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Wall Rocks (wall + rock)
Selected AbstractsGeology and Genesis of the Superlarge Jinchang Gold Deposit, NE ChinaACTA GEOLOGICA SINICA (ENGLISH EDITION), Issue 4 2008JIA Guozhi Abstract The superlarge Jinchang gold deposit is located in the joint area between the Taipingling uplift and the Laoheishan depression of the Xingkai Block in both eastern Jilin and eastern Heilongjiang Province. Wall rocks of the gold deposits are the Neoproterozoic Huangsong Group of metamorphic rocks. Yanshanian magmatism in this region can be divided into 5 phases, the diorite, the graphic granite, the granite, the granite porphyry and the diorite porphyrite, which resulted in the magmatic domes and cryptoexplosive breecia chimney followed by large-scale hydrothermal alteration. Gold mineralization is closely related to the fourth and fifth phase of magmatism. According to the occurrences, gold ores can be subdivided into auriferous pyritized quartz vein, auriferous quartz-pyrite vein, auriferous polymetallic sulfide quartz vein and auriferous pyritized calcite vein. The ages of the gold deposit are ranging from 122.53 to 119.40 Ma. The ore bodies were controlled by a uniform tectono-magmatic hydrothermal alteration system that the ore-forming materials were deep derived from and the ore-forming fluids were dominated by magmatic waters with addition of some atmospheric water in the later phase of mineralization. Gold mineralization took place in an environment of medium to high temperatures and medium pressures. Ore-forming fluids were the K+ -Na+ -Ca2+ -Cl, -SO42- type and characterized by medium salinity or a slightly higher, weak alkaline and weak reductive. Au in the ore-forming fluids was transported as complexes of [Au (HS)2],, [AuCl2],, [Au(CO2)], and [Au(HCO3)2],. Along with the decline of temperatures and pressures, the ore-forming fluids varied from acidic to weak acidic and then to weak alkaline, which resulted in the dissociation of the complex and finally the precipitation of the gold. [source] Infiltration of basinal fluids into high-grade basement, South Norway: sources and behaviour of waters and brinesGEOFLUIDS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 1 2003S. A. Gleeson Abstract Quartz veins hosted by the high-grade crystalline rocks of the Modum complex, Southern Norway, formed when basinal fluids from an overlying Palaeozoic foreland basin infiltrated the basement at temperatures of c. 220°C (higher in the southernmost part of the area). This infiltration resulted in the formation of veins containing both two-phase and halite-bearing aqueous fluid inclusions, sometimes with bitumen and hydrocarbon inclusions. Microthermometric results demonstrate a very wide range of salinities of aqueous fluids preserved in these veins, ranging from c. 0 to 40 wt% NaCl equivalent. The range in homogenization temperatures is also very large (99,322°C for the entire dataset) and shows little or no correlation with salinity. A combination of aqueous fluid microthermometry, halogen geochemistry and oxygen isotope studies suggest that fluids from a range of separate aquifers were responsible for the quartz growth, but all have chemistries comparable to sedimentary formation waters. The bulk of the quartz grew from relatively low ,18O fluids derived directly from the basin or equilibrated in the upper part of the basement (T < 200°C). Nevertheless, some fluids acquired higher salinities due to deep wall-rock hydration reactions leading to salt saturation at high temperatures (>300°C). The range in fluid inclusion homogenization temperatures and densities, combined with estimates of the ambient temperature of the basement rocks suggests that at different times veins acted as conduits for influx of both hotter and colder fluids, as well as experiencing fluctuations in fluid pressure. This is interpreted to reflect episodic flow linked to seismicity, with hotter dry basement rocks acting as a sink for cooler fluids from the overlying basin, while detailed flow paths reflected local effects of opening and closing of individual fractures as well as reaction with wall rocks. Thermal considerations suggest that the duration of some flow events was very short, possibly in the order of days. As a result of the complex pattern of fracturing and flow in the Modum basement, it was possible for shallow fluids to penetrate basement rocks at significantly higher temperatures, and this demonstrates the potential for hydrolytic weakening of continental crust by sedimentary fluids. [source] Fluid flow and Al transport during quartz-kyanite vein formation, Unst, Shetland Islands, ScotlandJOURNAL OF METAMORPHIC GEOLOGY, Issue 1 2010C. E. BUCHOLZ Abstract Quartz-kyanite veins, adjacent alteration selvages and surrounding ,precursor' wall rocks in the Dalradian Saxa Vord Pelite of Unst in the Shetland Islands (Scotland) were investigated to constrain the geochemical alteration and mobility of Al associated