Basin architecture and evolution in the Mount Isa mineral province, northern Australia: Constraints from deep seismic reflection profiling and implications for ore genesis

The Poopó Polymetallic Epithermal Deposit, Bolivia: Mineralogy, Genetic Constraints, and Distribution of Critical Elements

“…The Poopó deposits are located near the border between the Bolivian Altiplano and the Eastern Andes Cordillera, by the NNW-SSE striking Poopó regional fault ( Figure 1) and its associated structures [9]. Although no specific studies are available on this subject, it is possible that such a structure is part of a major crustal discontinuity or a cryptic structural corridor that favoured the emplacement of magmas and ore deposits as major channelways, similar to other regions in the world in different epochs [10][11][12][13]. This fault zone indeed coincides with a major crustal block or domain limit [14][15][16][17][18][19].…”

Basin inversion and structural architecture as constraints on fluid flow and Pb-Zn mineralisation in the Paleo-Mesoproterozoic sedimentary sequences of northern Australia

“…Their deposition marks the start of the 1730-1640 Ma Calvert Superbasin (Figs. 2 & 3) and corresponds to a resumption in backarc extension, bimodal magmatism and rift-related sedimentation (Gibson et al, 2016;Jackson et al, 2000;Southgate et al, 2000a). Both NW-SE and NE-SW extensional directions have been proposed for the Calvert Superbasin ( Fig.…”

“…Most of these are legacy lines dating back to the late 1980s and early 1990s (Burketown Survey, Comalco) (McConachie et al, 1993) and for which reprocessed data became available in 2014 (Armoury Energy). Other lines ( Gibson et al, 2016;Krassay et al, 2000b;Scott et al, 1998;Southgate et al, 2000b). Results and interpretations of the more recent 2017 South Nicholson Basin survey (Fig.…”

“…4), they also serve as a window on the deeper subsurface geology all the way down to crystalline basement and beyond (Carr et al, 2019), thereby providing an opportunity to compare basin architecture in the older sequences below this basin with the results of previous seismic reflection surveys and across a greatly expanded geographical area (Bradshaw et al, 2018;Bradshaw and Scott, 1999;Gibson et al, 2016;McConachie et al, 1993;Scott et al, 1998). These previous seismic reflection surveys highlighted the asymmetric nature of faulting and basin development across the Lawn Hill Platform but differed in respect to basin history and evolution, and more particularly the record of basin inversion and its tectonic drivers (Scott et al, 1998;Gibson et al, 2016; see also Betts et al, 2004). By virtue of the increase in seismic coverage, these issues have become more amenable to investigation and it is to these aspects of basin history and evolution in northern Australia that we now turn.…”

“…basin inversion was not only intimately linked to fluid migration and mineralisation but played a key role in generating the structural architecture that brought the petroleum and mineralising systems together in one place. Seismic reflection images for the Lawn Hill Platform have since shown the Century deposit to be hosted by the syn-inversion fraction of basin fill (Gibson et al, 2017;Gibson et al, 2016) and occur in rocks possessing a structural architecture common to inverted basins the world over, including those currently under exploration for oil and gas in the Irish and North seas and north European continental shelf more generally (Cooper et al, 1984;Hayward and Graham, 1989;Lowell, 1995;Thomas and Coward, 1995;Turner and Williams, 2004). Thus, not only does basin inversion appear to have been a prerequisite for ore formation at Century but the structural architecture cannot have appreciably changed during the transition from a hydrocarbon to mineral system lest the similarities with their more modern European counterparts have been lost during crustal shortening.…”