Copper‐gold mineralisation in New Guinea: Tectonics,lineaments, thermochronology and structure

In New Guinea, the upper crust is rich in Late Miocene and Pliocene copper‐gold deposits, yet the host intrusives are mainly in the New Guinea Fold Belt and are of mantle origin and not directly subduction‐related. Structural, thermochronological and geodynamic analyses of the Grasberg, Porgera, Ok Tedi and Frieda River deposits show that the richest deposits occur along the eastern edge of the intersections between long‐lived crustal transfers perpendicular to strike and strike‐parallel crustal extensional faults that were strongly inverted during Late Miocene ‐ Pliocene orogenesis. The deposits are all associated with north‐northeast‐trending transfers, parallel to the aeromagnetic grain in basement, across which the continent‐ocean suture shows >50 km horizontal separation, as identified by the southern limit of the central New Guinea ophiolites. In the fold belt, the transfers coincide with the termination of regional anticlines or uplifts that are 150–200 km long and 30–60 km wide. Balanced sections reveal that the southern limit of these regional anticlines is commonly fault‐bound and coincides with major facies and thickness changes, indicating long‐lived, crustal extensional faults that were inverted. Fission track and ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar cooling ages show that mineralisation occurred during inversion of these faults and, hence, correlates with propagation of orogenesis from northeast to southwest. It is proposed that the pre‐compression New Guinea margin comprised step‐like promontories and embayments delineated by long‐lived crustal fracture zones, as on Australia's North West Shelf. During Late Miocene ‐ Pliocene compression the crust was thickened, accompanying melting of the underlying mantle, and the crustal fracture zones were reactivated as transfers. Where the transfers intersected crustal extensional faults that were being inverted, local zones of dilation occurred, allowing emplacement of mantle magmas and associated mineralisation. When the deformation propagated southwards, so did the crustal thickening and the reactivation of major faults, allowing emplacement of younger magmas and mineralisation.