Timing of gold mineralisation in the Ballarat goldfields,central Victoria: Constraints from 40Ar/39Ar results |
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| Authors: | F P Bierlein D A Foster S McKnight D C Arne |
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| Institution: | 1. Minerals Industry Research Institute , University of Ballarat , PO Box 663, Ballarat, Vic., 3353, Australia;2. Australian Geodynamics Cooperative Research Centre, Department of Earth Sciences , La Trobe University , Bundoora, Vic, 3083, Australia;3. Department of Geology , University of Florida , Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA |
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| Abstract: | 40Ar/39Ar data for muscovite separates and hydrothermally altered whole‐rock samples from the Ballarat West and the Ballarat East goldfields indicate that mesothermal gold mineralisation at Ballarat occurred during several episodic pulses, ranging in age from the Late Ordovician to the Early Devonian. Initial formation of auriferous structures in the Ballarat goldfields coincided with folding and thrusting associated with the development of the western Lachlan Fold Belt between 460 and 440 Ma. Subsequent fault reactivation and magmatism resulted in remobilisation and additional mineralisation between 410 and 380 Ma, and around 370 Ma. The results presented herein are in agreement with findings for other major gold deposits in central Victoria and further constrain the history of deformation, metamorphism and mineralisation in the western subprovince of the Lachlan Fold Belt. |
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| Keywords: | argon‐argon dating Ballarat goldfields gold Lachlan Fold Belt mineralisation |
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