestrzyński, A., Pieczonka, J., and Głuszek, A., 2002, Redbed-type gold min-
eralisation, Kupferschiefer, south-west Poland: Mineralium Deposita, v. 37,
p. 512–528.
Pikulski, L., and Zielinska-Pikulska, J, 2003, Study in the development of
Rotliegend Basin in western Poland in the aspect of new gas play discover-
ies: American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Annual meeting, Salt
Lake City, May 2003, on-line Abstracts.
Rose, A.W., 1976, The effect of cuprous chloride complexes in the origin of
red-bed copper and related deposits: ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, v. 71, p.
1036–1048.
——1989, Mobility of copper and other heavy metals in sedimentary envi-
ronments, in Boyle, R.W., Brown, A.C., Jefferson, C.W., Jowett, E.C., and
Kirkham, R.V., eds., Sediment-hosted stratiform copper deposits: Geologi-
cal Association of Canada, Special Paper 36, p. 97–110.
Ryan, R.J., Boehner, R.C., Stea, R.R. and Rogers, P.J., 1989, Geology, geo-
chemistry, and exploration applications for the Permo-Carboniferous
redbed copper deposits of the Cumberland Basin, Nova Scotia, Canada, in
Boyle, R.W., Brown, A.C., Jefferson, C.W., Jowett, E.C., and Kirkham,
R.V., eds., Sediment-hosted stratiform copper deposits: Geological Associ-
ation of Canada, Special Paper 36, p. 245–256.
Vaughan, D.J., Sweeney, M., Diedel, F.R., and Haranczyk, C., 1989, The
Kupferschiefer: An overview with an appraisal of the different types of min-
eralization: ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, v. 84, p. 1003–1027.
Walker, T.R., 1967, Formation of red beds in modern and ancient deserts:
Geological Society of America, Bulletin, v. 78, p. 281–282.
——1989, Application of diagenetic alterations in redbeds to the origin of
copper in stratiform copper deposits, in Boyle, R.W., Brown, A.C., Jeffer-
son, C.V., Jowett, E.C. and Kirkham, R.V., eds., Sediment-hosted stratiform
copper deposits: Geological Association of Canada, Special Paper 36, p.
85–96.
White, W.S., 1971, A paleohydrologic model for mineralization of the White
Pine copper deposit, northern Michigan: ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, v. 66, p.
1–13.
Wodzicki, A., and Piestrzyński, A., 1994, An ore genetic model for the Lubin-
Sieroszowice mining district, Poland: Mineralium Deposita, v. 29, p. 30–43.
Zielinski, A., Bloch, S., and Walker, T.R., 1983, The mobility and distribution
of heavy metals during the formation of first cycle red beds: ECONOMIC GE-
OLOGY, v. 78, p. 1574–1589.

APPENDIX
Calculation of Copper Released During the Meteoric Recharge-Driven Reddening Process

a) Water influx/million years: At an infiltration rate of 10 cm/yr (from 20 cm of rainfall), the influx
of water over 10 × 10 km area, for 1 m.y.:
(104 m)2 × 0.1 m × 1000 litres/m3 × 106 yr = 1016 litres/m.y.

b) Oxygen influx: At 10 mg/litre, O2 influx: 1017 mg/m.y.

c) Ferrous iron oxidized/million years:

2 FeO + ½ O2 + 3H2O → 2Fe(OH)3 → Fe2O3 + 3 H2O.
(goethite) (hematite)

Reactants: 2 moles (110 mg) of Fe are oxidized for each ½ mole (16 mg) of O2.
Therefore, oxidized Fe/m.y. = 110/16 × 1017 = 0.6875 × 1018 mg Fe, or 0.6875 × 109 t/m.y.
Assuming 2.5% Fe and that 50% is oxidized, the source sediment weight:
0.6875 × 109 t/m.y. × 100/1.25 = 55 × 109 t/m.y.

d) To transform tonnage to volume for the newly created redbeds, at a SG of ~2.3:

1 km3 of sediment weighs ~(103 m)3 × 2.3 t/m3 = 2.3 × 109 t.
New red beds are produced at the following rate: 55 × 109 t / 2.3 × 109 t/km3/m.y. = 23.9
or approx. 24 km3/m.y. (e.g., a block measuring 1 km thick × 10 km along the marginal-fault
direction × 2.4 km in the flow direction; see Fig. 4).

e) To calculate the copper released during this reddening, assume that 20 ppm copper is leached
from 55 km3 of sediment: 55 × 109 t × 20/106 = 1.1 Mt of copper/m.y.

0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 868