with channelized metamorphic fluid infiltration during the Caledonian Orogeny. Thirty-eight samples of veins, selvages and precursors were collected, examined using the petrographic microscope and electron microprobe, and geochemically analysed. With increasing grade, typical precursor mineral assemblages include, but are not limited to, chlorite+chloritoid, chlorite+chloritoid+kyanite, chlorite+chloritoid+staurolite and garnet+staurolite+kyanite+chloritoid. These assemblages coexist with quartz, white mica (muscovite, paragonite, margarite), and Fe-Ti oxides. The mineral assemblage of the selvages does not change noticeably with metamorphic grade, and consists of chloritoid, kyanite, chlorite, quartz, white mica and Fe-Ti oxides. Pseudosections for selvage and precursor bulk compositions indicate that the observed mineral assemblages were stable at regional metamorphic conditions of 550,600 °C and 0.8,1.1 GPa. A mass balance analysis was performed to assess the nature and magnitude of geochemical alteration that produced the selvages adjacent to the veins. On average, selvages lost about ,26% mass relative to precursors. Mass losses of Na, K, Ca, Rb, Sr, Cs, Ba and volatiles were ,30 to ,60% and resulted from the destruction of white mica. Si was depleted from most selvages and transported locally to adjacent veins; average selvage Si losses were about ,50%. Y and rare earth elements were added due to the growth of monazite in cracks cutting apatite. The mass balance analysis also suggests some addition of Ti occurred, consistent with the presence of rutile and hematite-ilmenite solid solutions in veins. No major losses of Al from selvages were observed, but Al was added in some cases. Consequently, the Al needed to precipitate vein kyanite was not derived locally from the selvages. Veins more than an order of magnitude thicker than those typically observed in the field would be necessary to accommodate the Na and K lost from the selvages during alteration. Therefore, regional transport of Na and K out of the local rock system is inferred. In addition, to account for the observed abundances of kyanite in the veins, large fluid-rock ratios (102,103 m3fluid m,3rock) and time-integrated fluid fluxes in excess of ,104 m3fluid m,2rock are required owing to the small concentrations of Al in aqueous fluids. It is concluded that the quartz-kyanite veins and their selvages were produced by regional-scale advective mass transfer by means of focused fluid flow along a thrust fault zone. The results of this study provide field evidence for considerable Al mass transport at greenschist to amphibolite facies metamorphic conditions, possibly as a result of elevated concentrations of Al in metamorphic fluids due to alkali-Al silicate complexing at high pressures. [source] The formation of foliated (garnet-bearing) granites in the Tongbai-Dabie orogenic belt: partial melting of subducted continental crust during exhumationJOURNAL OF METAMORPHIC GEOLOGY, Issue 9 2009L. ZHANG Abstract Foliated (garnet-bearing) (FGB) granites are associated closely with and are usually the major wall rocks of the high-pressure (HP) and ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) metamorphic rocks in the Tongbai-Dabie region, the mid segment of the Qinling-Dabie-Sulu orogenic belt in central China. These granites appear either as small plutons or as veins, which commonly intrude into or surround the HP and UHP metamorphic eclogites or gneisses. The veins of FGB granites usually penetrate into the retrograded eclogites or gneisses along the foliations. Condensation rims can occasionally be found along the margins of granite veins. These granites are rich in Si and alkali with high Ga/Al ratios, and depleted in Ca, Mg, Al, Ti, Sc, V, Ni, Co, Cr and Sr, which are similar to A-type granites. In a chondrite normalized diagram, the samples are light rare earth elements enriched with different extent of negative Eu anomaly. Moreover, Rb, Nb, Ta, Sr, P and Ti show different degrees of negative anomalies, whereas Ba, K, La, Zr and Hf show positive anomalies in the primitive mantle normalized diagram. Negative anomalies of Eu and Sr indicate strong influence of plagioclase. In conventional discrimination diagrams, these FGB granites belong to the A-type granite, with geochemical characteristics affinitive to post-collisional granites. The ,Nd (230 Ma) values (,15.80 to ,2.52) and TDM values (1.02,2.07 Ga) suggest that magma for the FGB granites were derived from a heterogeneous crustal source. Therefore, the FGB granites may provide clues for deciphering the formation of post-collisional granites. It is proposed that the magma of the FGB granites both in the HP and UHP units was formed in an extensional tectonic setting slightly post-dating the HP and UHP metamorphism, most likely as a result of decompressional partial melting of UHP retrograded eclogites during exhumation. [source] Up-temperature flow of surface-derived fluids in the mid-crust: the