Mineralium Deposita

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00126-019-00877-5

ARTICLE

A holistic model for the origin of orogenic gold deposits and its
implications for exploration
David I. Groves 1,2 & M. Santosh 2,3,4 & Jun Deng 2 & Qingfei Wang 2 & Liqiang Yang 2 & Liang Zhang 2

Received: 2 November 2018 / Accepted: 13 March 2019

# Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2019

Abstract
The term orogenic gold deposits has been widely accepted, but there has been continuing debate on their genesis. Early syn-
sedimentary or syn-volcanic models and hydrothermal meteoric-fluid models are now invalid. Magmatic-hydrothermal models fail
because of the lack of consistent spatially associated granitic intrusions and inconsistent temporal relationships. The most plausible
models involve metamorphic fluids, but the source of these fluids is equivocal. Intra-basin sources within deeper segments of the
hosting supracrustal successions, the underlying continental crust, subducted oceanic lithosphere with its overlying sediment wedge,
and metasomatized lithosphere are all potential sources. Several features of Precambrian orogenic gold deposits are inconsistent with
derivation from a continental metamorphic-fluid source. These include the presence of hypozonal deposits in amphibolite-facies
domains, their anomalous multiple sulfur isotopic compositions, and problems of derivation of gold-related elements from
devolatilization of dominant basalts in the sequences. The Phanerozoic deposits are largely described as hosted in greenschist-
facies domains, consistent with supracrustal devolatilization models. A notable exception is the Jiaodong gold deposits of China,
where ca. 120-Ma gold deposits are hosted in Precambrian crust that was metamorphosed over 2000 million years prior to gold
mineralization. Other deposits in China are comparable to those in the Massif Central and elsewhere in France, in that they are
hosted in amphibolite-facies domains or clearly post-date regional metamorphic events imposed on hosting supracrustal sequences.
If all orogenic gold deposits have a common genesis, the only realistic source of fluid and gold is from devolatilization of a
subducted oceanic slab with its overlying gold-bearing sulfide-rich sedimentary package, or the associated metasomatized mantle
wedge, with CO2 released during decarbonation and S- and ore-related elements released from transformation of pyrite to pyrrhotite
at about 500 °C. Although this model satisfies all geological, geochronological, isotopic, and geochemical constraints, and is
consistent with limited computer-based modeling of fluid release from subduction zones, the precise mechanisms of fluid flux
are model-driven and remain uncertain. From an exploration viewpoint, the model re-emphasizes the ubiquitous occurrence of
orogenic gold deposits in subduction-related orogenic belts and importance of continental-scale lithosphere-tapping fault and shear
zones to focus large volumes of auriferous fluid. It confirms the importance of the consistent spacing between world-class deposits,
broadly equivalent to the depth of the Moho, as derived from empirical observations.

Keywords Orogenic gold genesis . Amphibolite-hosted deposits . Metamorphic fluids . Subduction-zone fluids

Editorial handling: B. Lehmann

Introduction
* Jun Deng
djun@cugb.edu.cn The term orogenic gold deposit was defined by Groves et al.
(1998), following Gebre-Mariam et al. (1995), to replace a
1 wide variety of terms that referred to gold-only deposits that
Centre for Exploration Targeting, University of Western Australia,
Crawley, WA 6009, Australia actually form a coherent group. Orogenic gold deposits are
2 commonly vertically extensive, gold-only deposits that
State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral
Resources, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China formed in broad thermal equilibrium with their wall rocks
3 from low-salinity H2O–CO2 ore fluids at crustal depths from
Centre for Tectonics Resources and Exploration, Department of
Earth Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia 2 to 15, and arguably up to 20 km (Groves 1993; Kolb and
4 Meyer 2002; Kolb et al. 2005a, b, 2015). This term has been
Division of Interdisciplinary Science, Faculty of Science, Kochi
University, Kochi 780-8520, Japan widely accepted (Goldfarb et al. 2001, 2005, 2014; Bierlein

