Re–Os geochronology of the Iimori Besshi-type massive sulfide deposit in the Sanbagawa metamorphic belt, Japan

Besshi-type Cu deposits are strata-bound volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits usually associated with mafic volcanic rocks or their metamorphic equivalents. Although there are numerous Besshi-type deposits in the Sanbagawa metamorphic belt, Japan, their tectonic settings and depositional environments remain controversial because of a lack of depositional age constraints. We report Re–Os data for the Iimori deposit, one of the largest Besshi-type deposits in western Kii Peninsula, in order to examine the robustness of the Re–Os isotope system for dating sulfide minerals in the high-P/T metamorphic belt and to elucidate the primary depositional environment of the Iimori sulfide ores. An 11-point Re–Os isochron plot yields an age of 156.8 ± 3.6 Ma. As this Re–Os isochron age is significantly older than the timing of the Sanbagawa peak metamorphism (110–120 or ∼90 Ma) and a well-defined isochron was obtained, the Re–Os age determined here is most likely the primary depositional age. Despite high-grade metamorphism at up to 520 ± 25 °C and 8–9.5 kbar, the Re–Os isotope system of the Iimori sulfides was not disturbed. Hence, we consider that the whole-rock Re–Os closure temperature for the Iimori sulfide ores was probably higher than 500 °C. As the accretion age of the Sanbagawa metamorphic belt is considered to be 120–130 or 65–90 Ma on the basis of radiolarian and radiometric ages, we estimated the time from the Iimori sulfide deposition on the paleo-seafloor to its accretion at the convergent plate boundary to be greater than 25 Myr. Consequently, the depositional environment of the Iimori sulfide ores was not in the marginal sea, but was truly pelagic.