The southwest Sabzevar basin situated in the Sabzevar zone is considered to be an attractive metallogenic province in Iran that hosts both volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) and stratiform manganese deposits. The Nudeh Besshi-type VMS deposit is located in the Lower Late Cretaceous volcano-sedimentary sequence. The ore mineralization in this deposit is hosted in the alkali olivine basalt flow and tuffaceous silty sandstone rocks. The Nudeh VMS deposit consists of 2 million metric tons of Cu-Zn massive sulfide overlying a Cu-Fe-rich stringer. The massive sulfide orebody consists dominantly of pyrite, chalcopyrite, friedrichite, magnetite, and sphalerite, together with minor quartz, chlorite, and sericite. Chloritization, silicification, and

The Poshteh deposit is the first documented paleo-hydrothermal chimney-bearing volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposit in Iran. It occurs in the form of well-developed lensoid orebodies within the Eocene volcano-sedimentary sequence, and comprises of laminated, brecciated, banded, massive, and disseminated textures. The stratiform part of this deposit is approximately 500?m long and up to 20?m thick, and consists of massive to semi-massive sulfides and barites, some of which are banded, which are overlain by barite and siliceous exhalites. The stringer zone stratigraphically underlies the stratiform mineralization. Veins within the stringer zone are composed of quartz, barite, pyrite, galena, sphalerite, and chalcopyrite. Th

Farahabad is a Lower Cretaceous-age sandy dolomite, sandstone and silty limestone hosted zinc-lead deposit in the southern Yazd basin, Iran. This deposit occurs in the lower part of Taft Formation. The Farahabad deposit is a stratiform and stratabound accumulation of hydrothermal sulfides. The mineralized zone at Farahabad is lens shaped and has a relatively flat top. It also ranges greatly in thickness, from a few meters to >30?m. Three styles of ore facies have been differentiated at the deposit. Feeder zone, bedded ore facies, whereas the bulk of ore is contained within sphalerite and galena breccias that record a prolonged and texturally complex history of ore replacement (massive-replacement ore facies). The shape and size of the miner

The Ab-Bagh clastic- and carbonate-hosted stratabound and stratiform Zn-Pb deposit in the Sanandaj-Sirjan zone, in the southeastern corner of the Malayer-Esfahan metallogenic belt of Iran, is typical of several sedimentary–exhalative (SEDEX) deposits in this metallogenic belt. The deposit is hosted in a late Jurassic-early Cretaceous sedimentary sequence. Based on position, There are two Zn-Pb-bearing stratigraphic ore horizons. Ore horizon 1 is hosted by late Jurassic-early Cretaceous black shale and siltstone. The wedge-shaped ore body is located close to a synsedimentary normal fault. Petrographic studies indicates that mineralization comprises three sulfide ore facies: stockwork, bedded and massive ore facies. Ore horizon 2 occurs in

The Late Precambrian sedimentary-volcanic sequence of the Kahar Formation at Mishu mountains, NW Iran, hosts the oldest SEDEX-type barite-(Pb-Cu-Zn) mineralization of Iran. These occurrences include Aralan-Pyrbala, Almas, Shanjan, and Daryan that are hosted by organic material-bearing shales, siltstones, and fine-grained sandstones of the Kahar Formation. Based on the morphology of the mineralization and its textures, the mineralization has formed as strata-bound (stockwork zone and massive ore) and stratiform (bedded ore) ore bodies. The stockwork zone consists of an irregular network of vein-veinlets that cross-cut the sedimentary host rocks. The massive ore contains both massive barite and semi-massive sulfide minerals (galena, chalcopyr

The world-class Mehdiabad nonsulfide deposit consists of several accumulations of Zn–Pb–Fe nonsulfide minerals, derived from supergene of a vent-proximal sub-seafloor replacement SEDEX-type deposit hosted in lower Cretaceous clastic–carbonate rocks of the Taft and Abkuh Formations. The main sulfides are galena, sphalerite, pyrite, and minor amounts of chalcopyrite, which have been partially or completely transformed into nonsulfide minerals by supergene processes. Currently, the Zn mineralization in the Abkuh Formation (ore horizon II) is almost fully oxidized: the Mehdiabad deposit which can be assigned to both direct replacement and wall-rock replacement types. The time of the formation of the nonsulfide deposit has not been determi

The Mehdiabad deposit is the largest accumulation of siliciclastic-carbonate hosted zinc in the world, with a total resource of 394 Mt, grading 4.2% Zn, 1.6% Pb, and 36 g/t Ag. In this study, trace element, fluid inclusions studies, and O-C-Sr isotopic analyses were carried out on the host rock and related sulfide ores in the Mehdiabad deposit, aiming to reveal the nature of ore-forming fluids. The average REE contents of the ore samples are higher than those of the host rock samples. The Cd values of sphalerite in the ores range from 0.11 to 0.63 wt.%, which suggested that the Mehdiabad Zn-Pb-Ba-(Cu-Ag) mineralization was formed in a sedimentary-exhalative environment. Investigation of the fluid inclusions reveals relatively moderate tempe

Gardeneh-Shir zinc and lead deposit is located at 38 km southwest of Ardestan in Central Iran. The host rocks of this deposit includes carbonates of Middle Triassic Shotory Formation juxtaposed over Upper Triassic Naiband Formation by thrust faulting. The mineralization in these deposits is in the form of vein-veinlet, breccia and filling of karstic cavities with dolomitization and silicification and mainly controlled by Strike-slip faults with the normal component and normal faults with strike slip component those are cross cutting older generation of thrust faults. The results of fluid inclusion studies of on quartz and dolomite in Gardeneh-Shir deposits Area show a fluid with a salinity of 23.2-18.6% by weight of salt, temperature range

Cretaceous sedimentary sequence in the Yazdan area is consisting of four rock units as, from the old to the new, clastic-carbonate (Kc), carbonate (Kl), Shale and marl (Km) sequences, and Sandy limestone and sandstone (Kls). The Kls unit is host of ore mineralization in the study area and formed from four members. Ore mineralization in the Yazdan Deposit has occurred as a stratiform horizon in the sandstone units of the third member. Texture and structures studies, shown three ore facies with elemental zonation in the Yazdan Deposit. These ore facies includes, stringer zone, massive ore facies and the bedded ore facies. This ore facies formed from laminated and layered sulfide and sulfate minerals. Fluid inclusions studies represents 255-13

The Precambrian sedimentary-volcanic sequence of Kahar Formation (KF), located in the Mishu mountain, NW Iran, hosts numerous strata-bound and stratiform Barite-(Pb-Cu-Zn) deposits. These deposits include Daryan, Shanjan, Almas, and Aralan-Pyrbala that are hosted by black shale, siltstone, and fine-grained sandstone of the KF. Available evidence such as clastic rocks, bimodal volcanism (rhyolitic and mafic flows) and geochemistry investigations shows that sedimentary host rocks of KF were formed in an extensional environment in the active continental margin. Based on petrographic studies, three different ore facies have been distinguished: 1) a stockwork (feeder) zone including five types of veins and veinlet’s; 2) a massive ore consistin