geochemistry and nd isotope systematics of archaean granites of the eastern goldfields yilgarn craton australia implications for crustal growth processes abstract the archaean granites and granitic gneisses of the eastern goldfields in the yilgarn craton western australia can be divided into two major groups high ca and low ca and three minor groups high hfse high field strength elements mafic and syenitic the high ca group 68 77 sio 2 with high al 2 o 3 na 2 o and sr and low y shares many features with typical archaean tonalite trondhjemite suites but has higher k 2 o rb and th contents the low ca group 70 76 sio 2 differs from the high ca group in having lower al 2 o 3 cao and na 2 o but higher k 2 o rb th zr y la and ce contents granites of the high hfse mafic and syenitic groups form a minor component 10 20 of the eastern goldfields granites the siliceous 74 77 sio 2 high hfse granites are restricted to a narrow nnw trending zone and are characterised by high tio 2 total feo mgo y zr and ce but only moderate rb th and pb contents the a type syenites 50 68 sio 2 are distinguished by their high total alkalies and mainly occur along tectonic lineaments the mafic group 55 70 sio 2 is lithologically diverse and exhibits a wide range of k 2 o rb th la and ce contents granite emplacement occurred between 2 69 and 2 60 ga contemporaneous with or post dating greenstone formation nd values for the high ca mafic and syenitic groups are similar mostly 0 0 to 2 5 whereas those for the low ca group show a pronounced polarity from 4 5 in the west to 2 0 in the east nd depleted mantle model ages for the low ca granites range from 3 2 ga in the west to 2 75 ga in the east model ages for the high ca group 2 75 2 9 ga overlap with ages for inherited zircons from these granites the high ca granites appear to have been derived at high pressures by partial melting of a mafic to intermediate source subducted oceanic crust crustal underplate or thickened crust or remelting of an older tonalitic source derived by such a process if the high ca granites were largely crust derived then their extensive source rocks must have formed less than 250 ma prior to granite formation the low ca granites appear to be the products of crustal reworking probably from a tonalitic to granodioritic protolith that was progressively younger towards the east perhaps in the order of several hundred million years younger or involved an additional younger component the localisation of the crustally derived high hfse granites suggests either geochemical zonation of the crust or specific tectonic processes such as rifting the mafic granites and possibly the syenites imply a significant mantle contribution and new crustal growth although the extent is equivocal the crust of the eastern goldfields appears to have been generated by both lateral and vertical accretion over a significant period from or before 3 0 ga until the time of granite emplacement

millennial scale fluctuations of the european ice sheet at the end of the last glacial and their potential impact on global climate abstract reconstructing northern hemisphere ice sheet oscillations and meltwater routing to the ocean is important to better understand the mechanisms behind abrupt climate changes to date research efforts have mainly focused on the north american laurentide ice sheets lis leaving the potential role of the european ice sheet eis and of the scandinavian ice sheet sis in particular largely unexplored using neodymium isotopes in detrital sediments deposited off the channel river we provide a continuous and well dated record for the evolution of the eis southern margin through the end of the last glacial period and during the deglaciation our results reveal that the evolution of eis margins was accompanied with substantial ice recession especially of the sis and simultaneous release of meltwater to the north atlantic these events occurred both in the course of the eis to its lgm position i e during heinrich stadial hs 3 and hs2 31 29 ka and 26 23 ka respectively and during the deglaciation i e at 22 ka 20 19 ka and from 18 2 0 2 to 16 7 0 2 ka that corresponds to the first part of hs1 the deglaciation was discontinuous in character and similar in timing to that of the southern lis margin with moderate ice sheet retreat from 22 5 0 2 ka in the baltic lowlands as soon as the northern summer insolation increase from 23 ka and an acceleration of the margin retreat thereafter from 20 ka importantly our results show that eis retreat events and release of meltwater to the north atlantic during the deglaciation coincide with amoc destabilisation and interhemispheric climate changes they thus suggest that the eis together with the lis could have played a critical role in the climatic reorganization that accompanied the last deglaciation finally our data suggest that meltwater discharges to the north atlantic produced by large scale recession of continental parts of northern hemisphere ice sheets during hs could have been a possible source for the oceanic perturbations i e amoc shutdown responsible for the marine based ice stream purge cycle or so called he s that punctuate the last glacial period

cosmogenic 3he production rates from 39 n to 46 n latitude western usa and france the in situ production rate of cosmogenic 3he was determined in seven different olivine or pyroxene bearing rocks between the latitudes 39 n and 46 n the integrated production rate over the last 17 500 years is about 115 4 atoms gram yr for high latitude at sea level the variation in the integrated production rate between 2000 and 18 000 years is less than 30 and is probably on the order of 20 or less

cosmic ray labeling of erosion surfaces in situ nuclide production rates and erosion models a number of in situ cosmogenic radionuclides and stable nuclides have been measured in natural exposed rock surfaces with a view to study their in situ production and rock erosion rates 1 the in situ radionuclides can be used for a high resolution tomography of the erosional history of an exposed surface two stable nuclides 3he 21ne and five radionuclides 10be 26al 36cl 14c 39ar having half lives in the range of 300 1 5 106 yr half life are measurable in many rock types a prerequisite for the application of the in situ nuclides for the study of erosional histories of surfaces is a knowledge of their production rates under different irradiation conditions altitude latitude irradiation geometry and shielding relative nuclide production rates can be determined fairly accurately using the extensive available data on cosmic ray neutrons 2 absolute nuclide production rates cannot generally be predicted with any accuracy because of lack of data on excitation functions of nuclides unless some normalization is possible as was done in the case of several cosmic ray produced isotopes in the atmosphere 3 based on a recent natural calibration experiment in which erosion free surfaces exposed to cosmic radiation for 11 000 yrs were sampled the absolute production rates of 10be and 26al in quartz have been accurately estimated for mountain altitudes in sierra nevada 4 the absolute production rates of 10be and 26al in quartz can therefore be estimated fairly accurately for any given latitude and altitude some measurements of 14c in rocks of low erosion rate 5 similarly allow an estimate of its production rate attempts made to measure the in situ production rates of 3he in rocks have not yet led to a convergent production rate in view of the importance of knowing the production rates of isotopes of he ne and ar i present here theoretical estimates of their production rates based on available cross section data i discuss the information that can be extracted from the study of the in situ nuclides in rocks useful parameters characterizing the exposure history of a rock surface are 1 the effective surface exposure age and 2 the time averaged erosion rate the implications of these parameters for single and multiple nuclide studies are discussed in terms of the erosion models considered

tectonic controls on the endowment of neoarchean cratons in volcanic hosted massive sulfide deposits evidence from lead and neodymium isotopes review and analysis of initial lead isotope ratios from archean volcanic hosted massive sulfide vhms and lode gold deposits and of neodymium isotopes from igneous rocks from the geologic provinces that host these deposits identifies systematic spatial and temporal patterns both within and between the provinces the abitibi wawa subprovince of the superior province is characterized by highly juvenile lead and neodymium most other archean provinces however are characterized by more evolved isotopes although domains within them can be characterized by juvenile isotope ratios the analysis indicates that the endowment measured as the quantity of metal contained in geologic resources per unit surface area of vhms and komatiite associated nickel sulfide deposits is related to the isotopic character and therefore the tectonic history of provinces that host these deposits provinces with extensive juvenile crust have significantly higher endowment of vhms deposits possibly as a consequence of higher heat flow and extension related faults provinces with evolved crust have higher endowment of komatiite associated nickel sulfide deposits possibly because such crust provided either a source of sulfur or a stable substrate for komatiite emplacement in any case initial radiogenic isotope ratios can be useful in predicting the endowment of archean terranes for vhms and komatiite associated nickel sulfide deposits limited data suggest similar relationships may hold in younger terranes lead isotope data may provide constraints on supercraton reconstructions in the archean as lead isotope systematics appear to be highly provincial similar isotope systematics between the superior province and the eastern goldfields superterrane may indicate a linkage during the neoarchean consistent with the similar geologic and metallogenic histories of these provinces

influence of secular variation of the geomagnetic field on production rates of in situ produced cosmogenic nuclides abstract scaling factors are presented that allow a full description of the cosmic ray flux modulation during secular variation of the geomagnetic field these scaling factors are analogous to those determined in a similar work dunai t j earth planet sci lett 2000 176 157 169 that were accurate for field strengths equivalent to present day field strength but cannot accommodate field strength variations strategies to derive the relevant geomagnetic field parameters are discussed and are tested with existing production rate calibrations for 3 he a production rate of 103 4 2 atoms g olivine yr sea level and for zero cutoff rigidity was derived from calibration sites from hawaii western usa and canary islands covering the time range of 2 281 kyr

slab derived fluids and quartz vein formation in an accretionary prism otago schist new zealand regional quartz vein formation and the fluxes flow paths and sources of metamorphic fluids were investigated in the mesozoic accretionary prism of new zealand by using a new chemical mass balance analysis of outcrops samples were collected at meter or submeter intervals along outcrop length traverses and combined to obtain average chemical compositions of whole outcrops mass balance analysis used zr as an immobile reference frame and as a monitor of sedimentary sorting processes sio2 zr systematics produced by sedimentary processes differ greatly from those caused by metasomatic mass transfer of silica allowing evaluation of vein formation mechanisms relatively undeformed metasedimentary outcrops of low metamorphic grade mostly prehnite pumpellyite facies are nearly unveined and characterized by sedimentary compositional trends more deformed outcrops of higher metamorphic grade mostly greenschist facies contain 10 30 vol quartz veins these outcrops underwent mass addition of externally derived silica into quartz veins accompanied by addition of na and removal of k and w average silica additions suggest a time integrated fluid flux of 104 105 batchmode documentclass fleqn 10pt legalpaper article usepackage amssymb usepackage amsfonts usepackage amsmath pagestyle empty begin document m 3 fluid end document batchmode documentclass fleqn 10pt legalpaper article usepackage amssymb usepackage amsfonts usepackage amsmath pagestyle empty begin document m 2 rock end document for fluids ascending through the prism dehydration of spilitized oceanic crust subducting beneath the prism is the most probable source for this large fluid flux and could also have caused the na k metasomatism the w removed from deep levels of the prism may have been deposited in focused retrograde au w quartz veins at shallow levels by ascending fluids transfer of sio2 from subducting slabs into accretionary prisms is a plausible mechanism for long term bulk silica enrichment of the continents beyond that possible by magmatic differentiation

