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Timing of orogenic gold mineralisation in northeastern Tasmania: implications for the tectonic and metallogenetic evolution of Palaeozoic SE Australia

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Abstract

New 40Ar/39Ar data from sedimentary rock-hosted orogenic gold deposits in northeastern Tasmania constrain most ore formation to between 395 Ma and 385 Ma. These 385–395 Ma ages for the formation of orogenic gold agree well with an inferred Early to Middle Devonian timing for peak deformation and folding across much of northeastern Tasmania. Data from micas within alteration halos in some deposits give dates of ~420–430 Ma; these dates confirm the occurrence of an earlier Silurian phase of deformation and suggest that at least some of the mineralisation was possibly generated during this event. Gold mineralisation hosted by Middle Devonian post-tectonic granites may be genetically related to magmatism following orogeny, but these deposits formed virtually synchronously with peak deformation-related systems. Early to Middle Devonian deformation in northeastern Tasmania also reactivated older structures in western Tasmania, and the formation of quartz vein-hosted gold mineralisation there. Based on geological, structural, tectonic and metallogenetic similarities, northeastern Tasmania is interpreted as a lateral equivalent of the turbidite-dominated fold-thrust belt of the western Lachlan Orogen. However, unlike Victoria, where the sedimentary rock sequence developed on oceanic crust, northeastern Tasmania was probably underlain by thinned Proterozoic crust, either as part of a promontory along the Gondwana margin or as a microcontinental fragment. This may have ‘protected’ the Palaeozoic succession from large-scale, pre-Devonian orogeny, with collision not beginning until the Middle Devonian. These variations in the structural and tectonic evolution, and the timing of deformation and ore formation can explain the difference in contained gold, and the distribution and number of major orogenic gold deposits within the Palaeozoic of northeastern Tasmania.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to P.B. Hill and G. MacDonald (Allstate Explorations), and R. Fulton (UTas) for providing access to sample locations, and numerous fruitful discussions on the topic of this study. Input from A. Reed, T. Green, R. Berry, and D. Groves helped clarify some of the ideas developed herein. D. Steele is thanked for assistance with the EM analysis of the fuchsite samples, as are M. Hartley (UFL) and T. Spell (UNLV) for their assistance with 40Ar/39Ar analysis. The manuscript benefited from insightful comments by reviewers V. Bouchot and A. Clark. F.P.B acknowledges the support of a Monash University Logan Fellowship and an Australian Research Council Discovery Grant (DP0342488). D.A.F’s research was supported by National Science Foundation grant EAR-0073638.

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  1. Frank P. Bierlein

    Present address: TSRC, School of Earth and Geographical Sciences, University of Western Australaia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia

Authors and Affiliations

  1. MORE, School of Geosciences, Monash University, PO Box 28E, Melbourne, VIC, 3800, Australia

    Frank P. Bierlein

  2. Department of Geological Sciences, University of Florida, PO Box 112120, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA

    David A. Foster

  3. VIEPS School of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, 3010, Australia

    David R. Gray

  4. CODES, University of Tasmania, Private Bag, 79, Hobart, TAS, 7001, Australia

    Garry J. Davidson

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Correspondence to Frank P. Bierlein.

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Bierlein, F.P., Foster, D.A., Gray, D.R. et al. Timing of orogenic gold mineralisation in northeastern Tasmania: implications for the tectonic and metallogenetic evolution of Palaeozoic SE Australia. Miner Deposita 39, 890–903 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00126-004-0458-4

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