Late Variscan, Permo-Carboniferous, Al-K plutonism in the South Portuguese Zone : El Crispinejo cordierite-bearing granite

Abstract

The El Crispinejo granite forms part of a small, but distinctive late intrusive suite of cordierite-bearing peraluminous granites in the South Portuguese Zone (SPZ). This granite has the best outcrop relationships of the suite. It cross-cuts different members of the Sierra Norte Batholith of the SPZ and the Carboniferous Volcano-Sedimentary Complex of the Iberian Pyrite Belt, producing contact metamorphism. This late pluton has a high K content which results in a contrasting geophysical response (K-Th-U) with respect to the surrounding trondhjemitic granitoids of the TTG suite of the Sierra Norte Batholith. A concordant monazite-zircon U-Pb ID-TIMS age of 300.5 +0.5/-1.5Ma demonstrates Permo-Carboniferous age for this late Variscan magmatic event. The granite is associated with a series of ore showings (F-Pb-Zn and Sn-W) which are completely different from the nearby, massive sulphide and manganese ore deposits of the Iberian Pyrite Belt, indicating the unique character of this intrusion.