et al. 2006), although there is still some controversy on termi-
nology (Phillips and Powell 2015). However, despite this
broad agreement on the characteristics of orogenic gold de-
posits, their genesis remains equivocal.
Goldfarb and Groves (2015) provide an exhaustive review
of these genetic models and the various geological, geochem-
ical, isotopic, and fluid inclusion constraints on the compo-
nent ore fluids and gold-related metals. This review is used as
a comprehensive source to briefly summarize these models in
order to develop a holistic, coherent, and unified model for
orogenic gold deposits in various continents and of all ages, in
a similar way to the minerals system approach to orogenic
gold by Wyman et al. (2016) and development of coherent
minerals system models for other mineral deposit groups
(Wyborne et al. 1994; McСuaig and Hronsky 2014).
Intrusion-related gold systems or IRGDs (Sillitoe 1991;
Thompson et al. 1999; Lang et al. 2000; Baker 2002), a rather
rare group of largely low-grade deposits (Goldfarb et al. 2005;
Goldfarb and Groves 2015), formed from a similar ore fluid to
the orogenic gold deposits, but differ in that the ore and alter-
ation systems are zoned around causative intrusions due to
thermal disequilibrium with the wall rocks (Hart et al. 2002).
They are not discussed further here. Furthermore, although the
Carlin gold deposits of Nevada and their Chinese equivalents
also formed from low-salinity H2O–CO2 fluids (Cline et al.
2005), they are quite distinctive from orogenic gold deposits
in a number of features (Goldfarb and Groves 2015; Groves
et al. 2003, 2015; Wang and Groves 2018), and are not
discussed further.
Overview of potential fluid and metal sources
for orogenic gold deposits
In the infancy of modern interest in gold-only deposits, Kerrich
(1983) listed (1) syngenetic-exhalative, (2) magmatic-
hydrothermal (tonalite-, lamprophyre-, or oxidized magma-as-
sociated), and (3) metamorphic (regional metamorphic
devolatilization, lateral secretion, or mantle/granulitization)
models as major genetic concepts proposed for fluid and metal
generation to form what are now termed orogenic gold de-
posits. A meteoric-fluid model was added by Nesbitt (1991).
All schematic models depicted in Fig. 1 are assessed in detail
by Goldfarb and Groves (2015) who also provide exhaustive
references to numerous individual examples. The models
shown to be less viable by Goldfarb and Groves (2015) are
briefly reviewed, followed by a more thorough discussion of
the more-viable metamorphic models. These are discussed in
terms of Precambrian deposits versus Phanerozoic examples as
there are contrasting data sets and genetic issues for these tem-
porally distinct orogenic gold groups, as discussed by Goldfarb
and Groves (2015).
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Early syngenetic-exhalative models (Hutchinson and
Burlington 1984; Hutchinson 1987) are inconsistent with field
evidence that shows the deposits are structurally controlled, syn-
to late-metamorphic deposits with stratiform to stratabound BIF-
hosted deposits formed by sulfidation of magnetite (Phillips
et al. 1984). Similarly, meteoric-fluid models (Fig. 1a) are shown
to be untenable because they are based on invalid calculations
and interpretations of stable isotope data largely derived from
extraction of measured components from mixed primary and
secondary fluid inclusions (Goldfarb and Groves 2015).
The early twentieth century magmatic-hydrothermal
models (Fig. 1b) were re-emphasized for orogenic gold de-
posits by Mueller (1992), Walshe et al. (2003), Wall et al.
(2004), Hall and Wall (2007), Neumayr et al. (2007), Bath
et al. (2013), and Helt et al. (2014), among others. However,
globally, granitic intrusions may be pre-, syn-, or post-gold in
the same terranes (Hughes et al. 1997; Goldfarb et al. 2008),
or even absent in some, for example in the Otago gold prov-
ince of New Zealand (McKeag and Craw 1989; Goldfarb et al.
2001). Where robust geochronological studies have been con-
ducted, the gold deposits and proposed fertile granitic intru-
sions are not normally the same age, as summarized by
Goldfarb and Groves (2015). In addition, the proposed parent
