Timing of Fracture Formation and Duration of Mineralization at the Hishikari Deposit, Southern Kyushu, Japan

Abstract. The Hishikari epithermal gold deposit consists of the Honko-Sanjin zone and Yamada zone. On the basis of observed crosscutting relationships of veins, vein system in the Hishikari deposit was classified into the early and late veins. They differ from orientation, width, control by unconformity, the amount of displacement and structural features, but have similarity in gold grade and Au/Ag ratios. K-Ar ages are presented for the classified veins to clarify timing of fracturing and duration of mineralization.
Age determination revealed that the early veins in the Honko-Sanjin zone range from 0.86 to 1.11 Ma and that the late veins range from 0.73 to 0. 84 Ma. The economically most important mineralization in the Hishikari deposit occurred around 0.90 Ma in a very short period (about 0.05 million years).
The distribution of mineralization age in the whole Hishikari deposit, occurrences of slickensides and ground water temperatures imply that mineralization lasted longer in the southern part of the deposit. As compared the early veins with late veins, structural changes including width, strike, dip and vein characteristics occurred at around 0.85 Ma.     

Gas Measurement of Fluid Inclusions from the Hishikari Epithermal Gold Deposit, Southern Kyushu, Japan, Using Laser Raman Microprobe

Abstract. Laser Raman microprobe analysis was performed on the fluid inclusions from the Honko-Sanjin zone in the Hishikari epithermal gold deposit, southern Kyushu, Japan. Gas concentrations of fluid inclusions through the zone were below detection limits (e.g., 5 mmole/kg H₂O for CO₂), with an exception at shallow portion in which the CO₂/N₂ mole ratio was determined to be 5.3. Boiling of hydrothermal solutions probably separated gases from ore fluids at the deep portion of the deposit, and migration of gases to shallow portion resulted in CO₂-rich steam-heated water and related acid alteration.     

Submillimeter Scale Variation of Oxygen Isotope of Vein Quartz at the Hishikari Deposit, Japan

Abstract: The physical and chemical mechanism of gold precipitation in the typical low-sulfidation epithermal gold deposit at the Hishikari mine was quantified by submillimeter scale oxygen isotope analyses of vein quartz. In situ CO₂ laser-ablated fluorination was used to measure temporal δ¹⁸O excursions. The calculated oxygen isotopic compositions of the ore-forming fluid indicate a dynamic process of epithermal vein formation. Intermittent opening of the vein allowed introduction of metal-bearing deep fluid to the epithermal system, and associated boiling and subsequent mixing with meteoric water caused precipitation of precious metals.     

A Fluid Inclusion Study on Columnar Adularia from the Hishikari Low-sulfidation Epithermal Gold Deposit, Japan

Abstract: In the Hishikari low-sulfidation epithermal gold deposit, Japan, columnar adularia crystals commonly precipitated directly on to the fracture surface of wall rock, and then electrum precipitated on the columnar adularia with fine-grained adularia and quartz. To reveal the characteristics of mineralizing fluids and the elevation of paleo-water tables at the earliest stage of mineralization in the Honko-Sanjin zone of the Hishikari deposit, the fluid inclusions in the columnar adularia in gold-bearing quartz–adularia veins were studied.
Coexistence of vapor-rich and liquid-rich two–phase primary fluid inclusions indicates the deposition of columnar adularia from boiling fluids. The precipitation temperatures range from 175 to 215C, and generally increase with depth. The temperatures of final melting point of ice range from –1.2 to –0.1C with an average of –0.5C, corresponding to salinity ranging from 0.2 to 2.1 wt% NaCl equivalent with an average of 0.9 wt% NaCl (eq.). Concentrations of non-condensable gases such as CO₂ were under the detection limit of a laser Raman microprobe spectrometer. From the precipitation temperature of columnar adularia in the Hosen–2 vein and the boiling point – depth curve for a 0.9 wt% NaCl (eq.) fluid, paleo-water table was estimated to be at an elevation of about +170 m. The elevation of the paleo-water tables for other veins was estimated to range from +140 to +215 m.     

