High- and Low-Sulfidation Epithermal Mineralization of the Mátra Mountains, Northeast Hungary

Abstract The Mátra Mtns. cover an area of 570 km2 in the western part of the Tertiary-Quaternary volcanic belt of the Carpathians. The average elevation of this region varies between 600 to 700 m; however, the highest peaks in Hungary, Galyatetõ (965 m) and Kékestetõ (1015 m), are found here. The Mátra Mountains consist of two major volcanic units (Fig. 1). The Paleogene Unit covers an area of about 25 km2 in the northeastern part of the Màtra Mtns. in the vicinity of Recsk village. The Paleogene Unit consists of an Upper Eocene calc-alkaline volcanic sequence intercalated with sedimentary rocks. It formed along the internal island arc part of asubduction zone that was located between the Northern and Southern Alps during the Laramian-Pyrenean orogeny (50–70 Ma). The emplacement of the Paleogene Unit into its present position in the Western Carpathians was caused by a large-scale (ca. 300 km) northeastward movement of crustal units along the re-activated Periadriatic-Darnó strike-slip fault during the lower Miocene (Zelenka, 1973, 1975; Csontos et al, 1992). The ore complex containing high- and low-sulfidation type epithermal, porphyry copper, skarn and metasomatic replacement deposits and is genetically related to this Paleogene Unit. Mining activities around Recsk go back presumably as far as prehistoric time. However, documentation of prospecting is available only since the 18th century. In the early times copper ores and silver-bearing galena and fahlore were exploited, whereas the alunitized and pyritized wallrock was used for alum production. The enargite-luzonite-grey-ore-Au-pyrite massive/stockwork mineralization was discovered in the middle of the