The relationship between the McLaughlin gold–mercury deposit and active hydrothermal systems in the Geysers–Clear Lake area, northern Coast Ranges, California

Abstract

The Geysers–Clear Lake area has a long history of research on its active hydrothermal systems. It is a unique area containing a number of hydrothermal systems which include: the Geysers steam field, one of the largest vapor-dominated geothermal systems yet recognized; the McLaughlin gold deposit, an extremely well preserved hot-spring style gold deposit; and the Sulphur Bank mercury deposit, one of the first locations where geothermal systems were recognized as modern analogues to epithermal deposits. There is also a variety of active hot- and mineral-springs, including Wilbur Springs, or the Sulphur Creek district, which has been considered one of the type localities for connate fluids. The McLaughlin gold–mercury deposit is a fossil hot-spring system dominated by meteoric waters that exchanged with sedimentary rocks of the Great Valley sequence. Mineralization was syntectonic, occurring contemporaneously with fault movement. The fluids circulated in syntectonic dilation zones that resulted in, and maintained, high permeability of the fluid conduits permitting large volumes of fluid flow. The fluids precipitated metals in response to physical and chemical changes associated with boiling. The hydrothermal fluids that formed the McLaughlin deposit have the highest reservoir temperature, salinity and are isotopically the most enriched, of the Coast Range hydrothermal systems. The McLaughlin deposit is considered an end-member “fluid-dominated” hydrothermal system. The Geysers steam field, in its earliest phase was likely similar to the McLaughlin deposit being fluid-dominated and forming, at least on a small scale, a vein system enriched in silver and anomalous in gold, base metals, antimony and mercury. The hydrothermal system evolved into a vapor-dominated system as a result of decreased permeability of the reservoir, decreased recharge and/or increased heat flow. The modern day reservoir is encapsulated in impermeable rocks and is a “vapor-dominated” end-member hydrothermal system. Active hot- and mineral-springs in the Coast Ranges of northern California are intermediate between the fluid- and vapor-dominated end-member systems. The chemical and isotopic compositions of these fluids are the result of thermal processes and are not explained by simple mixing models between connate fluids and meteoric groundwater. Their isotopic and chemical composition is best explained by meteoric-dominated systems with repeated non-equilibrium subsurface vapor loss (evaporation) in a near closed system, with the relative deuterium and 18O enrichment proportional to the reservoir temperature.