Characteristics and Mineralization Age of the Fukusen No. 1 Vein,Hishikari Epithermal Gold Deposits,Southern Kyushu,Japan

The Fukusen No. 1 vein is located in the southeastern part of the Yamada deposit, Hishikari epithermal gold deposits, southern Kyushu, Japan. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar plateau ages of adularia from the margin and the center of the Fukusen vein are determined to be 0.617 ± 0.024 Ma and 0.606 ± 0.009 Ma, respectively. The Fukusen No. 1 vein shows banding structure composed mainly of quartz, adularia and clay minerals. Colloform texture is displayed by cryptocrystalline to amorphous silica material that is associated with fine-grained electrum and sulfides near the center of the vein. Pyrite in the Fukusen No. 1 vein often shows acicular shape resulting from inversion from marcasite. Near the center of the vein, primary marcasite occurs associated with colloform texture of silica. The Fukusen No.1 vein preserves primary texture and materials which were deposited from the ore-forming hydrothermal solution. The Fukusen No. 1 vein was formed in a short period and is one of the youngest veins in the Hishikari deposits.     

Thermoluminescence dating of Dimlington Stadial deposits in eastern England

The loess component of a solifluction deposit of the Dimlington Stadial exposed at the inland site of Eppleworth in eastern England gave a thermoluminescence date of 17.5 ± 1.6 × 10³ years. The solifluction deposit is overlain by a slightly weathered till correlated with the Skipsea Till of coastal exposures. which lies between organic horizons with radiocarbon dates of 18,500–18,240 B.P. and 13,045 B.P. Although the till must have been deposited during the Dimlington Stadial (after 18,240 B.P. at Dimlington and after 17,500 B.P. at Epplcworth), it gave apparent TL dates of 42.1 ± 3.6 × 10³ years at Eppleworth and 102 ± 9 × 10³ years at Dimlington, indicating that the components of the till were not exposed to light immediately before deposition.     

Mass Transfer, Oxygen Isotopic Variation and Gold Precipitation in Epithermal System: A Case Study of the Hishikari Deposit, Southern Kyushu, Japan

Abstract: Transportation of various kinds of elements occurred in wall rocks (Quaternary andesites) during the hydrothermal alteration accompanied by the Hishikari epithermal gold mineralization. For example, K₂O and MgO contents of wall rocks decrease away from the gold-quartz veins, while (CaO+Na₂O) content increases, and SiO₂ content is variable near the veins. Hydrothermal alteration zoning and bulk compositional variations in wall rocks suggest that the mixing of hydrothermal solution and acidic groundwater took place an important role as the cause for the hydrothermal alteration and bulk compositional variations. The relationship between dissolved silica concentration and temperature of hydrothermal solution mixed with groundwater is obtained based on precipitation kinetics-fluid flow–mixing model, and the computed results are compared with the distribution of SiO₂ minerals (quartz and cristobalite) in the hydrothermal alteration zones. This comparison suggests that the most reasonable flow rate of fluids migrating through hydrothermal alteration zones, and A/M (A: surface area of rocks interacting with fluid, M: mass of fluid) are estimated to be ca. 10^-4.2 m/sec, and ca. 0.10 m²/kg, respectively. The mixing of two fluids (hydrothermal solution and acidic groundwater) can also explain δ¹⁸O zoning in the altered country rocks, hydrothermal alteration zoning from K-feldspar through K-mica to kaolinite from the center (veins) to margin, and deposition of gold.     

Role of basement in epithermal deposits: The Kushikino and Hishikari gold deposits, southwestern Japan

