Overview of the Lithophile Element-Bearing Magmatic-Hydrothermal System

at Birch Creek, White Mountains, California

MARK D. BARTON†
Center for Mineral Resources, Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721

Abstract
A large lithophile element-bearing hydrothermal system is associated with the well-exposed Birch Creek bi-
otite-muscovite granite and its metamorphic aureole in the White Mountains of eastern California. Elements
enriched include F, Be, W, Zn, Pb, Ag, Cu, Au, Bi, and Sn although historic production (of Pb, Ag, Au, W) has
been minor and likely resources are small. This system is one of several dozen Late Cretaceous intrusion-cen-
tered hydrothermal systems that are associated with two-mica granites along the Cordilleran miogeocline in the
Great Basin. As a group, these occurrences resemble other Mesozoic W-Sn-F-Be bearing systems in circum-
Pacific; however, these seemingly lack the economic deposits—an observation that begs the question: Why not?
These granites are also of considerable interest because of their structural characteristics, notably intensely de-
formed and attenuated margins. They have figured prominently in literature on emplacement mechanisms for
granites. This paper provides an overview of collaborative studies by several groups looking at the magmatic,
structural, metamorphic, and hydrothermal development of the Birch Creek system.
Field, petrological, and geochemical studies demonstrate that the Birch Creek pluton (82 Ma, U-Pb, Ar-Ar)
was episodically emplaced with alternating major pulses from at least two, probably three distinct magma
sources (two crustal, one subcrustal). Compositions are peraluminous and range from biotite granodiorite to
muscovite-biotite granite with episodic aplite formation. Hydrothermal features developed concurrently with
each of these events. Field relations reveal a detailed history of fluid release from the evolving magma cham-
ber. These fluids created high-temperature K feldspar-bearing quartz veins that are early and proximal to the
magma chamber at any given time. With time, assemblages become K feldspar-destructive (albitization: albite-
muscovite-fluorite ± quartz), and finally, only muscovite-stable (greisenization: muscovite-pyrite-fluorite ±
quartz). This pattern is consistent with simple models of fluid evolution from the magma. Early veins, like the
aplite dike swarms, have concentric and radial orientations consistent with formation in a localized, magma-
chamber focused stress regime. Fractures hosting the later associations are consistently northeast oriented and
controlled by far-field stress.
Features developed in Upper Proterozoic-Lower Cambrian carbonate and clastic host rocks can be linked
to the intrusive history via map patterns and crosscutting relationships. Early grossular-rich garnet- and diop-
sidic pyroxene-bearing skarnoids (in mixed siltstone-limestone units) and marbles (in massive limestone and
dolomite) form and are then deformed (flattened) during early stages of pluton emplacement. Stable isotope
data demonstrate at least some of this local metasomatic exchange was accompanied by magmatic fluid influx,
whereas the marbles were largely impermeable and escaped metasomatism. “Anhydrous” calcic skarns consist
of more iron-rich garnet plus salitic pyroxenes, idocrase, sodic plagioclase, quartz, and fluorite. In dolomite,
equivalent vein skarns consist of humite-group minerals plus calcite and variable quantities of diopside, chlo-
rite, spinel and grossular. Hydrous skarn assemblages formed next: an older group is characterized by combi-
nations of clinozoisite-epidote, albitic plagioclase, fluorite, chlorite, and Mg-rich biotite; a younger group is
characterized by muscovite, fluorite, pyrite, and fluorphlogopite. Scheelite, beryl, sphalerite, and other sulfides
accompany these hydrous skarns. Structurally controlled, distal quartz-carbonate-sulfide veins and replace-
ment bodies extend over 5 km from the intrusion. The skarns, replacement bodies and veins all formed from
magmatic fluids as inferred from isotopic and fluid inclusion data.
An integrated time-space view of the hydrothermal, structural, and magmatic development is obtained from
the field relationships and other physical and chemical constraints. Deformation in the form of locally intense
subsolidus foliations, folded dikes and veins, and many local shears can be linked unequivocally to particular
magmatic events during emplacement. These relationships demonstrate that much, perhaps all, of the intense
deformation found around the western margin of the intrusion is syn-intrusive and driven by magma emplace-
ment. Furthermore, these patterns help establish clear links between hydrothermal events in the intrusion and
in the host. Skarns, both anhydrous and hydrous, formed in response to fluid release from each of the princi-
pal intrusive pulses. Overprinting events are found locally, yet their scarcity is consistent with a slowly evolving
temperature field around the intrusion and predominant fluid flow upwards rather than outward.
Similarities and differences with other magmatic-hydrothermal systems, particularly those related to granitic
composition rocks, are interesting to consider for this system. Level of exposure, early and continuous fluid pro-
duction, and the lack of large-scale internal communication in the evolving magma chamber(s) all may have
contributed to the lack of economically significant mineralization.

†
E-mail, barton@geo.arizona.edu

9
10 MARK D. BARTON

Introduction Survey in the early 1980s constituted the only other published
THE BIRCH CREEK intrusion is located in the southern White work on mineral resources (Diggles, 1983; Diggles et al.,
Mountains of eastern California and is one of many such 1983). Most of the geologic work in the area has been done
systems in the Great Basin (Fig. 1; Barton, 1987). It is a com- by Clem Nelson and his colleagues and students at the Uni-
posite Late Cretaceous biotite ± muscovite granitoid pluton versity of California, Los Angeles (UCLA; Nelson, 1966; Nel-
with a multiphase hydrothermal system that can be tied son and Sylvester, 1971; Nelson, unpub. map; Ernst et al.,
through mapping, petrology, and geochemistry to the ig- 1993, Ernst, 1996).
neous, metamorphic, and structural development of the plu- More recent work at Birch Creek was inspired by the need
ton and its aureole. Mapping at various scales allows a rigor- to understand the magmatic history of the Cretaceous grani-
ous assessment of the time-space development of this system. toids associated with the lithophile element mineralization
This paper provides context for the Society of Economic (Barton and Trim, 1991; Fig. 1) and to elucidate aspects of
Geologists 2000 field trip stop at Birch Creek. More extensive granitoid emplacement (Saint Blanquat et al., 1998). Birch
treatments of the area are in preparation. The purpose of the Creek was chosen for detailed work because of the good ex-
day at Birch Creek is to examine a well-exposed purely mag- posures both in the intrusion and in the aureole. Others ex-
matic-sourced hydrothermal system and to consider issues of amined are exposed at higher structural levels or have super-
how these features can be linked in time and space, what they imposed events. A total of 10 months field work was done
reveal about the nature of lithophile element systems in the between 1986 and 1992 by the author and Heather Trim
Great Basin, and what one might learn relevant to the devel- (Trim, 1990), assisted most summers by field camp and other
opment of economic lithophile element deposits elsewhere. students from UCLA or the University of Arizona. Collabora-
Why is this system poorly mineralized? Why are external flu- tors on aspects of the geochemistry, geochronology, petrology,
ids not involved? What is the role of magmatic energy/stress and structure include Peter Holden, Jeffrey Grossman, Gre-
versus other types? What issues can be generalized for con- gory Ghidotti, Laurel Goodwin, Matthew Heizeler, Richard
sideration in the Yerington district and at the Humboldt Law, Michel Saint Blanquat, and Sven Morgan. Their many
complex? contributions are acknowledged as they are highlighted in this
paper.
Previous work and this study
Geologic Framework
The geology of the southern White Mountains and sur-
rounding areas has been extensively treated, most recently in Birch Creek is in the southern White Mountains, which are
a volume edited by Gary Ernst (Ernst and Nelson, 1998). within the Late Proterozoic-Paleozoic Cordilleran miogeo-
Early work was motivated by mining activity in the White and cline, immediately to the east and south of the Cretaceous
Iyo Mountains and resulted in a reconnaissance of the region batholiths of the Sierra Nevada and the northern White
and descriptions of a number of mineral occurrences and small Mountains (Fig. 1). Greenschist facies clastic and carbonate
mines including several that are part of the Birch Creek sys- rocks of Late Proterozoic and Early Cambrian age are folded
tem (Knopf, 1918). A wilderness study by the U.S. Geological in a large south-plunging antiform (Nelson, 1962; Ernst,
1996; Stevens et al., 1997). Multiple granitoid plutons of
Jurassic and Cretaceous age (McKee and Conrad, 1996) in-
Investigated in detail trude the antiform. Folds are tightened and strata and struc-
Other localities tures are displaced near the plutons, most notably near the
Cordilleran miogeocline Birch Creek pluton which intrudes the steeply dipping south-
~~~~
Cretaceous batholiths ~~~~
~~~~ eastern limb of the White-Inyo antiform (Fig. 2; Nelson and
~~~~~ ~~~~
~~~~~
~~~~~
~~~~~
~~~~~
Cretaceous metamorphism ~~~~
Sylvester, 1971).
