Factors controlling the location of gold mineralisation around basalt domes in the stawell corridor: insights from coupled 3D deformation – fluid-flow numerical models

Schaubs, Peter; Rawling, Tim; Dugdale, L. J.; Wilson, Christopher J.L.

doi:10.1080/08120090600827496

Cited by 39 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…The Stawell Goldfield occurs within the Stawell zone of the Lachlan Fold Belt in the strongly deformed early Palaeozoic St Arnaud Group turbidites which contain fault-bounded Cambrian volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks (Miller et al 2006;Schaubs et al 2006). Contact metamorphism has occurred in these rocks following the intrusion of the large Devonian I-type Stawell Granite (Miller et al 2001).…”

Section: Geology and Regolith Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enrichment and exposure assessment of As, Cr and Pb of the soils in the vicinity of Stawell, Victoria, Australia

Noble

Hough

Watkins

2009

Environ Geochem Health

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Stawell Gold Mine in NW Victoria, Australia, mines ores that contain large concentrations of As and significant quantities of the metals Pb and Cr. The aim of this research was to understand the dispersion, enrichment and probable exposure of these potentially hazardous elements around the mine site. Fifty-five surface soil samples were collected near the mine (<15 km) and analysed by ICP-MS/OES following bioavailable and four-acid extractions. Soils near the mine show greater concentrations of As, Cr and Pb than those near a regionally determined background. This is attributed to the combination of a natural geochemical halo around mineralization and anthropogenic dispersion due to mining and urbanization. Total As concentrations were between 16 and 946 mg kg(-1) near the mine in a regional background of 1-16 mg kg(-1). Total Cr concentrations were between 18 and 740 mg kg(-1) near the mine in a regional background of 26-143 mg kg(-1). Total Pb concentrations were between 12 and 430 mg kg(-1) near the mine in a regional background of 9-23 mg kg(-1). Dispersion of contaminant elements from the present ore processing is <500 m. The most enriched soils occur close to the town and are unrelated to present mining practices. The bioavailable As, Cr and Pb, soil ingestion rates and Risk Reference Doses were used to estimate health risks. An average toddler (12 kg) would need to consume at least 1.5 g, and most likely 12 g, of soil per day to show some symptoms of As toxicity. The maximum measured bioavailable As would pose a risk at average ingestion rates of 200 mg per day. Individuals with soil-eating disorders would exceed the safe daily consumption limits for As, and potentially Cr and Pb. Small children are not typically exposed to soil everyday, very few have soil eating disorders, and, therefore, the health risk from the soils around the mine is minimal.

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Section: Geology and Regolith Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enrichment and exposure assessment of As, Cr and Pb of the soils in the vicinity of Stawell, Victoria, Australia

Noble

Hough

Watkins

2009

Environ Geochem Health

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“…Coupled modelling of Mohr-Coulomb plasticity and Darcy flow has proven useful in understanding deformation driven fluid flow at the mine to district scale, where a number of different rock types occur in a particular geological architecture. Schaubs et al (2006) and Potma et al (2008) have shown how this method can be successfully applied as a tool for target generation in mineral exploration. Ideally, in validation stage, the impact of different strain geometries on dilation and fluid flow is tested against known alteration and mineralisation patterns in a data rich location, before being applied for exploration in data poor areas.…”