The magma–ore deposit relationship of most low-sulfidation epithermal ore deposits is still unclear, partly because many stable isotopic studies of such deposits have indicated the predominance of meteoric waters within hydrothermal fluids. However, it is certainly true that hydrothermal systems are ultimately driven by magmatic intrusions, and epithermal gold deposits might therefore be produced by magmatic activity even in deposits having has no obvious links to a magma. We re-examine the genesis of two typical low-sulfidation epithermal gold deposits, the Kushikino and Hishikari deposits, using structural simulations and isotope data.Many epithermal gold deposits including the Kushikino and Hishikari deposits have been discovered in Kyushu, southwestern Japan. The Kushikino deposit comprises fissure-filling veins within Neogene andesitic volcanics that overlie unconformably Cretaceous sedimentary basement. The veins consist of gold- and silver-bearing quartz and calcite with minor amounts of adularia, sericite and sulfides. Although carbon and oxygen isotopic data for the veins indicate a meteoric origin of the ore fluid, finite element simulations suggest that the vein system might have formed in direct response to magma intrusion. In particular, geophysical data suggest that intruding magma has uplifted the basement rocks, thereby producing fractures and veins and a positive Bouguer anomaly, and providing the heat necessary to drive an ore-forming hydrothermal system.The second component of this study has been to investigate the nature and evolution of the Kushikino and Hishikari epithermal systems. Isotope data document the geochemical evolution of the hydrothermal fluids. We conclude that the existence of sedimentary basement rocks at depth might have affected the strontium and carbon isotopic ratios of the Kushikino and Hishikari ore fluids. The ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios and δ¹³C–δ¹⁸O trend reveal that major ore veins in the Hishikari deposit can be distinguished from shallow barren veins. It was suggested isotopically that fluids responsible for the barren veins in nearby shallow and barren circulation systems were only controlled by the shallow host rocks. Such multi-isotope systematics provide a powerful tool with which to determine the center of hydrothermal activity and thereby document the evolution of hydrothermal fluids.     

Role of basement in epithermal deposits: The Kushikino and Hishikari gold deposits,southwestern Japan

The magma–ore deposit relationship of most low-sulfidation epithermal ore deposits is still unclear, partly because many stable isotopic studies of such deposits have indicated the predominance of meteoric waters within hydrothermal fluids. However, it is certainly true that hydrothermal systems are ultimately driven by magmatic intrusions, and epithermal gold deposits might therefore be produced by magmatic activity even in deposits having has no obvious links to a magma. We re-examine the genesis of two typical low-sulfidation epithermal gold deposits, the Kushikino and Hishikari deposits, using structural simulations and isotope data.Many epithermal gold deposits including the Kushikino and Hishikari deposits have been discovered in Kyushu, southwestern Japan. The Kushikino deposit comprises fissure-filling veins within Neogene andesitic volcanics that overlie unconformably Cretaceous sedimentary basement. The veins consist of gold- and silver-bearing quartz and calcite with minor amounts of adularia, sericite and sulfides. Although carbon and oxygen isotopic data for the veins indicate a meteoric origin of the ore fluid, finite element simulations suggest that the vein system might have formed in direct response to magma intrusion. In particular, geophysical data suggest that intruding magma has uplifted the basement rocks, thereby producing fractures and veins and a positive Bouguer anomaly, and providing the heat necessary to drive an ore-forming hydrothermal system.The second component of this study has been to investigate the nature and evolution of the Kushikino and Hishikari epithermal systems. Isotope data document the geochemical evolution of the hydrothermal fluids. We conclude that the existence of sedimentary basement rocks at depth might have affected the strontium and carbon isotopic ratios of the Kushikino and Hishikari ore fluids. The ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios and δ¹³C–δ¹⁸O trend reveal that major ore veins in the Hishikari deposit can be distinguished from shallow barren veins. It was suggested isotopically that fluids responsible for the barren veins in nearby shallow and barren circulation systems were only controlled by the shallow host rocks. Such multi-isotope systematics provide a powerful tool with which to determine the center of hydrothermal activity and thereby document the evolution of hydrothermal fluids.     

