Tectonic setting of Mesozoic gold deposits in the Canadian Cordillera

Abstract

Gold mineralization took place when plate tectonic activity initiated large-scale, deeply circulating, hydrothermal flow regimes in convergent continental margin settings. Mineralization during Middle Jurassic to mid-Cretaceous time also resulted when Paleozoic and early Mesozoic oceanic and island-arc rocks of Superterrane I collided with the continental margin clastic wedge to produce the Omineca Crystalline Belt. The gold deposits formed are mesothermal-type veins similar to Archean greenstone-hosted auriferous veins and California Mother Lode-type deposits. They developed in regional shear zones and related dilational structures deep within deformation zones. -from Authors