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Boletín de la Sociedad Geológica Mexicana Volumen 73, núm. 1, A101220, 2021 |
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Reply to “Porphyry-related high-sulfidation mineralization early in Central American Arc development: Cerro Quema deposit, Azuero Peninsula, Panama” by Corral (2021)
Respuesta a “Mineralización de alta sulfuración en relación con pórfidos en el desarrollo del Arco Centroamericano: El depósito de Cerro Quema, Península de Azuero, Panamá” por Corral (2021)
José Perelló1,*, Robert A. Creaser2, Alfredo García3
1 Antofagasta Minerals S.A., Apoquindo 4001, piso 18, Las Condes, Santiago, Chile.
2 Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, T2G 2E3, Alberta, Canada.
3 Avenida Kennedy 4820, departamento 42, Vitacura, Santiago, Chile.
* Corresponding author: (J. Perelló) This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
How to cite this article:
Perelló, J., Creaser, R. A., García, A., 2021, Reply to “Porphyry-related high-sulfidation mineralization early in Central American Arc development: Cerro Quema deposit, Azuero Peninsula, Panama” by Corral (2021): Boletín de la Sociedad Geológica Mexicana, 73 (1), A101220. http://dx.doi.org/10.18268/BSGM2021v73n1a101220
ABSTRACT
Dear Editor, we thank Corral (2020) for his anticipated interest in our paper on the timing of the porphyry-related high-sulfidation epithermal mineralization at Cerro Quema in the Azuero peninsula of southwestern Panama. Our study, based on three Re-Os ages for molybdenite intimately associated with Cu-bearing sulfide minerals from the hypogene roots of the La Pava center (Figure 1), shows that the main event of high-sulfidation Cu mineralization took place during the earliest Maastrichtian at ~71 Ma. The reported ages, together with the geologic relationships described in our paper (Perelló et al., 2020), plus a series of regional geologic, structural, petrochemical, and geotectonic considerations, not only precisely date the porphyry-related nature of the Cerro Quema high-sulfidation mineralization, but are also significant in that they confirm the rapid evolution of the earliest stages of the Central American Arc – from subduction initiation at 75-73 Ma to arc stability and maturation at 71 Ma (e.g., Buchs et al., 2011a and references therein) – and place the mineralization in a regional geodynamic setting. Irrespective of the regional geologic arguments reiterated by Corral (2020) in support of his previous genetic interpretation (e.g., Corral et al., 2016) and to invalidate our conclusions, Corral´s real concern is the reliability of our molybdenite ages, which are much older than his preferred age of mineralization for Cerro Quema. We believe that many of the points raised by Corral (2020), including the regional and local geologic backgrounds of the deposit and the dated samples, were properly addressed in Perelló et al. (2020), and that it would be redundant to repeat them here. Additional petrochemical evidence in support can be found in Whattam and Stern (2015, 2020) and Whatam (2018).
Keywords: Azuero, Caribean Large Igneous Province, Central American Arc, High-sulfidation, Molybdenite.