~~~~~
~~~~~~~ ~~~~~
~~~~~~~ ~~~~~
~~~~~~~ ~~~~~
~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~
Sedimentary rocks
~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~
~~~~~
~~~~~
~~~~~ The Upper Proterozoic to Lower Cambrian metasedimen-
~~~~~~ Tungstonia
~~~~~
McCullough
~~~~~~
~~~~~~
~~~~~
~~~~~ tary host rocks of the Birch Creek system belong to the
Butte
~~~~~~ ~~~~~
~~~~~~
~~~~~~
Mt. ~~~~~
~~~~~ Wyman Formation, Reed Dolomite, Deep Spring Formation
~~~~~~ Wheeler~~~~~
~~~~~~
~~~~~~
~~~~~~ 0
~~~~~
~~~~~ and Campito Formation (Nelson, 1962). Oldest is the Upper
~~~~~~ ~~~
~~~
~~~
Proterozoic Wyman Formation which has minimum thick-
~~~
~~~ ness of 2,750 m. Much of this unit consists of thin-bedded
~~
~~
~~
(5–10 cm) calcareous argillites and siltstones with sparse thin
~~

Birch Creek
limestone lenses. Lenses of light bluish-gray limestone, lo-
cally as much as 10 m thick, become abundant in the upper
Papoose
Flat ~~~~
part of the Wyman. The uppermost Wyman Formation in the
~~~~
~~~~
~~~~
Birch Creek aureole has some dolomitic zones that may be
eastern limit of
0 100
~~~~
Mesozoic analogous to those described in the northern Inyo Mountains
N
miles
100
magmatism (Zenger, 1976). These complicate picking the boundary be-
kilometers tween the Wyman and overlying Reed Dolomite especially
where deformation and metamorphism are intense. Away from
FIG. 1. Location of Birch Creek and other Late Cretaceous two-mica gran- pluton contacts, the Wyman argillites are metamorphosed
ites in the Great Basin. Modified from Barton and Trim (1991). to variably phyllitic lower greenschist facies assemblages

0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 10
 40 35 75
50 High-T Features
45 70 limit of humite-chlorite-
35 80 spinel-diopside veins and
60 skarns in Reed Dolomite
40 40
10000 60 75 limit of garnet (Fe-bearing)-
30 75
40 idocrase-salite skarns in
W 9000 Wyman Formation marbles
y 75
30
man limit of grossular-diopside
75

n
75 8000
800
80 skarnoid in Wyman & Deep
Can
50
yo Spring Formations
generalized distribtution of
20 aplite dike swarms (typically
75 75
20 75 ≥5 volume %)
35
55
75 900 Wilkerson
30 20 50 85 0
Mine

0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00
37˚25’ N
40 20 45 85 80 70 Roberts Ridge
40
9000 50
45 40 75 80
A 70
80
30

0 70 65 75
x10922 00 60
10 75
30 80 45
45 60 65 80
35
20 30
S 80
x11041 35 75
45
25 25 50 70
25 55 45 45 75 80

800
35

0
45 40 50
45
20 45 Camp
15 10 40 80 50
80
40 45 50 40 65 Mexican Hill
45 75 60 Mine
30 80
30 40 25 50 70 40
20 40 30 75 85 85 80 Waterfall
15 40
35 85 prospect
10 00
80 85
45 25 85
50 20 80 70 75
55
00
75 Moderate-T Features

11
75
70
75 60 20 45 85
55 10 60 approximate limit of
40 45 65 calc-silicates & ductile
30 30 75 70 70
45 75 deformation
35 70 85 areas containing vein

Bir
50 80 40 60 Mollie
40 70 80 & replacement quartz-
50 60 65 85 Gibson
N
70 carbonate(-Pb-Zn-Ag)
25 75 85 80 Mine
45 75
A' limit of plagioclase-
40 50 80 clinozoisite-fluorite
55 75 veins & hydrous skarn
25 30 70 75 80 65 60
ch Cre 0 Kilometers 5
75 distribtution of greisen
50 75 & albitization zones
ek

40 50 45 (0.5-1 per m, >1 per m)

00
0 Miles 3

90
40 85 6000
60 60
7000 65 45 Explanation
30
Sedimentary rocks & alluvium Igneous rocks
40 80
50 50 Alluvium: stream & terrace Early Porphyry & Central
40 50 gravels, sands & lake beds in Porphyry: sparsely porphyritic
60 fine- to medium-grained biotite-
Neogene

55 65 Deep Spring Valley

muscovite granite
35 65 55 80 Central Suite: variably K-feldspar
50 60 Harkless Shale
25 megacrystic medium- to coarse-
40 800 25 Poleta Formation: interbedded grained biotite-muscovite granite
30 0 0 55 limestone and dolostone units Border Suite: foliated, medium-
5 40 00
Birch Creek Pluton

6 N grained biotite granodiorite to

LITHOPHILE ELEMENT-BEARING SYSTEM AT BIRCH CREEK, WHITE MTNS, CA

Cretaceous (82 Ma)

37˚20’ N Campito Formation: medium-

Early

bedded gray to black quartzite variably K-feldspar megacrystic

55
Cambrian

30 biotite-muscovite granite
20 30 50 60 Deep Spring Formation: medium
25 bedded limestone, dolostone, Beer Creek Quartz Monzonite:
and sandstone members equigranular hornblende-biotite
20 0 Kilometers 5 quartz monzonite
Jurassic

0 60 Reed Dolomite: poorly bedded

10 40 700 45 to massive white to tan dolostone Contacts: lithologic fault
40
and dolomite marble
15 0 3 Wyman Formation: thin bedded 50
30 20 30
Miles Attitudes: bedding foliation
60 calcareous siltstones, argillites 60 75
contour interval 1,000 feet
Latest

& limestones; massive limestone

Pays
Fold axes, type & plunge:

o
Proterozoic

n
118˚10’W C 118˚05’W
anyon
FIG. 2. Maps of the Birch Creek area showing lithologies, principal structures, and limits of hydrothermal alteration, metamorphism and deformation. Based on Nel-
son and Sylvester (1971), Trim (1990), Barton and Trim (1991), and unpublished mapping by Mark Barton, Heather Trim and Clem Nelson. Compiled by Mark Barton,
Heather Trim, and Rick Law.
11
12 MARK D. BARTON
containing combinations of chlorite, biotite, clinozoisite, mus-
covite, quartz, and albite (Ernst, 1996). Near plutons, Ernst
reports rare cordierite and K feldspar in addition to common
diopside and grossularitic garnet.
The Reed Dolomite, which spans the Proterozoic-Cam-
brian boundary, mainly consists of ~650 m of massively bed-
ded white- to tan-colored, fine- to medium-grained, variably
oolitic, and remarkably clean dolomite (Ernst and Paylor,
1996). A medial impure sandy unit is present in the southern
part of the area (Nelson, 1966). Within approximately 1 km of
the Birch Creek contact, Wyman and Reed carbonates are re-
crystallized to medium- to coarse-grained variably foliated
marbles. These retain their characteristic bluish-gray and
white to tan colors and, for the most part, their calcite-rich
and dolomite-rich bulk compositions.
The Lower Cambrian Deep Spring Formation overlies the
Reed. It consists of ~500 m of interbedded quartzite,
dolomite, and limestone (Nelson, 1962). Low iron calc-sili-
cate minerals are widespread in the Deep Spring, becoming
more abundant near the intrusions.
The overlying Lower Cambrian Campito Formation consists
of two units. The lower unit comprises ~850 m of medium- to
thick-bedded dark-colored magnetite-rich quartzite, whereas
the upper unit comprises ~350 m of shale and siltstone. The
Campito does not abut the Birch Creek intrusion, but it does
host distal base-metal veins. Throughout the region it com-
monly contains metamorphic biotite and chlorite and is up-
graded to sillimanite-bearing assemblages where in contact
with Jurassic plutons (Ernst, 1996).
Igneous rocks
Jurassic and Cretaceous granitoids constitute about half the
exposure in the White Mountains (e.g., Krauskopf, 1968;
McKee and Conrad, 1996). Four plutons plus numerous
small felsic and mafic dikes are present in the southern White
Mountains. The Birch Creek two-mica granite (82 Ma: U-Pb,
Ar-Ar, this study; and K-Ar, McKee and Nash, 1967) is ac-
companied by the Jurassic Beer Creek biotite-hornblende
quartz monzonite / granodiorite (ca. 175 Ma, Ar-Ar, K-Ar),
the Redding Canyon biotite quartz monzonite (≥92 Ma), and
the Sage Hen Flat biotite-hornblende quartz monzonite (ca.
141 Ma, Ar-Ar, K-Ar) plutons (age data summarized from
McKee and Conrad, 1996). Of these, only the Beer Creek
pluton is close enough to Birch Creek to have an overlapping
of metamorphic aureoles (Fig. 2; see below). Late Cretaceous
granites are widespread in the Whites and Inyos; however,
only the muscovite-bearing Papoose Flat pluton (83 Ma, U-
Pb, Miller, 1996) in the northern Inyo Mountains closely re-
sembles Birch Creek.
Fine-grained granitic dikes are common, particular with 1
km of the contact with Beer Creek pluton (Nelson, 1966).
Two generations (116–118 Ma, 147–172 Ma) of thin meta-
mafic dikes cut the sedimentary rocks in the vicinity of the
Birch Creek pluton as they do elsewhere in the region (Inan,
1996; Ernst, 1997). Originally hornblende diabases and
quartz diorites, they now have greenschist facies assemblages
(chlorite-epidote-actinolite-albite). In the inner aureole of
the Birch Creek intrusion, they contain amphibolite facies as-
semblages. These metamafic dikes do not resemble the rare
dismembered biotite-rich mafic dikes and enclaves within the
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00
Birch Creek pluton that are described below with the gran-
ites. They are significant, however, because they commonly
intrude normal faults in the Birch Creek area. Basaltic dikes
that would correlate with Miocene flows to the north have not
been described around Birch Creek.
Regional structure
The main structural feature of the range, the White-Inyo
Anticlinorium, predates the large Jurassic intrusions along the
eastern side of the White Mountains. Folding is inferred to be
of both Antler (Late Devonian-Early Mississippian) and Last
Chance thrust (Permo-Triassic) ages with principal deforma-
tion associated with the latter event (Morgan and Law, 1998).
Mesozoic intrusions cut these folds but also tighten them and
displace their trends, especially near the Late Cretaceous
two-mica granites at Birch Creek and Papoose Flat.
As reviewed by Nelson and Sylvester (1971) the regional
south-plunging White Mountain antiform is dismembered by
faulting and has its trace disrupted as it tightens and wraps
around the Birch Creek intrusion (Fig. 2). Open, generally
upright folds in the Wyman to the north of the intrusion be-
come isoclinal and are overturned as they track along the
north and northwest sides of the intrusion (Figs. 2, 3). Like-
wise, the trace of faults, such as the Mollie Gibson fault,
swing sympathetically around the northwestern side. Folia-
tion is well developed in the rocks of the aureole, most no-
tably in the Reed Dolomite, where an obvious planar fabric
defined by the carbonate grains extends as much as 2 km to
the northwest. In contrast to relationships along the western
flank of the system, units along the eastern flank are little de-
flected from their regional trends and are not as strongly de-
formed.
High angle faults and small thrust faults are widespread in
the region (Nelson, 1966). Small thrust faults are only present
well south of Birch Creek. Although some of the faults in Fig-
ure 2 may have reverse sense of displacement, most have nor-
mal displacement. The most significant of these is the Mollie
Gibson fault system, which runs from Payson Canyon in the
south northward around the west and northern sides of the
Birch Creek intrusion before being lost in folded Wyman.
