USGS Professional Paper 1697 - Alaska Resources Library
USGS Professional Paper 1697 - Alaska Resources Library
USGS Professional Paper 1697 - Alaska Resources Library
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The origin of the Hg deposits of the Sakhalin island belt<br />
is not clear. Silica-carbonate Hg deposits are classically interpreted<br />
as related to thrust faults in or near subduction zones<br />
(J.J. Rutuba, in Cox and Singer, 1986). However, the nearest<br />
late Tertiary subduction zone occurred a few hundred km to<br />
the east, east of the Kuril arc, which has been active since the<br />
late Tertiary (Nokleberg and others, 1994c, 1997c). The Hg<br />
deposits of the Sakhalin island metallogenic belt may have<br />
multiple origins. Some of the silica-carbonate Hg deposits<br />
may have formed during late Tertiary back-arc rifting and<br />
formation of the Sakhalin-Primorye alkali basalts and related<br />
igneous rocks. Some or all of the in the belt deposits may have<br />
formed in the back arc portions of the late Tertiary through<br />
Holocene Kuril arc (Nokleberg and others, 2000).<br />
Kuril Metallogenic Belt of Au-Ag Epithermal<br />
Vein, Cu-Pb-Zn Polymetallic Vein, Sn Silica-<br />
Sulfide Vein, Sn Vein, Sulfur-Sulfide (volcanic<br />
S), Kuroko Massive Sulfide, and Porphyry Mo<br />
Deposits (Belt KU) Kuril Islands, East-Central<br />
Part of Russian Far East<br />
The Kuril metallogenic belt of Au-Ag epithermal vein,<br />
Cu-Pb-Zn polymetallic vein, Sn silica-sulfide vein, sulfursulfide<br />
(volcanic S), kuroko massive sulfide, and porphyry<br />
Mo deposits (fig. 125; tables 3, 4) occurs in the Kuril<br />
volcanic arc in the east-central part of the Russian Far East.<br />
The belt contains a wide variety of volcanic and hypabyssal-related<br />
deposits (table 4) (Nokleberg and others 1997a,b,<br />
1998)—(1) sulfur-sulfide (volcanic S) deposits at Ebeko,<br />
Golovninskoe, Krishtofovich Volcano, Novoe, Vysokoe,<br />
and Zaozernoe, (2) Au-Ag (Zn) epithermal vein deposits at<br />
Prasolovskoe, Rifovoe, Sernaya River, and Sofya, (3) Cu-<br />
Pb-Zn polymetallic vein deposits at Dushnoe, Koshkina, and<br />
Tet’yaevskoe, (4) Sn silica-sulfide vein and Sn vein deposits<br />
at Rudnikovskoe and Spiridonovskoe, (5) porphyry Mo<br />
deposits at the Carpinsky caldera and Reidovskoe, and (6) a<br />
kuroko Cu-Pb-Zn deposit at Valentinovskoe. The principal<br />
Au-Ag epithermal vein and polymetallic, Sn, and Sn silicasulfide<br />
vein deposits are interpreted as forming during late<br />
Neogene during aerial volcanism (Shcheglov and others,<br />
1984). The small occurrences of kuroko-type massive sulfide<br />
deposits are interpreted as forming during early Miocene<br />
seafloor volcanism. The volcanic S deposits are interpreted<br />
as forming during the construction of Quaternary volcanic<br />
cones and fields. The Au-Ag epithermal vein and the volcanic<br />
S deposits are of potential economic interest.<br />
Novoe Sulfur-Sulfide (Volcanic S) Deposit<br />
The Novoe sulfur-sulfide (Volcanic S) deposit<br />
(Petrachenko, 1967) occurs in a flat-lying sequence, about 500<br />
to 400 m thick, of andesite, andesite-basalt, and related tuff.<br />
The sequence crops out in scarps of a 2 km-wide erosional<br />
depression. Some ore bodies are controlled by faults. The<br />
Middle Tertiary Metallogenic Belts (20 to 10 Ma) (figs. 125, 126) 281<br />
sulfur ore occurs in hydrothermally altered silicified rock,<br />
with opalite, alunite, and kaolinite. All altered rocks in the<br />
deposit contain some sulfur, but the higher-grade ores contain<br />
opalite, silicified rock, and alunite. Secondary minerals are<br />
barite, gypsum, marcasite, pyrite (as much as 15 percent), and<br />
molybdenite. The age of mineralization is Pliocene and Quaternary.<br />
The deposit is large. Average grades are as much as 20<br />
to 80 percent S and as much as 0.5 percent MoS 2. The deposit<br />
contains about 5 million tonnes sulfur.<br />
Prasolovskoe Au-Ag Epithermal Vein Deposit<br />
The Prasolovskoe Au-Ag epithermal vein deposit<br />
(Danchenko, 1991) consists of ore veins that are mostly<br />
steeply dipping , and range from 2 to 3 m thick, with a few as<br />
much as 10 m thick. The veins consist mainly of banded metacolloidal<br />
gold, telluride, and quartz veins that contain as much<br />
as 1-3 percent ore minerals. The deposit exhibits a vertical<br />
succession of assemblages. From bottom to top the assemblages<br />
are (1) gold-cassiterite-quartz, (2) polysulfide-quartz,<br />
(3) gold-telluride-quartz, and (4) gold-adularia (carbonate)quartz.<br />
The dominant ore minerals are pyrite, chalcopyrite,<br />
bornite, chalcocite, covellite, and sphalerite. Arsenopyrite,<br />
molybdenite, cassiterite, galena, argentite, native silver, gold,<br />
hessite, naumannite, and goldfieldite are also abundant. Limonite,<br />
covellite, malachite, and azurite occur in an oxidized<br />
zone. The ore bodies are explored to a depth of over 200 m.<br />
An area 1.5 by 0.5 km is propylitically altered and impregnated<br />
with pyrite as well as numerous quartz veinlets with epidote,<br />
sericite, adularia, chlorite, calcite, and rare barite. Earlier<br />
veinlet and disseminated ore is related to Miocene intrusions.<br />
The later Au-Ag ore is related to the Pliocene volcano-plutonic<br />
complex. The deposit is associated with Pliocene plagiogranite<br />
and quartz diorite that intrude early and middle Miocene<br />
pyroclastic green tuff deposits. The deposit is of medium size<br />
and was mined before the 1990’s.<br />
Koshkina Cu-Pb-Zn Polymetallic Vein Deposit<br />
The small Koshkina Cu-Pb-Zn polymetallic vein deposit<br />
(Petrachenko, 1978) consists of ore bodies as much as 200 m<br />
long that occur hydrothermally altered rock types outside a<br />
granodiorite and diorite intrusion. The ore bodies consist of<br />
areas of closely spaced sericitized and hydromicatized veins<br />
and veinlets with variable composition. Mineral assemblages<br />
in veins and veinlets are quartz-tourmaline, quartz-chloritesericite,<br />
chlorite-carbonate with zeolites, and quartz-chloriteepidote.<br />
The ore minerals are chalcopyrite, cleiophane, galena,<br />
stibnite, realgar, orpiment, arsenopyrite, pyrite, marcasite,<br />
hematite, and magnetite. Polymetallic and antimony-arsenic<br />
ores are spatially separated and various alterations. The<br />
mineralogy and metal content of the deposit vary widely. The<br />
deposit occurs on the northern part of Shumshu Island and<br />
covers an area of approximately 5 km2 . The deposit is hosted<br />
in heavily altered early to middle Miocene volcanic rocks<br />
that are intruded by numerous extrusive and intrusive rocks,<br />
all part of a volcano-plutonic complex. Host rocks are pro-