학술논문

Structural controls on carlin-type gold mineralization in the Gold Bar District, Eureka County, Nevada
Document Type
Academic Journal
Source
Economic Geology and the Bulletin of the Society of Economic Geologists. 98(6):1173-1188
Subject
27A|Economic geology - metal ores
16|Structural geology
alteration
Bartine Member
carbonate rocks
carlin-type deposits
decalcification
Denay Formation
Devonian
Eureka County Nevada
faults
folds
geosynclines
Gold Bar Deposit
Gold Bar mining district
gold ores
high-angle faults
history
host rocks
Lower Devonian
McColley Canyon Formation
metal ores
Middle Devonian
mineralization
miogeosynclines
Nevada
normal faults
overturned folds
Paleozoic
reactivation
resources
reverse faults
Roberts Mountains
sedimentary rocks
silicification
stratabound deposits
strike
structural controls
thrust faults
United States
Language
English
ISSN
0361-0128
Abstract
The Gold Bar district in the southern Roberts Mountains, 48 km northwest of Eureka, Nevada, contains one main deposit (Gold Bar), five satellite deposits, and other resources. Approximately 0.5 Moz of gold have been recovered from a resource of 1,639,000 oz of gold in Carlin-type gold deposits in lower plate, miogeoclinal carbonate rocks below the Roberts Mountains thrust. Host rocks are unit 2 of the Upper Member of the Devonian Denay Formation and the Bartine Member of the McColley Canyon Formation. Spatial and temporal relations between structures and gold mineralization indicate that both pre-Tertiary and Tertiary structures were important controls on gold mineralization. Gold mineralization occurs primarily along high-angle Tertiary normal faults, some of which are reactivated reverse faults of Paleozoic or Mesozoic age. Most deposits are localized at the intersection of northwest- and northeast-striking faults. Alteration includes decalcification, and to a lesser extent, silicification along high-angle faults. Jasperoid (pervasive silicification), which formed along most faults and in some strata-bound zones, accounts for a small portion of the ore in every deposit. In the Gold Canyon deposit, a high-grade jasperoid pipe formed along a Tertiary normal fault which was localized along a zone of overturned fault-propagation folds and thrust faults of Paleozoic or Mesozoic age.