potassic and sodic alteration accompanying gold mineralization in the rattling brook deposit western white bay newfoundland appalachians gold mineralization is hosted by foliated late proterozoic granitoid rocks of the rattling brook area western white bay newfoundland the mineralization is associated with sulfides and occurs in veins and fractures and in disseminated form associated hydrothermal alteration occurred in two stages during stage 1 potassic alteration the host granodiorite was hydrothermally converted over large areas to a rock of granitic composition through the formation of microcline and sericite by pervasive reaction of plagioclase and mafic minerals with hydrothermal fluids stage 2 sodic alteration is restricted to fractures veins and vein selvages and overprints both stage 1 alteration and unaltered rock it consists of microcrystalline to fine grained albite with lesser amounts of ankerite quartz sericite and siderite accompanied by pyrite arsenopyrite and gold altered rocks are enriched in k na au as s and co 2 weakly enriched in w sb and br and depleted in heavy rare earth elements the gold mineralization and alteration extends into unconformably overlying eocambrian to cambrian sediments the absence of deformation in the alteration and ore assemblages suggests that the mineralization postdated acadian deformation in the area and thus is late silurian or younger both alteration episodes are considered to be part of the same hydrothermal event which resulted in formation of the large low grade deposit co 2 rich fluids circulated through the crust along major structures leached elements from a variety of rocks and redeposited them in fractures and veins within overlying granitoids and sedimentary rocks stage 1 fluids initially permeated along grain boundaries and converted the host to a rock of granitic composition subsequent increases in the a sub na a sub k ratio and or temperature were accompanied by fracturing albitization and deposition of sulfides and gold during stage 2

last glacial maximum in poland abstract the last glacial maximum lgm in poland is represented by the leszno phase and occurred after 21 ka radiocarbon years in turn the deglacial poznan phase is estimated at 18 4 ka the pomeranian phase at 15 2 ka the gardno phase at about 14 0 13 8 ka the slupsk bank phase at 13 5 13 2 ka and the southern middle bank phase at 12 7 12 5 ka bp the ice sheet limit at lgm was not synchronous everywhere in poland but occurred as several major and minor ice lobes that reflected a stream like structure of the ice body that radiated southwards from the baltic basin meltwater runoff during the lgm created a complex system of sandur trains and ice marginal spillways with numerous intervening proglacial lakes

high resolution mapping of ice marginal landforms in the barnim region northeast germany abstract despite more than a 100 year long research history timing and position of the last glacial ice margins in the northeast german lowland are still up for debate the barnim region a till plain in the northeast german young morainic landscape is traversed by the contradictorily discussed frankfurt ice marginal position it is located in a key position to reassess the current state of research with help of a geographic information system gis and field methods a qualitative geomorphological analysis of a high resolution lidar digital elevation model dem in the barnim area uncovers a variety of landforms that were previously not described the most prominent discovery is a set of about 10 lobe shaped ridges in the middle barnim area fieldwork and geophysical measurements were carried out to investigate the structure of the ridges the ridges are 1000 1500 m in length and their widths vary from 10 to 15 km they are raised some 6 10 m from their surroundings the frankfurt ice marginal position can only partially be traced in the dem sedimentological and geophysical investigations indicate that the ridges are composed of glacial till that was deposited on glaciofluvial sediments their formation most probably took place during the ice retreat of the brandenburg phase w 1b and hence represents the w 1f phase in the region

evidence from seismites for glacio isostatically induced crustal faulting in front of an advancing land ice mass rugen island sw baltic sea abstract it is hitherto commonly thought that earthquakes triggered by geologically rapid changes in the pressure caused by the fluctuating extent of thick land ice masses occur exclusively during ice retreat our study of deformed sediment layers within an undeformed glaciolacustrine and glaciofluvial succession exposed in a coastal cliff on rugen island south western baltic sea challenges this widespread idea based on their structural and deformational features the layers under investigation are interpreted as seismites which formed as a result of seismically induced liquefaction the stratigraphic context aided by optically stimulated luminescence osl dating indicate that the documented seismites must have formed shortly before the front of the pleistocene scandinavian ice sheet reached the study area during the last glacial maximum thus during a stage of ice advance this implies that the flexural isostatic response of the earth s crust as a consequence of the ice load during ice advance was accompanied by earthquakes probably due to local re activation of pre existing faults the crustal response to an increasing ice load was consequently less gradual than previous studies about glaciation related tectonics suggest

proterozoic accretionary tectonics in the east kimberley region australia abstract the east kimberley region contains well preserved tectonic structure dating back to the earth s most significant stage of continental growth the assembly of the nuna supercontinent an integrated geological geophysical investigation of this region has been conducted and reveals insight into its tectonic evolution including potential influence of significant crustal scale structures in the development of regional architecture the emplacement of magma and the relationship of these structures to large scale deformation some newly interpreted features include a north trending structure and three north west trending structures that segment the north east trending orogen the central segment of the orogen is a zone of higher metamorphic grade and is host to a distinct gravity high this gravity high can be explained by excess mass in the mid crust this anomaly is consistent with either a large mafic ultramafic intrusion or a high density crustal fragment possible tectonic models to explain the geophysical and metamorphic anomalies involve in the latter case the accretion of a crustal fragment to the kimberley craton prior to the 1865 1850 ma hooper orogeny or in the former case intrusion of voluminous mafic magmas into the middle crust whether by igneous or structural means we consider the development of this anomalous region to be a result of along strike variations in subduction dynamics these were perhaps driven by variations in slab geometry accommodated by the orogen normal structures we identify the orogen normal structures are interpreted to be crustal scale faults along which significant vertical displacement occurred when a crustal fragment collided with kimberley craton and exhumed high grade metamorphic rocks to the surface

translating the mineral systems approach into an effective exploration targeting system abstract holistic mineral systems approaches are being increasingly adopted in the study of ore deposits but application in industry has been suboptimal because of the lack of a conceptual framework to help translate the mineral system understanding to practical application a four step process is proposed for linking the conceptual mineral system with data available to support exploration targeting these steps include translation from 1 critical processes of the mineral system to 2 constituent processes of the mineral system to 3 targeting elements reflected in geology and 4 targeting criteria used to detect the targeting elements directly or by proxy this translation process is illustrated using examples from komatiite hosted ni cu pge and orogenic au mineral systems ranking of targets must be at the critical process level rather than the current practice of mixing processes elements and proxies the significance of targeting elements and their mappable criteria changes as a function of the scale at which the critical processes operate and the availability of relevant geoscience datasets this scale dependence is rarely recognised in current practice sources of uncertainty when translating the mineral system understanding into an effective exploration targeting system include 1 resolution of a mappable criterion in a dataset 2 how well the targeting criterion reflects the targeting element 3 how well the targeting element reflects the critical process and 4 whether the process being mapped is critical for the genesis of a mineral deposit the first three sources of uncertainty collectively are termed the representativeness of the targeting criteria i e how representative is a mappable criterion of the constituent process for which it is a proxy the last source of uncertainty reflects our lack of understanding of the processes that control mineralisation and highlights areas for further research

reducing subjectivity in multi commodity mineral prospectivity analyses modelling the west kimberley australia predicting realistic targets in underexplored regions proves a challenge for mineral explorers knowledge driven prospectivity techniques assist in target prediction and can significantly reduce the geographic search space to a few locations the mineral prospectivity of the underexplored west kimberley region was investigated following interpretation of regional gravity and magnetic data emphasis was placed on identifying geological structures that may have importance for the mineral prospectivity of the region subsurface structure was constrained through combined gravity and magnetic modelling along three transects crustal scale structures were interpreted and investigated to determine their depth extent these interpretations and models were linked to tectonic events and mineralization episodes in order to map the distribution of minerally prospective regions using a knowledge driven mineral systems approach a suite of evidence layers was created to represent geological components that led to mineralization and then applied to each mineral system where appropriate this approach was taken to provide a more objective basis for prospectivity modelling the mineral systems considered were 1 magmatic ni sulphide 2 carbonate hosted base metals 3 orogenic au 4 stratiform hosted base metals and 5 intrusion related base metals including sn w fe oxide cu au and cu au porphyry deposits these analyses suggest that a geologically complex belt in the kimberley basin at the boundary to the king leopold orogen is prospective for magmatic related hydrothermal mineral systems including ni au and cu the lennard shelf is prospective for carbonate hosted base metals around a feature known as the 67 mile high and parts of the king leopold orogen are prospective for stratiform hosted base metals these results show that knowledge driven mineral system modelling is effective in identifying prospectivity in regional scale studies of underexplored areas as well as drastically reducing the search space for explorers working in the west kimberley