Possible Carbonate Origin of Ore Sulfur from Geumseong Mo Deposit, South Korea

Abstract: In order to know the cause of the high δ³⁴S values of the Korean ore deposits (Ishihara et al., 2000), Geumseong molybdenum skarn deposit and related Jurassic granitoids and Cambro-Ordovician carbonates were selected for the δ³⁴S analyses. Two sulfide samples occurring in hydrothermal veins in fresh granitoids quarry at Songhaksan yielded δ³⁴S values of +6.9 and +8.8 permil. These are slightly higher than +5.3 permil δ³⁴S of the averaged rock sulfides for the Jurassic Daebo granitoids. Pyrite and molybdenite from the Geumseong deposit vary from +8.6 to +11.5 permil (average + 10.7 permil). The intruded carbonates contain very low amount of SSS (structurally substituted sulfate) as 2.9 to 8.1 ppm with high δ³⁴S values between +28.8 and + 40.0 permil, and sulfides sulfur of 52 to 779 ppm with variable δ³⁴S values between +3.2 and +22.5 per–mil. It is concluded that sulfur of the host carbonates was extracted and migrated into the skarn deposit at the time of the granitoid intrusion and the related hydrothermal convection, on the basis of the location of the skarn deposit occurring between the carbonates and Jurassic granitoids, and of very low contents of SSS sulfur in the carbonates. A part of SSS possibly contaminated into the Jurassic granite.     

Diffusion-controlled corona reaction and overstepping of equilibrium in a garnet granulite, Yenisey Ridge, Siberia

Diffusion modelling is applied to layered garnet–pyroxene–quartz coronas, formed by a pressure-induced reaction between plagioclase and primary pyroxene in a metabasic granulite. The reconstructed reaction involves some change in composition of reactant minerals. The distribution of minerals between layers is satisfactorily explained by diffusion-controlled reaction with local equilibrium, in which the diffusion coefficient for Al was smaller than those for Fe, Mg and Ca by a factor of approximately four. Diffusion of Mg towards plagioclase implies a chemical-potential gradient for MgO component in a direction opposite to the changing Mg content of garnet; this is explained by the influence of Al₂O₃ on the chemical potential of the pyrope end-member. Grain-boundary diffusion is suggested to have operated, possibly with composition gradients different from those in the bulk minerals. Chemical-potential differences across the corona are estimated from the variation in garnet composition, enabling affinity (the free energy change driving the reaction) to be estimated as 6.9±1.8  kJ per 24-oxygen mole of garnet produced. This implies that the pressure for equilibrium among the minerals was overstepped by 1.4±0.4  kbar. The probable P–T conditions of reaction were in the range 650–790  °C, 8–10  kbar. Assuming a timescale of reaction between 10⁶ and 10⁸ years, estimated diffusion coefficients for Fe, Mg and Ca are in the range 9×10⁻²³ to 5×10⁻²⁰ m² s⁻¹. These are consistent with experimental values in the literature for solid-state diffusion, including grain-boundary diffusion.     

Timing of the Mineralization and Volcanism at Cibaliung Gold Deposit, Western Java, Indonesia

Abstract. The Cibaliung deposit is a low-sulfidation type epithermal gold deposit situated about 70 km west of the Bayah dome complex. The gold-bearing quartz veins are hosted by basaltic andesite of the Honje Formation, which is comparable to the host rock of gold deposits at the Bayah dome complex.
In order to clarify the timing of the mineralization and the volcanism at the Cibaliung area, two radiometric dating methods were applied. First, ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating was conducted on six adularia samples to elucidate the age of mineralization. Second, K-Ar method was applied to two samples of the host rock, andesite and the Cibaliung tuff, in order to reveal the timing of volcanism.
The ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating determined mineralization ages in the range from 11.18 to 10.65 Ma while the K-Ar dating indicated the age of the andesite and the Cibaliung tuff to be 11.4±0.8 Ma and 4.9±0.6 Ma, respectively. These results imply that the epithermal gold mineralization in the Cibaliung area is related to the volcanic activity that produced the Honje Formation, while the Cibaliung tuff played an important role in the preservation of the Cibaliung deposit. The Cibaliung deposit is the oldest epithermal gold deposit yet discovered in western Java.     

