Project Information
- Ore Deposit: Orogenic gold, Placer gold
- Commodity: Gold
- Research Themes: Regional Metallogeny
- Location: Klondike gold fields, Yukon territory, Canada
- Project Status: Active
- Researchers: Tyler Ambrose
- Start Date: 2017
- End Date: 2019
The Klondike Gold Fields in western Yukon produced >13 million ounces of placer gold but hard-rock deposits remain undiscovered. Exploration success has been hindered by the lack of a robust geological and structural framework. This project will use structural mapping and thermochronological studies to produce a new structural map for the Klondike and new constraints on the Mesozoic structural and thermal history of the Yukon-Tanana terrane (YTT).
Previous structural studies in the Klondike region have been fairly limited in geographic scope, and have not framed vein formation in regional tectonic-structural context. Late Permian rocks of the Yukon-Tanana terrane (YTT) are an important regional metallotect, especially for gold (Klondike, White Gold, Supremo). Most (all?) of the veins in the Klondike schist are kinematically related to progressive coaxial deformation of earlier fold features. Placing veins in the regional deformation context will provide new predictive insights into vein geometries and kinematics.
This project will:
- ground-truth structures inferred from geophysics;
- link geometries and kinematics of rock fabrics, veins, faults, and shear zones; and
- establish the timing of regional exhumation and erosional unroofing through thermochronological studies.
Contributions will include a new structural map for the Klondike and new constraints on the Mesozoic structural and thermal history of the Yukon-Tanana terrane.
Contact Murray Allan for more information.