Section: Modelling Approachesmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Models In both cases there is a potential to drive flow upward in regions where fluid pressure departs from hydrostatic gradient, but the high pore pressure below the seal (in b) may favour tensile failure of the rock at the top of the reservoir are either purely elastic (Cox and Ruming 2004;Micklethwaite and Cox 2004), based on damage mechanics concepts (Sheldon and Micklethwaite 2007), or simulate plasticity by slip along interfaces of discrete elements representing weak fault systems (Ojala et al 1993;Holyland and Ojala 1997;Mair et al 2000). Other workers have used numerical models based on coupling Mohr-Coulomb plasticity with Darcy flow as implemented in the finite difference codes FLAC (Itasca 2000) and FLAC 3D (Itasca 2003;Cundall and Board 1988), to simulate dilation in complex multi-material geometries (Jiang et al 1997;Gow et al 2002;Ord et al 2002;Ord and Oliver 1997;Schaubs and Zhao 2002;Sorjonen-Ward et al 2002;Gessner et al 2006;McLellan et al 2004;Sheldon and Ord 2005;Robinson et al 2006;Schaubs et al 2006;Vos et al 2007;Zhang et al 2006aZhang et al , b, 2007Potma et al 2008). The latter technique is based on coupling Darcy flow to a Mohr-Coulomb constitutive model including plasticity.…”

Section: Modelling Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coupled Models of Brittle-plastic Deformation and Fluid Flow: Approaches, Methods, and Application to Mesoproterozoic Mineralisation at Mount Isa, Australia

Gessner

2009

Surv Geophys

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Rock deformation has an important effect on the spatial distribution and temporal evolution of permeability in the Earth's crust. Hydromechanical coupling is of fundamental significance to natural fluid-rock interaction in porous and fractured hydrothermal systems, and in the assessment and production of hydrocarbon resources and geothermal energy. Shearing and fracturing of rocks can lead to the creation or destruction of permeability when fractures or faults form, or when existing structures are reactivated. Changes in stress orientation or fluid pressure can drive rock failure and create dilating fault zones that have the potential to focus fluid flow, or to breach seals above overpressured fluid compartments. Here, numerical models of deformation and fluid flow related to Mesoproterozoic copper mineralisation at Mount Isa, Australia, are presented that show how changes in deformation geometry in multiply deformed geological architectures relate to changes in dilation patterns, fluid pathways and flow geometry. Coupled numerical simulations of deformation and fluid flow can be useful tools to better understand structural control on fluid flow in hydrothermal mineral systems.

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“…Garven, 1985;Ord and Oliver, 1997;Zhao et al, 1998Zhao et al, , 2004Zhao et al, , 2007Sorjonen-Ward et al, 2002;McLellan et al, 2004;Yang et al, 2006;Zhang et al, 2006;Murphy et al, 2008b;Feltrin et al, 2009;Sheldon, 2009) and exploration effort for new mineral deposits (e.g. Schaubs et al, 2006;Potma et al, 2008). A consensus is that ore deposit formation is the result of full coupling between the four processes of mechanical deformation, fluid flow, thermal transport and chemical reaction (e.g.…”

Section: Numerical Modelling Of Mineralization Processes: a Brief Ovementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, there are numerical models with several different coupling schemes, such as deformation-fluid flow coupling (e.g. Sorjonen-Ward et al, 2002;McLellan et al, 2004;Schaubs et al, 2006;Zhang et al, 2006;Potma et al, 2008), thermal transport-fluid flow coupling (e.g. Garven, 1985;Yang et al, 2006), deformation-thermal transport-fluid flow coupling (e.g.…”

Section: Numerical Modelling Of Mineralization Processes: a Brief Ovementioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding regional structural controls on mineralization at the century deposit: A numerical modelling approach

Zhang

Roberts

Murphy

2010

Journal of Geochemical Exploration

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Factors controlling the location of gold mineralisation around basalt domes in the stawell corridor: insights from coupled 3D deformation – fluid-flow numerical models

Cited by 39 publications

References 29 publications

Enrichment and exposure assessment of As, Cr and Pb of the soils in the vicinity of Stawell, Victoria, Australia

Enrichment and exposure assessment of As, Cr and Pb of the soils in the vicinity of Stawell, Victoria, Australia

Coupled Models of Brittle-plastic Deformation and Fluid Flow: Approaches, Methods, and Application to Mesoproterozoic Mineralisation at Mount Isa, Australia

Understanding regional structural controls on mineralization at the century deposit: A numerical modelling approach

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