high and low k granites and adakites at a palaeoproterozoic plate boundary in northwestern australia the lamboo complex is one of several palaeoproterozoic terrains in northern australia that is intruded by high k i type granites the oldest granites in the complex consist of the high k 1865 1850 ma paperbark supersuite with initial e nd values between 2 7 and 4 0 tonalite sheets of the c 1850 ma dougalls suite have high al 2 o 3 na 2 o sr sr y and la yb and low y and hree and initial e nd values between 1 4 and 0 7 the rocks have compositions similar to adakites that form by melting of mafic rocks in the deep crust with garnet in the residue granites of the 1835 1805 ma sally downs supersuite range from high k types through to crustally derived adakites all with initial e nd values between 0 1 and 1 2 the two supersuites and the dougalls suite were intruded into different tectonic settings previously all of the granites in the lamboo complex were interpreted as partial melts of a chemically and isotopically uniform underplate beneath a rifted archaean craton however their spatial and temporal distribution and their varied compositions are best explained by large scale horizontal plate motions and subduction of oceanic crust

tectonic implications of palaeoproterozoic post collisional high k felsic igneous rocks from the kimberley region of northwestern australia abstract palaeoproterozoic high k i type granites high level porphyry intrusions and felsic volcanic rocks of the whitewater volcanics dominate the hooper and lamboo complexes in the kimberley region of northwestern australia the granites porphyries and volcanic rocks are gradational into each other in the field and they have the same mineralogy similar major and trace element abundances and indistinguishable shrimp u pb zircon ages of 1865 1850 ma there is evidence of widespread mingling between the granites and coeval gabbros magma mixing may be important in the formation of some of the mafic granites but most of the rocks probably formed from felsic parent magmas that underwent variable degrees of fractional crystallization the felsic igneous rocks may have formed by partial melting of intermediate to felsic calc alkaline rocks along the southern and eastern margins of the kimberley craton following accretion of various earlier palaeoproterozoic terranes to the craton therefore models for palaeoproterozoic high k granites in northern australia that invoke intracratonic rifting of a stable archaean craton may need to be revised

formation of gold deposits review and evaluation of the continuum model abstract the continuum model has been one of the more widely advocated genetic models for gold only deposits such as those found in archaean greenstone belts it postulates that hydrothermal gold deposits were formed throughout a 20 25 km vertical crustal profile from temperatures above 700 c to below 180 c and that the deposition occurred synchronous with the peak of metamorphism the continuum model is reviewed at this stage because we believe that it does not successfully account for many aspects of gold deposit formation the most obvious shortcoming is in considering ore deposits found in rocks of uppermost amphibolite and granulite facies domains where temperatures were appropriate for partial melting the main chemical condition that favours melting is access to h2o from either aqueous fluid or the breakdown of hydrous minerals a major gold forming hydrothermal event at the peak of high grade metamorphism as implied by the continuum model is incompatible with partial melting of wallrocks instead of forming a hydrothermal gold deposit an aqueous fluid introduced during partial melting would be consumed to produce further melt five gold deposits are documented from high metamorphic grade domains within four separate archaean cratons one is the type example used in the continuum model the other four have been significant producers partial melting has been recorded in the wallrocks adjacent to gold mineralisation at big bell hemlo challenger and renco gold deposits in the sulphide rich ore itself at challenger and hemlo deposits and as cross cutting dykes and migmatites at griffins find for these five deposits and indeed in general the continuum model does not easily account for aspects of the fluid source fluid composition gold transport and metal deposition the evidence that has been used to support deposit formation at the peak of high grade metamorphism as required by the continuum model is generally compatible with one or more alternative genetic models textural and structural siting of the gold high variance mineral assemblages proportion of various gold host rocks and relative element enrichments at high metamorphic grade can be accounted for by gold formation at greenschist facies conditions followed by progress of the deposit to high metamorphic grade metamorphic model moreover the type examples in the continuum model of deposits in sub greenschist facies domains appear to be incorrectly ascribed and are likely to be in greenschist facies domains the continuum model does not adequately explain archaean gold deposits

the nature and dimensions of regional and local gold related hydrothermal alteration in tholeiitic metabasalts in the norseman goldfields the missing link in a crustal continuum of gold deposits the archaean lode gold deposits at norseman western australia consist of auriferous quartz veins in dextral reverse ductile brittle shear zones within tholeiitic metabasalts of upper greenschist to amphibolite facies metamorphic grade three types of deposits northern central southern are delineated on the basis of their spatial distribution veining style alteration mineraloty and metamorphic grade of host rocks northern deposits hosted in upper greenschist to lower amphibolite facies rocks comprise massive to laminated quartz veins with selvedges of quartz chlorite calcite biotite plagioclase assemblages central deposits hosted in lower amphibolite facies rocks consist of laminated to massive quartz veins with selvedges of quartz actinolite biotite plagioclasecalcite assemblages southern deposits hosted in middleamphibolite facies metabasalts consist of banded quartz diopside calcite microcline zoisite veins all deposits exhibit variable ductile deformation of veins and contiguous alteration haloes consistent with a syn deformational genesis at high temperatures from northern to southern deposits the alteration assemblages are indicative of higher temperatures of formation and there are progressively greater degrees of dynamically recovered textures in alteration and gangue minerals these observations imply that a thermal variation of gold related hydrothermal alteration exists within the norseman terrane over a distance of 40 km with tnorthern tcentral tsouthern this thermal zonation is corroborated by t xco 2 phase relations between vein selvedge assemblages which signify formation temperatures of approximately 420 475 c 470 495 c and 500 c for northern central and southern deposits respectively the sum of structural petrographic and mineral chemistry data indicates that the alteration assemblages formed in high temperature open hydrothermal systems and have not been subsequently metamorphosed the thermal differences between the deposit groups may reflect 1 a temperature gradient at relatively constant p corresponding to the proximity of the deposits to regional granitoid complexes or 2 formation of the deposits at progressively deeper crustal levels from north to south in either case the deposits represent a continuum of gold deposition from upper greenschist to amphibolite facies now exposed in an oblique section through the archaean crust at norseman

quaternary glaciations of northern europe this paper presents the outcome of a workshop held in berlin in february 2009 concerned with current research on the glacial history of northern europe including the british isles the methodologies presently used to resolve this topic are outlined particular attention is given to new analytical methods deriving from high resolution remote imaging of glacial terrain both on land and on the sea bed key new stratigraphic sections higher resolution results from conventional geochronological methods like radiocarbon and more recently developed technologies such as luminescence and cosmogenic radionuclide dating the relationships between the results derived from these two methods are discussed in further detail along with possible explanations for these differences an outline of a most likely glacial history of the scandinavian and british and irish ice sheets is presented along with possible links to global climate change as represented by the marine isotope mis record tentative evidence for glaciation is identified in mis 22 16 12 10 8 6 4 and 2 and correlations of phases within the last glaciation are also explored for both the scandinavian and british and irish ice sheets the results show that the character and extent of glaciation in different parts of the region are not synchronous and much more geochronological work is required before regional correlations can be established with confidence

from morphostratigraphy to geochronology on the dating of ice marginal positions abstract this study focuses on the glacial landscape of northern germany as a part of the southwestern sector of the scandinavian ice sheet sis as it has a research history reaching back about 130 years since the glacial theory replaced the drift theory in the late 19th century it has experienced a number of key changes including the introduction of the concept of polyglaciation or the differentiation of ice advances within one glaciation which is closely linked to the morphostratigraphical definition of ice marginal positions with the development of numerical dating methods the rather static morphostratigraphically based chronologies which are deeply rooted in research history have been confronted with a growing number of geochronometrical data obtained from glacigenic deposits in order to date ice marginal positions the two most commonly used dating methods for that purpose are optically stimulated luminescence osl and surface exposure dating of erratic boulders this study highlights the dependency of the significance of results from different dating methods on the sampling position within the geomorphological framework results from osl and surface exposure dating for the same ice marginal position in theory cannot be the same as the methods date different processes in the development of the glacial landscape osl dating of fluvioglacial sandur sediments dating the process of active sedimentation at the ice front and surface exposure dating of boulders on end moraines dating the process of stabilisation of end moraines after the retreat of the ice front often qualify as the most useful combination of techniques in order to define a time interval for the formation of the landforms at a specific ice marginal position methodological drawbacks which might occur unfortunately tend to widen the process induced offset between osl and surface exposure ages incomplete bleaching of fluvioglacial sediments might cause an offset towards a maximum osl age for an ice marginal position whereas delayed stabilisation or post exposure relocation of boulders might cause a shift towards a minimum age of key importance are the influence of periglacial processes and the effects of melting of buried ice on landform stabilisation which remain to be quantified a possible solution to this problem combining osl and surface exposure dating is suggested in this study nevertheless the possibility exists to date different geomorphological processes by applying different dating methods to glacigenic deposits this allows for a differentiated reflection of morphostratigraphically based chronologies against the background of the modern concept of dynamic ice sheets in contrast to the traditional morphostratigraphical definition of ice marginal positions a time based definition is proposed because it offers the possibility of a more detailed reconstruction of ice sheet dynamics at a certain point in time

