Banatite metallogeny of North Poiana Ruscă Mts. revisited

Abstract

The somehow ignored northern portion of the Banat-Timok Province/Banatitic Belt is reconsidered in metallogenetic terms after updated evaluation based on recent considerations and long ago recognized tectonic, magmatic and metallogenetic evidence. Banatitic occurrences in the investigated area are confined to the NE extent of the non productive alkali-calcic alignment up to the Mures Valley where it joins the sub-latitudinal Bega-Mures branching lineament. Banatitic edifices related to this junction depart from the alkali-calcic trend, drifting to the productive calc-alkaline porphyry environment, characteristic of Timok-South Banat metallogeny. The assemblage of Cretaceous volcanics/pyroclastics and sedimentary formation with subvolcanic and blind intrusions with associated alteration and mineralization creates a environment that reminds the well-known Timok setting. Despite the so far poor understood setting with underestimated economic attractivity, integrated geological-geophysical evidence underscore the potential of this peculiar Timok like volcano-plutonic structure associated with blind porphyry Cu-Au and distal base metal expression, fostering future investigations.