Gold fingerprint of the SCLM beneath a metallogenic province

Author(s):  
Erwin Schettino ◽  
Claudio Marchesi ◽  
José María González-Jiménez ◽  
Edward Saunders ◽  
Károly Hidas ◽  
...  

<p>Magmatic-hydrothermal gold deposits form clusters in the Earth’s crust and are heterogeneously distributed within lithospheric blocks. A global assessment of whole-rock gold abundances in mantle lithologies worldwide indicates that Au concentrations increase with increasing fertility of mantle peridotites, with median Au contents ranging from 0.50 ppb in dunites, 1.00 ppb in harzburgites, and up to 1.26 ppb in lherzolites. Of particular interest are those volumes of fertile Subcontinental Lithospheric Mantle (SCLM) veined by pyroxenites and wehrlites, usually the Au-richest lithologies in the mantle as they have 2.05 ppb median Au concentrations. Partial melting of SCLM domains endowed in gold seems to play a key role in the genesis of gold-enriched magmas parental to magmatic-hydrothermal gold deposits in continental arc settings. The mineralogical expressions of gold inventory in such fertile mantle rocks are accessory Ni-Fe-Cu sulfides and discrete micron-to-nano-sized Au mineral particles that control the extraction and transport of gold in the mantle. Mantle xenoliths from the Neogene Volcanic Province (NVP) of southeast Spain represent an excellent example of SCLM refertilized by gold-sulfide-rich silicate melts underlying a gold metallogenic province. Here we present mineralogical and compositional data of sulfides in mantle xenoliths from this area (Tallante volcanic center), which are anomalously rich in gold (up to 46 ppm) compared to sulfides from SCLM not associated with Au-metallogenic provinces. We propose that these gold-rich, fertile mantle sources may have melted during the Cenozoic evolution of the westernmost Mediterranean subduction system and fed the ore-productive volcanic activity in southeast Spain.</p>

2013 ◽  
Vol 151 (5) ◽  
pp. 765-776 ◽  
Author(s):  
GI YOUNG JEONG ◽  
CHANG-SIK CHEONG ◽  
KEEWOOK YI ◽  
JEONGMIN KIM ◽  
NAMHOON KIM ◽  
...  

AbstractThe Phanerozoic subduction system of the Korean peninsula is considered to have been activated by at least Middle Permian time. The geochemically arc-like Andong ultramafic complex (AUC) occurring along the border between the Precambrian Yeongnam massif and the Cretaceous Gyeongsang back-arc basin provides a rare opportunity for direct study of the pre-Cretaceous mantle wedge lying above the subduction zone. The tightly constrained SHRIMP U–Pb age of zircons extracted from orthopyroxenite specimens (222.1±1.0 Ma) is indistinguishable from the Ar/Ar age of coexisting phlogopite (220±6 Ma). These ages represent the timing of suprasubduction zone magmatism likely in response to the sinking of cold and dense oceanic lithosphere and the resultant extensional strain regime in a nascent arc environment. The nearly coeval occurrence of a syenite-gabbro-monzonite suite in the SW Yeongnam massif also suggests an extensional tectonic setting along the continental margin side during Late Triassic time. The relatively enriched ɛHf range of dated zircons (+6.2 to −0.6 at 222 Ma) is in contrast to previously reported primitive Sr–Nd–Hf isotopic features of Cenozoic mantle xenoliths from Korea and eastern China. This enrichment is not ascribed to contamination by the hypothetical Palaeozoic crust beneath SE Korea, but is instead attributable to metasomatism of the lithospheric mantle during the earlier subduction of the palaeo-Pacific plate. Most AUC zircons show a restricted core-to-rim spread of ɛHf values, but some grains testify to the operation of open-system processes during magmatic differentiation.


2021 ◽  
pp. 4-18
Author(s):  
ANATOLY IVANOV ◽  
YURI AGEEV ◽  
ALEXANDER MEZENTSEV ◽  
BASIL MOLOCHNY ◽  
VICTOR KONKIN

New data is provided on gold mineralization in the southern Baikal-Patom metallogenic province, Ikibzyakskoye ore field, located in Pravo-Mamakansky deep fault zone separating Patom fold area from Baikal-Vitim volcanic-plutonic belt. For the first time, the metallogenic province was found to comprise granitoid-hosted ore vein-stringer zones with high-grade economic gold sulfide-quartz mineralization. This mineralization is localized within fault shistosity zones manifesting intense beresitization and listvenitization (in metabasite xenoliths).