This fault system localizes much of the distal quartz-carbon-
ate-base metal mineralization. West of the intrusion where
Campito is placed against Wyman, down-to-the-west dis-
placement is at least 1,150 m. Many small, undeformed meta-
mafic dikes have been found in the Mollie Gibson fault and
parallel structures requiring that movement be Early Creta-
ceous or older. A north-northeast–trending zone through the
eastern part of the pluton is prominent on aerial photographs
and on topographic maps (e.g., see fig. 1 in Barton, 2000), but
no offsets have been identified where this zone crosses con-
tacts either in the intrusion or in the aureole (cf. Fig. 2).
There is little evidence for major tilting of this system.
Miocene basalts 10 km to the north dip gently (ca. 10°) to the
east. Undoing this tilt would bring the antiform to a more up-
right position, but rotation of more than 30° to the west would
create asymmetry to the west which would be inconsistent
with folding linked to the eastward vergent Last Chance
thrust system. Finally, in the intrusion itself, the orientations
of radial aplite dike swarms and late greisen veins are pre-
dominantly vertical, rotation of more than about 10° would
12
 LITHOPHILE ELEMENT-BEARING SYSTEM AT BIRCH CREEK, WHITE MTNS, CA 13

A A’ Explanation
WNW ESE Lithology
4 5 Proterozoic & Cambrian Cretaceous
sedimentary rocks Birch Creek granite
Cc Campito Formation Aplite dike swarms
quartzites
3 6
Deep Spring Formation Central Suite

Paleodepth? (km)
Cc Cds

Elevation (km)
carbonates & sandstone (two-mica granite)

Cds Cr Reed Dolomite Early Porphyry

Cr
pCw
limit of calc-silicates
& ductile deformation
0 kilometers
2 7 (two-mica granite)
pCw Wyman Formation Border Suite
(biotite±muscovite
argillites & limestones granodiorite to granite)
Cds Cc 1 8
Hydrothermal system
Cr
3 High- to moderate-T Moderate- to low-T
(quartz-feldspar veins in (greisen in intrusion; mica-rich &
pCw 0 9 intrusion; skarns in aureole) quartz-carbonate in aureole)

FIG. 3. Cross section of the Birch Creek area showing generalized distribution of hydrothermal alteration and major
lithologies. See Figure 2 for location.

systematically cant them away from vertical. Neither map pat-
terns nor cross sections require much tilt and the Birch Creek
systems itself seems sensibly upright (at least within a few
tens of degrees).
Metamorphism
Regionally extensive lower to upper greenschist facies
metamorphism is developed across the area. It likely reflects
Paleozoic to Mesozoic burial and the superimposed thermal
effects of the many Mesozoic plutons (Barton and Hanson,
1989; Ernst et al., 1993; Ernst, 1996, 1997). Well-defined
contact metamorphic aureoles extent on the order of 1 km
from major intrusive contacts. The contact aureole of the
large Jurassic Beer Creek pluton (Fig. 2) overlaps with the
northeastern edge of the Birch Creek aureole (Nash, 1962).
Ernst (1996, 1997) estimates peak metamorphic conditions
away from the plutons to be about 350°C at 3 ± 1 kbars pres-
sure and attaining temperatures of 500°–550°C adjacent to
intrusive contacts (cf. Nyman et al., 1995). The former values
give upper limits on background conditions possible during
emplacement of the Birch Creek pluton. Their direct rele-
vance is unclear given the complex thermal and deforma-
tional history of the region. Estimated ambient conditions
during Late Cretaceous emplacement were 250°–300°C and
1.5–2.5 kbar based on Ar-Ar thermochronology, petrology,
and stratigraphic considerations.
Birch Creek Pluton
The Birch Creek pluton is composite. It was emplaced as
multiple pulses each from several distinct bodies of magma.
Repeated episodes of aplite diking, aqueous fluid release, and
intense penetrative deformation accompanied emplacement.
The intrusion is broadly divided into two large units: the Bor-
der Suite and the Central Suite. These are intruded by textu-
rally and chemically distinctive porphyritic granites, the Early
and Central Porphyries (Figs. 2, 3). Other noteworthy fea-
tures include regular variations in K feldspar megacryst con-
tents, sparse biotite-rich cumulates, rare mafic dikes and en-
claves, and aplite-pegmatite dike swarms that are coeval with
hydrothermal pulses, and intense penetrative deformation.
Internal contacts are both sharp and gradational. Sharp con-
tacts define the boundaries between major units, but they
also exist locally within the major units.
Most of the pluton was mapped at a scale of 1:6,000. Inter-
nal and external contacts were followed where practical, but
most observations came from systematic examination of rep-
resentative exposures and recording textures, mineralogy, and
alteration and attitudes of various features. Locally, scales as
large as 1:300 and 1:60 were used for key areas and critical
outcrops.
Modal mineralogy is simple. Nearly all the rocks are mag-
matic-muscovite-bearing biotite granodiorites and granites.
Magnetite, ilmenite, allanite, monazite, zircon, and apatite
are accessory minerals in most units. Ubiquitous igneous
magnetite in this intrusion contrasts with other Great Basin
two-mica granites most of which lack magnetite and are il-
menite-poor (Miller and Barton, 1990).
In each of the major suites, igneous muscovite and K
feldspar increase in abundance and are ultimately joined by
Fe-Mn garnet (substituting for biotite) in the progression
from early phases to late aplites. Overall, the Border Suite is
less evolved that the Central Suite and the Porphyries in that
the early parts of the Border Suite are atypically mafic—bi-
otite-rich granodiorite—and that Border Suite aplites com-
monly have biotite and rarely have garnet. In the other
groups, rocks are mainly monzogranites and biotite-bearing
aplites are subordinate to garnet-bearing aplites.
Most Border Suite and Central Suite units have equigranu-
lar or seriate textures. Grain sizes range from medium to
coarse, and the abundances of large K feldspar and quartz
crystals vary systematically (Fig. 4A-D). Interior to aplite dike
swarms, K feldspar megacrysts become abundant, locally con-
stituting up to half of the rock (Fig. 4D; see also Barton, 2000,
figs. 3, 4). The Early and Central Porphyries have subdued,
but distinct bimodal grain-size populations with a medium-
grained groundmass (1 to 4 mm grains) with sparse K
feldspar, quartz and rare muscovite phenocrysts (Fig. 4E).
Where foliation is weak, textures are typically hypidiomorphic
granular with subhedral quartz and euhedral K feldspar in a

0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 13
14 MARK D. BARTON

FIG. 4. Photographs of some representative granitoids and alteration assemblages. White bars are 1 cm long. A. Strongly
foliated Border Suite biotite (± muscovite) granodiorite. Here and in photos B-E, K feldspar is stained yellow, plagioclase is
light colored to pink, quartz is gray, and biotite is black. B. Moderately foliated Border Suite muscovite-biotite granite. Note
the large ovoid quartz eyes and the K feldspar megacryst. C. Weakly foliated K feldspar megacrystic Central Suite biotite-
muscovite granite. D. K feldspar megacryst-crowded biotite-muscovite granite from the base of the aplite dike swarms. E.
Megacrystic biotite-muscovite granite from the Central Porphyry. This is typical of Early and Central Porphyries. F. Strongly
foliated (subsolidus) Border Suite biotite granodiorite (cf. A). Crossed polars. Field of view ca. 2.5 mm. G. Unfoliated Cen-
tral Suite granite (cf. E). Crossed polars. Field of view ca. 2.5 mm. Photos F and G courtesy of Laurel Goodwin. H. Mi-
crophotograph (crossed polars, 2.5 mm wide) of typical albitization: albite + muscovite + fluorite ± quartz. I. Clinozoisite-
fluorite ± chlorite-albite vein with biotite-fluorite-chlorite envelope. These represent reaction between aplite-generated
fluids and Reed Dolomite. J. Muscovite-fluorite-pyrite greisen vein with muscovite-quartz-fluorite inner envelope and mus-
covite-albite-chlorite-quartz outer envelope in biotite-muscovite granite. K. Retrograded diopside-calcite-chlorite vein with
humite-group mineral–calcite envelope in dolomitic marble. Tremolite replaces diopside and serpentine replaces humite-
group mineral. L. Section through greisen muscovite-fluorite-beryl vein with banded fluorite-phlogopite envelope in
dolomitic marble. M. Clinohumite (clh)-calcite envelopes on calcite-chlorite-clinohumite veins in Reed dolomite. Cut by
later, thin tremolite-calcite veins. N. Wyman Formation skarnoid cut by dikes of biotite granodiorite (no reaction envelope)
and aplite (strong reaction envelope) to Fe-bearing garnet in the marble and salitic pyroxene in the calc-hornfels. Field of
view approximately 2 m across.

matrix of quartz, feldspars and micas (e.g., Fig. 4B, C). With
increasing deformation, these textures are destroyed, al-
though K feldspar augen and elongate aggregates of recrys-
tallized quartz commonly testify to their original presence.
Magmatic and subsolidus foliation and lineations are de-
fined by alignment of micas, feldspars, and aggregates of re-
crystallized quartz. Macroscopic and microscopic textures are
consistent with early, predominantly magmatic foliations and
lineations, preserved mainly in the central and eastern parts
of the pluton, and strong subsolidus fabrics around the pe-
riphery but best developed in the western parts (Fig. 4F, G;
Laurel Goodwin, pers. commun. 1996; Saint Blanquat et al.,
1998). In addition to quartz, feldspars are recrystallized in the
intensely deformed rocks. This evidence of high-temperature
deformation is consistent with field relationships that show
these fabrics in many areas are cut almost immediately after

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 LITHOPHILE ELEMENT-BEARING SYSTEM AT BIRCH CREEK, WHITE MTNS, CA 15

crystallization by less deformed dikes emanating from adja-
cent intrusive units (see below; also see Barton, 2000).
Minor igneous units include extensive leucocratic dikes
(mainly aplites and pegmatites), zones of K feldspar-biotite-
rich unidirectional solidification textures, minor biotite-rich
accumulations, and very rare mafic dikes and enclaves (Fig.
5). All four types are spatially associated.
