Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Nevada, Reno, 2008. / "May 2008." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 457-464). Library also has microfilm. Ann Arbor, Mich. : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [2009]. 1 microfilm reel ; 35 mm. Online version available on the World Wide Web.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Scieuce in Geophysics . / Rockbursts continue to be one of the more high profile and problematic worker hazards in the South African gold mining industry. Recent advances in the technology of seismic monitoring systems and seismic data analysis and interpretation methods hold considerable promise towards improving the success rate of rockburst control measures. This study tests different methods for the evaluation of the response of geological structures to mining induced stress changes. A small part of Western Holdings Gold Mine in the Welkom goldfield -- the Postma Area -- offers a challenge because of its geological complexity, accessibility and high incidence of seismicity. The sensitivity of the local network to ground motions in this area of interest and the expected spatial location accuracy is established and deemed adequate for a detailed investigation of seismic activity. The local mining geometry, geology and methods of mining are discussed. The fractured state of the rock mass observed in situ, close to the stope faces, is in agreement with the results of numerical elastic modelling and the high stresses inferred seismically. Almost immediately after the incidence of a large event (ML 3.7) which occurred close to one end of a dyke, an increased rate of seismic activity became apparent at another part of the same dyke, some 250 m to the east. A change in the state of seismic stress, before and after the large event, points to a transfer of stress along this geological discontinuity. A quantitative analysis of recorded seismicity indicates spatial and temporal variations in the state of stress and strain throughout the rock mass surrounding Mining excavations. The elastic stress modelling performed routinely by rock mechanics engineers in the deep gold mines is, by itself, incapable of catering for the rheological nature of the rock mass, but taken together with independent seismic evaluations of a fault orthogonal to a highly stressed dyke it is shown that both methods are mutually complementary and can enhance the assessment of the seismic instability of the structures. A back-analysis is conducted on ten large seismic events (ML> 2.5) to identify precursors. These show that the timely recognition of high gradients in physical seismic parameters pertaining to strain rate and stress in time and space immediately prior to major seismic events is a real and practical possibility, as such constituting an early warning mechanism. The fore-warning of a large event is best served by an analysis of seismicity over the short term (weeks or days) through time-history variations and/or contouring of various seismic parameters, although long-term seismic responses (months or weeks) characterise specific patterns and trends which are useful in the forecast. / AC2018

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Geophysics . / Rockbursts continue to be one of the more high profile and problematic worker hazards in the South African gold mining industry. Recent advances in the technology of seismic monitoring systems and seismic data analysis and interpretation methods hold considerable promise towards improving the success rate of rockburst control measures. This study tests different methods for the evaluation of the response of geological structures to mining induced stress changes. A small part of Western Holdings Gold Mine in the Welkom goldfield -- the Postma Area -- offers a challenge because of its geological complexity, accessibility and high incidence of seismicity. The sensitivity of the local network to ground motions in this area of interest and the expected spatial location accuracy is established and deemed adequate for a detailed investigation of seismic activity. The local mining geometry, geology and methods of mining are discussed. The fractured state of the rock mass observed in situ, close to the stope faces, is in agreement with the results of numerical elastic modelling and the high stresses inferred seismically. Almost immediately after the incidence of a large event (ML 3.7) which occurred close to one end of a dyke, an increased rate of seismic activity became apparent at another part of the same dyke, some 250 m to the east. A change in the state of seismic stress, before and after the large event, points to a transfer of stress along this geological discontinuity. A quantitative analysis of recorded seismicity indicates spatial and temporal variations in the state of stress and strain throughout the rock mass surrounding Mining excavations. The elastic stress modelling performed routinely by rock mechanics engineers in the deep gold mines is, by itself, incapable of catering for the rheological nature of the rock mass, but taken together with independent seismic evaluations of a fault orthogonal to a highly stressed dyke it is shown that both methods are mutually complementary and can enhance the assessment of the seismic instability of the structures. A back-analysis is conducted on ten large seismic events (ML 2.5) to identify precursors. These show that the timely recognition of high gradients in physical seismic parameters pertaining to strain rate and stress in time and space immediately prior to major seismic events is a real and practical possibility, as such constituting an early warning mechanism. The fore-warning of a large event is best served by an analysis of seismicity over the short term (weeks or days) through time-history variations and/or contouring of various seismic parameters, although long-term seismic responses (months or weeks) characterise specific patterns and trends which are useful in the forecast. / AC 2018

This thesis is a study of a Victorian country newspaper, the Chiltern Standard during the period 1859-60. Using the Indigo-Chiltern goldfield (discovered in 1858) as a case study, it investigates how the life of the community was expressed through the pages of its local paper.

Ammonium has been detected in and around several epithermal Au-Ag deposits, including those in Nevada, Japan, Argentina, Mexico, and New Zealand, using short-wave infrared (SWIR) reflectance spectroscopy. This study examined the distribution and occurrence of ammonium in three epithermal low-sulfidation vein-type deposits in the Hauraki goldfield of New Zealand: Martha (>6.7Moz Au, >42.1Moz Ag), Favona (>0.6Moz Au, >2.36Moz Ag), and the recently discovered Wharekirauponga (WKP; 0.42Moz Au, 0.8Moz Ag) deposit. The Martha and Favona auriferous quartz-adularia veins are hosted by late Miocene to Pliocene andesite, whereas auriferous veins at WKP are hosted by late Miocene to Pliocene rhyolite. The wallrock of all three deposits is altered to form quartz, illite, smectite, adularia, chlorite, and pyrite +/- kaolinite. Ammonium contents are enriched (>137 ppm) in wallrock samples from all three deposits and low (<94 ppm) in vein samples. Ammonium contents are higher at Favona (<10,675 ppm) than at Martha (<192 ppm) and WKP (<2,783 ppm). Leaching experiments using a 2N KCl solution show that most ammonium is in mineral structures (>90% at Favona, >80% at Martha, >70% at WKP). There is a positive correlation of ammonium contents with LOI (0.6 – 16.3 wt%) and with K2O (1.3 – 8.0 wt%) in all samples which suggest a hydrous potassium mineral as the major host of the ammonium. This is supported by the SWIR data obtained by previous workers of these samples where they show an absorption at ~1410 nm due to OH. At Favona, samples with high ammonium (>990 ppm) are reported to have significant absorption at ~2000 nm and ~2100 nm in the SWIR spectra likely due to ammonium. High ammonium contents (990 – 10,675 ppm) are found in rocks less than ~100m from the Favona vein which occur within an ammonium-bearing zone identified by previous workers based on SWIR. Samples outside of this zone contain low ammonium (107 – 301 ppm) with the smectite altered samples being the lowest. Ammonium contents within the hangingwall (1,827 – 10,675 ppm) of the Favona vein tend to be higher than in the footwall (990 – 4,301 ppm) and are highest within the most intensely illite altered rocks. At WKP, the intensely adularia +/- minor illite altered samples within 100m of the main East-Graben (EG) vein contain low ammonium (<200 ppm). The intensely illite altered samples away from the EG vein (>100m) have higher ammonium contents (200 – 800 ppm). This relationship of high ammonium contents to high illite abundance confirms illite as the major host of ammonium in these deposits. δ15N values for all samples (n=54) including near and far from auriferous veins range from +0.5 to +7.9 ‰, suggesting the derivation of most of the ammonium from the Jurassic greywacke basement or sediments intercalated within the volcanic rocks.