scale integrated architecture of a world class gold mineral system the archaean eastern yilgarn craton western australia abstract world class mineral systems such as those found in the archaean eastern yilgarn craton are the product of enormous energy and mass flux systems driven by lithospheric scale processes these processes can create big footprints or signatures in the lithosphere which can be observed at a range of scales and via a variety of methods including geophysics isotopes tectonostratigraphy and geochemistry we use these datasets to describe both the architecture structure of world class gold systems of the yilgarn craton and the signatures of their formation by applying an understanding of the most critical elements of the process and their signatures new areas especially undercover may be targeted more predictably than before knowledge of the major architectural elements of the yilgarn craton has increased greatly over the last decade through the collection of a wide range of geophysical geochemical and isotopic data these data range in scale from 1 lithospheric scale which provide information on the entire craton and their underlying volumes down to depths in excess of 350 km through 2 regional scale which provide information at the province scale and to depths of 30 40 km to 3 mine and camp scale which provide information on the top few kilometres of the crust the architecture structure in the upper mantle and lower crust can be inferred from broadband seismic tomography and analysis of long wavelength gravity data geophysical data such as magnetotellurics and deep crustal reflection seismic also provide evidence for the signatures of the flow of fluids through this architecture the pathways and they illustrate that the scale of the system is many orders of magnitude larger than the immediate deposit itself of particular importance is the role of deep crustal penetrating shear zones or faults which link the mantle with domes in the upper crust together these data provide first order insights into the physical and chemical properties of the yilgarn craton these insights provide geodynamic clues and constraints as to why the yilgarn is so well endowed in metals such as gold groves et al 1989 the intersection of favourable architectural features provides connections between the mantle and the upper crust in the kalgoorlie region possibly explaining why this area is so well endowed in comparison to others

geochronology of a rapid 1 85 1 86 ga tectonic transition halls creek orogen northern australia abstract early proterozoic orogenic rocks of the halls creek orogen are characterized by widespread ensialic orogeny and magmatism and linear post tectonic igneous complexes several hundred kilometres long conventional u pb zircon techniques are applied to erect a precise chronological framework quantifying the tectonic evolution of this fold belt volcanism associated with early rifting ding dong downs volcanics lowermost halls creek group whose age has not yet been determined is followed by a quartz rich arenaceous formation and in turn by fine grained variably volcanogenic phyllitic deposits with abundant carbonates stratabound high level rhyolitic sills are emplaced into younger parts of this biscay formation middle halls creek group these have distinct incompatible trace element compositions with large enrichments in zr nb and y and are regarded as second stage a type melts derived from a rb depleted granulite source they are possibly coeval with tuffs in the same unit and if so the sill s u pb zircon age of 1856 5 ma closely dates this sequence specifically the onset of turbidite deposition and commencement of orogenic activity in inferred provenance zones to the immediate west however confirmation of such an age interpretation depends on substantiation of this inferred coeval link between the dated sill and the biscay formation tuffs and until such the 1856 5 ma result remains a minimum for the age of the halls creek group subsequent compressional orogeny of the basinal trough sediments was accompanied by deformation high temperature polymetamorphism and syn tectonic plutonism anatectic pegmatite believed to have formed as a melt product of granulite facies metamorphism has a u pb zircon age of 1854 6 ma this age for high grade metamorphism is in agreement with reassessed rb sr whole rock ages measured previously it closely controls the timing of the barramundi orogeny as being somewhat younger in this subprovince than elsewhere in northern australia and may imply a relatively short interval of a few to 13 million years between supracrustal deposition and deep crustal orogenesis a better constrained and even more rapid tectonic transition is evident from the whitewater volcanics late tectonic felsic volcanism dated at 1850 5 ma the onset of this unconformably younger volcanism is marked by a concomitant change in tectonic style this changeover from a pre cratonic to cratonic setting took place in a few million years or less

a continent wide study of australia s uranium potential part i gis assisted manual prospectivity analysis abstract this paper describes the approach to and outcomes of a manual analysis i e a cognitive assessment of spatial and non spatial data of the uranium potential of 90 geological regions in australia for this analysis the 14 principal uranium deposit types recognized by the international atomic energy agency were grouped in six uranium systems models i e surficial sedimentary igneous related metamorphic metasomatic unconformity related and vein related uranium systems on the basis of similar genetic processes environments of ore formation and ingredients mappable at the regional to continent scale the newly proposed uranium systems models are structured according to the mineral systems approach and focus on the critical mineralization processes that must occur for a uranium deposit to form in a particular region our manual prospectivity analysis employed this approach to assess the probability of the critical genetic processes having occurred in each geological region in this semi quantitative probabilistic evaluation technical quality and opportunity ranking schemes were used to rank each geological region based on the probability of occurrence of and potential for high quality uranium deposits and opportunity for securing prospective ground based on this assessment the geological regions with the greatest potential for discovery of potentially recoverable uranium resources are the ashburton broken hill litchfield mcarthur money shoal murphy paterson pine creek and northeast tasmania regions i e quality ranking of 10 0 the gawler and polda regions i e 9 0 and the amadeus georgetown stuart tanami regions i e 8 1 most of these regions contain known unconformity related or sandstone hosted uranium deposits although some of them are pure conceptual plays that have received relatively little attention in terms of uranium exploration maps based on the numerical output of the prospectivity analysis helped to inform area selection decisions and detailed follow up studies and focus time and resources the template developed in this study can easily be modified to suit prospectivity analyses for other metals or a similar investigation in another country as illustrated in part ii the best possible approach to a complex continent wide prospectivity analysis is to harness the strengths of both manual and automated i e sophisticated computational techniques applied to spatial data approaches as these methodologies essentially address each other s limitations

rapid cooling and exhumation in the western part of the mesoproterozoic albany fraser orogen western australia abstract the albany fraser orogen of southwestern australia is an understudied orogenic belt which is interpreted to record the mesoproterozoic suturing of the yilgarn craton of western australia to the mawson craton of east antarctica during rodinia assembly previous u pb geochronology has dated peak amphibolite to granulite facies metamorphism in the orogen at ca 1180 ma here we report the first 40ar 39ar thermochronology of hornblende biotite and muscovite grains from a 360 km transect across the western albany fraser orogen and uncover a record of strikingly fast syn orogenic cooling and exhumation to the north muscovites from the northern foreland record cooling at ca 1159 ma in the central and southern domains of the orogen the biranup and nornalup zones hornblende yields ca 1169 ma cooling ages and biotite yields ca 1172 1144 ma cooling ages the new cooling ages imply that the three domains were exhumed rapidly following peak metamorphism at ca 1180 ma attained a similar structural level by ca 1159 ma and have experienced a uniform exhumation history since that time to constrain mineral closure temperatures and post peak metamorphic cooling rates we conducted a monte carlo simulation which fully propagates uncertainty and minimises error correlations modelling of cooling from hornblende to biotite closure temperatures ca 585 c and 365 c respectively in the nornalup and biranup zones yields fast cooling rates of 33 9 17 c ma and 22 5 7 c ma respectively these fast cooling rates imply rapid exhumation in an active tectonic setting undergoing peak metamorphism although the structural evolution of the albany fraser orogen remains poorly constrained the transpressional tectonic activity associated with deformation in the western part of the albany fraser orogen may have been an active driver of this fast exhumation this is distinctly different from exhumation models for granulite facies domains in other mesoproterozoic orogens which typically experience post orogenic slow 1 5 c ma cooling driven by mechanisms such as orogenic collapse and erosion we consider that the observed differences reflect the interpreted syn tectonic transpressional exhumation history of the albany fraser orogen which is an underrepresented tectonic regime in the mesoproterozoic cooling record

tsunami sedimentary facies deposited by the storegga tsunami in shallow marine basins and coastal lakes western norway sedimentary successions in small coastal lakes situated from 0 to 11 m above the 7000 year bp shoreline along the western coast of norway contain a distinctive deposit very different from the sediments above and below the deposit is interpreted to be the result of a tsunami inundating the coastal lakes an erosional unconformity underlies the tsunami facies and is traced throughout the basins with most erosion found at the seaward portion of the lakes the lowermost tsunami facies is a graded or massive sand that locally contains marine fossils the sand thins and decreases in grain size in a landward direction above follows coarse organic detritus with rip up clasts here termed organic conglomerate and finer organic detritus the tsunami unit generally fines and thins upwards the higher basins 6 11 m above the 7000 year shoreline show one sand bed whereas basins closer to the sea level 7000 years ago may show several sand beds separated by organic detritus these alternations in the lower basins may reflect repeated waves of sea water entering the lakes in basins that were some few metres below sea level at 7000 years bp the tsunami deposit is more minerogenic and commonly present as graded sand beds but also in some of these shallow marine basins organic rich facies occur between the sand beds the total thickness of the tsunami deposit is 20 100 cm in most studied sites an erosional and depositional model of the tsunami facies is developed

structural controls on proterozoic nickel and gold mineral systems identified from geodynamic modelling and geophysical interpretation east kimberley western australia abstract major structures considered important for controlling mineralisation in the halls creek orogen east kimberley are identified via integrated interpretation of geophysical and geological data combined with geodynamic numerical modelling in the numerical geodynamic models the second invariant of strain rate e ii is used to investigate the shearing processes that led to the development of major faults or shear zones and assessing their role as lithospheric scale conduits and pathways for the movement of magmatic and hydrothermal fluids into the upper crust the influence of these deep structures interpreted from the geodynamic models is evaluated through structural interpretation of geophysical remotely sensed and geological data when compared to the location of ni and au mineral deposits the deep crustal scale structures delineated in the models and compared to those mapped in the region contain a close spatial relationship with mineral deposits it is apparent that 1st order crustal scale structures acted as fluid conduits in the deep crust resulting in the formation of ni cu pge deposits and are associated with au mineralisation however 2nd and 3rd order structures manifesting in the upper crust as deformation focused mineralising fluids and magma resulting in the formation of gold deposits large scale structures developed early in the genesis of the halls creek orogen appear to be long lived and have been reactivated these form the margins of kimberley craton domains and influence the location of ni cu pge mineralisation whereas the lower order structures acted as structural traps for the subsequent deposition of au mineralisation

