Aussie Gold: The geology behind lode and alluvial gold deposits and associated minerals in Western Australia Paperback – October 15, 2021

The concept for Aussie Gold originated from the Discovery Channels production of Aussie Gold Hunters TV series. The use of detectors in laterite soils and the excavation of calcrete soils, ferricrete soils, and occasional silcrete soils peaked an interest in how gold was transported and deposited from lode gold deposits in paleo-channels described on the show. To begin with, Western Australia was subjected to island arc collisions during the Archaen. Mafic and ultramafic rocks were mineralized during these collisions with various intrusive and deformation events metamorphosing basement rocks. Following this assembly of Western Australia, lode gold deposits were mineralized in the cratonic bedrock, was eroded, transported in paleo-channels, and was dissolved and reprecipitated in lateritic and calcrete pedogenic profiles.The Western Australian Shield is composed of two major cratons called the Pilbara and Yilgarn Cratons. The Yilgarn craton is composed of smaller terranes called the Kalgoorlie, Kurnalpi, Burtsville, and Yamarna terranes. These individual terranes make up the Eastern Goldfield Superterrane. Mountain belts uplifted when Pilbara and Yilgarn collided trapping basin terranes between them. Bedrock consists of greenstone, granitoid batholiths, related volcanics, and high grade gneissic terranes.Chapter 1 provides a brief overview of the paleogeographic evolution of continental Australia. Chapter 2 expands on this concept of Archaen geology in Western Australia. Chapter 3 presents a more detailed approach on the Western Australian Shield describing the Pilbara and Yilgarn geology and mineralization, Proterozoic rocks, Paleozoic cover sequences, and post Paleozoic cover in Western Australia. Chapter 4 focuses on the Yilgarn craton between Edjudina and Kanowna gold and mineral terranes. Chapter 5 begins discussion of alluvial gold origins, transport, and depositional geology. Chapter 6 describes paleo-channel characteristics of the Yilgarn craton. Chapter 7 presents pedogenic and ground water calcrete conditions. Chapter 8 discusses calcrete and mineral associations in Western Australia. Chapter 9 discusses mobilization of gold and silver in laterite soils. Chapter 10 ends the book with two case studies. The first case study addresses fingerprinting provenance of gold from the Kurnalpi Goldfield. The second case study addresses the Higginsville paleo-channel gold deposits. Read more