Skip to content
LITHOEN

Geological process

Potassic alteration

Alteration that adds potassium phases — potassium feldspar and biotite — to a rock. In porphyry systems it occupies the hot core and is associated with the quartz stockwork veins that carry much of the copper.

How this record is known

1
Settled consensus
Cited as the accepted position of the discipline.

1 of 1 claims on this page cite at least one registered source. Counts describe how each statement is known, not how likely it is to be true.

What Lithoen records

Each claim states how it is known and cites its evidence.

EstablishedK-feldspar and biotite, with bornite, chalcopyrite, pyrite, magnetite, molybdenite, anhydrite and calcite.

Potassic alteration adds potassium feldspar and biotite, with potassium feldspar dominant in silicic wall rocks and biotite dominant in more mafic ones; bornite, chalcopyrite and pyrite occur in it, along with magnetite, molybdenite, anhydrite and calcite, and it is directly associated with abundant quartz-rich stockwork veins.

  • system context: Porphyry copper systems as described by the USGS model.

Evidence support: Supported by the cited evidence one source

Evidence: John 2010 Primary authority

In the knowledge graph

Record last updated 2026-09-07. Corrections follow the published corrections policy; superseded claims are retained, never silently edited.