examining tectonic scenarios using geodynamic numerical modelling halls creek orogen australia abstract paleoproterozoic orogens record the accretion and collision of older tectonic blocks and this record the tectonic development of a region the halls creek orogen hco is a well exposed paleoproterozoic orogenic belts which can provide insight into the assembly of the kimberley craton to the diamantina craton during the nuna supercontinent amalgamation despite the relative abundance of rock exposure there is still controversy as to how the halls creek orogen developed the 1865 ma tickalara metamorphics seem to be a key unit within the central zone of the halls creek orogen that can help solving the controversy the formation of the protoliths to the tickalara metamorphics and other sedimentary and igneous rocks of central zone have been described as either forming in 1 an oceanic island arc setting above an easterly dipping subduction zone outboard of kimberley craton or 2 an ensialic marginal basin located closer to the margin of kimberley craton the two plausible tectonic scenarios of the halls creek orogen are examined through 33 2d thermo mechanical petrological numerical experiments based on i2vis code the initial constraints for model setup aim to best represent the tectonic environment for the protoliths to the tickalara metaomorphics as either intra ocean subduction or ocean continent subduction and collision with this approach we were able to find experiments with specific physical parameters with results that are consistent with the geology observed in the halls creek orogen the results indicate that the geology of the halls creek orogen is best represented by the ensialic marginal basin scenario this scenario is most consistent with the observed geology and reveals processes which led to the generation of key lithological units and major structures the numerical experiments can also explain sources of magmatism and development of metamorphic conditions that occurred during the tectonic evolution of the halls creek orogen

mineral systems prospectivity modelling for gold and nickel in the halls creek orogen western australia abstract geodynamic models geological geophysical interpretations and isotope analysis illustrate that there are links between the nickel and gold mineral systems in the halls creek orogen western australia whole rock nd and 40ar 39ar analysis of rocks throughout the region when compared with the geodynamic models suggest that nickel and gold mineralization in the halls creek orogen can be related to basin development and subsequent basin closure during the convergence of north australian craton and kimberley craton respectively whole rock nd analysis confirmed the input of juvenile melts in the centre of the orogen before the 1835 1805 ma halls creek orogeny supporting the upwelling of decompression mantle melts during the basin development these analyses also revealed the spatial links between nickel and gold mineralization and lithological units with positive end values spatially the link between these mineral systems appears to be related to the presence of deep seated shear zones that formed early in the history of the orogen and were later reactivated the results of geodynamic models geophysical interpretation and isotopic analysis are used to understand the critical processes in the gold and nickel mineralization which are presented by predictor maps the gis based knowledge driven fuzzy logic method used to integrate the predictor maps and create the prospectivity maps herein we show that mafic ultramafic units prospective for nickel mineralization formed by upwelling of decompression mantle melt during crustal thinning and extension during basin development and typically consist of the most juvenile magmas in the region whereas gold deposits formed during the compressional regime and basin closure and are located along a major shear zone separating two terranes this deep crustal scale shear zone is implied to be the site of multiple stages of deformation that acted as fluid migration pathways during basin closure and subsequent collision another critical element that appears to be related to gold prospectivity is the presence of lithologies with a juvenile signature in contrast to nickel analyses which are closely related to mafic ultramafic units the source component seems less influential when attempting to target orogenic gold deposits

genesis of granitoid batholiths of peninsular malaysia and implications for models of crustal evolution evidence from a ndsr isotopic and upb zircon study nd sr and u pb isotopic data for the late triassic west coast province batholiths and permian to triassic east coast province batholiths of peninsular malaysia allow estimates of the ages of the crustal fragments comprising the peninsula to be made initial nd and sr values for granitoids from the west coast province range from 6 to 10 and 160 0 716 to 660 0 751 respectively nd model ages calculated based on a depleted mantle evolution model tdmnd range from 1300 ma to 1800 ma and are in general agreement with the mid proterozoic upper intersection ages of u pb zircon reverse discordia 1500 1700 ma initial nd and sr values for granitoids from the east coast province range from 0 8 to 6 and 10 0 705 to 130 0 714 respectively calculated tdmnd ages of 900 1400 ma for these granitoids are comparable to two u pb zircon reverse discordia intercepts that yield 800 ma and 1350 ma the general agreement of u pb zircon inheritance ages and tdmnd ages are interpreted to correspond to the proterozoic crust formation ages of the continental fragments represented by the west coast and east coast batholithic provinces mid proterozoic 1300 1900 ma crust formation ages are commonly shown by other phanerozoic continental margin plutonic and volcanic belts the ubiquitous mid proterozoic crust formation ages and the absence of archaean signatures suggest voluminous juvenile additions to the continental crust in the mid proterozoic such ages at continental margins would imply that many continental blocks had achieved very much their present day extent by the mid proterozoic

introduction to the special issue gis based mineral potential modelling and geological data analyses for mineral exploration this introduction provides an overview of the procedures involved in mineral potential modelling the papers included in this special issue are also summarized

a sub millennial sediment record of ice stream retreat and meltwater storage in the baltic ice lake during the bolling allerod interstadial abstract the rapid retreat of the baltic ice stream and the development of the baltic ice lake is assessed using data from sediment cores retrieved from three sub basins in the southern baltic sea hydraulic piston coring by the international ocean discovery program iodp recovered for the first time intact glacial lake sequences overlying diamictons and other ice contact deposits at sites m0063 m0064 and m0065 based on the particle size and bulk sediment chemical composition the glacial lake sediments were subdivided into a proximal and a distal varve sequence the origin of a dark lithologically distinct horizon between the proximal and distal varves is attributed to a lake drainage event following the opening of a spillway in central sweden available age constraints suggest that the baltic ice lake developed during the bolling allerod interstadial and reached its maximum size at 13 ka ice retreat was forced by surface melt and amplified by calving in the upstream deepening lake environment furthermore rapid ice retreat and glacio isostatic processes allowed for the storage of substantial amounts of meltwater in the baltic ice lake during the allerod warm period subsequent lake drainage into the north atlantic took place through a conduit at higher latitude than previous drainage pathways the pronounced changes in meltwater storage and routing caused by the rapid retreat of the baltic ice stream may have contributed to abrupt climate change through the effects of changing freshwater supply on atlantic overturning circulation

chronology and tectonic framework of turbidite hosted gold deposits in the western lachlan fold belt victoria results abstract 40 ar 39 ar data constrain the history of metamorphism deformation and mineralization in the western subprovince of the lachlan fold belt rocks in the mount stavely volcanic complex and the bushy creek pluton give 40 ar 39 ar ages of about 500 ma for hornblende and biotite the dates from the mount stavely volcanic complex limit the age of mineralization in the metavolcanic rocks of the stavely belt whereas the date for the bushy creek pluton extends the area of cambrian ordovician plutons of the delamerian orogeny to east of the grampians mountains and helps define the surface expression of the western border of the paleozoic lachlan fold belt 40 ar 39 ar dating of metamorphic mica growth phengite in cleaved slates and phyllites within the landsborough fault avoca fault zone heathcote fault zone and mount wellington fault zone gives ages of 453 2 440 2 426 4 and 410 390 ma respectively these data indicate a progression of deformation from west to east starting in late ordovician early silurian time in the stawell and bendigo ballarat structural zones the major phase of deformation in the western subprovince of the lachlan fold belt is therefore silurian and not devonian sericites from major gold deposits in the stawell zone and bendigo ballarat zone give 40 ar 39 ar dates of about 440 ma that are coincident with folding and thrusting a second episode of mineralization and fault reactivation at about 420 to 410 ma is found in some deposits in these zones based on data from a previous study in the melbourne zone including the woods point dike swarm and locally in the bendigo ballarat zone some gold deposits give sericite dates of about 380 360 ma these ages are consistent with the close association of many melbourne zone gold deposits with devonian dikes and plutons the results indicate that gold mineralization in the stawell zone bendigo ballarat zone and melbourne zone was episodic and both temporally and spatially associated with crustal heating linked to regional metamorphism and plutonism initial stages of mineralization in the province comprising many of the large deposits in western and central victoria e g bendigo ballarat stawell wattle gully tarnagulla accompanied metamorphism folding and thrusting subsequent mineralization is widespread but produced mainly smaller deposits

maximum extent of late pleistocene glaciers and last deglaciation of la cerdanya mountains southeastern pyrenees abstract this paper examines glacial evolution in the la pera and malniu cirques and aranser la llosa and duran valleys in the cerdanya massifs on the south facing slopes of the eastern pyrenees a geomorphologic analysis and dating of moraine boulders glacially polished bedrock and rock glacier blocks were carried out by means of cosmogenic 36cl surface exposure dating the maximum ice advance was contemporary with the last glacial maximum at 23 ka ago and it was of greater or only slightly lesser magnitude than for previous quaternary advances the termini of glaciers remained close to maximum positions with minor advances and retreats until 18 17 ka when the glacial tongues disappeared from the valleys depending on the previous topography these glaciers left behind a single polygenic moraine in the case of confined valleys or multiple moraines next to each other in the case of flat more open areas a final glacial advance is detected during the oldest dryas close to the cirque headwalls and the glaciers finally disappeared during the bolling interstadial the glaciers were then replaced by rock glaciers whose front immediately became inactive although their activity continued near their source area until the early holocene

