Base- and precious-metal deposits in the Basin and Range of Southern California and Southern Nevada - Metallogenic implications of lead isotope studies

摘要

Southern California and southern Nevada contain abundant lead-zinc deposits with strikingly different characteristics. On the west, the Darwin Terrane contains abundant Jurassic and Cretaceous intrusions surrounded by lead-zinc skarn and replacement deposits rich in pyrite and manganese minerals. The Tecopa Terrane is east of the Darwin Terrane and contains some lead deposits that are hosted by the Proterozoic Noonday Dolomite. These lead deposits have no consistent relation to igneous rocks; they contain mainly galena, and are devoid of pyrite and manganese minerals. Other skarn and vein deposits in the Ivanpah and Tecopa districts are more closely associated with igneous rocks. Mississippi Valley type lead-zinc deposits are present still farther to the east in the Goodsprings Terrane in Nevada. These deposits are hosted by breccias formed below the Mississippian-Pennsylvanian unconformity and are unrelated to igneous rocks.