Metallogenesis of porphyry Cu deposits of the western Luzon arc, Philippines:: K-Ar ages, SO3 contents of microphenocrystic apatite and significance of intrusive rocks

K-Ar ages of the following porphyry Cu deposits in the western Luzon are are determined: Lobo-Boneng (10.5+/-0.4 Ma), Santo Nino (9.5+/-0.3 Ma), Black Mountain (2.1+/-0.1 Ma), Dizon (2.5+/-0.2 Ma) and Taysan (7.3+/-0.2 Ma). Microphenocrystic apatite in the late Cenozoic intermediate to silicic intrusions associated with porphyry Cu deposits in the western Luzon arc contains sulfur as SO3 detectable by electron probe microanalyzer. Sulfur is supposed to have been accommodated dominantly as oxidized species in oxidizing hydrous magmas that generated porphyry Cu deposits. Likewise, such high SO3 contents in microphenocrystic apatite are corm-non characteristics of the intermediate to silicic magmatism of the western Luzon are, from tonalitic rocks of the Luzon Central Cordillera of about 15 Ma to an active magmatism at Mount Pinatubo. Thus, the western Luzon arc has been generating porphyry Cu mineralization associated with oxidizing hydrous intermediate to silicic magmatism related to eastward subduction, since Miocene to the present day, Intermediate to silicic rocks since 15 Ma to present-day western Luzon arc generally show high whole-rock Sr/Y ratio ranging from 20 to 184. However, porphyry Cu deposit is not necessarily related to the rocks that show higher Sr/Y ratios compared to the other barren rocks in the western Luzon arc, The characteristics of the intermediate to silicic magma associated with porphyry Cu deposit are not attributed to the composition of the source material of the magma, but to the properties defined by the high activity of oxidized species of sulfur in the fluid phase that is encountered during the generation of intermediate to silicic magmas.