deglaciation of fennoscandia abstract to provide a new reconstruction of the deglaciation of the fennoscandian ice sheet in the form of calendar year time slices which are particularly useful for ice sheet modelling we have compiled and synthesized published geomorphological data for eskers ice marginal formations lineations marginal meltwater channels striae ice dammed lakes and geochronological data from radiocarbon varve optically stimulated luminescence and cosmogenic nuclide dating this is summarized as a deglaciation map of the fennoscandian ice sheet with isochrons marking every 1000 years between 22 and 13 cal kyr bp and every hundred years between 11 6 and final ice decay after 9 7 cal kyr bp deglaciation patterns vary across the fennoscandian ice sheet domain reflecting differences in climatic and geomorphic settings as well as ice sheet basal thermal conditions and terrestrial versus marine margins for example the ice sheet margin in the high precipitation coastal setting of the western sector responded sensitively to climatic variations leaving a detailed record of prominent moraines and other ice marginal deposits in many fjords and coastal valleys retreat rates across the southern sector differed between slow retreat of the terrestrial margin in western and southern sweden and rapid retreat of the calving ice margin in the baltic basin our reconstruction is consistent with much of the published research however the synthesis of a large amount of existing and new data support refined reconstructions in some areas for example the lgm extent of the ice sheet in northwestern russia was located far east and it occurred at a later time than the rest of the ice sheet at around 17 15 cal kyr bp we also propose a slightly different chronology of moraine formation over southern sweden based on improved correlations of moraine segments using new lidar data and tying the timing of moraine formation to greenland ice core cold stages retreat rates vary by as much as an order of magnitude in different sectors of the ice sheet with the lowest rates on the high elevation and maritime norwegian margin retreat rates compared to the climatic information provided by the greenland ice core record show a general correspondence between retreat rate and climatic forcing although a close match between retreat rate and climate is unlikely because of other controls such as topography and marine versus terrestrial margins overall the time slice reconstructions of fennoscandian ice sheet deglaciation from 22 to 9 7 cal kyr bp provide an important dataset for understanding the contexts that underpin spatial and temporal patterns in retreat of the fennoscandian ice sheet and are an important resource for testing and refining ice sheet models

geodynamics of the eastern yilgarn craton abstract over the last decade there have been significant advances in our understanding of the stratigraphy magmatism deformation metamorphism and timing of mineralisation in the eastern yilgarn craton eyc of western australia the integration of these disciplines has enabled a holistic review of the tectonic history of the eyc which favours a paraautochthonous tectonic model a significant advance has been the recognition of a 2810 ma rifting event off the eastern margin of the youanmi terrane which set up the north northwest trending architecture of the eyc rifting was followed by a 100 myr long phase of tectonic activity initiated by the establishment of a convergent margin at 2715 ma characterised by a west dipping subduction zone to the east of the eyc subduction was associated with the deposition of 2715 2670 ma volcanic stratigraphy and the emplacement of voluminous tonalite trondhjemite granodiorite magmatism which resulted in magmatic thickening of the crust volcanism was terminated by a 5 myr pulse of east northeast contraction followed by mid orogenic extension possibly linked to lithospheric and lower crustal delamination the lack of ultra high pressure metamorphism and the presence of high geothermal gradients preclude this contractional event from recording continent continent collision mid orogenic extension at 2665 ma resulted in the introduction of metasomatised mantle melts mafic granites and syenites deposition of siliciclastic basins which record metamorphic anticlockwise ptt paths and the start of significant economic gold mineralisation in the eyc high stretching factors and or delamination associated with this extension event resulted in significant heat input into the base of the crust which eventually led to the emplacement of low ca crustal melt granites and cratonisation of the eyc major gold mineralisation postdates mid orogenic extension and was associated with renewed compression transpression 2650 ma and the development of steep predominantly north northwest striking sinistral and later north to north northeast striking dextral strike slip faults during low ca granite emplacement

exploration targeting for orogenic gold deposits in the granites tanami orogen mineral system analysis targeting model and prospectivity analysis abstract a major challenge for mineral exploration geologists is the development of a transparent and reproducible approach to targeting exploration efforts particularly at the regional to camp scales in terranes under difficult cover where exploration and opportunity costs are high in this study a three pronged approach is used for identifying the most prospective ground for orogenic gold deposits in the paleoproterozoic granite tanami orogen gto in western australia a key input to the analyses is the recent development of a 4d model of the gto architectural evolution that provides new insights on the spatio temporal controls over orogenic gold occurrences in the area in particular on the role of pre mineralization pre 1795 ma d gtoe d gto1 d gto2 architecture in localization of gold deposits and the spatial distribution of rock types in 3d this information is used to build up a model of orogenic gold minerals system in the area which is then integrated into the three mutually independent but complementary mineral prospectivity maps namely a concept driven manual and fuzzy analysis and a data driven automated analysis the manual analysis involved 1 generation of a process based gold mineral systems template to aid target selection 2 manual delineation of targets 3 manual estimation of the probability of occurrence of each critical mineralization process based on the available information and 4 combining the above probabilities to derive the relative probability of occurrence of orogenic gold deposits in each of the targets the knowledge based geological information system gis analysis attempts to replicate the expert knowledge used in the manual approach but queried in a more systematic format to eliminate human heuristic bias this involves representing the critical mineralization processes in the form of spatial predictor maps and systematically querying them through the use of a fuzzy logic model to integrate the predictor maps and to derive the western gto orogenic gold prospectivity map the data driven empirical gis analysis uses no expert knowledge instead it employs statistical measures to evaluate the spatial associations between known deposits and predictor maps to establish weights for each predictor layer then combines these layers into a predictive map using a weights of evidence wofe approach application of a mineral systems approach in the manual analysis and the fuzzy analysis is critical potential high value targets identified by these approaches in the western gto lie largely under cover whereas traditional manual targeting is biased to areas of outcrop or sub crop amenable to direct detection technology such as exploration geochemistry and therefore towards areas that are data rich the results show the power of combining the three approaches to prioritize areas for exploration while the manual analysis identifies and employs human intuition and can see through incomplete datasets it is difficult to filter out human bias and to systematically apply to a large region the fuzzy method is more systematic and highlights areas that the manual analysis has undervalued but lacks the intuitive power of the human mind that refines the target by seeing through incomplete datasets the empirical woe method highlights correlations with favorable host stratigraphy and highlights the control of an early set of structures potentially undervalued in the knowledge driven approaches yet is biased due to the incomplete nature of exploration datasets and lack of abundant gold deposits due to the extensive cover the results indicate that the most prospective areas for orogenic gold in western gto are located in the central part of the study area largely in areas blind to previous exploration efforts according to our study the procedure to follow should be to undertake the analyses in the following order manual prospectivity analysis followed by the conceptual fuzzy approach followed by the empirical gis based method undertaking the manual analysis first is important to prevent explorationists from being biased by the automated gis based outputs it is however emphasized that all of the prospectivity outputs from these three methods are possible and they should not be treated as treasure maps but instead as decision support aids therefore a final manual prospectivity analysis redefined by the mutual consideration of output from all of the methods is required the strategy employed in this study constitutes a new template for best practice in terrane to camp scale exploration targeting that can be applied to different terranes and deposit types particularly in terranes under cover and provides a step forward in managing uncertainty in the exploration targeting process

on the age of the young morainic morphology in the area ascribed to the maximum extent of the weichselian glaciation in north eastern germany abstract in this case study the first numerical ages from the area ascribed to the maximum extent of the weichselian glaciation in north eastern germany are presented the ages were derived from fluvioglacial sandur sediments of the luckenwalde area using optically stimulated luminescence dating techniques for the dating of quartz the ages reveal a primary formation of the luckenwalde outwash plain in the warthe stage of the saalian glaciation 130 150 ka and a limited reworking of the sediments mainly linked to meltwater activity during the weichselian glaciation due to the insufficient zeroing of the osl signal of the sediments the timing of that event can only be determined by a maximum age of around 35 ka nevertheless this age is in accordance with results from the beelitz outwash cone indicating an ice advance in mis 2 the results of the luminescence measurements are supported by additional stratigraphical and petrographical findings it is likely that a considerable number of landforms attributed to the weichselian glaciation are originally of saalian age only partly overridden by the weichselian glaciation but not reshaped by this process with transformation of the relief mainly linked to meltwater processes this implies a very thin probably warm based ice cover of a fast paced and short lived weichselian ice advance adapting to a pronounced saalian morphology

precise cosmogenic 10be measurements in western north america support for a global younger dryas cooling event the inner titcomb lakes moraine in the wind river mountains wyoming has been dated with a precision of 5 using accelerator mass spectrometric measurements of cosmogenic 10be in surface samples from nine boulders resting on its crest the age of this moraine is 11 4 0 5 to 13 8 0 6 ka the range in age is due to the uncertainty in the 10be production rate and uncertainties in rock erosion rate and shielding of cosmic rays by snow additional exposure ages on bedrock and boulder surfaces that are stratigraphically younger and older than the inner titcomb lakes moraine conform with this age the exposure ages of the inner titcomb lakes moraine overlap the north atlantic younger dryas event 12 8 0 2 to 11 5 0 3 ka

geochronological osl and geomorphological investigations at the presumed frankfurt ice marginal position in northeast germany abstract the weichselian frankfurt ice marginal position in northeast germany has been critically discussed in the past owing to weak morphological evidence and a lack of clear sedimentological records this study aims to contribute to this discussion with new geochronological and geomorphological results apart from very few cosmogenic exposure ages the time frame is to date still based on long distance correlation with radiocarbon chronologies we selected a study site in a key position regarding the classic location of the frankfurt ice marginal position and the recently described arcuate ridge structures on the barnim plateau for the first time we present optically stimulated luminescence osl ages of quartz from glaciofluvial deposits for this weichselian phase our results indicate an advance of the scandinavian ice sheet sis at around 34 1 4 6 ka this is in agreement with osl ages from sandur deposits at the brandenburg ice marginal position located farther south and could also be correlated with the klintholm advance in denmark the subsequent meltdown phase lasted until around 26 3 3 7 ka during the meltdown phase a minor oscillation of the sis caused the formation of the recently described arcuate ridges on the barnim till plain recalculated surface exposure ages of glacigenic boulders with an updated global production rate indicate a landscape stabilization phase at around 22 7 1 6 ka which is in agreement with our ages a phase of strong aeolian activity has been dated with osl to 1 0 1 ka this may have been triggered by human activities that are documented in this region for the medieval period