Aplite dikes contain minor Fe-Mn garnet or biotite in addi-
tion to muscovite. They grade into simple pegmatites and
quartz-feldspar veins (Fig. 5G). Inward, toward their sources,
they transition into fine- and medium-grained muscovite- ±
biotite-bearing leucogranites. Unidirectional solidification
textures (USTs, or comb layers; see Moore and Lockwood,
1973; Shannon et al., 1982; Kirkham and Sinclair, 1988) con-
sist of single or multiple layers of large (up to 20 cm long)
elongate K feldspar crystals growing in parallel and branching
toward the magma chamber (Fig. 5A, B). They are inter-
preted here, as they are elsewhere, to represent zone of fluid
accumulation or flow along the margins of the active magma
chamber. Spherulitic layering locally accompanies the USTs
(Fig. 5E). Aplite dike swarms emerge from contacts deco-
rated with USTs. For specific examples, see the descriptions
and maps in Barton (2000).
Also in these same zones are biotite-rich banded rocks (Fig.
5C) and K feldspar-megacryst-crowded granites (Fig. 4D).
The latter commonly choke the base of leucocratic dikes. The
former have abundant biotite, magnetite, zircon, and mon-
azite plus feldspars and quartz. Both types are interpreted to
be accumulations of crystals based on field relationships and
whole-rock compositions (see petrologic discussion below).
No more than a dozen occurrences of fine-grained
equigranular biotite quartz monzodiorite dikes and enclaves
have been found (Fig. 5D). These mostly occur with the bi-
otite-muscovite granites in the Border and Central Suites just
interior to UST/aplite zones. Some are cut by contemporane-
ous leucocratic dikes. Several in the Border Suite are strongly
foliated. Their mineralogy and isotopic compositions indicate
equilibration with their local host granitoids, but the quartz-
poor compositions and their dike-like geometries point to in-
jection of a distinct mafic magma contemporaneous with em-

FIG. 5. Photographs of igneous features. A. UST zone showing left-lateral skewing of large K feldspar crystals and biotite-
rich accumulations above quartz vein. This is at the contact of megacrystic muscovite-biotite granite with biotite(-muscovite)
granite in Border Suite. Lens cap 6 cm for scale. B. Multiple layers of dendritic K feldspar from principal UST zone on Cen-
tral Suite contact. C. Biotite-rich accumulation from near Central Suite-Border Suite contact. White bar is 1 cm long. D.
Mafic dike cutting Central Suite granite along the eastern contact. These are cut by Central Suite pegmatite dikes. E. Or-
bicular layering in Border Suite muscovite-biotite granite near UST zones. F. Sheeted aplite dikes typical of more intense
part of swarms. G. Quartz K feldspar vein center to aplitic dike in aplite dike complex. H. Foliated biotite(-muscovite) gran-
ite cut by aplite and pegmatitic dikes perpendicular to foliation. These are offset by quartz-K feldspar vein (diagonal up to
right) and then by thin muscovite-pyrite-filled greisen zones.

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16 MARK D. BARTON
placement of the pluton. One can speculate that the coinci-
dence with the aplite events reflects deeper injection of mafic
magma that triggers large-scale fluid release, similar to inter-
pretations in some volcanic and porphyry systems. Alterna-
tively, it could be that magma chamber dynamics associated
with aplite diking and fluid-release allow mafic melts already
present to reach higher levels where they freeze.
Spatial patterns in the intrusion
The Border Suite constitutes roughly two-thirds of the ex-
posed area with the Central Suite making up most of the re-
mainder (Fig. 2). Early and Central Porphyry dikes make up
about 5 percent of the outcrop, somewhat more than the sum
of aplite dikes and rarer features. Numerous internal contacts
within these units have been defined locally. Contacts be-
tween the Porphyries and the other units are generally simple
and sharp (e.g., see fig. 9 in Barton 2000), whereas the Cen-
tral Suite-Border Suite contact is defined by a well-developed
zone of USTs that forms the base of the prominent radial
aplite dike swarms. The latter contact is commonly grada-
tional over 50–100 m with the formal boundary being put at
the innermost major set of USTs (cf. fig. 15 in Barton, 2000).
Map patterns in the south-central section of the pluton indi-
cate that there may be multiple pulses of emplacement and
diking within the inner Border Suite, the later becoming
gradually more like the Central Suite. The largest of these lies
0.5 to 1.5 km outside the Central Suite contact. There, a
prominent aplite zone radiates from a discontinuous UST
zone. These internal contacts schematically indicated by the
distribution of aplites in Figure 2.
In general, the earliest Border Suite rocks are biotite gran-
odiorites that contain minor muscovite that is difficult to see
in hand specimen. They are followed by biotite > muscovite
and biotite ~ muscovite granitoids that become progressively
more leucocratic about halfway in and then revert to rocks
with biotite substantially greater than muscovite. Unlike the
Central Suite, which has a fairly regular contact with the sur-
rounding rocks, the Border Suite was clearly emplaced as
dikes (see the outer contact of the pluton, Fig. 2; cf. fig. 4A in
Barton, 2000). Internal variation in the Border Suite can be
inferred to progress generally from relatively biotite-rich to
muscovite-rich and back to biotite > muscovite before reach-
ing the Central Suite contact. K feldspar megacrysts are wide-
spread in the muscovite-bearing parts of the Border Suite,
but become abundant (>25 per m2) only locally, commonly
immediately internal to discontinuous UST zones and associ-
ated aplites swarms (e.g., Camp Hill area, Fig. 4, Barton,
2000).
The Central Suite constitutes the northeastern third of the
pluton and is emplaced against Border Suite rocks around its
western two-thirds and against Wyman, Reed and Deep
Spring around its eastern third (Fig. 2). It is mainly coarse-
grained, biotite-muscovite granite with variable contents of K
feldspar megacrysts. Fine-grained leucogranites form discor-
dant bodies up to about a hundred meters in length within
the Central Suite and it is intruded by the Central Porphyry
(below). Megacrysts are most conspicuous along the margins
of the Central Suite, just interior to the major aplite swarms.
Numbers exceed 100 per m2 over large areas (fig. 3 in Barton,
2000).
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00
The Early and Central Porphyries are smaller bodies, sev-
eral kilometers in length but rarely more than a few hundred
meters wide. They are texturally fairly uniform. The main
variability within these units is the abundance of K feldspar
and quartz phenocrysts. The older porphyry units are periph-
eral, foliated, and cut by aplite dikes from the Central Suite.
Contacts dip outward and these early bodies have a broadly
concentric distribution (Fig. 2). The Central Porphyry shows
no subsolidus deformation and dips steeply.
Aplite dikes swarms emanate from muscovite-rich phases
in all major units. In the Border Suite, the aplites cut early bi-
otite-rich phases because the muscovite-rich rocks are well
inside the outer contact. Aplites are largely external to the
uniformly muscovite-rich Central Suite and Central Por-
phyry. They can extend outward over 1 km from their sources.
Aplites generated from the Border Suite both parallel and ra-
diate from the elongate masses of muscovite-rich granite
from which they are sourced. They typically are foliated but
are rarely folded. Central Suite aplites are distinctly radial,
emanating from the contact is a large starburst pattern (fig. 3
in Barton, 2000). Among the porphyries, aplites are abundant
only with the Central Porphyry, where they parallel the main
mass. Orientations of these dikes, plus those of foliations and
major vein types, are shown in Figure 6A.
Foliation is prominent on the margins of the intrusion, par-
ticularly on the northwest side (Nelson and Sylvester, 1971;
Saint Blanquat et al., 1998). Figure 6B shows compilation of
the qualitative field classification of foliation intensities. This
is broadly similar to patterns obtained from quantitative pet-
rographic and anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility studies
(Saint Blanquat et al., 1998, Laurel Goodwin, pers. com-
mun.). Deformation is predominantly accomplished by flat-
tening. Small ductile shear zones and stretching lineations are
also common. Consistent patterns in these features com-
monly make sense, for example, a consistent sense of shear is
commonly found on the margins of some of the large aplite
swarms (e.g., see fig. 13 in Barton, 2000).
In a number of cases, the field relationships demonstrate
that much or all of the penetrative fabric in the rocks accu-
mulated in the interval that it took to crystallize a few tens to
a few hundreds of meters of the adjoining granites. Both on
the Camp Hill and on the western tip of the Central Suite
(Fig. 2), early quartz veins are folded with axial planes sub-
parallel to the foliation in the host granitoid. In each case,
these folds are cut by unfolded, little foliated aplite dikes, and
quartz veins that emanate from identified units within 100 m
inward (see Barton, 2000).
Metamorphism and Metasomatism
Hydrothermal mineral assemblages are ubiquitous in the
Birch Creek pluton and extend at least 5 km north and south
of its margins (Fig. 2). These comprise quartz-feldspar, al-
bitic, and greisen veins in the intrusion, and calcic and mag-
nesian anhydrous and hydrous skarns and quartz-carbonate
veins and replacement bodies in the metasedimentary rocks
(Table 1). The skarns and veins overprint early thermal meta-
morphism in the aureole, but in many cases the skarns are
themselves deformed with intrusion-linked fabrics. Relative
timing can be established by local crosscutting relationships.
Furthermore, by use of the aplite dike swarms as markers, a
16
 LITHOPHILE ELEMENT-BEARING SYSTEM AT BIRCH CREEK, WHITE MTNS, CA 17

Central Suite: foliation

A. Central Porphyry: aplite/quartz/greisen B.
f

a q
Border Suite: foliation/aplite/quartz
later: greisen g

f
f
a q
a q
f
g
g
a q
Border/Central Suites: foliation
g Central Suite & Centeral Porphyry: weak
Border Suite: foliation aplite/quartz/greisen

N Central Suite: aplite/quartz/greisen moderate

2000 meters strong

10000 feet
FIG. 6. Orientation, distribution, and intensity of selected structural elements within the Birch Creek intrusion. Based on
unpublished mapping by M.D. Barton. A. Lower hemisphere equal area plots for selected areas in the intrusion. Each stere-
onet plot is based on at least 20 observations. Note the consistent intrusion-centered orientations for early features (foliation,
aplites) and the regional control expressed in the later greisen veins. B. Qualitative intensity of foliation determined during
mapping. See text for discussion.

system-wide relative chronology can be established. A time-
space synthesis for the system based on these relationships is
presented at the end of this paper.
Intrusion
Quartz-feldspar veins with variable amounts of accessory
biotite, muscovite, magnetite, and ilmenite form the earliest
metasomatic features at any given location in the intrusion
(Fig. 5H). They may predate, be contemporaneous with, or
rarely, postdate aplite and pegmatite dikes. The earliest veins
in most areas dip outward toward the pluton contacts and are
cut by dikes from broadly contemporaneous aplite swarms
(e.g., see figs. 6, 11, 12 in Barton, 2000). Most of these veins
are fairly wide (1–50 cm).
