Mineralogical and Ore Petrographic Comparison of Gedabey and Gadir Deposits in Gedabey Region (Western Azerbaijan)

Abstract

Gedabey (Western Azerbaijan) mine province is located in the Lesser Caucasus region of Tethys metallogenic belt, which is one of the most important metallogenic provinces of the world. Mineralization occurred in the subduction zone within the Lok-Karabakh structuralformation zone of the Lesser Caucasus. The Gedabey ore province is one of the main producing mining of the Gedabey ore district in Azerbaijan and is the largest porphyry-epithermal ore zone of the country. Volcanic rocks and the Gedabey intrusive, which indurated these volcanic rocks, play an important role in the formation of mineralizations in the region. According to previous studies the volcanic rocks containing rhyolite and rhyodacite in the Gedabey ore region are Bajocian age, andesite tuffs and andesite dacites are Bathonian age, diorite and granodiorite within Gedabey intrusive are Upper Jurassic – Lower Cretaceous age. The magmatism of the Gedabey ore region is divided into 3 stages: Bajocian stage, Bathonian stage and Upper Jurassic stage. The GedabeyBittibulag fracture is the most important deeper fault in the region, which ore-controls both the Gedabey Au-Ag-Cu and the Gadir Au-Ag-Cu-Pb-Zn deposits within the Gedabey region.This study aims to compare the mineralogical-petrographical features and hydrothermal alteration zones of Gedabey Au-Ag-Cu and Gadir Au-Ag-Cu-Pb-Zn deposits by means of petrography, ore petrography and X-ray diffraction methods. Chalcopyrite, sphalerite, galena, pyrite, gold, covellite, malachite, azurite were commonly observed in these mineralizations.