The Carlin trend in northeastern Nevada forms the largest and most productive accumulation of gold deposits in North America. Teal and Jackson (1997b) reported a gold endowment that by the end of 1996 included past production, reserves, resources, and mineral inventory of over 107 million ounces (3,330 t [metric tons]). More than 40 separate deposits have been delineated since disseminated gold mineralization in carbonate host rocks was first discovered by Newmont geologists John Livermore and Alan Coope in 1961. From their original discovery, a classification for this style of gold mineralization has come to be referred to as “Carlin-type” deposits. By early 2002, more than 50 million ounces (1,560 t) of gold had been recovered on the Carlin trend from 26 separate operating or past producing mines. Open-pit mining began in 1965 at the Carlin Mine, and underground mining began in 1993 on the same deposit.

The scope of this paper is to present a regional geologic setting of the Carlin trend. As part of the concluding discussion, a spectrum of Carlin trend deposit types is categorized to illustrate the relative influence of structural and stratigraphic controls on each deposit.

Pre-existing crustal structures are important in localising strain related to the large-scale evolution of an orogeny. Rheological contrasts between basement blocks will also influence the degree and location of faulting and relative uplift. In northern Nevada, U.S.A., basement architecture in the form of early rifted continental margins, formed during Proterozoic extension, may dictate the subsequent structural geometry of overlying sedimentary sequences during large-scale compression (Figure 1a). Within the region of the Carlin gold trend, specific anticlinal fold and thrust geometries in the sedimentary rocks, involved in various orogenies up until the Laramide, may focus fluid movement and provide effective traps to the system, resulting in the unique gold endowment of the area. Most mineralisation is situated less than 100 m below the Roberts Mountain thrust, which defines the lower boundary of the sequence of deep-water sedimentary rocks that has ridden over both the basement and younger sedimentary layers.

Muntean et al. (2003) argue that the Carlin and Battle Mountain–Eureka (BME) gold trends (Figure 1b) correspond to reactivated normal faults that likely had their origins in Proterozoic rifting. Numerical modelling offers a way to test the basic hypothesis by which “steps”, relics of continental rifting, control the subsequent location of upper crustal faults and anticlinal structures during compression.

The origin of Carlin-type or sediment-hosted, disseminated gold deposits of the Great Basin, the major source of gold in the United States, is poorly understood. We propose that Eocene magmatism was the heat source that drove the hydrothermal systems that generated these deposits in the Carlin trend and Independence Mountains in northern Nevada. This interpretation is based on a strong spatial and temporal association of Eocene intrusive-volcanic centers with the gold deposits of this region. Our new work and published 40Ar/39Ar dates indicate that magmatism was particularly intense between 39 and 40 Ma throughout northeastern Nevada, especially in and around the area of gold deposits. Carlin-type deposits may have formed preferentially during Eocene magmatism because it was (1) more intense in the area than other magmatic episodes, (2) somehow compositionally distinct, or (3) accompanied by extension that promoted hydrothermal flow. However, large-scale extension does not appear to have been a factor in generating Carlin-type deposits.

Carlin-type Au deposits in Nevada have huge Au endowments that have made the state, and the United States, one of the leading Au producers in the world. Forty years of mining and numerous studies have provided a detailed geologic picture of the deposits, yet a comprehensive and widely accepted genetic model remains elusive. The genesis of the deposits has been difficult to determine owing to difficulties in identifying and analyzing the fine-grained, volumetrically minor, and common ore and gangue minerals, and because of postore weathering and oxidation. In addition, other approximately contemporaneous precious metal deposits have overprinted, or are overprinted by, Carlin-type mineralization.

Вскрытие невидимого золота: использование наноразмеров для оценки содержания золота, микроэлементов и изотопов серы в пирите из золоторудных месторождений типа Карлин

One-hundred-nm-resolution secondary ionizing mass spectrometry (nanoSIMS) was used to determine the distribution of Au, Cu, As, Sb, and S, and stable isotopes of S (34S/32S) in gold-bearing pyrite from two refractory Carlin-type gold deposits: West Banshee, northern Carlin Trend, and Turquoise Ridge, Getchell Trend, located in northern Nevada. NanoSIMS maps reveal that gold occurs in two discrete episodes in each deposit. Elevated gold concentrations correlate with elevated concentrations of As, Sb, Cu ± Te, and lower 34S/32S ratios, compared to periods when gold was not deposited. Precipitation of elevated gold and trace elements at West Banshee was followed by precipitation of pyrite with lower gold concentrations, whereas at Turquoise Ridge precipitation of trace element-rich pyrite was followed by precipitation of late ore-stage minerals. These NanoSIMS results are consistent with formation of the deposits by the episodic incursion of gold-rich fluids into hydrothermal systems otherwise dominated by gold-poor fluids. Such gold-rich fluid pulses may be related to incursions of magmatic fluid, which have been shown to have high concentrations of gold, arsenic, and copper in porphyry and high-sulfidation epithermal systems.

