The Kluane Ranges are underlain by a sequence of stratified rocks ranging in age from Permian to Triassic, cut by Cretaceous and Tertiary intrusions. Flow and pyroclastic rocks of Lower Permian Station Creek Formation were probably part of a volcanic arc environment. Argillaceous and tuffaceous rocks of the Transition Zone of Station Creek Formation and overlying sedimentary rocks of Lower Permian Hasen Creek Formation were deposited in a subaqueous environment, possibly a back-arc basin. Upper Triassic basalts of the Nikolai Greenstone are largely subaerial and were probably a product of rift volcanism. Prominent copper lode deposits in the Kluane Ranges include: (1) vein and disseminated types in Station Creek volcanic rocks; (2) nickel-copper associated with Kluane complexes; and (3) vein-type in the Nikolai Greenstone. A narrow, positive range of sulphur isotopic compositions for vein sulphides in Station Creek Formation contrast sharply with a large range for those in the Nikolai Greenstone. The former deposits resulted from only local mobilization of sulphur (and metals) during metamorphism in a closed system, whereas mineralization in the Nikolai Greenstone involved considerable variation in chemical parameters of ore fluids in an open system with more than one source of sulphur.
This thesis is available online at https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/831/items/1.0052509. A copy of this thesis is available at the EMR library – QE195 C355 1981.
