Stratabound copper occurrence in Shalapo sandstone of western Lut

The study area is situated at the western part of Lut desert and southern Tabas block. The existing red beds including Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous marl, mudstone, siltstone, sandstone and conglomerates are in Kerman continental red formation and parts of Bidu and Gerdu formations. The host rock is a sub-mature litharenite or calcic subarenite. The intergrowth of the coarse chalcocite and fine covellite crystals as dark nodules filled the cavities and open spaces of the rocks. The mineral paragenesis is rutile, chalcocite, covellite and malachite. Mineralization occurred in the lower sandstone due to dissolution and leaching the copper at the surface layers and shift downward to the reduction zone beneath the water table. The copper amount is 1.5% and silver is 11 ppm. According to the current study, Shalapo is a stratabound sediment-hosted copper deposit.