Geosciences ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 29
Author(s):  
Pavel Kepezhinskas ◽  
Nikolai Berdnikov ◽  
Nikita Kepezhinskas ◽  
Natalia Konovalova

Adakites are Y- and Yb-depleted, SiO2- and Sr-enriched rocks with elevated Sr/Y and La/Yb ratios originally thought to represent partial melts of subducted metabasalt, based on their association with the subduction of young (<25 Ma) and hot oceanic crust. Later, adakites were found in arc segments associated with oblique, slow and flat subduction, arc–transform intersections, collision zones and post-collisional extensional environments. New models of adakite petrogenesis include the melting of thickened and delaminated mafic lower crust, basalt underplating of the continental crust and high-pressure fractionation (amphibole ± garnet) of mantle-derived, hydrous mafic melts. In some cases, adakites are associated with Nb-enriched (10 ppm < Nb < 20 ppm) and high-Nb (Nb > 20 ppm) arc basalts in ancient and modern subduction zones (HNBs). Two types of HNBs are recognized on the basis of their geochemistry. Type I HNBs (Kamchatka, Honduras) share N-MORB-like isotopic and OIB-like trace element characteristics and most probably originate from adakite-contaminated mantle sources. Type II HNBs (Sulu arc, Jamaica) display high-field strength element enrichments in respect to island-arc basalts coupled with enriched, OIB-like isotopic signatures, suggesting derivation from asthenospheric mantle sources in arcs. Adakites and, to a lesser extent, HNBs are associated with Cu–Au porphyry and epithermal deposits in Cenozoic magmatic arcs (Kamchatka, Phlippines, Indonesia, Andean margin) and Paleozoic-Mesozoic (Central Asian and Tethyan) collisional orogens. This association is believed to be not just temporal and structural but also genetic due to the hydrous (common presence of amphibole and biotite), highly oxidized (>ΔFMQ > +2) and S-rich (anhydrite in modern Pinatubo and El Chichon adakite eruptions) nature of adakite magmas. Cretaceous adakites from the Stanovoy Suture Zone in Far East Russia contain Cu–Ag–Au and Cu–Zn–Mo–Ag alloys, native Au and Pt, cupriferous Ag in association witn barite and Ag-chloride. Stanovoy adakites also have systematically higher Au contents in comparison with volcanic arc magmas, suggesting that ore-forming hydrothermal fluids responsible for Cu–Au(Mo–Ag) porphyry and epithermal mineralization in upper crustal environments could have been exsolved from metal-saturated, H2O–S–Cl-rich adakite magmas. The interaction between depleted mantle peridotites and metal-rich adakites appears to be capable of producing (under a certain set of conditions) fertile sources for HNB melts connected with some epithermal Au (Porgera) and porphyry Cu–Au–Mo (Tibet, Iran) mineralized systems in modern and ancient subduction zones.


Author(s):  
B. N. Abramov

The distribution of rare-earth elements (REE) in ores of gold deposits of East Transbaikalia has shown that the ore-bearing magma chambers have different depths and degrees of differentiation. The greatest degree of differentiation was within the magmatic foci (Eu/Eu* — 0,29—0,32; Rb/Sr — 0,98—1,40), which are the sources of gold-quartz-arsenopyrite ores, the magmatic sources of the gold-quartz and gold-sulfide-quartz ores (Eu/Eu* — 0,53—0,72; Rb/Sr of 0,10 to 0,54) had lesser degree of differentiation. Magma chambers that are sources for the gold-quartz-arsenopyrite ores (Eu/Sm — 0,08—0,14), were at shallower depths than those for gold-quartz and gold-sulfide-quartz ores (Eu/Sm — 0,11—0,19). The formation of gold-quartz-arsenopyrite ores took place at the magma chambers, largely enriched in volatile components, it is indicated by the existence of a significant tetrad effects in REE patterns of (T1-4 - 0,80; 1,15; 1,16).


Author(s):  
V.I. Silaev ◽  
◽  
A.V. Kokin ◽  
V.N. Filippov ◽  
A.F. Khazov ◽  
...  

A sample of a gold-bearing quartz vein from the Upper-Ichuveem ore occurrence, discovered in the Triassic terrigenous complex in the north of the Chukotka Upland, the Oleg Kuvaev's “Territory”, had been comprehensively studied. The gross gold grade was estimated at 3–4 g / t. The vein includes quartz, native gold, sulfide-goldsilver solid solutions, alumoseladonite, aluminium-sulfate-phosphates Fe-Pb-Mg-Ca compound, apatite, pyrite, iron-titanium oxides, litharge, native phases composed of Fe (Ni), Ag-Pb-Bi, Fe-Al-PS-As, multicomponent ocher of hypergene origin. Native gold ranges from medium to fine. The vein contains particles of non-crystalline organic matter, which is close in composition of organic groups to polysaccharides. It is possible that the carbon particles found in the gold-quartz vein are of an abiogenic nature and can be compared with abiogenic condensed organelles in the products of modern volcanism. The data obtained make it possible to attribute the Upper- Ichuveem gold ore occurrence to a low-sulfide gold-quartz formation, but with additional signs of gold-silver and polymetallic formations, which can be regarded as a favorable prerequisite for prospecting and exploration in Oleg Kuvaev's «Territory» not only of gold-placer deposits, but also of lode gold deposits.


Geology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (9) ◽  
pp. 891-895 ◽  
Author(s):  
R.W. Allen ◽  
J.S. Collier ◽  
A.G. Stewart ◽  
T. Henstock ◽  
S. Goes ◽  
...  

