Nature of fluids and regional implications for Lesser Himalayan carbonates and associated mineralization

Fluid inclusion data are presented for the successive stages of limestone, dolomite, magnesite and sulphide-bearing quartz veins in Proterozoic carbonate rocks of the Lesser Himalaya. Subsurface fluids were H2O–NaCl–KCl ± MgCl2 ± CaCl2 and showed successive increase in salinity and temperature. The salinity of the pore fluid during limestone diagenesis was in the range of ∼7.5–15 eq wt.% NaCl and the magnesite-forming fluids had a salinity of about 9 to 19 eq wt.% NaCl. This progressive rise in salinity is attributed to a more saline fluid in the deeper zones. The inverse relation between homogenization temperatures and final melting temperatures suggests mixing of the fluids during diagenesis, and highly depleted δ18O values rule out participation of magmatic fluid in the mixing. A late stage carbonic fluid is linked with talc formation. The low temperature of sulphide-forming epigenetic solutions, as obtained from fluid inclusions, is also substantiated by the chemical data from these sulphides. δ34S values in galena infer that magmatic sulphur was probably not involved, and the sulphur of the galena is derived from an isotopically heavy source.