Modelling the role of graphite in development of a mineralised mid-crustal shear zone, Macraes mine, New Zealand

Abstract

The Hyde–Macraes Shear Zone (HMSZ) is a mineralised low-angle shear within the Otago Schist traceable for ∼ 30 km with a NW strike. It is being actively mined along 12 km of this strike, producing > 6 Moz of gold. The shear zone formed under lower greenschist facies conditions as the host schist was uplifted through the brittle–ductile transition. Sheared rocks consist of greenschist facies schists with mineralogy only subtly different from that of the host schist. Pervasive fluid flow has occurred along grain boundaries and within microshears whose development has been enhanced by the deposition of hydrothermal graphite. We model the development of these microshears using a three-dimensional numerical code. For an inhomogeneous initial rock with lithostatic fluid pressures and a dynamic permeability deformed under dextral non-coaxial flow, deformation is distributed into weak shear bands. Graphite deposition and associated reaction-softening have a dramatic effect on the development of model shear zones. Graphite is deposited into a shear band, weakening it and further localising the deformation into that shear band, producing an anastomosing and interconnected shear zone structure such as observed in the HMSZ. The degrees of graphite precipitation and graphite-induced weakening are varied in the models. Graphite precipitation with a low degree of reaction-softening results in more diffuse shear bands. In contrast less graphite deposition but with a high degree of reaction-softening leads to the development of more focused shear bands. Graphite deposition has clearly controlled the formation of the HMSZ structure, and is an important indicator of potentially mineralised mid-crustal structures elsewhere.