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| Silurian–Devonian gold event | |
|---|---|
| Name | Silurian–Devonian gold event |
| Period | Silurian–Devonian |
| Type | Orogenic gold mineralization episode |
| Primary minerals | Gold, pyrite, arsenopyrite |
| Associated rocks | Metasediment, metavolcanic, granitoid |
| Notable regions | Lachlan Fold Belt, Appalachian orogen, Caledonides |
Silurian–Devonian gold event The Silurian–Devonian gold event denotes a widespread interval of orogenic gold mineralization during the late Silurian to Devonian periods that produced economically significant lodes across multiple Paleozoic terranes. It links major orogenic belts, magmatic episodes, and sedimentary basins and is invoked to explain clusters of gold deposits in regions such as eastern Australia, western Europe, and eastern North America. Interpretations connect the event to plate-scale processes recorded in stratigraphy, metamorphism, and intrusive activity.
Scholars interpret the Silurian–Devonian gold event through correlations among the Lachlan Fold Belt, the Caledonides, the Appalachian orogen, and the Variscan orogen. Key figures in synthesis include researchers affiliated with the Geological Society of Australia, the British Geological Survey, and the United States Geological Survey. Field campaigns across the Lachlan Fold Belt and the New England Orogen established links to occurrences documented by the Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Mines, the Northern Territory Geological Survey, and the Tasmanian Geological Survey. Comparative studies invoked datasets from the Australian Academy of Science, the Royal Society, and the National Research Council (US) to frame regional metallogenic models.
Timing constraints derive from radiometric ages produced by laboratories at the Geological Survey of Canada, the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences (New Zealand), and the Geoscience Australia geochronology programs, often using techniques refined at the California Institute of Technology and the University of Cambridge. The event is temporally associated with orogenic pulses recorded in the Acadian orogeny, the Hercynian orogeny, and the Delamerian orogeny. Stratigraphic relationships are mapped in association with units like the Bendigo Zone, the Swansea Beds, and the Cornubian Batholith where emplacement ages correspond to Silurian–Devonian chronostratigraphy reported by the International Commission on Stratigraphy.
Models for metal transport and deposition draw on hydrothermal fluid studies from the CSIRO, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of Western Australia. Isotopic evidence from sulfur, lead, and oxygen isotopes analyzed at the Australian National University, the University of Toronto, and the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry support mixed sources including metamorphic devolatilization in the Tasmanides and input from granitoid magmatism linked to the Grampian orogeny. Structural controls emphasized by researchers from the University of Oxford and the University of Sydney invoke reactivation of crustal faults such as the Great Glen Fault analogue systems and shear zones recognized in the Blue Mountains and the Victorian Goldfields.
Prominent districts attributed to the event include the Victorian Goldfields (Australia), the Cornwall tin–gold provinces (United Kingdom), the Coast Mountains-adjacent belts (Canada), and segments of the Appalachian fold belt (United States). Other notable occurrences are reported from the Armorican Massif (France), the Rhenish Massif (Germany), the Labrador Trough (Canada), and the Baltic Shield margins affected by the Scandinavian Caledonides. Mining districts documented by national surveys include entries in the New South Wales Department of Regional NSW, the Museum of Victoria, and the British Museum (Natural History) collections.
The Silurian–Devonian episode underpins gold production histories in centers like Ballarat, Bendigo, and Kalgoorlie whose 19th-century rushes involved companies such as the Victorian Goldfields Company and influenced policies at colonial assemblies including the Victorian Legislative Council. In Europe, extraction in Cornwall and the Kučaj Mountains tied into industrial networks linked to firms from London and Paris. Modern exploration by corporations such as Newmont Corporation, BHP, and Rio Tinto leveraged geological models developed by institutions like the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation and regulatory frameworks administered by agencies including the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
Detailed chronologies utilize U–Pb zircon ages from studies hosted at the Smithsonian Institution, the University of California, Berkeley, and the ETH Zurich that correlate mineralization pulses with tectonothermal events such as the Acadian orogeny and late-stage collapse related to the Variscan orogeny. Plate reconstructions produced by teams at the Paleomap Project, the University of Texas at Austin, and the Max Planck Institute for Geosciences place these belts within convergent margin contexts, highlighting subduction-related magmatism, terrane accretion, and lithospheric delamination processes emphasized in research from the Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory.
Debate on the event centers on whether mineralization reflects a single synorogenic pulse or multiple diachronous processes, a controversy discussed in journals associated with the Geological Society of London, the Society of Economic Geologists, and the Mineralogical Society of America. Influential critics and proponents include researchers publishing from the University of Melbourne, the University of Aberdeen, and the Pennsylvania State University. Ongoing controversies involve interpretations of isotopic datasets from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration labs, conflicting structural chronologies from the British Geological Survey, and competing exploration models applied by companies like Barrick Gold and AngloGold Ashanti.
Category:Gold mining Category:Paleozoic geology