Abstract Continental arc systems often show evidence of large-scale migration both toward and away from the incoming plate. In oceanic arc systems, however, while slab roll-back and the associated processes of backarc spreading and arc migration toward the incoming plate are commonplace, arc migration away from the incoming plate is rarely observed. We present a new compilation of marine magnetic anomaly and seismic data in order to propose a new tectonic model for the eastern Caribbean region that includes arc migration in both directions. We synthesized new evidence to show two phases of backarc spreading and eastward arc migration toward the incoming Atlantic. A third and final phase of arc migration to the west subdivided the earlier backarc basin on either side of the present-day Lesser Antilles arc. This is the first example of regional multidirectional arc migration in an intra-oceanic setting, and it has implications for along-arc structural and geochemical variations. The back and forth arc migrations were probably due to the constraints imposed by the neighboring American plates on this isolated subduction system, rather than variations in subducting slab buoyancy.


Author(s):  
V. Mykhailov

The overwhelming part of the gold ore potential of the United Republic of Tanzania is confined to the systems of the Neoarchaean greenstone belts (GSB) of the metallogenic province of Lake Victoria in the northwestern part of the country. Based on the interpretation of space imagery, in the western part of the province the Sukumaland ore-magmatic system of concentric-zonal structure has been distinguished. It is formed by a group of arched greenstone belts and associated gold deposits. They form two arcuate branches: the internal and external branch, differing in their composition and structure. The internal arc is represented by the Rwamagaza and Kahama GSB with gold deposits of Tulawaka, Buckreef, Mawe-Meru, Tembo, and Bulyanhulu. The external arc is represented by Geita and Mabale-Buhungurica GSB with gold deposits of Ridge-8, Nyankanga, Geita, Matandani, Kukuluma, Nyanzaga, Kitongo, Golden Ridge, Nyakafuru, and Miabu. Their huge gold potential (over 50 million ounces of gold) stipulates for the urgency of the study of this gigantic structure. GSB of the inner arc (Rwamagaza and Kahama) are characterized by a predominance of basic volcanic rocks, and GSB of the external arc (Geita and Mabale-Buhungurica) – by sedimentary and volcanic-sedimentary formations, in particular, banded ironstone formations (BIF). Accordingly, gold deposits of the inner arc are mainly associated with basic volcanic rocks (Tulawaka, Buckreef, Mawe-Meru, Bulyanhulu, Tembo) while gold deposits of the external arc – with BIF (Geita, Nyankanga, Kukuluma, Matandani). The nuclear part of the ore-magmatic system is of special interest, although manifestations of volcanism are absent there and gold or other mineral deposits are unknown yet, but a tectonic pattern of its structural elements indicates its significant ore potential. In particular, the presence of numerous spatially close systems of radial-circular faults attests to the presence of weakened zones in the space above the core of a hypothetical magma chamber. Gold deposits of different geological and industrial types, yet undiscovered, as well as manifestations of diatreme magmatism may be associated with these weakened zones. In particular, one cannot exclude the possible presence of diamond-bearing volcanic pipes. It is assumed that the ore-magmatic system has originated and evolved in the course of a complex multi-stage ore-magmatic process under the influence of ascending flows of depth fluids due to the long-term functioning of a zone with anomalously heated mantle in that area. During further geological exploration it is recommended to take into account the predictable availability of a single integrated ore-magmatic system of longdevelopment and its structural features.


1997 ◽  
Vol 61 (406) ◽  
pp. 387-409 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nigel J. Cook

AbstractSeveral complex Cu-Pb-Bi, Cu-Pb-Bi-Sb and Ag-Pb-Bi sulphosalt minerals have been identified in samples from hydrothermal vein mineralisation associated with the Toroiaga sub-volcanic body in the Baia Borşa area of Maramureş County, northwest Romania. This is the first chemically-documented report of Bi-sulphosalts in the Neogene metallogenic province around Baia Mare. The investigated samples contain abundant amounts of matildite solid solution within galena, the Cu-Pb/Bi sulphosalts aikinite, friedrichite, krupkaite, hammarite, lindströmite and gladite as well as nuffieldite and berryite. Within the Ag-Pb/Bi group, the majority of analysed grains can be regarded as members of the lillianite homologous series. Three distinct lillianite homologues were identified, which correspond to (i) phases along the lillianite-gustavite solid solution join (Pb3Bi2S6-AgPbBi3S6), (ii) phases within solid solution field of heyrovskyite, and (iii) compositions which best correspond to ‘schirmerite’, sensu Makovicky and Karup-Møller (1977b), but may represent disordered gustavite, vikingite or eskimoite. Some of the analysed lillianite homologues contain excess Cu, which may occupy interstitial sites. Furthermore, a large proportion of the lillianite homologues display significant substitution of Sb for Bi within the limits predicted by experimental investigations. Cosalite, also showing a range of compositions including Sb-rich varieties is recognised. Izoklakeite, Cu2Pb22(Sb,Bi)22S57, is an abundant phase throughout the analysed samples, its composition is in good agreement with previously published analyses, except for excess Cu and Fe beyond the limits previously reported. The description of several minerals from this new occurrence and compositional data on them, including the Sb-bearing varieties, provides valuable additional information on compositional limits in natural samples.


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