Aplite dikes commonly grade into radially oriented peg-
matitic quartz veins that show “vein dike” features indicative
of the magmatic-hydrothermal transition (Fig. 5G). More
often than not, these veins cut slightly older aplites and peg-
matites (Fig. 5H). Although envelopes are absent on most of
these veins, a distinct style of narrow (0.1 to 1 cm wide)
quartz veins with obvious K feldspar envelopes are present
near the major UST zones (fig. 14C in Barton, 2000). Sulfides
are absent except in quartz-K feldspar-biotite veins that are
abundant in the northeastern corner of the Central Suite,
near the eastern end of the Central Porphyry. Chalcopyrite is
a minor constituent (<1 vol percent) in the quartz veins and
in the nearby skarn (Trim, 1990).
Quartz-feldspar veins locally constitute upwards of 10 vol
percent of the rock. The areas of highest abundance are within
zones no more than a few hundred meters wide immediately
outside of the aplite-generating contacts. Repeated, mutually
crosscutting relationships and map patterns allow a detailed
picture of fluid release and dike generation to be formed in
several areas (e.g., field trip stops IN-2 to IN-7 in Barton,
2000). In a few places, early quartz-feldspar veins are dis-
tinctly more iron-rich (as hydrothermal magnetite and bi-
otite) than later veins from the same aplite/vein generation
event (see fig. 15 in Barton, 2000).
Superimposed on the quartz-feldspar veins are fracture-
controlled zones of albitization and greisenization. Unlike the
older veins, these zones have a pronounced northeasterly
strike and are more evenly distributed through the intrusion
(lower inset in Fig. 2, Fig. 6A). They form the prominent
northeasterly grain in the intrusion as seen from the air (fig. 1
in Barton, 2000). Quartz-muscovite-K feldspar veins transi-
tion to quartz-muscovite veins with envelopes of albite (first
after plagioclase, then after K feldspar) + muscovite + quartz
± chlorite (after biotite). Subsequent veins and replacement
zones of albite + muscovite + fluorite ± pyrite ± chlorite show
evidence of quartz removal as well as K feldspar destruction
(Fig. 4H). This association is succeeded by late greisen veins.
These consist of narrow open-space muscovite + pyrite ±
quartz with envelopes of muscovite + quartz ± pyrite ± fluo-
rite ± albite (Fig. 5J). In places, these envelopes coalesce to
produce pervasive greisenization over widths of a few meters
and lengths of a few tens of meters.
The later veins commonly have slicken lines and other evi-
dence of brittle movement, but they are almost never pene-
tratively deformed, even where they apparently formed rela-
tively early in the history of the system as on Camp Hill. Open
space is common. In thin section, quartz from these veins can
be strained but it rarely shows subgrain development. In the

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18 MARK D. BARTON

TABLE 1. Alteration Features in the Birch Creek System (listed in local sequence)1,2,3

Igneous rocks Dolomite Limestone Clastic rocks

Early Endoskarn (can be several
events): Plagioclase[feldspars]
± actinolite ± epidote ±
chlorite ± garnet ±
clinopyroxene
Recrystallization to foliated Recrystallization to foliated Calc-hornfels (clinozoisite-biotite-
marbles; local tremolite, talc, marbles; grossular-rich garnet chlorite; diopside-garnet common
diopside, phlogopite ± idocrase wollastonite near intrusion), commonly
adjacent to clastic units boudinaged

Pegmatitic quartz veins

Quartz (+ K feldspar ± biotite
± magnetite ± ilmenite ±
(rare) chalcopyrite) // ±(rare)
K feldspar ± biotite[actinolite
in endoskarn]
Quartz (± K feldspar) //
K feldspar[plagioclase]
Andraditic garnet ± magnetite
± salite (epidote + actinolite ±
chalcopyrite overprint)
± calcite ± chlorite ± spinel ±
garnet ± diopside ± tremolite /
humite-group mineral + calcite
Grandite garnet ± idocrase Small veins and local replacement
± wollastonite ± salite; by grandite garnet or salite ±
commonly boudinaged quartz ± idocrase
Idocrase or Sp-Alm–bearing
grandite ± quartz ±
plagioclase ± fluorite

Intermediate Quartz + muscovite
(± K feldspar) // ± albite +
muscovite
± Muscovite // albite
[K feldspar-plagioclase] +
muscovite + fluorite ± pyrite
± chlorite [biotite] ± voids
[quartz]
Sodic plagioclase ± clinozoisite Epidote ± idocrase ± fluorite Plagioclase or epidote + quartz ±
± fluorite // chlorite ± ± chlorite (± scheelite) fluorite
actinolite ± fluorite
Chlorite + fluorite + biotite
Mn-rich clinozoisite( or (± scheelite ± sphalerite) ±
epidote) + fluorite + chlorite epidote ± albite
± scheelite // chlorite + fluorite
+ actinolite
Tremolite + calcite ± chlorite

Late Muscovite + pyrite ± fluorite
± beryl // muscovite[feldspars]
+ quartz ± pyrite ± chlorite
Muscovite + fluorite ± pyrite
± quartz ± beryl ± biotite //
fluorite + phlogopite ± chlorite
Quartz (± K feldspar ±
dolomite ± scheelite ± sulfides)
Quartz + carbonate ± galena
± sphalerite ± pyrite ±
tetrahedrite ± chalcopyrite //
± quartz
Muscovite + fluorite
± pyrite ± quartz ± beryl ±
scheelite ± biotite // fluorite
+ phlogopite ± chlorite
Quartz + carbonate ±
muscovite ± galena ±
sphalerite ± pyrite ±
tetrahedrite ±
chalcopyrite // ± quartz
Muscovite + pyrite ± beryl ±
quartz //
Quartz ± carbonate ± chlorite ±
muscovite ± galena ± sphalerite ±
pyrite ± tetrahedrite ±
chalcopyrite // ± quartz

1 Based on Trim (1990) and Barton (unpub. data)

2 The mineral associations are listed in general paragenetic sequence (i.e., the typical order of formation in any given location). The left-to-right corre-
spondence only roughly reflects local equivalence between different lithologies. This is not the correlation across the system which has multiple events in
which many of these assemblages are repeated, and in which some form distally to others. See the section on Time-Space evolution for discussion
2 Symbolism is: minerals in parentheses are generally minor in abundance (<10 volume percent), ± indicates presence or absence; the double slash (“//”)

indicates the division between the vein and vein envelope; a single slash (“/”) indicate divisions within veins or envelopes; minerals in brackets ([plagio-
clase]) indicate mineral that was replaced

older intrusive units, these are the only materials that have us-
able, primary(?) fluid inclusions (Van Averbeke, 1996).
Endoskarn is widespread around the margins of the intru-
sion and in dikes and sills that cut the carbonate rocks. It oc-
curs in small zones which are rarely more than a few meters
wide but can extend for many tens of meters. Endoskarn can
contain garnet, pyroxene, actinolite, epidote, and chlorite. It
is typified by formation of abundant albitic plagioclase or
muscovite replacing igneous feldspars. Fluorite is common in
some. The calc-silicate zones are typically narrow (<1 m) and
form as veins or selvages. The plagioclase-rich zones are com-
monly depleted in quartz and have actinolite, epidote, or
chlorite in the biotite sites. In several cases, endoskarn is
overprinted by magmatic-sourced alteration (see fig. 8D, E in
Barton, 2000). Shreddy texture biotite replaces actinolite in
endoskarn where it is cut by quartz(-K feldspar veins).
Greisen veins (muscovite-fluorite with muscovite-chlorite-
fluorite envelopes) also cut endoskarn. The lack of foliation in
these younger K mica assemblages shows that endoskarn
formed almost immediately after emplacement and ductile
deformation of the host biotite granodiorite.
Metasedimentary rocks
Contact metamorphism at Birch Creek was studied exten-
sively by Heather Trim (1990) as part of her Ph.D. disserta-
tion. Earlier work by Nelson and Sylvester (1971) outlined
the general extent of metamorphism. Nash (1962) examined
the area where the aureole of the Beer Creek pluton and that
of the Birch Creek pluton overlap. Map patterns, crosscutting
relationships with dikes, and timing relative to deformation

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 LITHOPHILE ELEMENT-BEARING SYSTEM AT BIRCH CREEK, WHITE MTNS, CA
demonstrate that thermal metamorphism and a wide variety
of metasomatic features (Table 1, Figs. 4, 7, 8) formed during
and immediately following magma emplacement.
“Thermal” metamorphism: The Wyman, Reed, and Deep
Spring are thoroughly metamorphosed within about 1 km of
the pluton contact (Fig. 2, upper inset). Mixed lithologies are
FIG. 7. Photographs of some features from the aureole. A. Deformed calc-
silicate bands in Wyman marble. This view looks south of outcrop west of plu-
ton. B. Similarly oriented quartz vein with pronounced top-to-the-right skew
of crystals. From Camp Hill, west of the pluton. C. Pink clinozoisite vein with
fluorite-chlorite-biotite-tremolite envelope cutting calcite-humite zone.
FIG. 8. Late veins in intrusion and aureole. The majority of late veins have
northeast orientations regardless of their position in the system. A. North-
east-trending greisen veins in Border Suite granite, west side of intrusion.
Outcrop is about 10 m high. B. Close-spaced tremolite-calcite veins in foli-
ated Reed Dolomite, west side.
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19
converted to calc-hornfels and garnet-bearing skarnoid,
whereas the more massive limestones and dolomites are con-
verted to medium to coarsely crystalline marbles (1–10 mm
grain size). Pluton-centered foliations and sparse Ca-Mg sili-
cates (tremolite-talc-phlogopite) occur sporadically outward
to about 4 km away from the contact (Fig. 2, lower inset). The
latter are localized mainly along faults and fractures. They
probably reflect metamorphic decarbonation reactions driven
by fluid influx.
