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Project status is complete. Please check the CMRT project list for currently active projects.

Metallogeny of the Great Basin: Crustal Evolution, Fluid Flow, and Ore Deposits

Project Objectives

Key objectives of this project were

  1. synthesis of the enormous amount of information generated over past decades in the Great Basin by the USGS, States, academia, mining and petroleum industry into an atlas of digital maps, cross sections, and relational databases,
  2. these maps, sections and databases augmented and combined with new information from critical topical or geographic areas to address fundamental problems of ore genesis for a variety of ore deposit types,
  3. a digital 4-D geologic model constructed in northern Nevada that encompasses the major mineral belts,
  4. detailed 4-D models constructed for large mining districts such as the Carlin trend,
  5. the 4-D models used to reconstruct the geology for important periods of ore formation on regional and district scales, and
  6. the resulting 3-D reconstructions the foundation for numerical models of fluid flow, metal transport, and ore deposition.

Relevance & Impact

The geologic maps, sections, data bases, 4-D models and reconstructions produced by this project will be valuable products in their own right and will increase understanding of the geology of the Great Basin and the relation of ore deposits to its tectonic history. Documentation of the spatial and temporal relationships between ore deposits of different types and ages together with the fluid flow and chemical modeling results will result in an improved understanding of the fundamental controls on metallogeny in this world class gold province and the roles of crustal structures and inheritance in mineral belts. The identification of these controls and the methods of study developed during the course of this project are exportable to other regions of interest and should be of value to future metallogenic and assessment studies at home and abroad. Further, resulting data and interpretations, in particular an information bank on areas in the Great Basin likely to receive focused attention from the mining industry in the future, will provide scientific syntheses highly relevant to decision makers in other Federal, State, and Local agencies.

Project Chiefs:

Albert Hofstra Box 25046 MS 973
Denver, CO 80225
303-236-5530
Email Albert Hofstra
Alan R. Wallace Mackay School of Earth Sciences, MS 176
Reno, NV 89557
775-784-5789
Email Alan Wallace

Products

Other products are listed according to task:

Tasks Title
Task 1 4-D geologic model of northern Nevada mineral belts and Atlas of Great Basin geology and ore deposits
Task 2 Neogene tectonics, ore deposits, and Middle Miocene reconstruction
Task 3 Paleogene tectonics, ore deposits, and Late Eocene reconstruction
Task 4 Mesozoic-Cenozoic plutons and pluton-related ore deposits
Task 5 Late Paleozoic to Early Tertiary Contractional Deformation
Task 6 Paleozoic passive margin carbonate platform: Stratigraphic, sedimentologic, petrographic, and structural relationships to syngenetic ore deposits
Task 7 Precambrian crust/mantle domains, crustal faults, and ore deposits
Task 8 District scale geologic, fluid flow, and geochemical models

Task 1 - 4-D geologic model of northern Nevada mineral belts and atlas of Great Basin geology and ore deposits

Presentations

Reports

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Task 2 - Neogene tectonics, ore deposits, and Middle Miocene reconstruction

Presentations

Maps

Reports

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Task 3 - Paleogene tectonics, ore deposits, and Late Eocene reconstruction

Posters

Presentations

Maps

Reports

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Task 4 - Mesozoic-Cenozoic plutons and pluton-related ore deposits

Presentations

Reports

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Task 5 - Late Paleozoic to Early Tertiary Contractional Deformation

Presentations

Maps

Reports

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Task 6 - Paleozoic passive margin carbonate platform: Stratigraphic, sedimentologic, petrographic, and structural relationships to syngenetic ore deposits

Presentations

Reports

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Task 7 - Precambrian crust/mantle domains, crustal faults, and ore deposits

Presentations and Posters

Reports

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Task 8 - District scale geologic, fluid flow, and geochemical models

Presentations

Reports

Workshops

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Related Links

USGS Great Basin Integrated Landscape Monitoring (GBILM) Pilot

 Mineral Resources Eastern /  Central /  Western /  Alaska /  Minerals Information
Crustal Imaging & Characterization /  Spatial Data

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