The Stratigraphy, Sedimentology and Origin of the Copper (Silver-Uranium) Deposits Found in An Area Between Delice and Yerköy (Middle Anatolia)

Year 1990, Volume: 110 Issue: 110, 39 - 60, 01.03.1990

Halil Aral

Abstract

 The stratigraphic position, sedimentologic characteristics and origin of the copper deposits of Oligocene (—Miocene?)
age are investigated in an area between Delice and Yerköy, on the northern side of Delice river. Copper mineralization is
observed mainly in three different stratigraphic positions in the region. The first type is the native copper ore, found in red and
gray colored continental sandstones and conglomerate which overlie marine fossiliferous (Middle Eocene) limestones. The second
type is the malachite ore, found in Oligocene (—Miocene?) units of the Toprakhk tepe formation which consists of red sandstones,
conglomerate and mudstones. This ore is restricted into the fine-grained, gray-colored sandstone and is rich in carbonized plant
remains. The third type is the primary native copper and malachite ore found at the upper parts of the Toprakhk tepe formation.
While the native copper mineralization is strictly associated with fault zones and slickensided surfaces, the malachite mineralization
occurs in the form of a cement, binding mostly the aetritic volcanic material. Malachite type mineralization represents point
bar and flood plain environmental condition of sedimentation. The local occurrence of malachite ore together with plant remains
in gray-colored sandstone of the red-bed series indicates that this type of ore was deposited primarily (probably as a sulfide or
native copper or malachite) during the deposition of the host rock material under chemically reducing conditions. On the other
hand, the native copper ore is supposedly an epigenetic type and related to the tenaonal and compressional forces. Cuprite and
malachite found with native copper was formed secondarily under surface conditions.

Keywords

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