role of pre-orogenic burial of hydrated fault rocksJOURNAL OF METAMORPHIC GEOLOGY, Issue 5 2006C. CLARK Abstract The Walter-Outalpa shear zone in the southern Curnamona Province of NE South Australia is an example of a shear zone that has undergone intensely focused fluid flow and alteration at mid-crustal depths. Results from this study have demonstrated that the intense deformation and ductile shear zone reactivation, at amphibolite facies conditions of 534 ± 20 °C and 500 ± 82 MPa, that overprint the Proterozoic Willyama Supergroup occurred during the Delamerian Orogeny (c. 500 Ma) (EPMA monazite ages of 501 ± 16 and 491 ± 19 Ma). This is in contrast to the general belief that the majority of basement deformation and alteration in the southern Curnamona Province occurred during the waning stages of the Olarian Orogeny (c. 1610,1580 Ma). These shear zones contain hydrous mineral assemblages that cut wall rocks that have experienced amphibolite facies metamorphism during the Olarian Orogeny. The shear zone rock volumes have much lower ,18O values (as low as 1,) than their unsheared counterparts (7,9,), and calculated fluid ,18O values (5,8,) consistent with a surface-derived fluid source. Hydrous minerals show a decrease in ,D(H2O) from ,14 to ,22,, for minerals outside the shear zones, to ,28 to ,40,, for minerals within the shear zones consistent with a contribution from a meteoric source. It is unclear how near-surface fluids initially under hydrostatic pressure penetrate into the middle crust where fluid pressures approach lithostatic, and where fluid flow is expected to be dominantly upward because of pressure gradients. We propose a mechanism whereby faulting during basin formation associated with the Adelaidean Rift Complex (c. 700 Ma) created broad hydrous zones containing mineral assemblages in equilibrium with surface waters. These panels of fault rock were subsequently buried to depths where the onset of metamorphism begins to dehydrate the fault rock volumes evolving a low ,18O fluid that is channelled through shear zones related to Delamerian Orogenic activity. [source] Geochemical and stable isotope resetting in shear zones from Täschalp: constraints on fluid flow during exhumation in the Western AlpsJOURNAL OF METAMORPHIC GEOLOGY, Issue 2 2003I. Cartwright Abstract Fluid flow at greenschist facies conditions during exhumation of the western Alps occurred in several penecontemporaneous systems, including shear zones at lithological contacts, deformed contacts between serpentinite bodies and metabasalts, albite veins within metabasalts, and calcite + quartz veins within calcareous schists. Fluid flow in shear zones that juxtapose metasediments and ophiolitic rocks within the Piemonte Unit reset O and H isotope ratios. ,18O values are buffered by the wall rocks; however, calculated fluid ,2H values are similar within all the shear zones suggesting that they formed an interconnected network. The similarity of ,2H values of the sheared rocks and those of unsheared calcareous schists suggests that the fluids were derived from, or had equilibrated with, the schists that envelop the ophiolite rocks. Time-integrated fluid fluxes at the sheared contacts estimated from changes in Si in metabasalts were up to 105 m3 m,2, with the fluid flowing up temperature driven either by topography or seismic pumping. Individual shear zones were active for c. 2,3 Myr, implying average fluid fluxes of up to 10,9 m3 m,2 s,1. Rocks in shear zones within the ophiolite away from contacts with the metasediments show much less marked isotopic and geochemical changes, implying that fluid volumes decreased into the ophiolite unit, consistent with the source of fluids being the metasediments. Fluids were generated by dehydration reactions that were intersected during exhumation and, while many rocks show the affects of fluid,rock interaction, large-scale fluid flow between major units was not common. [source] Mass Transfer, Oxygen Isotopic Variation and Gold Precipitation in Epithermal System: A Case Study of the Hishikari Deposit, Southern Kyushu, JapanRESOURCE GEOLOGY, Issue 3 2002Naotatsu SHIKAZONO Abstract: Transportation of various kinds of elements occurred in wall rocks (Quaternary andesites) during the hydrothermal alteration accompanied by the Hishikari epithermal gold mineralization. For example, K2O and MgO contents of wall rocks decrease away from the gold-quartz veins, while (CaO+Na2O) content increases, and SiO2 content is variable near the veins. Hydrothermal alteration zoning and bulk compositional variations in wall rocks suggest that the mixing of hydrothermal solution and acidic groundwater took place an important role as the cause for the hydrothermal alteration and bulk compositional variations. The relationship between dissolved silica concentration and temperature of hydrothermal solution mixed with groundwater is obtained based on precipitation kinetics-fluid flow,mixing model, and the computed results are compared