Page 6 - Handbook of Gold Exploration and Evaluation

Contents

Foreword ix
Preface xi

Acknowledgements xv

1 Nature and history of gold 1
1.1 Gold mineralogy 1
1.2 Gold through the ages 32

2 Geology of gold ore deposits 62
2.1 Crustal evolution 63
2.2 Tectonic elements of plate movements 80
2.3 Hydrothermal gold systems 101
2.4 Gold deposition in volcanic terrain 111
2.5 Provenance 126
2.6 Time rate of unroofing ore bodies 128

3 Gold deposition in the weathering environment 134
3.1 The plate tectonic rock cycle 134
3.2 Earth's atmosphere and climate 143
3.3 Agents of weathering 162
3.4 Weathering processes 169
3.5 Landscape denudation 173
3.6 Low-temperature aqueous geochemistry 179

4 Sedimentation and detrital gold 195
4.1 Sediment characteristics 195
4.2 Fluvial hydrology 205
4.3 Drainage systems 215