Hydrothermal fluid flow is spatially and genetically associated with deformation in the earth�s crust. In the Otago Schist, New Zealand, the circulation of hydrothermal fluids in the Cretaceous formed numerous mesothermal gold-quartz vein deposits. Otago schist rocks are largely L-S tectonites in which the penetrative fabric is the product of more than one deformation phase/transposition cycle. Regional correlation of deformation events allowed mineralised deposits to be related to the structural evolution of the Otago Schist. Compilation of a detailed tectonostratigraphy of New Zealand basement rocks reveals that extensional mineralisation correlates with the onset of localised terrestrial fanglomerate deposition, thermal perturbation and granitic intrusion that mark the beginning of New Zealand rifting from the Antarctic portion of Gondwana.
Laminated and breccia textures in mineralised veins suggest that host structures have experienced repeated episodes of incremental slip and hydrothermal fluid flow. However, analysis of vein orientation data in terms of fault reactivation theory (Amontons Law) shows that most deposits contain veins that are unfavourably oriented for frictional reactivation. Repeated movement on unfavourably oriented structures may involve dynamic processes of strain refraction due to competency contrasts, the effect of anisotropy in the schist, or localised stress field rotation.
Deposits have been classified on the basis of host structure kinematics at the time of mineralisation into low angle thrust faults, and high angle extensional fault - fracture arrays. Low angle deposits have a mapped internal geometry that is very different from conventional imbricate thrust systems. This study applied ⁴⁰Ar/�⁹Ar geochronology to selected deposits and has identified at least three distinct mineralisation events have occurred within the central axial belt during the Cretaceous. Relationships between radiometric apparent age and inferred crustal depth reveal that after metamorphism, the onset of cooling and rapid exhumation of the schist belt coincides temporally and spatially with the age of mineralisation and structural position of a regional scale low angle shear zone in Otago.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/217508 |
| Date | January 2006 |
| Creators | Scott, John G., n/a |
| Publisher | University of Otago. Department of Geology |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | http://policy01.otago.ac.nz/policies/FMPro?-db=policies.fm&-format=viewpolicy.html&-lay=viewpolicy&-sortfield=Title&Type=Academic&-recid=33025&-find), Copyright John G. Scott |
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