the ridgeway gold copper deposit a high grade alkalic porphyry deposit in the lachlan fold belt new south wales australia ridgeway is a high grade gold copper porphyry deposit 54 mt at 2 5 g t au and 0 77 cu related to an alkalic intrusive complex of monzonitic composition the deposit occurs within the cadia district of new south wales australia which consists of a cluster of four late ordovician gold copper porphyry deposits and two iron copper gold skarn deposits with a combined gold resource in excess of 574 metric tonnes t the deposits lie on a 7 km long northwest oriented corridor of alteration and mineralization transverse to the axis of the postulated volcanic arc alteration and mineralization at ridgeway are zoned around a vertically attenuated intrusive complex of monzodioritic to quartz monzonitic composition distinct styles of veining and alteration are related to different intrusive phases of the monzonite complex with the intensity of alteration and grade of mineralization decreasing from early to late mineral intrusions early mineral intrusions are associated with intense actinolite magnetite biotite calc potassic alteration and up to four stages of high grade quartz magnetite sulfide veining bornite is the most abundant sulfide formed during early stage alteration and correlates well with gold moderate to weak intensity orthoclase biotite plus or minus magnetite potassic alteration accompanies the inter and late mineral intrusions this alteration being associated with chalcopyrite and pyrite rich quartz orthoclase veins propylitic and sodic albite pyrite alteration assemblages are peripheral to and locally overprint the potassic alteration phyllic alteration is restricted to the margins of late stage faults the fluid inclusion assemblage comprises one and two salt bearing brine inclusions in addition to aqueous liquid vapor inclusions of low to moderate salinity no low density vapor rich inclusions are present indicating that the fluids from which the quartz veins precipitated did not enter the liquid vapor field of the h2o nacl system the brine inclusions undergo final homogenization to liquid via halite dissolution this phenomenon in addition to the absence of low density vapor inclusions suggests that the mineralizing fluids at ridgeway were nonboiling hypersaline brines that exsolved directly from the crystallizing magma the presence of mineralized aplitic vein dikes and comb quartz layering are interpreted to indicate that the early and transitional stages of mineralization at ridgeway formed at the transition between magmatic and hydrothermal conditions

a geochronological framework for orogenic gold mineralisation in central victoria australia new 40ar 39ar geochronological data support and significantly expand upon preliminary age data that were interpreted to suggest an episodic and diachronous emplacement of gold across the western lachlan fold belt australia these geochronological data indicate that mineralisation in the central victorian gold province occurred in response to episodic eastward progressing deformation metamorphism and exhumation associated with the formation of the western lachlan fold belt initial gold formation throughout the stawell and the bendigo structural zones can be constrained to a broad interval of time between 455 and 435 ma with remobilisation of metals into new structures and or new pulses of mineralisation occurring between 420 and 400 ma and again between 380 and 370 ma linked to episodic variations in the regional stress field and during intrusion of felsic dykes and plutons this separation of ages is incompatible with the view that gold emplacement in the western lachlan fold belt was the result of a single orogen wide event during the devonian a distinct phase of gold mineralisation characterised by elevated cu mo sb or w is associated with both late silurian to early devonian 420 to 400 ma and middle to late devonian 380 to 370 ma magmatism when crustal thickening and shortening during the ongoing consolidation of the western lachlan fold belt led to extensive melt development in the lower crust and resulted in widespread magmatism throughout central victoria these 420 to 400 ma and 380 to 370 ma occurrences best exemplified by the wonga deposit in the stawell structural zone and many of the woods point deposits in the melbourne structural zone but also evidenced by occurrences at fosterville and maldon in the bendigo structural zone clearly formed synchronous with or post date the emplacement of plutons and dykes and thus are spatially if not genetically related to melt generation at depth this later magmatic associated and polymetallic type of gold mineralisation is economically subordinate to the earlier metamorphic associated type of gold deposition in the stawell and bendigo structural zones but tends to be the dominant style in the melbourne zone these new geochronological constraints together with zircon u pb data from felsic intrusive rocks of known relationship to gold mineralisation demonstrate that initial hydrothermal alteration associated with gold emplacement in the western lachlan fold belt was metamorphic related predating the emplacement of granite plutons by as much as 80 million years this timing differs from other important orogenic gold districts where gold deposition is closely associated spatially with felsic magmatism the early introduction of metamorphically derived fluids well before magmatism may reflect variations in the timing of peak metamorphic conditions at different crustal levels in an accretionary prism undergoing simultaneous deformation and erosion consequently no genetic link exists between the main phase s of gold mineralisation and magmatism in the central victorian gold province with the exception of formation of a minor magmatism related and geochemically distinct mineralisation style at about 420 to 400 ma and again at about 380 to 370 ma the apparent spatial relationship between gold mineralisation and felsic intrusions is merely the result of melts and fluids being channelised along the same structures

orogenic gold mineral systems of the western lachlan orogen victoria and the hodgkinson province queensland crustal metal sources and cryptic zones of regional fluid flow abstract orogenic gold mineral systems in the western lachlan orogen victoria and the hodgkinson province queensland produced gold provinces characterised by vastly different scales of gold endowment and strongly uneven distribution of gold mineralisation within each province the volume of hydrous pyrite bearing rocks undergoing metamorphic devolatilisation during thermo tectonic events driving orogenic gold mineral systems represents a fundamental first order constraint on the total gold endowment and its broad spatial distribution both between and within the provinces most of the largest gold deposits in both regions occur in linear richly endowed metallogenic zones oblique to the dominant regional structures and related to deep crustal domain boundaries these boundaries with only subtle surface expressions were the major regional structural controls which promoted focused near vertical flow of mineralising metamorphic fluids above the outer margins of cratonic blocks in the lower crust recognised major faults represented only more local scale and often indirect controls on the focused fluid flow particularly effective above the deep cratonic block boundaries overlain by relatively thick crustal source rocks

archean komatiite volcanism controlled by the evolution of early continents the generation and evolution of earth s continental crust has played a fundamental role in the development of the planet its formation modified the composition of the mantle contributed to the establishment of the atmosphere and led to the creation of ecological niches important for early life here we show that in the archean the formation and stabilization of continents also controlled the location geochemistry and volcanology of the hottest preserved lavas on earth komatiites these magmas typically represent 50 30 partial melting of the mantle and subsequently record important information on the thermal and chemical evolution of the archean proterozoic earth as a result it is vital to constrain and understand the processes that govern their localization and emplacement here we combined lu hf isotopes and u pb geochronology to map the four dimensional evolution of the yilgarn craton western australia and reveal the progressive development of an archean microcontinent our results show that in the early earth relatively small crustal blocks analogous to modern microplates progressively amalgamated to form larger continental masses and eventually the first cratons this cratonization process drove the hottest and most voluminous komatiite eruptions to the edge of established continental blocks the dynamic evolution of the early continents thus directly influenced the addition of deep mantle material to the archean crust oceans and atmosphere while also providing a fundamental control on the distribution of major magmatic ore deposits

response to the comment by w h schwarz et al on joint determination of 40k decay constants and 40ar 40k for the fish canyon sanidine standard and improved accuracy for 40ar 39ar geochronology by p r renne et al 2010

identifying lithospheric boundaries using magnetotellurics and nd isotope geochemistry an example from the gawler craton australia abstract major lithospheric boundaries play a fundamental role in localizing crustal deformation and metal enrichment in the crust their identification in poorly exposed terranes remains challenging and typically relies on a combination of sparse outcrop and drill hole data extrapolated using regional gravity and magnetic datasets the high complexity in potential field data as well as the limited depth sensitivity to mostly upper to mid crustal levels increases the ambiguity in identifying coherent lithospheric domains as well as the trans lithospheric boundaries that cross into the subcontinental lithospheric mantle here we present a different approach using a combination of deep probing magnetotelluric and seismic reflection methods integrated with nd isotope and inherited zircon ages of crustally derived felsic igneous rocks to locate and characterize a concealed archean proterozoic lithospheric boundary within the gawler craton south australia the boundary extends for approximately 600 km in the eastern part of the craton from the supergiant iron oxide copper gold uranium iocg u olympic dam deposit in the north to outcrops of the kalinjala shear zone on southern eyre peninsula in the south using our approach we show a significant reduction in the uncertainty of the location of this boundary between these two end points while a range of locations are permissible based on potential field data across northern eyre peninsula our integrated approach points towards a precise location east of previous interpretations beneath the upper crustal roopena fault

the last deglaciation of the southeastern sector of the scandinavian ice sheet the scandinavian ice sheet sis was an important component of the global ice sheet system during the last glaciation but the timing of its growth to or retreat from its maximum extent remains poorly known we used 115 cosmogenic beryllium 10 ages and 70 radiocarbon ages to constrain the timing of three substantial ice margin fluctuations of the sis between 25 000 and 12 000 years before the present the age of initial deglaciation indicates that the sis may have contributed to an abrupt rise in global sea level subsequent ice margin fluctuations identify opposite mass balance responses to north atlantic climate change indicating differing ice sheet sensitivities to mean climate state

