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Rift-Related Geothermal Activity and Epithermal Gold Veins
Rift-Related Geothermal Activity and Epithermal Gold Veins
Jeffrey W. Hedenquist
with thanks to: Stratex East Africa Ltd.
University of Ottawa
Tectonic settings of hydrothermal systems
Cu-Au
Mt. Tarawera:
Pink and White
Terraces
(silica sinter)
Tarawera and Waimangu, NZ
Destruction of Pink
and White Terraces
Silica sinter: high Au, Ag, As, Sb, Hg, Tl; <0.2 wt% NaCl, high CO2 and H2S
Champagne Pool
Waiotapu, New Zealand
Orange precipitates
with hot spring sinter
= 80 g/t gold
Comparison of Taupo Volcanic Zone features
with those of epithermal vein deposits
Taupo Back-arc Bimodal Au, Ag <0.2 wt%
Volcanic extensional rhyolite- NaCl, lo to
Zone basalt hi CO2, H2S
Rifts
Tendaho,
Afar
Ag, Zn
chloride
Arcs
Rifts
Fe3+/Fe2+
Einaudi, Hedenquist and Inan, 2003
Arc
Sulfidation-state magmas
evolution, and
tectonic setting Rift
magmas
Northern Nevada rift: Plume driven
Rift-hosted epithermal Au deposits
Colloform-banded quartz
Dendritic Au, silica gels
Sleeper
Sillitoe and Hedenquist, 2003
Epithermal deposit types:
fundamental differences,
arc vs. rift hosts
Epithermal
Au prospects
of the Afar
Magenta
epithermal Au
prospect,
Tendaho
Lavelle, MSc 2010;
Stratex, 2011
4 g/t Au
Silica sinter
57 g/t Au
Conclusions: Volcanic-hosted epithermal Au veins
ox.
f O2
red.
Fe3+/Fe2+