Variscan cycling of gold into a global coal reservoir

John Parnell

doi:10.1016/j.oregeorev.2019.103158

Variscan cycling of gold into a global coal reservoir

John Parnell^* (Corresponding Author)

^*Corresponding author for this work

Geology and Geophysics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

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Abstract

The potential of coal and coal ash as a source of strategically and/or commercially valuable trace elements, including gold, is reflected in numerous analytical studies, reports to government, patents for new technology and the first commercial extraction facilities. It is shown here that there was a particular predisposition to the concentration of gold in the Upper Carboniferous (313–304 Ma) Carboniferous coals that dominate coal supplies in the northern hemisphere. Coal was deposited in foreland and other basins adjacent to the actively colliding Variscan-Alleghanian Orogen, while the orogenic belt was mineralized by gold ore from 410 to 310 Ma over 10,000 km from the Appalachians to China. High gold fertility in the orogenic belt, the additional concentration of gold along shear zones during transpression, and either rapid erosion (>1 km/Myr) of the orogenic belt into adjacent basins or hydrothermal mineralization of the basins, made the coals a trap for the consequent flux of gold. This cycling of gold is evidenced by enriched coal and gold palaeoplacers in coal-bearing sequences in numerous basins along the orogen. Provenance data, especially detrital zircon ages of 350–300 Ma, help to identify successions that were sourced from gold-rich terrains, and thus can focus the search for anomalously enriched coal.

Original language	English
Article number	103158
Journal	Ore Geology Reviews
Volume	114
Early online date	3 Oct 2019
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oregeorev.2019.103158
Publication status	Published - Nov 2019

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This project is in support of the NERC SoS (Security of Supply of Critical Elements) programme, under Grant NE/M010953/1 . J. Johnston and J. Bowie provided skilled technical help. The manuscript benefitted from incisive reviews by N. Moles, Y. Wu, Carmine, and an anonymous reviewer, whose advice is much appreciated.

Funding Information:
This project is in support of the NERC SoS (Security of Supply of Critical Elements) programme, under Grant NE/M010953/1. J. Johnston and J. Bowie provided skilled technical help. The manuscript benefitted from incisive reviews by N. Moles, Y. Wu, Carmine, and an anonymous reviewer, whose advice is much appreciated.

Keywords

Coal
Gold
Provenance
Selenium
Variscides

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Parnell_OGR_Variscan_cycling_gold_VOR
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Cite this

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title = "Variscan cycling of gold into a global coal reservoir",

abstract = "The potential of coal and coal ash as a source of strategically and/or commercially valuable trace elements, including gold, is reflected in numerous analytical studies, reports to government, patents for new technology and the first commercial extraction facilities. It is shown here that there was a particular predisposition to the concentration of gold in the Upper Carboniferous (313–304 Ma) Carboniferous coals that dominate coal supplies in the northern hemisphere. Coal was deposited in foreland and other basins adjacent to the actively colliding Variscan-Alleghanian Orogen, while the orogenic belt was mineralized by gold ore from 410 to 310 Ma over 10,000 km from the Appalachians to China. High gold fertility in the orogenic belt, the additional concentration of gold along shear zones during transpression, and either rapid erosion (>1 km/Myr) of the orogenic belt into adjacent basins or hydrothermal mineralization of the basins, made the coals a trap for the consequent flux of gold. This cycling of gold is evidenced by enriched coal and gold palaeoplacers in coal-bearing sequences in numerous basins along the orogen. Provenance data, especially detrital zircon ages of 350–300 Ma, help to identify successions that were sourced from gold-rich terrains, and thus can focus the search for anomalously enriched coal.",

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note = "Funding Information: This project is in support of the NERC SoS (Security of Supply of Critical Elements) programme, under Grant NE/M010953/1 . J. Johnston and J. Bowie provided skilled technical help. The manuscript benefitted from incisive reviews by N. Moles, Y. Wu, Carmine, and an anonymous reviewer, whose advice is much appreciated. Funding Information: This project is in support of the NERC SoS (Security of Supply of Critical Elements) programme, under Grant NE/M010953/1. J. Johnston and J. Bowie provided skilled technical help. The manuscript benefitted from incisive reviews by N. Moles, Y. Wu, Carmine, and an anonymous reviewer, whose advice is much appreciated. ",

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AB - The potential of coal and coal ash as a source of strategically and/or commercially valuable trace elements, including gold, is reflected in numerous analytical studies, reports to government, patents for new technology and the first commercial extraction facilities. It is shown here that there was a particular predisposition to the concentration of gold in the Upper Carboniferous (313–304 Ma) Carboniferous coals that dominate coal supplies in the northern hemisphere. Coal was deposited in foreland and other basins adjacent to the actively colliding Variscan-Alleghanian Orogen, while the orogenic belt was mineralized by gold ore from 410 to 310 Ma over 10,000 km from the Appalachians to China. High gold fertility in the orogenic belt, the additional concentration of gold along shear zones during transpression, and either rapid erosion (>1 km/Myr) of the orogenic belt into adjacent basins or hydrothermal mineralization of the basins, made the coals a trap for the consequent flux of gold. This cycling of gold is evidenced by enriched coal and gold palaeoplacers in coal-bearing sequences in numerous basins along the orogen. Provenance data, especially detrital zircon ages of 350–300 Ma, help to identify successions that were sourced from gold-rich terrains, and thus can focus the search for anomalously enriched coal.

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ER -

Variscan cycling of gold into a global coal reservoir

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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