The flow of surface-derived fluids through Alice Springs age middle-crustal ductile shear zones, Reynolds Range, central Australia

The south-east Reynolds Range, central Australia, is cut by steep north-west-trending Alice Springs age ( c. 334  Ma) shear zones that are up to hundreds of metres wide and several kilometres long with reverse senses of movement. Amphibolite facies (550–600  °C, 500–600  MPa) shear zones cut metapelites, while greenschist facies shear zones (420–535  °C, 400–650  MPa) cut metagranites. The sheared rocks commonly underwent metasomatism implying that the shear zones were the pathways of significant fluid flow. Altered granites within greenschist facies shear zones have gained Si and K but lost Ca and Na relative to their unsheared counterparts, suggesting that the fluid flowed down-temperature (and hence probably upward) through the shear zones. Time-integrated fluid fluxes calculated from silica addition are up to 2.1×10¹⁰ mol  m⁻² ( c. 4.2×10⁵  m³  m⁻²). Similar time-integrated fluid fluxes are also estimated from changes in K and Na. The sheared granitic rocks locally have δ¹⁸O values as low as 0 which is much lower than the δ¹⁸O values of the adjacent unsheared granites (7 to 9), implying that the fluid which flowed through these shear zones was derived from the surface. For the estimated time-integrated fluid fluxes, the fluids would be able to retain their isotopic signature for many tens to hundreds of kilometres. The flow of surface-derived fluids into the ductile middle crust, with subsequent expulsion upwards through the shear zones, may have been driven by seismic activity accompanying the Alice Springs deformation.     

Geochronological Constraints Using 40Ar/39Ar Dating on the Mineralization of the Hishikari Epithermal Gold Deposit, Japan

Abstract. Ages for thirty adularia samples collected from various veins were in the Hishikari gold deposit determined by ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating to constrain the timing of adularia‐quartz vein formation and to determine the temporal change in temperature of hydrothermal fluid. Plateau ages were obtained from all adularia samples, and significant excess ⁴⁰Ar is not recognized from inverse isochrones. The duration of mineralization within individual veins was determined by adularia ages from the early and late stages of mineralization within the same vein. The durations of mineralization in the Daisen‐1, Daisen‐3, Hosen‐2 and Keisen‐3 veins in the Honko‐Sanjin zone were 7,000, 140,000, 160,000 and 170,000 years, respectively. The durations of mineralization in the Seisen‐2 and Yusen‐1–2 veins in the Yamada zones were 360,000 and 320,000 years, respectively. Mineralization lasted for a relatively longer period in individual veins at the Yamada zone. Mineralization ages from the Honko‐Sanjin zone range from 1.04 to 0.75 Ma, and most mineralization ages are concentrated in a short period from 1.01 to 0.88 Ma. In contrast, mineralization ages for the Yamada zone range from 1.21 to 0.64 Ma. These results indicate that fracturing and subsequent vein formation lasted for a longer period in the Yamada zone (about 570,000 years) compared with those events in the Honko‐Sanjin zone (about 290,000 years). The homogenization temperatures of liquid‐rich fluid inclusions in columnar adularia used for age determination were determined to be 223°C on average, and most of these temperatures range from 180 to 258d?C. No significant temporal change in homogenization temperature is recognized in this study. However, adularia in the Keisen veins indicated higher homogenization temperatures compared with elsewhere in the deposit, suggesting that the principal ascent of mineralizing hydrothermal fluid was via the Keisen veins.     

Ore-Forming Fluid Characteristics of the Dayingezhuang Gold Deposit, Jiaodong Gold Province, China

The Dayingezhuang gold deposit is located in the central part of the Zhaoping Fault Zone, which is one of the most important gold-hosting faults in the Jiaodong gold province of China. Dayingezhuang is a typical large-scale shear zone-hosted disseminated gold deposit with superimposed silver mineralization. Fluid inclusion (FI) petrography and microthermometry, and analysis of oxygen and hydrogen isotopes for fluid inclusions were conducted to determine the characteristics of the ore-forming fluids and the processes of silver mineralization. Microthermometry data of FI indicated that ore-forming fluids are characterized by low salinity and low density. Homogenization pressures of FI are estimated at 20 × 10⁵–220 × 10⁵ Pa. The change in ore-forming fluids from K₂SO₄ type to NaCl type indicates the superposition of two hydrothermal mineralizing events. Ore-forming fluids were dominated by magmatic components in the early mineralization period, and affected by meteoric waters in the late period. Gold may have been transported as Au-S or Au-Cl complexes, whereas silver was transported as Ag-Cl complexes. Early fluid boiling and later fluid mixing are thought to be two of the main factors causing the deposition and superimposing of gold and silver to form the large deposit.     

