Gold Metallogeny

Documenting a joint Chinese-European study of mesothermal lode gold deposits from early Precambrian rocks of E. Hebei Province (NE China), introductory chapters on gold deposits, and the basement geology of the Sino-Korean Platform are followed by detailed descriptions of the individual gold desposits. These include descriptions of the lithology and structure of the host rocks, ore geochemistry and petrography, and wall-rock alteration. Radiometric ages, fluid inclusion data, and C-O-H-S-Pb isotopic compositions of ore and gangue minerals constrain the timing, physical conditions and the possible origin of mineralization. An important conclusion is that, in contrast to the Archean greenstone-hosted gold desposits in Canada, Australia and Africa, the Chinese examples occur in high-grade polymetamorphic rocks, and the main impetus for mineralization was tectonism and granitic magmatism of the late Mesozoic Yanshanian orogeny. This book will be of considerable value as a source of specific information and extensive references about gold deposits and Archean geology in NE China, and should be equally interesting to geologists working on Archean gold geology and those concerned with Mesozoic Circum-Pacific metallogeny.