Eleventh Annual V. M.

Goldschmidt Conference (2001)

3331.pdf

Genesis of a very young gold mineralization in the Noya geothermal area, Kyushu, Japan. Y. Morishita1 and
N. Takeno1, 1Geological Survey of Japan (No. 7 Higashi 1-1-1, Tsukuba 305-8567 Japan. yuichi@gsj.go.jp).

Introduction: We have recognized gold mineralization (gold bearing calcite-adularia-quartz veins) from
drill cores in the Noya geothermal area, located in the
ENE-WSW trending Beppu-Shimabara graben, central
Kyushu, Japan. Many hot springs and fumaroles as
well as zones of hydrothermal alteration are present in
the graben. The Noya area is located on the marginal
zone of a cauldron. The area also falls on the shoulder
of a positive Bouguer gravity anomaly which is centered approximately 3 km northeast of the deposit.
Gold mineralization and geochemistry: Many
calcite-adularia-quartz veins were found at a depth of
160 to 220 m below the surface in drill hole 51-WT-1.
The veins are white in color, and are virtually sulfidefree (Fig. 1). High calcite contents (70 wt.% on average) are characteristic of the gold-bearing veins. The
host rock is mainly composed of andesitic lapilli tuff
which has been altered to propylite. Additional 24
drills have revealed that the gold concentration in the
veins ranges from 0.1 to 400 ppm and the spatial size
of the gold mineralization zone expands 1500m by
600m at 400 to 550m above sea level. A K-Ar age of
0.370.01 Ma was obtained from an adularia-rich vein
sample with a gold content of 6 ppm. The vein-type
deposit is blind because of its young formation age,
which is younger than those of most epithermal deposits. In the vicinity of the Noya area there are andesitic
volcanic rocks of Pleistocene age (0.5~0.4 Ma), which
is supposed to be an effusive phase of the source
magma for the ore-forming hydrothermal system.
The down hole temperature of the hydrothermal fluid
in drill hole 51-WT-1 is 150C at a depth of 200 m.
Homogenization temperatures of fluid inclusions in
vein calcite average ~190C from drill core samples
from the same depth. The fluid inclusion homogenization temperatures are higher than fluid temperatures
today. This early-stage hydrothermal activity of the
Noya geothermal system might responsible for the gold
mineralization. The 18O values of vein calcite and
quartz decrease with increasing depth, suggesting that
the formation temperatures of calcite and quartz increase with increasing depth. The relationship between
the 13C and the 18O values of vein calcite and the
homogenization temperatures of fluid inclusions gave
the calculated 13C value of the ore-forming fluid. The
calculated 13C value of -6 for the Noya ore-forming
fluid (Basement rocks are granitic rocks) is higher than
that of -11 from the Kushikino mining area, southern
Kyushu, where the basement is consisted of organic
matter containing sedimentary rocks.

We have estimated the physicochemical condition of

the ore-forming fluid using the geochemical data of the
present hydrothermal fluid. Mineral stability in the
calculated fluid is shown by a plot of saturation index
vs. temperature. Calcite, quartz and muscovite are in
equilibrium with the fluid, however, K-feldspar is undersaturated. The calculated fluid is in the muscovite
stability field on the activity diagram for sodium and
potassium minerals at an ore-forming temperature.
This fluid moves to the K-feldspar stability field with
increasing pH when a few percent of water is vaporized
by boiling.
Gold mineralization in the Noya area was found by
applying a hypothetical ore-forming model [1] to the
central Kyushu region. Volcanic activity in the Noya
area might be related to localized sub-surface doming
of magma, which is thought to account for the positive
Bouguer gravity anomaly over the area, resulting in the
formation of vein fractures. Although there is no direct
isotopic evidence for the magmatic contribution to the
ore formation, it is assumed that an intrusive magma
has uplifted the basement rocks, which most likely provided with the heat source needed for driving the Noya
ore-forming hydrothermal system.
Reference: [1] Morishita Y. and Kodama K. (1986)
Mining Geology, 36, 475~485.

Fig. 1 Gold-bearing calcite-adularia-quartz vein with

the host andesitic lapilli tuff (Width: 47mm).