with the distribution of SiO2 minerals (quartz and cristobalite) in the hydrothermal alteration zones. This comparison suggests that the most reasonable flow rate of fluids migrating through hydrothermal alteration zones, and A/M (A: surface area of rocks interacting with fluid, M: mass of fluid) are estimated to be ca. 10 -4.2 m/sec, and ca. 0.10 m2/kg, respectively. The mixing of two fluids (hydrothermal solution and acidic groundwater) can also explain ,18O zoning in the altered country rocks, hydrothermal alteration zoning from K-feldspar through K-mica to kaolinite from the center (veins) to margin, and deposition of gold. [source] Geneses of High Chlorine and Silver,Lead,Zinc,Mineralized Granitoids in Tsushima, JapanRESOURCE GEOLOGY, Issue 3 2000Shunso ISHIHARA 7037. (5) They are high in Cl and S, which occur in fluid inclusions and as pyrrhotite>pyrite, respectively. Two genetic models are considered for the source of the unique granitoid magmas: the continental crust or the upper mantle fertilized with Si, K and 18O. The latter may be the case for the Tsushima granitoids, because of the low initial Sr ratio. The age of the granitoids (16 Ma) indicates the magmatism related to the opening of the Sea of Japan. It is suggested that both basaltic and granitic magmas were generated in the continental lithosphere under an extensional tectonic setting; the two magmas could have been partly mingled. The mingled magma was originally an oxidized type, but reduced during the emplacement by repeated inflow of S and C-bearing gases from the pelitic wall rocks. Because of the reduction, SO3 sulfur is almost nil in the rock-forming apatite, and most of sulfur remained in fluid phase of the magma as reduced species. Cl content was high in the original magma and concentrated in the fluid phase of the residual system which dissolved silver, lead and zinc metals. Such a fluid migrated into the Taishu fracture systems, as the magma crystallized, and formed the silver,lead,zinc deposits. [source] Rare Earth Element and Trace Element Features of Gold-bearing Pyrite in the Jinshan Gold Deposit, Jiangxi ProvinceACTA GEOLOGICA SINICA (ENGLISH EDITION), Issue 3 2010Guangzhou MAO Abstract: Jinshan gold deposit is located in northeastern Jiangxi, South China, which is related to the ductile shear zone. It has a gold reserve of more than 200 tons, with 80% of gold occurring in pyrite. The ,REE of gold-bearing pyrite is as higher as 171.664 ppm on average, with relatively higher light rare earth elements (LREE; 159.556 ppm) and lower HREE (12.108 ppm). The ,LREE/,HREE ratio is 12.612 and (La/Yb)N is 11.765. These indicate that pyrite is rich in LREE. The (La/Sm)N ratio is 3.758 and that of (Gd/Yb)N is 1.695. These are obvious LREE fractionations. The rare earth element (REE) distribution patterns show obvious Eu anomaly with average ,Eu values of 0.664, and ,Ce anomalies of 1.044. REE characteristics are similar to those of wall rocks (regional metamorphic rocks), but different from those of the Dexing granodiorite porphyry and Damaoshan biotite granite. These features indicate that the ore-forming materials in the Jinshan gold deposit derived from the wall rocks, and the ore-forming fluids derived from metamorphic water. The Co/Ni ratio (average value 0.38) of pyrite suggests that the Jinshan gold deposit formed under a medium,low temperature. It is inferred from the values of high-field strength elements, LREE, Hf/Sm, Nb/La, and Th/La of the pyrite that the ore-forming fluids of the Jinshan gold deposit derived from metamorphic water with Cl>F. [source] Magmatic Gold Mineralization in the Western Qinling Orogenic Belt: Geology and Metallogenesis of the Baguamiao, Liba and Xiaogouli Gold DepositsACTA GEOLOGICA SINICA (ENGLISH EDITION), Issue 2 2004FENG Jianzhong Abstract, The superlarge Baguamiao, large Liba and Xiaogouli gold deposits represent three typical gold deposits different from the Carlin type in the western Qinling Orogenic Belt. Based on Ar-Ar dating of quartz from ores, U-Pb dating of single zircon from granite, tracing of H and O isotopes and studies on the mineralogy and texture of spots and bleached alteration developed in wall rocks, this paper focuses the relations between gold deposits and granite to clarify the origin of gold deposits and the metallogenesis in the tectonic evolution of the Qinling Orogenic Belt. The comprehensive studies show that the age of the granite (148.1,244 Ma) is identical with that of the gold deposits (131.91,232.56 Ma). It is suggested that the granite has close temporal, spatial and genetic relationship with the gold deposits. The granite provides a heat source, water source and considerable amount of ore-forming material. Finally, it is concluded that the orogeny by collision, emplacement of the granite and positioning of the gold deposits represent a successive process. Both the granite and gold deposits resulted from the syn-orogeny and post-orogeny tectonic evolution. [source] | ||||||||||