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Electron microprobe data for monazite and xenotime used in consideration of gold deposit formation models (ver. 2.0, May 2023)

Metadata Updated: July 6, 2024

The genetic origin of many gold deposits, including Pogo in Alaska, remains controversial with questions as to whether they formed due to magmatic-hydrothermal or metamorphic-hydrothermal fluids. Gaining a better understanding of the formation mechanisms for these deposits is critical for defining proper exploration criteria in gold-bearing regions and production within these deposits. Monazite are light rare earth (LREE)-bearing and xenotime are heavy rare earth (HREE)-bearing phosphate minerals that are found as alteration products in many gold deposits. In addition to their importance in geochronological investigations, their minor element chemistry may be used to differentiate between metamorphic, magmatic, diagenetic, and hydrothermal origin. This data release provides electron microprobe geochemical data that is used to showcase differences in these phosphates when derived from magmatic-hydrothermal systems compared to metamorphic-hydrothermal systems. The electron microprobe data was collected by personnel of the Central Region Minerals Program in Denver, Colorado, for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Mineral Resources Program (MRP). Appreciable differences in chemistry were noted for deposits associated with alkaline magmatic systems (Taurus, AK, and Cripple Creek, CO), calc-alkaline magmatic systems (Pebble, AK, and Butte, MT), and orogenic gold systems derived from metamorphic-hydrothermal systems (systems from Grass Valley, the Mother Lode, and the Klamath Mountains in CA). These characteristics were then applied to the controversially classified Pogo gold deposit, Alaska, in order to provide evidence for how it formed. Following initial study, new electron microprobe geochemical data for this updated data release were collected from reduced intrusion-related gold deposits at the Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry Science Center in Denver, Colorado, to add to the database. This new data allows better comparison between gold deposits formed from reduced magmatic-hydrothermal fluids, oxidized magmatic-hydrothermal fluids, and metamorphic-hydrothermal fluids.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

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Dates

Metadata Created Date May 31, 2023
Metadata Updated Date July 6, 2024

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI EDI

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date May 31, 2023
Metadata Updated Date July 6, 2024
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
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Identifier USGS:59fb43c2e4b0531197b16283
Data Last Modified 20230516
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://datainventory.doi.gov/data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id 20638e21-f08e-47c1-9501-926e77b1f511
Harvest Source Id 52bfcc16-6e15-478f-809a-b1bc76f1aeda
Harvest Source Title DOI EDI
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial -158.12,37.94,-105.14,64.45
Publisher Hierarchy White House > U.S. Department of the Interior > U.S. Geological Survey
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 12fe579da73f1a22f7160075db6d3c0e477c114901d8eac7f3bfe122fade445c
Source Schema Version 1.1
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