Genesis of sediment-hosted disseminated-gold deposits by fluid mixing and sulfidization: chemical-reaction-path modeling of ore- depositional processes documented in the Jerritt Canyon district, Nevada

Integrated geologic, geochemical, fluid-inclusion, and stable-isotope studies of the gold deposits in the Jerritt Canyon district, Nevada, provide evidence that gold deposition was a consequence of both fluid mixing and sulfidization of host-rock iron. Chemical-reaction-path models of these ore-depositional processes confirm that the combination of fluid mixing, including simultaneous cooling, dilution, and oxidation of the ore fluid, and wall-rock reaction, with sulfidization of reactive iron in the host rock, explains the disseminated nature and small size of the gold and the alteration zonation, mineralogy, and geochemistry observed at Jerritt Canyon and at many other sediment-hosted disseminated gold deposits. -Authors