A classification scheme for epigenetic Archaean lode-gold deposits

✍ Scribed by M. Gebre-Mariam; S. G. Hagemann; D. I. Groves

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1995
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 347 KB
• Volume: 30
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0026-4598
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00202283

✦ Synopsis

Recent research has shown that Archaean lode-gold deposits occur in environments that range in their metamorphic grade from prehnite-pumpellyite to lower granulite facies. Based on this data a new classification is proposed for these deposits. In this classification, shallow-level gold deposits are classed as epizonal, the so-called "mesothermal" deposits are mesozonal, and the deeper deposits, commonly in mid-amphibolite or lower-granulite terrains, are hypozonal.

Lode-gold deposits are a characteristic feature of late-Archaean granitoid-greenstone terrians. This letter discusses the range of P-T conditions exhibited by this deposit style, raises the problems of nomenclature that this raises, and proposes a workable classification for the deposit group.