| Title | The Westwood Deposit, Southern Abitibi Greenstone Belt, Canada: An Archean Au-rich Polymetallic Magmatic-Hydrothermal System - Part 1. Volcanic Architecture, Deformation and Metamorphism |
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| Author | Yergeau, D; Mercier-Langevin, P; Dubé, B; Malo, M; Savoie, A |
| Source | Economic Geology vol. 117, issue 3, 2022 p. 545-575, https://doi.org/10.5382/econgeo.4878 |
| Image |  |
| Year | 2022 |
| Alt Series | Natural Resources Canada, Contribution Series 20180111 |
| Publisher | Society of Economic Geologists |
| Document | serial |
| Lang. | English |
| Media | on-line; digital |
| File format | pdf |
| Province | Quebec |
| NTS | 32D |
| Lat/Long WENS | -80.0000 -78.0000 49.0000 48.0000 |
| Subjects | surficial geology/geomorphology; volcanic studies; volcanology; deformation; metamorphism; Westwood Deposit |
| Illustrations | location maps; schematic diagrams; distribution diagrams; tables; photographs; stereonet projections; ternary diagrams; diagrams |
| Program | Targeted Geoscience Initiative (TGI-5) Gold systems |
| Released | 2022 05 01 |
| Abstract | The Westwood deposit (4.5 Moz Au) is hosted in the 2699-2695 Ma Bousquet Formation volcanic and intrusive rocks, in the eastern part of the Blake River Group, southern Abitibi greenstone belt. The
Bousquet Formation is divided in two geochemically distinct members: a mafic to intermediate, tholeiitic to transitional lower member and an intermediate to felsic, transitional to calc-alkaline upper member. The Bousquet Formation is cut by the
synvolcanic (2699-2696 Ma) polyphase Mooshla Intrusive Complex, which is cogenetic with the Bousquet Formation. The deposit contains three strongly deformed (D2 flattening and stretching), steeply S-dipping mineralized corridors that are stacked from
north to south: Zone 2 Extension, North Corridor, and Westwood Corridor. The North and Westwood corridors are composed of Au-rich polymetallic sulfide veins and stratabound to stratiform disseminated to massive sulfide ore zones that are spatially
and genetically associated with the calcalkaline, intermediate to felsic volcanic rocks of the upper Bousquet Formation. The formation of the disseminated to semimassive ore zones is interpreted as strongly controlled by the replacement of porous
volcaniclastic rocks at the contact with more impermeable massive cap rocks that helped confine the upflow of mineralizing fluids. The massive sulfide lenses are spatially associated with dacitic to rhyolitic domes and are interpreted as being
formed, at least in part, on the paleoseafloor. The epizonal, sulfide-quartz vein-type ore zones of the Zone 2 Extension are associated with the injection of subvolcanic, calc-alkaline felsic sills and dikes within the lower Bousquet Formation. These
subvolcanic intrusive rocks, previously interpreted as lava flows, are cogenetic and coeval with the intermediate to felsic lava flows and domes of the upper Bousquet Formation. The change from fractional crystallization to assimilation- and
fractional crystallization-dominated processes and transitional to calc-alkaline magmatism is interpreted to be responsible for the development of the auriferous ore-forming system. The Westwood deposit is similar to some Phanerozoic Au ± base
metal-rich magmatichydrothermal systems, both in terms of local volcano-plutonic architecture and inferred petrogenetic context. The complex volcanic evolution of the host sequence at Westwood, combined with its proximity to a polyphaser synvolcanic
intrusive complex, led to the development of one of the few known large Archean subaqueous Aurich magmatic-hydrothermal systems. |
| Summary | (Plain Language Summary, not published)
This contribution presents a geoscientific documentation of the geology of the Westwood polymetallic deposit located in the Abitibi-Temiscamingue region
of northwestern Quebec. The nature (composition and distribution) of the rocks hosting the deposit is described, and the modifications due to superimposed tectonic deformation 2.7 billion years ago on the deposit are also explained. |
| GEOSCAN ID | 308343 |
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