Lode Gold Deposits and Archean Mantle Plume–Island Arc Interaction, Abitibi Subprovince, Canada

Wyman, Derek A.; Kerrich, Robert; Groves, David

doi:10.1086/314376

Cited by 67 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 37 publications

(62 reference statements)

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“…At least in the Phanerozoic, processes such as ridge subduction, slab roll-back, and SCLM erosion are associated with asthenospheric upwelling, high geothermal gradients, and regional metamorphism. In the Precambrian, specifics of formation and evolution of auriferous greenstone belts remain controversial, but involvement of plume episodes on the hotter Earth were clearly critical (e.g., were active in the Precambrian (e.g., Wyman et al, 1999;Wyman and Kerrich, 2010), although the SCLM keels below the cratons and lack of clear Cordilleran-type orogenic belts indicates some important differences.…”

Section: Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Orogenic gold: Common or evolving fluid and metal sources through time

Goldfarb

Groves

2015

Lithos

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781

256

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Section: Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Orogenic gold: Common or evolving fluid and metal sources through time

Goldfarb

Groves

2015

Lithos

Self Cite

781

256

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“…Precambrian deposits appear to have formed also in similar tectonic settings of anomalously high thermal energy (e.g., Kerrich and Cassidy, 1994;Qiu and Groves, 1999;Wyman et al, 1999). Thus, orogenic gold deposits of all ages record orogen-wide fluxes of deeply sourced heat and fluid as part of the orogenic process in convergent margins (e.g., Fyfe and Kerrich, 1985), almost certainly in response to global-scale tectonic events.…”

Section: Tectonic Evolution and Secular Change In Metallogeny: Messagmentioning

confidence: 99%

100th Anniversary Special Paper: Secular Changes in Global Tectonic Processes and Their Influence on the Temporal Distribution of Gold-Bearing Mineral Deposits

Groves¹,

Condie²,

Goldfarb³

et al. 2005

Economic Geology

198

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Mineral deposit types commonly have a distinctive temporal distribution with peaks at specific periods of Earth history. Deposits of less redox-sensitive metals, such as gold, show long-term temporal patterns that relate to first-order changes in an evolving Earth, as a result of progressively declining heat production and attendant changes in global tectonic processes. Despite abundant evidence for plate tectonics in the early Precambrian, it is evident that plume events were more abundant in a hotter Earth.Episodic growth of juvenile continental crust appears to have been related to short-lived (<100 m.y.) catastrophic mantle-plume events and formation of supercontinents, whereas shielding mantle-plume events correlated with their breakup. Different mineral deposit types are associated with this cycle of supercontinent formation and breakup. Broadly synchronous with juvenile continental crust formation was the development of subcontinental lithospheric mantle, which evolved due to progressively declining heat flow and decreasing plume activity. Archean subcontinental lithospheric mantle has a distinct mineralogical composition and is buoyant, whereas later lithosphere was progressively more dense. Changes in the buoyancy of both oceanic lithosphere and subcontinental lithospheric mantle led to evolution of tectonic scenarios in which buoyant, roughly equidimensional, early Precambrian cratons were rimmed by Proterozoic or Phanerozoic linear elongate belts of neutral to negative buoyancy.Orogenic gold deposits, which formed over at least 3.4 b.y., had the highest preservation potential of any gold deposit type. The pattern of formation and preservation, from episodic to more cyclic, broadly mirrors that of crustal growth. Early Precambrian (mostly ca. 2.7 and 2.0-1.8 Ga) deposits, protected from uplift and erosion in the centers of buoyant cratons, are rare between ca. 1.7 Ga and 600 Ma due to the change to more modernstyle plate tectonic processes, with nonpreservation of deposits of this age due to uplift and erosion of more vulnerable orogenic belts. Volcanic-hosted massive sulfide (VHMS) deposits were accreted into the convergent margin terranes in which orogenic gold deposits were forming. Their temporal distribution, from strongly episodic to more cyclic peaks, also supports a model of selective preservation.The first appearance of iron-oxide copper-gold (IOCG) deposits at ~2.55 Ga closely follows development of early Precambrian subcontinental lithosphere mantle. Their genesis involved melting of metasomatized subcontinental lithosphere mantle, so they could not form until such metasomatized mantle evolved below cratons with buoyant lithosphere. Giant Precambrian paleoplacer gold deposits probably formed by effective fluvial sorting under extreme climatic conditions but were largely preserved due to early buoyant subcontinental lithospheric mantle below hosting foreland basins. Unequivocal intrusion-related gold deposits are related to complex felsic intrusions with a mixed mantle-crustal signature, which...

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“…There is a possibility that some of the shear zones of gold mineralization may penetrate to the depth of the mantle (Kerrich et al, 2000). The world class gold deposits of Abitibi belt are probably formed through a process of mantle plume-island arc accretion (Barley et al, 1998;Wyman et al, 1999), suggesting that the source of the gold bearing fluids may anywhere from mantle to crust (Santosh, 1993). Based on the Δ 33S signature of sulfur in four Archean orogenic gold deposits, Xue et al (2013) have suggested a granitic source for hydrothermal fluids.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%