Skarnoid is well developed in the thin-bedded mixed
argillite-limestone beds in the Wyman Formation. It is espe-
cially well developed where early dikes are abundant as, for
example, north of Camp Hill. It typically consists of reddish
brown weathering calc-hornfels (diopsidic pyroxene, clino-
zoisite, biotite, plagioclase, quartz, minor grossularitic gar-
net). Limy interbeds are recrystallized and contain variable
amounts of grossular-rich garnet. Wollastonite is present in
some areas in this association and requires, like the clino-
zoisite, infiltration of water-rich fluids to keep XCO2 at low val-
ues (e.g., see Einaudi et al., 1981).
Skarnoid shows little evidence of major chemical changes
other than loss of volatile constituents. Much of it, however,
has been isotopically exchanged with lighter oxygen. The dis-
tribution of the skarnoid around the intrusion margins, its
presence in reactive mixed lithologies, and the isotopic com-
positions that are shifted toward magmatic values all are con-
sistent with the passage of significant amounts of magmatic
waters (Fig. 9). Simple mass balance conditions indicate that
more than adequate amounts of fluid would have been re-
leased by the magma (Trim, 1990).
Massive carbonates in the Wyman, Reed, and Deep Spring
are converted to folded and foliated marbles which generally
lack calc-silicate minerals except along veins and adjacent to
dikes (Fig. 7A). Penetrative deformation in the Wyman and
other units is early: It postdates skarnoid and some of the an-
hydrous skarns, but predates many aplite dikes and nearly all
of the hydrous skarns. Reed marble located in screens and
pendants within the intrusion is fine-grained (<0.5 mm) with
a sugary texture that shows no evidence of the foliation that is
well developed in adjoining dikes. These zones must have re-
crystallized statically at relatively high temperature following
the termination (locally) of penetrative deformation.
ion
2 filtrat
in
0 d
na t i o n
i
bo
flu
δ CPDB
-2
r
dec a
Skarns, veins,
13
-4 & envelopes
-6 Thermally
magmatic metamorphosed
fluid
-8
10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
18
δ OSMOW
FIG. 9. Carbon-oxygen isotope plot for carbonates from various assem-
blages in the aureole (from Trim, 1990). Magmatic (quartz) oxygen is quite
uniform near 10.5 per mil. See text for discussion.
19
20 MARK D. BARTON
Early, “anhydrous” skarn: Magnesian vein skarns form in
the Reed Dolomite within about 1,000 m of the contact
(upper inset, Fig. 2). Early skarns are characterized by hu-
mite-group minerals and locally more massive garnet-bearing
skarns on the immediate contact. The early set consists of cal-
cite plus a humite-group mineral (clinohumite, Mg9(SiO4)4
(F,OH)2; chondrodite, Mg3(SiO4)(F,OH)2; or norbergite Mg3
(SiO4)(F,OH)2), typically in a graphic intergrowth (Figs. 4M,
7C). The graphic texture represents the complete consump-
tion of dolomite to make humite-group mineral + calcite, for
example, by the reaction:
3CaMg(CO3)2 + SiO2,aq + 2HF =
Mg3(SiO4)(F,OH)2 + 3CaCO3 + H2O + 3CO2
Veins centers commonly contain chlorite, spinel, talc and
tremolite. As the pluton contact is approached, first pyroxene
and then garnet join the vein centers (Trim, 1990). Many of
these veins parallel foliation and they can be folded (fig. 5 in
Barton, 2000). These zones can be quite abundant, in places
their envelopes coalesce completing replacing the dolomite.
The mineralogical changes require significant addition of sil-
icon, fluorine, aluminum and, in the spinel-bearing variants,
titanium. From their spatial distribution and early timing rel-
ative to fabric development, Trim inferred that the humite
veins are linked to small bodies of massive magnetite-andra-
dite skarn near the contact and to biotite-magnetite-bearing
quartz veins in the granites.
Grandite garnet skarns in calcite marble are overprinted by
late subcalcic garnet-quartz-idocrase epidote-plagioclase-
bearing zones. The latter commonly fill pull-apart structures
in thin zones of massive garnet. Their analogue in the Mg
skarns is found in widespread calcite + chlorite (± other min-
erals) open-space fillings in sheeted and chocolate tablet-type
extensional structures (see figs. 5, 8, in Barton, 2000; rare
aplites fill these openings too). In a number of places, aplites
clearly correlate with garnet-pyroxene skarns (Fig. 4N).
Hydrous skarns: Hydrous skarn assemblages are the most
common type and many have strongly aluminum and fluo-
rine-rich mineral assemblages (Table 1; and distinctive the
Great Basin systems as a whole; Barton, 1987). In dolomitic
marbles, clinozoisite-plagioclase-chlorite-fluorite veins occur
throughout the inner aureole (Fig. 2; Fig. 4I, Fig. 7C). These
are almost never strongly deformed. In a few places, single
veins can be followed back into aplite dikes that show desili-
cation, K feldspar replacement and chlorite-fluorite-biotite
envelopes where they enter the dolomite. Serpentine, talc,
and tremolite retrograde earlier humite-group minerals and
diopside (Fig. 5K). These hydrous minerals commonly form
independent, typically straight veins that cut foliation and
have attitudes similar to late veins in the intrusion (Fig. 8; see
Trim, 1990). In calcite marbles and in garnet skarn, older epi-
dote-idocrase-plagioclase-fluorite association is succeeded by
chlorite-biotite-muscovite-fluorite-bearing assemblages. The
latter commonly contains scheelite, beryl and sulfides. All
types of host rocks and skarns are cut by distinctive and wide-
spread, but volumetrically minor muscovite-fluorite-beryl
veins (Fig. 4L). These muscovite-rich veins occur as far as 3
km from the main contact on the northwest side, although
that area is probably underlain by a shoulder of the granite
(Fig. 2, lower inset).
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00
Quartz-carbonate-sulfide veins: This group extends from
the inner aureole, where it overprints all other types, to more
than 5 km from the pluton where the rocks bear no other ev-
idence of the Birch Creek system. These bodies are generally
texturally simple and small—vein and stockworks are 0.1 to 2
m wide, replacement bodies are 1 to 10 m across. In proximal
locations, the veins can have sparse contents of scheelite,
chalcopyrite, feldspar, fluorite, and muscovite. With distance,
only quartz, carbonates (calcite or dolomite, rarely Fe-Mn
carbonates), chlorite, and sericite are present with minor
pyrite and base-metal sulfides. Some early veins of this asso-
ciation are deformed (Fig. 7B) and must therefore link to
early events in pluton emplacement. Most lack evidence for
overall timing except that Ar-Ar results (M. Heizler, unpub-
lished data) demonstrate that they are synchronous with the
rest of the intrusion (±1 m.y.). Stable isotope and fluid inclu-
sion compositions resemble magmatic values and do not show
compelling evidence for external fluids although some host-
rock contribution is required (Trim, 1990; Van Averbeke,
1996).
Geochemistry and Petrology
Petrologic and geochemical studies show that the intrusion
formed from at least two different magmas and evolved only
modestly at the level of emplacement. Aqueous fluids were
almost entirely magma-sourced. Over 600 thin sections and
200 rocks were examined by a variety of petrographic, fluid
inclusion, electron microprobe, isotopic, and whole-rock ana-
lytical techniques (e.g., Trim, 1990; Barton et al., 1994; Van
Averbeke, 1996). This work will be presented in detail in sev-
eral papers in preparation. Key observations and interpreta-
tions are summarized here.
Magmatic system
Ar-Ar analyses of muscovite and a U-Pb analysis of mon-
azite show that the magmatic system formed close at 82 ± 1
Ma (M. Heizler and P. Holden, unpub. data) and cooled
below muscovite closure temperatures quickly. Whole-rock
Rb-Sr data from the geochemically coherent Border and
Central Suites are consistent with this age (Fig. 10).
Most notable about the intrusion is the isotopic evidence
that shows that the Border and Central Suites represent a dif-
ferent magma than that of the Early and Central Porphyries
(Fig. 10A; P. Holden, unpub. data). The Porphyries are dis-
tinctly less radiogenic in their strontium and more radiogenic
in their neodymium isotopic compositions. Lead and oxygen
isotope compositions are consistent with this variation, but
their differences are less pronounced. These results could in-
dicate separate sources, or more plausibly, different degrees
of mixing of several sources somewhere deeper in the mag-
matic plumbing. That these compositional differences per-
sisted to be emplaced as two alternating sequences seems re-
markable (isotopically heterogeneous igneous systems being
otherwise common). This also testifies to the lack of mixing at
higher levels in the magmatic systems, which has conse-
quences for fluid evolution and mineralization. Overall, a
combination of deeper crustal materials with a small contri-
bution of mafic magma best accounts for the geochemistry of
this system as it does for other Late Cretaceous granitoids in
the Great Basin (for data and discussion, see Barton, 1990,
20
 LITHOPHILE ELEMENT-BEARING SYSTEM AT BIRCH CREEK, WHITE MTNS, CA 21

-17 about 72 wt percent. Particularly Na- or K-rich variants have

eP
not been found. Aplites are significantly more evolved in their
-18
early & central
cPa
A. trace element contents. For example, rare earth elements
-19 porphyries (Fig. 10C) show strong LREE and Eu depletions compared
-20
cP
CS bi
cum to their progenitors (J. Grossman, unpub. data).
These and other trace element changes are compatible
εNd

BSa
CSa
-21 Border & with local removal of monazite, allanite, and plagioclase, with
-22
Central Suites bi dike
some loss too of biotite and K feldspar. The complexity of
main phases local compositional evolution is illustrated in Fig. 11, which
& aplites
-23 shows normative quartz and feldspar compositions for rocks
-24
collected near the Border Suite-Central Suite contact near
Rb/Sr Sm/Nd data
P. Holden the detailed map area (figs. 3, 15 in Barton, 2000). Most gran-
-25 ites lie to the feldspar-rich side of the 2 kbar water-saturated
0.704 0.706 0.708 0.710 0.712 0.714 0.716 0.718
granite minimum, whereas the aplites and leucogranites scat-
87
Sr / 86Sr82.5 ter around it. A 2 kbar lithostatic pressure is consistent with
independent depth estimates. The biotite-dominated late
0.78
0.72 Border Suite is distinctly plagioclase- and mafic-rich com-
0.77 B. pared with older phases. In the immediate vicinity of the con-
tact, K feldspar-rich granites (Fig. 4D) and the biotite-rich
Sr / 86Srmeas

0.76 cPa layered rocks (Fig. 5C, but including USTs) plot markedly to-
2 .5
90 8 ward the K feldspar apex. The latter also contain unusually
0.75 0.71 eP, cP 75 high concentrations of accessory phases and their corre-
0 2 4 6
J. Grossman reference sponding trace elements (e.g., LREE, Zr). Well inside the
0.74 isochrons
Central Suite contact (>200 m?), granite compositions revert
87

0.73
back to more typical values (Fig. 11). The interpretation is
that the aplites represent the separated liquid fraction for an
0.72 evolved margin to the outer portions of the Central Suite (to
be expected from the field relationships). However, the evo-
0.71 lution combined modest crystal fractionation relative to the
0 10 20 30 40 50 sidewall (biotite-rich granite and banded rocks) with selective
87
Rb / 86Sr filter pressing of K feldspar megacrysts and other phenocrysts
300
during the aplite-forming events. The megacrystic granite by
Border Suite
C. itself can not mass balance the aplites (the key rocks—main
REE (sample/chondrite)

Centr Su
Central Suite units, aplites, megacrystic granite—are not colinear).
