Sediment-hosted gold deposits in Guizhou, China, are hosted in late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic sedimentary rocks along the southwest margin of the Precambrian Yangtze craton. They have characteristics similar to Carlin-type gold deposits in Nevada and are notably enriched in As, Sb, Hg, and Tl. The Shuiyindong and Yata deposits consist of disseminated, strata-bound sulfides in Permian bioclastic limestone and fault-controlled mineralization in Middle Triassic calcareous clastic rocks, respectively. Mineralization in both deposits consists of barren milky quartz veins, disseminated gold-bearing arsenian pyrite and arsenopyrite, stibnite, realgar, and orpiment. The barren milky quartz veins occur in the ore-controlling structures with an envelope of gold mineralization in the host rock consisting of disseminated gold-bearing arsenian pyrite and arsenopyrite and replacement-style quartz veinlets. Later drusy quartz, stibnite, realgar, and orpiment fill fractures and vugs on the periphery of gold mineralization. Petrography, microthermometry, laser Raman spectroscopy, and laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometric (LA-ICP-MS) analyses of fluid inclusions are used to characterize the chemical evolution of ore fluids at Shuiyindong and Yata.

The first edition of this book was conceived in 1974 to provide a comprehensive text, covering modern and ancient environments, suitable for advanced university students, research workers and professional geologists. To cover all environments and facies with the authority of an active research worker, we formed a group of authors who knew each other well and shared a similar philosophical view. We could criticize, amend and integrate each other's contributions, while retaining individual styles and responsibility for each chapter.

Some 75% of the rocks at the Earth’s surface are sedimentary in origin, and these include the familiar sandstones, limestones and shales, and the less common but equally well-known salt deposits, ironstones, coal and chert. Sedimentary rocks of the geological record were deposited in the whole range of natural environments that exist today. The study of these modern environments and their sediments and processes contributes much to the understanding of their ancient equivalents. There are some sedimentary rock types; however, for which there are no known modern analogues, or their inferred depositional environments are only poorly represented at the present time.

formations or indeed on any other process in which time played an integral and fundamental role. The advent of radionuclide dating, with the attendant absolute measure of age, changed the views of geology and processes that can occur in ways that have been of major significance. In addition, the radionuclides allow a direct comparison of absolute age to the prior proxies. Accordingly, not only had one available a true age dating but also a proxy scale that could be tie <...>