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A Continental to Profile Scale Study of Regolith Carbonates and Their Association with Gold Mineralisation

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A Continental to Profile Scale Study of Regolith Carbonates and Their Association with Gold Mineralisation Gold-in-calcrete: A continental to profile scale study of regolith carbonates and their association with gold mineralisation Robert Charles Dart, B.AppSc (Hons) Geology and Geophysics School of Earth and Environmental Sciences The University of Adelaide Thesis submitted as fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Science, University of Adelaide March 2009 Contents LIST OF FIGURES............................................................................................................................................ IV LIST OF TABLES........................................................................................................................................... VIII ABSTRACT......................................................................................................................................................... IX ORIGINALITY STATEMENT...........................................................................................................................X ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................................... XI DEFINITION OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ........................................................................ XIII PUBLICATIONS AND CONFERENCE ABSTRACTS DERIVED FROM THIS THESIS RESEARCH ........................................................................................................................................................................... XIV INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................................1 1.1. PROJECT OVERVIEW...............................................................................................................................1 1.2. REGOLITH TERMINOLOGY USED IN THIS THESIS .....................................................................................2 1.3. RESEARCH OUTLINE AND THESIS STRUCTURE........................................................................................4 1.3.1. Module 1: Source of calcium in regolith carbonates.......................................................................5 1.3.2. Module 2: Calcrete-gold in the landscape: Regolith-landform controls at Tunkillia, South Australia.........................................................................................................................................................5 1.3.3. Module 3: Gold in the regolith profile: Pedogenic controls at White Dam, South Australia ..........6 1.4. SUMMARY OF PROJECT AIMS .................................................................................................................6 REGOLITH CARBONATES AND THEIR USE IN MINERAL EXPLORATION.......................................9 2.1. INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................................9 2.2. REGOLITH CARBONATE AS A SAMPLING MEDIUM.................................................................................11 2.3. THE REGOLITH ENVIRONMENT IN RELATION TO REGOLITH CARBONATE AND GOLD.............................14 2.4. CALCIUM: CHEMICAL, BIOLOGICAL, AND PHYSICAL CONTROLS IN THE REGOLITH ..............................17 2.5. GOLD: CHEMICAL, BIOLOGICAL, AND PHYSICAL CONTROLS IN THE REGOLITH ....................................20 2.6. REGOLITH CARBONATES AND GOLD: WHAT DO WE KNOW?.................................................................27 2.7. CONCLUSION .......................................................................................................................................28 METHODOLOGY ..............................................................................................................................................29 3.1. INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................................29 3.2. SAMPLE COLLECTION AND HANDLING .................................................................................................29 3.2.1. Profile sampling.............................................................................................................................30 3.2.2. Regolith carbonate sampling .........................................................................................................31 3.3. MODULE 1: SOURCE OF CALCIUM IN REGOLITH CARBONATES .............................................................32 3.4. MODULE 2: CALCRETE-GOLD IN THE LANDSCAPE ...............................................................................33 3.5. MODULE 3: GOLD IN THE REGOLITH PROFILE ......................................................................................34 3.5.1. Mass balance analysis ...................................................................................................................35 3.5.2. Particle-size separation .................................................................................................................37 3.5.3. Bulk density....................................................................................................................................42 3.5.4. Measuring the carbonate concentration (calcimetry)....................................................................43 3.5.5. Density separation .........................................................................................................................45 3.5.6. Electrical conductivity and pH.......................................................................................................46 3.5.7. Electron Microscopy......................................................................................................................46 3.6. SPECIALIST SAMPLE PREPARATION AND ANALYSIS..............................................................................49 3.6.1. Impregnation of in-situ samples.....................................................................................................50 3.6.2. Petrological thin section preparation ............................................................................................50 3.6.3. Inductively coupled plasma – mass spectrometry (ICP MS)/ optical emission spectrometry (ICP OES) and fire assay / atomic absorption (FAA)...........................................................................................50 3.6.4. Instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) ..........................................................................50 3.6.5. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) ................................................................51 SOURCE OF CALCIUM IN REGOLITH CARBONATES ...........................................................................53 i 4.1. CALCIUM IN REGOLITH CARBONATES OF CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN AUSTRALIA: ITS SOURCE AND IMPLICATIONS FOR THE GLOBAL CARBON CYCLE............................................................................................... 53 4.1.1. Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... 53 4.1.2. Introduction................................................................................................................................... 53 4.1.3. Geology of sample areas ............................................................................................................... 55 4.1.4. Methodology.................................................................................................................................. 55 4.1.5. Results ........................................................................................................................................... 58 4.1.6. Discussion ..................................................................................................................................... 61 4.1.7. Conclusion..................................................................................................................................... 65 4.2. THE SOURCE OF CALCIUM THROUGH THE REGOLITH PROFILE.............................................................. 66 4.2.1. Profile descriptions ....................................................................................................................... 66 4.2.2. Strontium isotope variation through the profiles........................................................................... 66 4.2.3. Discussion ..................................................................................................................................... 70 4.3. SYNTHESIS: MOBILITY OF CALCIUM IN SOUTHERN AUSTRALIA .......................................................... 72 CALCRETE-GOLD IN THE LANDSCAPE: REGOLITH-LANDFORM CONTROLS AT TUNKILLIA, SOUTH AUSTRALIA ........................................................................................................................................ 77 5.1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................... 77 5.2. GEOLOGY OF THE TUNKILLIA AU DEPOSIT AND SURROUNDING REGION ............................................. 80 5.3. REGOLITH-LANDFORMS AND VEGETATION OF THE TUNKILLIA AREA .................................................. 81 5.4. PALAEO-LANDSCAPE: HISTORY OF THE TUNKILLIA LANDSCAPE ........................................................
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