Control on the emplacement of the andesite lava dome of the Soufriere Hills volcano, Montserrat by degassing-induced crystallization

Lava solidification is controlled by two mechanisms: external cooling and gas exsolution, the latter inducing crystallization due to increasing liquidus temperature. The andesite lava dome of the Soufriere Hills Volcano, Montserrat, is an extrusion dominated by crystallization caused by gas exsolution where cooling is unimportant in controlling emplacement. In the magma chamber the magma has an estimated viscosity of 7 × 10⁶ Pa s. During ascent, gas exsolution caused the magma to extrude in a highly crystalline state, with only 5–15% residual melt, viscosities in the range 10¹³–10¹⁴ Pa s and mechanical strength > 1 MPa. Deformation can be heterogeneous with extrusion along shear zones. Rheological stiffening in the upper conduit also causes large overpressures, shallow seismicity, and cyclic patterns of dome extrusion. Gas-rich porphyritic andesites tend to be the least mobile kind of lava, because transition from magma into hot crystalline material was reached during ascent.     

Sulfur Isotopic Study of the Toyoha Deposit, Hokkaido, Japan Comparison between the Earlier-Stage and the Later-Stage Veins

Abstract: The sulfur isotopic ratios (δ³⁴S) of ore minerals from the Toyoha deposit, Hokkaido, one of the largest Pb–Zn–Ag polymetallic vein-type deposits in Japan, were studied. More than 90% of the δ³⁴S values of the studied sulfide minerals collected from the Toyoha deposit range from +5 to +9%, with an average of approximately +7% irrespective of the mineral species, veins, elevations, depth, mineralization stages and mineral assemblages. Relatively uniform δ³⁴S values obtained in this study suggest that the reduced aqueous sulfur species predominated over the oxidized sulfur in the ore solution throughout the mineralization stages. Thus, the source of sulfur for the ore sulfides is postulated to be magmatic.
The temperature obtained from the fluid inclusion study and the temperature of the sulfur isotopic geothermometer are not consistent. This suggests that each mineral precipitated under disequilibrated conditions with respect to the sulfur isotope.
The change in redox conditions presumably encountered between the mineralization stages did not account for the isotopic fluctuations since the isotopic exchanges between the oxidized and reduced aqueous sulfurs are much slower than the rate of oxidation of the ore solution.     

Quantitative study of the distributary braidplain of the Preboreal ice-contact Gardermoen delta complex, southeastern Norway

This raised delta structure is an ice-contact deltaic complex with a volume of c. 4.4.10⁹ m³, deposited c . 9500 yr BP in a shallow wide 'fjord' during the retreat of the Scandinavian ice cap. The delta plain lies at an altitude of 200–223 m. It aggraded c . 20 m above the contemporaneous sea level during a regional marine regression. The braidplain palaeochannel characteristics indicate a peak meltwater discharge of 7–9 10³ m³/s. Calculations based on a glacial ablation model indicate a mid-summer discharge of c . 5.5 10³ m³/s. However, the fluvial topset of the delta has an erosive base whose altitude decreases upstream and indicates stream incision by more the 6 m below the contemporaneous sea level. The deep scour is ascribed to episodic floods over the relatively short delta plain, which exceeded direct ablation-associated discharges. The depositional time-span of the delta is assessed to have been 70 years, calculated from coastal gradient and shoreline displacement curves. The average sedimentation rate of the delta is thereby inferred to have been extremely high, c . 6. 10⁷ m³/yr. The sedimentation is thought to reflect 'extreme' ice-margin conditions, where the sediment and water discharge was maximized by full-scale ablation, with simultaneous subglacial, englacial and supraglacial sediment and water supply. These conditions might further coincide with an abundant rainfall in the catchment area or the drainage of dammed waters, initiating episodic floods which eroded deep beneath sea level. As a whole, the study illustrates the hydrological conditions of proglacial sedimentation at the front of the rapidly retreating last Scandinavian ice cap.     