This study was undertaken to determine the source of iron in Comus Formation sedimentary rocks that were sulfidized during deposition of gold in the Megapit area of the Twin Creeks Carlin-type deposit. Sedimentary rocks in and near the Megapit contain ferroan dolomite, largely as overgrowths on iron-poor dolomite. Iron to form these overgrowths appears to have been released from mafic volcanic rocks that are interlayered with the sedimentary rocks. These igneous rocks have undergone two stages of hydrothermal alteration. The first stage involved formation of albite and iron-rich chlorite, possibly caused by interaction with seawater. The second stage involved destruction of the iron-rich chlorite by illite or sericite, which released iron to form ferroan dolomite in the sedimentary rocks. Comparisons show that transfer of iron from the igneous rocks to the sedimentary rocks can account for the present distributions of iron in these rocks. Relative to basalts, Comus Formation igneous rocks are enriched in iron and potassium. These results suggest that ferroan dolomite in sedimentary rocks is not solely a product of diagenetic processes and can form when iron is released from adjacent iron-bearing igneous rocks. Recognition of this additional mechanism for formation of ferroan dolomite expands the range of geologic settings that can be favorable for formation of gold deposits formed by sulfidation.

Carlin-type deposits contain gold in association with main-stage quartz-pyrite-kaolinite mineralization and late-stage orpiment-realgar-calcite-barite mineralization. Fluid characteristics for main-stage mineralization are well documented by fluid inclusion and stable isotope studies on quartz. In contrast, fluid characteristics for late-stage mineralization are not well constrained because of large ranges in fluid inclusion microthermo-metric data. These ranges could represent real variations in fluids or be a result of the reequilibration of fluid inclusions.

Microthermometric analyses were conducted on fluid inclusions in samples of barite, calcite, realgar, and or-piment from the Betze and Carlin mines, Nevada. Petrographic studies of individual crystals and cleaved sections reveal that fluid inclusions in realgar and barite have negative crystal shapes, in contrast to elongate and rounded inclusions in orpiment and calcite. Point-count data document that one-phase liquid inclusions (type 1) are the dominant type in barite and realgar, relative to two-phase, vapor-poor inclusions (type 2) in calcite and orpiment. Type 2 inclusions in realgar and barite commonly reequilibrate (e.g., stretch) during analysis and exhibit ranges in homogenization temperatures (Th) of 100º to 250ºC and 110º to 300ºC, respectively. In contrast, type 2 inclusions in orpiment and calcite have Th of 108º to 182ºC, which could be repeated to within 1ºC. Based on these results, fluid inclusions in barite and realgar are most susceptible to reequilibration, with Th of ~100º to 110ºC most representative. Fluid salinities for orpiment and calcite are 1.7 to 5.4 wt percent NaCl equiv, relative to 1.1 to 2.9 wt percent NaCl equiv for barite and realgar. The lower Th and salinity for fluid inclusions in barite and realgar suggest fluid cooling and dilution, following the deposition of paragenetically earlier orpiment and calcite.

Wall-rock alteration at the Getchell underground deposit was examined to determine the effects of Au-bear-ing fluids on host lithologies and the relationship between K-bearing alteration minerals and Au deposition. The major, minor, and trace element geochemistry of highly altered and mineralized to unmineralized rocks from the Getchell deposit was quantified for more than 50 samples collected along 13 transects through calcareous siltstone and carbonaceous limestone and along one transect through a rhyodacite dike. Each transect in sedimentary rocks was collected along a single homogeneous bed that could be followed from high-grade ore to moderately altered rock or waste rock. Analyses were obtained for 39 elements, 10 oxides, and loss on ignition, using multiple techniques. Petrographic studies were integrated with geochemistry and X-ray diffraction and electron microbeam analyses to identify ore and alteration minerals and to correlate mineralogy with geochemical fluxes.

We report here an investigation of the distribution of Au, As, Sb, Hg, carbonates, K-Al silicates, and pyrite in the Twin Creeks Carlin-type gold deposit. The main objective of the study was to determine the nature and degree of correlation among these variables and use them to identify the process(es) that deposited gold. The study focused on deposit-scale variations in these parameters and was based, in part, on data from two large geochemical databases that were prepared by mine staff.

Country rocks at Twin Creeks include Ordovician-age interlayered calcareous shales and mafic igneous rocks, the overlying Leviathan allochthon, and the Pennsylvanian-Permian Etchart Formation that was deposited unconformably over these rocks. Most gold values are found in calcareous shales in the Ordovician sequence and in limestones in the Etchart Formation, although not all layers contain the same amount of gold. Strongest gold mineralization is not adjacent to faults but its general form and distribution suggest that gold-bearing solutions gained access to favorable layers along the faults. In the Ordovician sequence, gold values are highest in shales that have undergone maximum dissolution of carbonate minerals. Petrographic study shows that some gold is associated with adularia, but deposit-scale comparisons do not show a consistent relation between K/Al ratios and gold values. The distribution of antimony is similar to that of gold, whereas mercury is more concentrated than gold, and arsenic is more widely dispersed than gold.

The relation between gold, iron, and sulfide sulfur values shows that mineralization is concentrated in rocks that have gained sulfur, but not iron, to form gold-bearing arsenian pyrite. Thus, these rocks have undergone sulfidation rather than pyritization. The iron that underwent sulfidation came largely from preore, diagenetic(P) ferroan dolomite and was released into solution by decarbonation, a common form of alteration associated with Carlin-type deposits. The results of this study suggest that wall-rock iron content and decarbonation processes which liberate this iron are the most important factors controlling formation of Carlin-type gold deposits. New deposits should be sought where stratigraphic units containing abundant ferroan dolomite are cut by favorable structures.

The Genesis and Blue Star sedimentary rock-hosted gold deposits occur within the 40-mile-long Carlin trend and are located in Eureka County, Nevada. The deposits are hosted within the Devonian calcareous Popovich Formation, the siliciclastic Rodeo Creek unit and the siliciclastic Vinini Formation. The host rocks have undergone contact metamorphism, decalcification, silicification, argillization, and supergene oxidation.