timing and east west correlation of south swedish ice marginal lines during the late weichselian abstract the retreat of the late weichselian ice sheet over the southern part of sweden is marked along the southwest coast by distinct marginal moraine ridges their timing can directly and indirectly be assessed based on a number of radiocarbon dates and pollen stratigraphic investigations on lake sediment sequences adjacent to the ice marginal lines along the southeastern side of the peninsula the ice recession has been reconstructed based on a combination of clay varve chronology pollen and radiocarbon stratigraphy a morphological correlation of ice marginal lines between the west and east coast is problematic since the distinct west coast moraines cannot be followed through the central part of the peninsula towards the east coast this paper is an attempt to reconstruct an age equivalent west east extension of the ice recession lines on the basis of existing data sets for our correlation we use calibrated radiocarbon ages for ice marginal deposits on the west coast and compare these with a partly radiocarbon dated clay varve chronology on the east coast we conclude that the two oldest moraines on the west coast formed at 18 000 16 000 and 15 400 14 500 cal yr bp respectively during the following rapid deglaciation which may have coincided with the beginning of the bolling pollen zone large parts of southernmost sweden became ice free except for higher elevated areas where stagnant ice remained for another 400 500 yr a best guess is that the formation of the next younger ice marginal lines may have occurred at 14 400 14 200 14 200 and 13 400 cal yr bp and during the younger dryas cold event

cosmic ray production rates of 10be and 26al in quartz from glacially polished rocks we have studied the concentrations of 10be and 26al in quartz crystals extracted from glacially polished granitic surfaces from the sierra nevada range these surfaces were identified with the glacial advance during the tioga period 11 000 years ago our measurements yield the most accurate estimates to date for the absolute production rates of these nuclides in sio2 due to cosmic ray nucleons and muons for geomagnetic latitudes 43 8 44 6 n and altitudes 2 1 3 6 km the estimates are relatively free from uncertainties in snow cover since we studied a suite of rock surfaces inclined 0 75 with respect to the horizontal the principal uncertainty arises due to the lack of a precise date for the glacial retreat event about 10 the 26al 10be ratio at production 6 0 is determined more accurately since the exposure age of the samples is 2 orders of magnitude smaller than the mean lives of the two nuclides production rates of 10be and 26al in quartz at other latitudes and altitudes in the troposphere can be determined from the present measurements by scaling using the known altitude and latitude dependence of cosmic ray fluxes of nucleons and negative muons knowledge of the production rates of these nuclides is a prerequisite for their application in erosion and geomorphological studies

late quaternary ice sheet extents in northeastern germany inferred from surface exposure dating abstract we determined in situ cosmogenic 10 be ages for 11 boulders on the hoher flaming ice marginal belt and five boulders on the gerswalder moraine a recessional moraine of the pomeranian stage previous time estimations for the deposition of these moraines along the southern margin of the scandinavian ice sheet sis in northeastern germany are mostly based on geomorphology and stratigraphy and on few radiocarbon dates and recently published surface exposure ages in the case of the pomeranian moraine our new exposure ages range from 21 7 1 2 10 be ka to 172 6 6 0 10 be ka for the hoher flaming ice marginal belt the wide range of exposure ages may reflect episodic ice marginal belt modification due to intensified erosion by meltwater channeled in the baruther urstromtal ice marginal valley accompanied by long lasting erosional processes like solifluction and aeolian deflation for the gerswalder moraine our new exposure ages range from 12 3 0 6 10 be ka to 16 6 1 0 10 be ka excluding the youngest sample ber 97 03 we calculated error weighted mean ages ranging from 15 2 0 5 10 be ka to 16 0 0 5 10 be ka n 4 depending on choice of scaling methods surface erosion and snow cover these results firmly establish the position of the southern margin of the sis in northeastern germany during the gerswalder substage a recessional phase of the pomeranian stage

nature of the crust beneath west central chihuahua mexico based upon sr nd and pb isotopic compositions at the tomochic volcanic center in regions where crystalline basement is not well exposed radiogenic isotope data from high level igneous rocks can provide important information about the underlying crust even if only modest amounts of crustal assimilation have occurred one such region is northwestern mexico where cover sequences and younger tectonic features obscure the southern margin of the north american craton within the heart of the sierra madre occidental volcanic field in northwestern mexico ranges of isotope ratios from the 38 29 ma tomochic volcanic center in west central chihuahua are nd 2 3 to 5 2 with only one value 87 sr 86 sr 0 7043 0 7089 with only one value 0 7070 206 pb 204 pb 18 49 18 80 207 pb 204 pb 15 56 15 62 and 208 pb 204 pb 38 35 38 79 these values are unlike those of xenolith bearing primitive mantle derived magmas from either the southwestern united states or northern mexico and are interpreted to reflect modest crustal interaction even in the least evolved compositions basaltic andesite volcanic rocks of the tomochic volcanic center have less radiogenic sr and more radiogenic nd than rocks from calc alkaline mid tertiary ash flow tuff provinces in the southwestern united states that were erupted through the 1 8 1 0 ga north american precambrian craton laurentia the pb isotopic compositions of the tomochic volcanic center have a restricted range and closely resemble those for volcanic rocks in eastern chihuahua and west texas that were erupted through the basement of the coahuila block which is outboard of the ouachita front in the region these results eliminate the possibility that laurentia continues southward beneath the tomochic area we suggest instead that the younger basement to the south of the ouachita front continues into western chihuahua although a regional isotopic study is needed to demonstrate the continuity of this configuration

surface dating of dynamic landforms young boulders on aging moraines the dating of landforms is crucial to understanding the evolution history and stability of landscapes cosmogenic isotope analysis has recently been used to determine quantitative exposure ages for previously undatable landform surfaces a pioneering application of this technique to date moraines illustrated its considerable potential but suggested a chronology partially inconsistent with existing geological data consideration of the dynamic nature of landforms and of the ever present processes of erosion deposition and weathering leads to a resolution of this inconsistency and more generally offers guidance for realistic interpretation of exposure ages

sea level and deep water temperature changes derived from benthic foraminifera isotopic records we show that robust regressions can be established between relative sea level rsl data and benthic foraminifera oxygen isotopic ratios from the north atlantic and equatorial pacific ocean over the last climatic cycle we then apply these regressions to long benthic isotopic records retrieved at one north atlantic and one equatorial pacific site to build a composite rsl curve as well as the associated confidence interval over the last four climatic cycles our proposed reconstruction of rsl is in good agreement with the sparse rsl data available prior to the last climatic cycle we compute bottom water temperature changes at the two sites and at one southern indian ocean site taking into account potential variations in north atlantic local deep water 18o our results indicate that a last glacial maximum lgm enrichment of the ocean mean oxygen isotopic ratio of 0 95 is the lowest value compatible with unfrozen deep waters in the southern indian ocean if local deep water 18o did not increase during glacials with respect to present such a value of the lgm mean ocean isotopic enrichment would impose a maximum decrease in local bottom water 18o at the north atlantic site of 0 30 during glacials

hf isotopic fingerprinting of geodynamic settings integrating isotopes and numerical models abstract hf isotopes have proven invaluable in understanding the evolution of earth s crust mantle system but their use in reconstructing tectonic environments in many cases remains equivocal in this study we introduce a new approach to predict the hf isotopic evolutionary pattern for rifting and collision based on the integration of numerical models and 176hf 177hf isotopes the geodynamic numerical models allow us to estimate the proportion of juvenile material added to the crust through time on the basis of this proportion we calculate changing 176hf 177hf ratios using mixing models predicted hf isotopic patterns generated through this numerical approach imply that juvenile signals are observed during back arc extension whereas evolved signatures dominate collisional settings we use this novel modeling approach in the case study region of the halls creek orogen to elucidate its tectonic setting through time in addition the geochemical features of magmatic rocks in the case study region imply partial melting of a sub arc mantle wedge with magma crust interaction on ascent in a convergent margin setting the links between predicted hf isotopic evolution geodynamic numerical models whole rock geochemistry and measured zircon hf isotopic evolution trend resolve three discrete stages in the tectonomagmatic development of the halls creek orogen 1 oceanic crust subduction 2 back arc formation with addition of juvenile mantle input and 3 docking of the north australian and kimberley cratons resulting in the development of mixed source magmatism formed in a collisional setting we provide a new method to validate geodynamic models with isotopic datasets which should lead to more rigorous understanding of crustal evolution

age and geologic setting of quartz vein hosted gold mineralization at curraghinalt northern ireland implications for genesis and classification acknowledgments we are grateful to dalradian gold ltd for providing the sections for petrographic analysis geochemical data and general support we would also like to thank the following john still alison sandison and jenny johnston of the school of geosciences university of aberdeen for assistance with the sem studies js and with preparing figures as and jj nerc for ongoing funding of the argon isotope facility at suerc jim imlach and ross dymock at suerc for technical assistance and martin lee at the school of geographical and earth sciences at the university of glasgow for use of the sem cl equipment the paper has benefitted significantly from comments by the official reviewers and unofficial reviews by garth earls jamie wilkinson mark cooper and adrian boyce and detailed conversations with ian alsop structural geology of the sperrins and nyree hill and gawen jenkin gold mineralization in the caledonides the authors are entirely responsible for the conclusions expressed

the crustal continuum model for late archaean lode gold deposits of the yilgarn block western australia most archaean gold ores belong to a coherent genetic group of structurally controlled lode deposits that are characteristically enriched in au with variable enrichments in ag as w sb bi te b and pb but rarely cu or zn and are surrounded by wallrock alteration haloes enriched in k lile and co2 with variable na and or ca addition evidence from the yilgarn block of western australia combined with similar evidence from canada and elsewhere indicates that such deposits represent a crustal continuum that formed under a variety of crustal regimes over at least a 15 km crustal profile at pt conditions ranging from 180 c at 1 kb to 700 c at 5 kb individual deposits separated by tens to hundreds of kilometres collectively show transitional variations in structural style of mineralisation vein textures and mineralogy of wallrock alteration that relate to the pt conditions of their formation at varying crustal depths specific transitions within the total spectrum may be shown also by deposits within gold camps although nowhere is the entire continuum of deposits recorded from a single gold camp or even greenstone belt