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Distribution of gold in the Earth’s crust

  • Chapter
Gold Metallogeny and Exploration

Abstract

The distribution of gold in the lithosphere bears critically on models for gold ore deposits. One group of workers advocates derivation of gold from large masses of rock through fluid—rock reactions in the deep crust (Kerrich, 1983; Groves and Phillips, 1987; Colvine et al., 1988) while others stress the importance of relatively restricted petrogenetic groups of rocks termed source rocks that concentrate gold above the norm (Viljoen et al., 1970; Keays, 1984). It is therefore important to know the average gold contents for rock types of the lithosphere, and what concentrations are potentially indicative of mineralization. Tilling et al. (1973) noted that unaltered igneous rocks generally have less than 5 parts per billion (ppb) gold and that 10 ppb is exceeded only rarely. A survey of more recent data presented here confirms that statement. As ore deposits may concentrate gold 104 times the rock background, gold contents of only a few tens of ppb may indicate ore-forming processes

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  1. Department of Geology, University of Southampton, UK

    R. P. Foster (Senior Lecturer in Economic Geology) (Senior Lecturer in Economic Geology)

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Crocket, J.H. (1993). Distribution of gold in the Earth’s crust. In: Foster, R.P. (eds) Gold Metallogeny and Exploration. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-2128-6_1

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