Hydrogeochemical prospecting of gold in an alpine bald mountain zone

Abstract

The investigation was conducted within highly and moderately separated highlands and high plateaus where glaciers, stone streams, solifluction, and glacial and fluvio-glacial deposits are widely developed. A capping of Miocene basalts remains in the divides over the Au ore deposits and their oxidation zones. Young water-filled fractures traverse the ore-bearing structures and control the direction of the glacial and river valleys, as well as the location of the lakes, springs, and icings. Gold occurs in small- to average-sized sulphide-Au-quartz veins and in a sulphidized black shale series of Precambrian and Paleozoic age. Both mechanical and hydromorphic dispersion of Au are exhibited clearly in the highlands. The latter is due to the processes of modern oxidation of the Au-bearing sulphide minerals. The anomalies of Au in streams and small lakes are related to supra- and sub-ice waters. In the water of streams Au is present in three forms; colloidal, dissolved, and sorbed. Gold in colloidal form comprises the most ample and contrasty anomalies. The truly dissolved Au is more local and manifests itself close to the source of the stream. Gold sorbed on suspended matter is evident because of a significant removal from the source into the solution. Migration of Au and formation of long (up to 2.5 km) and contrasty dispersions in waters of low dissolved solids is favoured by the presence of organic matter and argillaceous and ferruginous suspensions as well as other sorbents. The anomalies of Au in water either coincide with anomalies in stream sediments over mineralized zones or indicate new mineralized areas not reflected in stream sediments.