Description
The Santa Gertrudis Mining District of Sonora, Mexico contains more than a dozen purported Carlin-like, sedimentary-hosted, disseminated-gold deposits. A series of near-surface, mostly oxidized gold deposits were open-pit mined from the calcareous and clastic units of the Cretaceous Bisbee Group. Gold occurs as finely disseminated, sub-micron coatings on sulfides, associated with argillization and silicification of calcareous, carbonaceous, and siliciclastic sedimentary rocks in structural settings. Gold occurs with elevated levels of As, Hg, Sb, Pb, and Zn. Downhole drill data within distal disseminated gold zones reveal a 5:1 ratio of Ag:Au and strong correlations of Au to Pb and Zn. This study explores the timing and structural control of mineralization utilizing field mapping, geochemical studies, drilling, core logging, and structural analysis. Most field evidence indicates that mineralization is related to a single pulse of moderately differentiated, Eocene intrusives described as Mo-Cu-Au skarn with structurally controlled distal disseminated As-Ag-Au.
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Details
Title
- Timing and structural control of gold mineralization, Santa Gertrudis, Sonora, Mexico
Contributors
- Geier, John Jeffrey (Author)
- Reynolds, Stephen J. (Thesis advisor)
- Burt, Donald (Committee member)
- Stump, Edmund (Committee member)
- Arizona State University (Publisher)
Date Created
The date the item was original created (prior to any relationship with the ASU Digital Repositories.)
2011
Subjects
Resource Type
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Note
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thesisPartial requirement for: M.S., Arizona State University, 2011
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Field of study: Geology
Citation and reuse
Statement of Responsibility
by John Jeffrey Geier