The Niederschlag fluorite-(barite) deposit, Erzgebirge/Germany—a fluid inclusion and trace element study

• DOI: 10.1007/s00126-020-01035-y
• Publication Date: 2021-01-05T22:03:37Z
• Authors: Sebastian Haschke; Jens Gutzmer; Cora C. Wohlgemut...; Dennis Kraemer; Mathias Burisch
• Keywords: 550; Fluorite ; Metallogenesis ; Rare earth elements ; Article ; Industrial minerals ; Geochemistry ; Fluid inclusions ; Microthermometry; Fluorite; 01 natural sciences; Industrial minerals; ddc:553.6; Metallogenesis; Geochemistry; Microthermometry; Rare earth elements; Fluid inclusions; 0105 earth and related environmental sciences

AbstractThe Niederschlag fluorite-barite vein deposit in the Western Erzgebirge, Germany, has been actively mined since 2013. We present the results of a first comprehensive study of the mineralogy, petrography, fluid inclusions, and trace element geochemistry of fluorite related to the Niederschlag deposit. Two different stages of fluorite mineralization are recognized. Stage I fluorite is older, fine-grained, associated with quartz, and forms complex breccia and replacement textures. Conversely, the younger Stage II fluorite is accompanied by barite and often occurs as banded and coarse crystalline open-space infill. Fluid inclusion and REY systematics are distinctly different for these two fluorite stages. Fluid inclusions in fluorite I reveal the presence of a low to medium saline (7–20% eq. w (NaCl+CaCl2)) fluid with homogenization temperatures of 140–180 °C, whereas fluorite II inclusions yield distinctly lower (80–120 °C) homogenization temperatures with at least two high salinity fluids involved (18–27% eq. w (NaCl+CaCl2)). In the absence of geochronological data, the genesis of the earlier generation of fluorite-quartz mineralization remains enigmatic but is tentatively related to Permian magmatism in the Erzgebirge. The younger fluorite-barite mineralization, on the other hand, has similarities to many fluorite-barite-Pb-Zn-Cu vein deposits in Europe that are widely accepted to be related to the Mesozoic opening of the northern Atlantic Ocean.