Fluid Flow Through the Devonian-Lower Carboniferous Upper Old Red Sandstone in the Irish Midlands: Testing Models of Lateral or Vertical Fluid Flow and Implications

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9908971HitzmanThe Irish Midlands is a world-class base metal district. This project seeks to understanding of the source and pathways for the hydrothermal fluids responsible for the formation of the Zn-Pb deposits. The proposed study will examine the petrology of the Upper Devonian age Old Red Sandstone, which underlies the carbonate rocks hosting the deposits, throughout the Irish Midlands. The study will determine the nature and distribution of hydrothermal alteration and attempt to discover the porosity of the sediments at the time of hydrothermal alteration through detailed petrography, isotopic (C, O, Sr), mineralogical, and fluid inclusion studies. The project will also involve dating of diagenetic and hydrothermal micas., expanding upon a pilot 40Ar-39Ar geochronology of hydrothermal potassium-rich silicates (illite, muscovite). The results should indicate whether fluid flow in the Old Red Sandstone was of regional extent or the result of flow from point sources and help significantly to determine whether mineralization in the district is due to lateral topographic-driven flow or vertical extension-driven convection.