100
Central Po
Centr Porphyry What do the megacrysts indicate? Clearly they correlate
with the aplite swarms, being immediately internal to them
30
Main
Mai and best developed where the swarms are strongest. The tex-
P
Phases
Phas ture may be largely driven by crystallization kinetics; however,
10 they seem likely to be promoted by the fluid-release/diking
events. Perhaps they result from shifts in the feldspar cotec-
tic with changes in melt water content (Fig. 11, lower arrow).
3
Aplites
A lit If so, the megacrysts may indicate the scale of fluid concen-
INAA data tration and release within the magma chamber. This local
1 variation contrasts with far more extensive megacryst distrib-
La Ce Pr Nd — Sm Eu Gd Tb Dy Ho Er Tm Yb Lu
ution seen in some other kinds of magmatic-hydrothermal
FIG. 10. Isotope and trace element data for Birch Creek granitoids. A. Ini- systems.
tial neodymium and strontium isotopic compositions (from P. Holden and M.
Barton, unpubl. data). B. Isochron diagram show Rb-Sr data with reference Hydrothermal system
isochrons. C. Rare earth element patterns for main phase and aplitic igneous
rocks (from J. Grossman and M. Barton, unpub. data). See text for discussion. As noted above, stable isotope evidence points to the pre-
dominance of magmatic waters in the intrusion and in the au-
reole (Trim, 1990; Barton, unpub. data). Oxygen isotope val-
Barton, 1996). Consistent internal differences between ues are consistent with simple cooling of magmatic fluid from
aplites and their coarse-grained relatives could indicate that near-magmatic temperatures (500°–600°C) for quartz-
two components were present even within a single magma feldspar veins down to 300°–400°C for greisen assemblages.
body: (1) a melt with a more primitive isotopic signature, and Likewise, skarns show strong shifts in their oxygen and carbon
(2) a crystal fraction that could be restitic or earlier crystal- isotopes to values compatible with a magmatic fluid (Fig. 9).
lized from a less (mantle[?]-)contaminated melt. Skarnoid and other thermal calc-silicate assemblages show a
Whole-rock analyses show that intrusive rocks are moder- similar shift which is best interpreted in silicate-rich rocks as
ately to strongly peraluminous granodiorites and granites with a combination of infiltration (to shift oxygen) and decarbona-
subequal amounts K2O and Na2O, and with SiO2 contents of tion reactions (to shift carbonates). Sulfur and hydrogen both

0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 21
22
Qz
Or Ab+An
bi-rich
cumulate
FIG. 11. Plot of normative quartz and feldspar compositions for selected rocks associated with the Central Suite-Border
Suite contact and the related aplite dike swarms. See text for discussion.
show evidence of mixing (Trim, 1990), yet even the most ex-
treme hydrogen values are consistent with mainly magmatic
fluids.
These results are compatible with fluid inclusion observa-
tions (Van Averbeke, 1996). Where there are usable fluid
inclusions, she found moderate salinities (mostly 5–10 wt per-
cent NaCl equiv) throughout the system—from the highest-
temperature igneous-hosted alteration to the distal quartz-
carbonate-base metal veins. Moderate CO2 contents were
found along with permissive evidence for separation of a
CO2-rich vapor. Hypersaline fluid inclusions are absent,
which is compatible with estimated pressures of around 2000
bars, well above the H2O-NaCl solvus.
Combining these results with the geologic data, one can
infer that the hydrothermal system operated under near-
lithostatic conditions for much, perhaps all of its history. The
key facts include the following: common outward-dipping
veins, lack of evidence of external fluids, abundant evidence
for near-continuous magmatic fluid production, semi-contin-
uous ductile flow in the intrusion and inner aureole, and sev-
eral independent rock- and fluid-pressure estimates, all near
2 kbar. This fits nicely with hydrodynamic models for deeper,
water-bearing magmatic systems (Hanson, 1995). These re-
sults are similar to those obtained on Late Cretaceous systems
in the Great Basin. Only in the uppermost parts of the other
systems is much meteoric water incorporated (e.g., at Mc-
Cullough Butte, NV, see Barton, 1987; Barton and Trim,
1991).
Time-Space Evolution
Figure 12 shows an interpretation of the temporal and
spatial evolution of the Birch Creek system. The field trip il-
lustrates many of these features, with a focus on exposures
containing critical relationships that help establish this frame-
work. The need for a time-space framework motivated my
original study at Birch Creek. None of the other two-mica-
granite-centered districts in the Great Basin have the expo-
sures necessary to choose between fundamentally different
models for system development, particularly the central links
to igneous history (for example, compare McCullough Butte,
Nevada, Fig. 1, Barton, 1982). The key issues are how the sys-
tem changes with time and how spatially distinct features cor-
relate. Understanding these relationships is essential to any
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00
MARK D. BARTON
aplite & sequence
leucogranite of events
2 kb minimum
CS bi-mu granite
Kf -rich possible shift
CS granite in cotectic with
late BS bi P(fluid) release
granite
full description of system formation and is central to using
those results in practical applications.
This Birch Creek time-space diagram (Fig. 12) shows the
evolution of events during magma emplacement and cooling
as a function of the horizontal distance from the locus of
magma emplacement at any given time. The key to establish-
ing the relationships in this diagram are the aplite dike
swarms, indicated by horizontal gray bars. These are tied by
their distributions, fabrics, and compositions to particular
events in the overall development of the intrusion and the
inner aureole. The diagram illustrates how contacts shifted
during emplacement of the magmas (analogous to construc-
tion of the volcanic piles at Yerington and Humboldt) with di-
rect implications for the origin and timing of the intense in-
trusion-centered deformation. The figure is drawn for a
trajectory from the Central Porphyry contact west toward the
Mexican mine (see Figs. 2, 3). In this respect, it contrasts with
the diagrams for the tilted systems at Yerington and Hum-
boldt, which show analogous relationships as a function of pa-
leodepth instead of in the horizontal. In all three cases fluids
flow outward in the illustrated sections.
Border Suite: The system commenced with emplacement
of multiple 20- to 100-m-wide dikes of biotite (± muscovite)
granodiorite of the Border Suite. These dikes generated
quartz(-feldspar ± Fe-Ti oxide) veins. These veins were
folded and then immediately cut by weakly foliated aplites
and by recrystallized but unfolded quartz(-feldspar) veins that
emanate from adjacent, more muscovite-rich phases of the
Border Suite (see figs. 4, 6, in Barton, 2000). Correlative
metamorphic events in the inner aureole included formation
of skarnoid and high-T Ca and Mg skarns. These are also de-
formed (folded, boudinaged) concurrently with the develop-
ment of strong foliations in the proximal marbles and the
marginal granitoids. This deformation accompanied emplace-
ment of the more muscovite-rich units as evidenced by the
crosscutting quartz veins and aplite dikes in the intrusion and
by widespread, correlative clinozoisite-plagioclase veins in
the aureole (Trim, 1990). This deformation must have re-
sulted from inflation of the Border Suite-time magma cham-
ber: the flattening foliations parallel the more muscovite-rich
younger units and record only high-temperature events—i.e.,
they recrystallized igneous feldspars and affected quartz(-
feldspar) veins but do not affect later aplites or the ubiquitous
22
 LITHOPHILE ELEMENT-BEARING SYSTEM AT BIRCH CREEK, WHITE MTNS, CA 23

Major Intrusive Units Alteration Associations

Central Suite Border Suite Intrusion Carbonate

Gr-rich gt + cpx ± id ± wo // hum + di + chl

Late

bi~mu, megacrystic

ep + chl + flu + plag ± qz ± slfds

lower-T

mu + flu + beryl ± qz ± slfds

hydrothermal
assemblages

bi>mu

bi>mu

bi>mu
bi~mu

qz + mu + py ± flu
bi

mu + alb + py ± flu
high/mod.-T

qz ± bi ± mag ± Ksp
hydrothermal

qz ± bi ± ilm ± Ksp

Ad-rich gt + mt + di + act
assemblages

qz + mu ± Ksp
aplite
emplacement

rad de

minor jasperoid
pr ogra
e
r
<80 - 90%

og
ret
crystallized
sharp contact
gradational

qz + slfds
contact
alteration abundances ˚C
common ˚ C 300
rare 450
Early initial intrusion increasing distance at any time
Proximal Distal
FIG. 12. Time-space diagram showing the generalized evolution that is inferred for the Birch Creek system. The horizon-
tal axis is the distance from the locus of the intrusion at any given time. Thus the contacts move to the right as additional
space is required for newly emplaced magmas. This diagram is not to scale and omits a number of features (e.g., Early Por-
phyry) for clarity. The critical elements are the igneous events, especially the aplite dike swarms that provide time-lines. The
diagram is drawn for a zone about 5 km wide, extending west from the Central Porphyry contact toward the Mexican Mine
(Fig. 2), roughly along the line of section in Fig. 3. The schematic isotherms are broadly consistent with various temperature
constraints. See text for discussion. Modified from Barton and Trim (1991).