Association of Electrum and Calcite and Its Significance to the Genesis of the Hishikari Gold Deposits, Southern Kyushu, Japan

Abstract. Mineral assemblage, precipitation sequence and textures of the gold‐bearing veins from the Hishikari epithermal vein‐type deposits, southern Kyushu, Japan, were examined. In addition, fluid inclusion microthermometry and carbon and oxygen isotopic compositions of calcite were determined. Calcite, and that replaced by quartz, were commonly observed throughout the precipitation sequence of the veins. Thus, calcite must be a more common gangue constituent initially than observed presently. Association of calcite and electrum is observed immediately subsequent to columnar adularia in some vein samples. In addition, close association of electrum with pseudo‐acicular quartz, and electrum with truscottite were observed. The initial coprecipitation of electrum and calcite might be a common phenomenon in the gold‐bearing veins at the Hishikari deposits. The Th (homogenization temperature) data from the Honko‐Sanjin deposits are generally higher than those from the Yamada deposit. Samples that show association of calcite and electrum yielded higher Th (206–217°C, average) than the Th data from calcite associated with low‐grade Au ore or barren (180–204°C, average). The measured Tm (temperature of last melting point of ice) range from ‐0.4 to 0.0°C. The result suggests that the salinity of the hydrothermal solution was low during the precipitation both of calcite associated with Au mineralization and of barren calcite. Fluid inclusion evidence suggestive of boiling of hydrothermal solution for the precipitation of calcite was not recognized in the present work. The δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O values of calcite range from ‐10.8 to —4.7 % and from +3.2 to +15.2 %, respectively. The δ¹³C value of H₂CO₃ and the δ¹⁸O value of H₂O in the hydrothermal fluids calculated assuming isotopic equilibrium with calcite using the temperature obtained by fluid inclusion microthermometry, range from ‐14.4 to ‐9.1 %, and from ‐6.2 to +5.5 %, respectively. Thus, the calculated δ¹⁸O values of H₂O for calcite further confirm the presence of the ¹⁸O‐enriched ore fluids during the mineralization at the Hishikari deposits. The hydrothermal solution isotopically equilibrated with the sedimentary basement rocks was responsible for the gold mineralization associated with calcite.     

Subaqueous density flow processes and deposits of an island volcano landslide (Stromboli Island, Italy)

Stromboli is a 3000 m high island volcano, rising to 900 m above sea-level. It is the most active volcano of the Aeolian Archipelago in the Tyrrhenian Sea (Italy). Major, large volume (1 km³) sector collapses, four occurring in the last 13 kyr, have played an important role in shaping the north-western flank (Sciara del Fuoco) of the volcano, potentially generating a high-risk tsunami hazard for the Aeolian Islands and the Italian coast. However, smaller volume, partial collapses of the Sciara del Fuoco have been shown to be more frequent tsunami-generating events. One such event occurred on 30 December 2002, when a partial collapse of the north-western flank of the island took place. The resulting landslide generated 10 m high tsunami waves that impacted the island. Multibeam bathymetry, side-scan sonar imaging and visual observations reveal that the landslide deposited 25 to 30 × 10⁶ m³ of sediment on the submerged slope offshore from the Sciara del Fuoco. Two contiguous main deposit facies are recognized: (i) a chaotic, coarse-grained (metre-sized to centimetre-sized clasts) deposit; and (ii) a sand deposit containing a lower, cross-bedded sand layer and an upper structureless pebbly sand bed capped by sea floor ripple bedforms. The sand facies develops adjacent to and partially overlying the coarse deposits. Characteristics of the deposits suggest that they were derived from cohesionless, sandy matrix density flows. Flow rheology and dynamics led to the segregation of the density flow into sand-rich and clast-rich regions. A range of density flow transitions, both in space and in time, caused principally by particle concentration and grain-size partitioning within cohesionless parent flows was identified in the deposits of this relatively small-scale submarine landslide event.