Structural Control of Gold Mineralization of the Central Part of the Malouralsky Volcano–Plutonic Belt (the Polar Urals), Based on an Analysis of Multispectral Images from the Landsat 8 Spacecraft

Abstract

The central part of the Malouralsky volcanic–plutonic belt, which includes the Manyukuyu–Vorchatinsky ore cluster, is analyzed using multispectral imagery from the Landsat-8 Earth remote sounding satellite with the aim of identifying gold deposits and compared with the Toupugol–Khanmeishor ore region. Similar features in the geological structure and location of deposits and ore deposits in the system of morphological structures are found that should help to develop predictive and prospecting indicators (geological and morphological) of gold mineralization. Three structures are distinguished via analysis of satellite images: the monogenic Novogodnenskaya structure (the Toupugol–Khanmeishorsky ore region) formed under the influence of one main geological process and morphostructures Nos. 1 and 2 (the central part of the Malouralsky volcanic–plutonic belt). These two structures are larger and more complex, with long multistage development. Magmatic chambers are located at depths of ~12 and ~16 km, respectively, for morphostructures Nos. 1 and 2; their root (focal) parts extended southward and then southwestward, respectively, during magmatic development. Prospecting for hydrothermal gold mineralization at the north of the eastern slope of the Polar Urals should be done at the periphery of the centers of large complex morphostructures with long and multistage development with signs of telescoping. Mineralization should be localized in areas of concentration of northwestern and/or northwestern lineaments and in regional fault zones that can be hundreds of kilometers long.