greisen veins (Fig. 8). Endoskarn (not indicated in Fig. 12;
formed by local influx of aureole fluids into the pluton) likely
formed in this interval, as it overprints foliations but is cut and
potassically altered by the slightly later quartz-feldspar veins
and by greisenization
Time scales for conductive cooling require that the early
Border Suite events could have taken no more than a total of
about 10,000 yr. It could have been much less. This early part
of the overall history was a time when much of the aureole
was heating, both by thermal conduction and by infiltration of
fluids expelled from the magma. Inferred fluid-to-rock ratios
of 1 or more for much of the Wyman skarnoid are large
enough to affect the thermal budget. Overall, the isotherms
would have moved outward early on (cf. Fig. 12). Reversal in
their movement (where they have vertical slopes on the time-
space diagram) marks the transition between prograde and
retrograde thermal histories. (One might expect a more com-
plex thermal pattern than that indicated on Fig. 12 given the
episodic release of aqueous fluids and influxes of new magma;
however, such events are largely unconstrained by petrologic
evidence and thus are not illustrated.)
Early Porphyries: The next set of significant events are not
shown in Figure 12. Early Porphyry dikes were emplaced fol-
lowing consolidation of their local Border Suite host, but
prior to emplacement of the Central Suite. These bodies are
well foliated and are cut by unfoliated Central Suite aplite
dikes and quartz veins. Also, as described above, aplite dike
swarms and internal contacts provide evidence for additional
fluid-release pulses within the Border Suite (following more
magma emplacement?). Two scenarios for Early Porphyry
emplacement are plausible: first, the dikes could have been
injected from their chemically distinct magma chamber into
the crystallized carapace of the evolving Border Suite-Central
Suite chamber (as implied the continuous presence of magma
on the left side of Fig. 12). Alternatively, they could have been
injected during a hiatus in emplacement without a residual
magma presence elsewhere (near the modern surface). In ei-
ther case, the system had to remain hot—the Early Por-
phyries only cut high-temperature features such as quartz-
feldspar veins, ductile fabrics and older dikes. They never cut
early quartz-muscovite veins, albitization zones, or greisen
veins.
Central Suite: Central Suite emplacement mimicked the
Border Suite pattern. Relatively biotite-rich, muscovite-
bearing granites outside the main contact (marked by USTs)
were accompanied by early outward dipping, variably de-
formed quartz(-feldspar) veins. These units had several gen-
erations of veins and aplites superimposed (e.g., see figs. 12,
15, 16A in Barton, 2000). In Figure 12, the Central Suite is
shown to include some fraction of these marginal biotite-rich
granites, compatible with the petrologic discussion above.
Mapping, however, has yet to reveal any abrupt break be-
tween this biotitic material and other parts of the Border
Suite.

0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 23
24 MARK D. BARTON
Central Suite fluids evolved in a way that first created iron-
enriched quartz feldspar veins but ultimately led to late, iron-
poor, fluorine-rich veins. This transition occurred concurrently
with the local shift (near this contact) from pluton-centered to
regionally-oriented stress. The issue of timing of albitization
and greisenization is vexing. They are always the latest fea-
tures at any given location and could be late as a whole. Yet,
when taken together, (1) their selective abundance in zones
near other veins and dikes, and (2) the systematic rotation of
vein orientations with time seem most consistent with local
derivation of fluids. In other words, they probably formed in
multiple episodes associated with the last gasps of fluid evo-
lution from each stage of the intrusion.
Likewise, K feldspar megacrysts have no definitive timing
features other than that they must predate consolidation of
their host magma. Nonetheless, their overall marked concen-
trations at the base of dike swarms indicates that they may de-
rive from the same overall process that releases fluids. Thus
they may evidence the scale of fluid release and late-stage
magma motion(?).
Summarizing Central Suite development: Inflation of the
Central Suite chamber was accompanied by early fluid re-
lease from the water-saturated carapace (making the outward
dipping quartz veins) and by sidewall crystallization that
drove to magma to modestly more evolved compositions. In-
creasing overall water content accelerated vein formation and
initiated radial diking. The rapid magmatic and hydrothermal
evolution is recorded in the complex features comprising the
50- to 100 m-zone that lies immediately outside the main
UST zone. The abundant megacrysts that are immediately in-
ward of the UST zone might also record the same overall fluid
accumulation and release. Catastrophic fluid release during
diking terminated most local magma movement and thus
local foliation development. Fluids continued to be released
thereafter (from interstitial residual melt?—as seen in the
sparse inward-dipping pegmatite dikes) and percolated out-
ward to form the widespread fluorine-rich alteration in re-
gional stress-controlled fracture systems.
Central Porphyry: Unlike the Early Porphyries, the Central
Porphyry, which terminated the known magmatic history,
generated abundant aplites and a prominent set of hy-
drothermal features. These are indicated by the third and
highest gray bar in Figure 12. The sequence duplicates that
seen in the Border and Central Suites except that ductile de-
formation is not an obvious part of Central Porphyry em-
placement.
Aureole: As noted above for the Border Suite, in the inner
aureole skarns and other metamorphic features can be tied
directly to igneous history. The time-space diagram shows
linkages for similar relationships with the Central Suite and
Central Porphyry (see Trim, 1990). Timing of the distal as-
semblages is problematic. Their magmatic (± metasedimen-
tary rock) geochemical signature requires a close tie overall,
but these assemblages may reflect the accumulated effect of
fluids evolved through much of the magmatic history. Conse-
quently, the external fluids are illustrated as having a pro-
tracted and largely undistinguished history. In some areas,
proximity to the contact and field relationships indicate at
least some of these formed during particular events (e.g., in
the Camp Hill area on the west side; see descriptions above).
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00
Concluding Remarks
Broader context
Late Cretaceous lithophile element hydrothermal systems
are common across the Great Basin in the hinterland of the
Cretaceous arc (Fig.1). These systems share many features,
including an association with strongly peraluminous, gener-
ally two-mica granites and a distinctive style of fluorine and
aluminum-rich hydrothermal alteration. The apparent lack of
economically viable mineralization in the western United
States examples has precluded serious interest by most eco-
nomic geologists, although they inspired some exploration in-
terest at least into the 1980s. In the broader context, these
systems have many similarities to Late Mesozoic granitoids
and their W-Sn-Mo etc. mineralization around the northern
Pacific (Newberry, 1998). In this respect, their study may
help others to better understand the origins of mineralized
and “barren” systems (see below).
The structural and petrotectonic aspects have generated
more recent activity. In the 1970s field and microstructural
studies by Clem Nelson, Art Sylvester and others concluded
that Birch Creek and the similar, but larger, Papoose Flat in-
trusion forcefully distended (“ballooned”) their country rocks
during emplacement (Nelson and Sylvester, 1971; Nelson et
al., 1978; Sylvester et al., 1978). More recently, the process of
forceful emplacement has been challenged and reevaluated
in many papers, a number of which have focused on struc-
tural geology at Papoose Flat (Paterson et al., 1991; Nyman et
al., 1995; Paterson and Vernon, 1995; Morgan et al., 1998).
What has not been done there (or elsewhere), in part because
of the exposures, is to document in detail the magmatic his-
tory. In contrast, the field relationships seen in the smaller
Birch Creek pluton unequivocally demonstrate that most or
perhaps all of the deformation took place during emplace-
ment. This conclusion was a serendipitous, but important re-
sult of detailed field studies driven by other questions.
Why isn’t Birch Creek economically mineralized?
In most studies of mineral deposits, the focus is on docu-
menting economically interesting deposits and developing
models that are consistent with their formation. In the case of
Birch Creek, the system is not of economic interest. Nonethe-
less, it shares many features with well-mineralized systems
worldwide. Better understanding of such non-ore-forming
(“barren”) systems should help better understand the key
characteristics and processes of better mineralized systems.
Birch Creek, like similar Great Basin systems, has a large
hydrothermal system that contains large amounts of many
commodities. Why does it lack ore? Is it a matter of exposure
level? Birch Creek is likely eroded at least 1 km below the top
of the pluton. Perhaps the volume having the most-focused
fluid flow and thus the best mineralization has been removed
by erosion (see Fig. 3). This could be a factor, although many
major lithophile element-rich deposits are apparently eroded
to comparable levels (e.g., Shizhuyuan, Hunan; Mao and Li,
1995; Mao et al., 1996). And, elsewhere in the Great Basin,
shallow levels are preserved in similar systems (McCullough
Butte and Mount Wheeler areas, see Fig. 1). The latter can
be large (>200 Mt of F-Zn-Be-W-Mo mineralization at
McCullough Butte) but they also are low grade except in
24
 LITHOPHILE ELEMENT-BEARING SYSTEM AT BIRCH CREEK, WHITE MTNS, CA
environments with focused traps (replacement zones contain-
ing ca. 1% BeO, 0.5% WO3, 20% CaF2 in thin carbonate hori-
zon in clastic rocks at Mt. Wheeler). The metal inventories in
these other systems are large; thus, it is not simply a lack of
material.
More likely, the cause of differences is in the nature of the
magmatic systems themselves. Although the aplites have
some of the characteristics of W-Sn granites from other parts
of the world (cf. Newberry, 1998), the main phases are not
evolved. Is this the key? Maybe, but the large metal invento-
ries in some Great Basin systems belie the need for highly
specialized compositions. Alternatively, it may be that these
plutons form from relatively water-rich melts (evidenced by
continuous water release) and thus bleed volatiles in an unfo-
cused manner while causing the systems to freeze at unfavor-
ably great depths. The corollaries to this are cooler tempera-
tures of emplacement and higher crystal contents, which in
turn would inhibit effective convection, melt fractionation,
and concentration of volatile near the apex of magma cham-
bers. These issues were considered for the western United
States in earlier papers (Barton, 1990, 1996), which con-
cluded, in part based on observations from Birch Creek, that
no single factor controls the metallogenic potential. Rather,
it is the overall physical and chemical magmatic evolution—
the consequence of many phenomena—that is ultimately
responsible.
Acknowledgments
I thank John Dilles, Greg Ghidotti, Eric Jensen, and David
Johnson for their helpful comments on this overview paper
and on the field guide. I am particularly grateful to Tommy
Thompson for last minute heroics in helping this be included.
Many people have contributed to the results presented here,
most are acknowledged above. Special thanks are due Clem
Nelson who originally introduced me to the area and gener-
ously provided unpublished regional geologic mapping.
Funding for field and lab work was provided by the National
Science Foundation (86-07542, EAR 89-03773) and the
White Mountain Research Station (University of California).
REFERENCES
Barton, M.D., 1982, Some aspects of the geology and mineralogy of the flu-
orine-rich skarn at McCullough Butte, Eureka Co., Nevada: Carnegie In-
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