granitic rocks have no consistent composition or oxidation
state within or between terranes in contrast to other gold
(e.g., reduced IRGDs; Baker 2002: oxidized porphyry Cu-
Au; Hedenquist and Lowenstern 1994). In some cases,
lamprophyres and other more mafic intrusions have a similar
age to the gold deposits (Vielreicher et al. 2010), but are vol-
umetrically too minor to have provided the large volumes of
fluids required to form the gold deposits. Most of the stable
isotope data broadly suggest a magmatic-hydrothermal fluid
but, combined with evidence that some deposits formed at
over 15-km depth and the conflicting radiogenic isotope ra-
tios, are more compatible with advection of ore fluids along
vertically extensive fluid pathways (Kontak and Kerrich 1995;
Ridley and Diamond 2000). This interpretation effectively
excludes the viability of exsolution of ore fluids from granitic
intrusions at any reasonable crustal depth, although low con-
centrations of magmatic-hydrothermal gold (< 0.5 g/t Au)
may enhance gold grades in some granite-hosted deposits
(Ojala et al. 1993). Redox changes, commonly invoked in
fluid mixing models involving magmatic-hydrothermal fluid
as one component (Walshe et al. 2003; Neumayr et al. 2007),
alternatively can occur via rock reaction (Evans et al. 2006) or
even during episodic fault rupturing along fluid channel ways
(Yamaguchi et al. 2011). Therefore, magmatic-hydrothermal
processes cannot explain the genesis of individual deposits
let alone provide a universal model for orogenic gold forma-
tion. Hybrid magmatism with a mixed metasomatized sub-
continental lithospheric mantle (SCLM) and crustal source is
interpreted to provide the source of fluid and metals for other
gold and gold-copper deposit types (Groves et al. 2010; Mair
Miner Deposita
Fig. 1 Schematic representation of ore-fluid source models for orogenic
gold deposits. (a) Invalid shallow crustal meteoric or metamorphic
models and granulitization models. (b) Non-unifying magmatic-hydro-
thermal models. (c) Generally accepted supracrustal metamorphic
models. Adapted from Groves and Santosh (2016). The diagram is
et al. 2011; Hronsky et al. 2012; Griffin et al. 2013), but such
hybrid magmatism cannot have been universally responsible
for formation of economic orogenic gold deposits on the basis
of age considerations, lack of volumetrically significant intru-
sions from this source, and lack of underlying SCLM (sub-
continental lithospheric mantle) in some cases (Groves and
simplistic as it only emphasizes the differences between models, not
structural complexities along fluid pathways or depositional sites. As
discussed in the text, it is recognized that a few gold provinces have no
clear geological evidence for the presence of crustal-scale faults
Santosh 2015; Goldfarb and Groves 2015). However, as
discussed below, devolatilization of metasomatized SCLM
during a subsequent orogeny is a viable mechanism for the
production of some Chinese orogenic gold deposits, as also
discussed more broadly by Bierlein and Pisarevsky (2008), de
Boorder (2012), and Webber et al. (2013).

The exclusion of the above models leaves metamorphic
models (Fig. 1c) as the only viable possibilities if a universal
or near-universal model is sought for the genesis of orogenic
gold deposits.
Of these, lateral secretion models (Boyle 1979; Saager et al.
1982) are invalid due to the limited volume of metamorphic
fluid and metals that could be generated (Glasson and Keays
1978) together with the unlikely dominance of lateral flow
(Ord and Oliver 1997). A model involving advection of mantle
CO2 through the lower crust to generate granulites and a CO2-
rich pseudo-metamorphic fluid (Fyon et al. 1984; Cameron
1988; Santosh and Omori 2008; Touret and Huizenga 2012;
Fu and Touret 2014), although elegant, is invalidated by lack of
universal associations between granulites and gold, too low
CO 2 contents of fluid inclusions, and available carbon
isotope data, as Kerrich (1989) originally pointed out.
Such logical arguments have led to general acceptance of a
model that promotes metamorphic devolatilization of largely
supracrustal rocks within the continental crust under
greenschist- to amphibolite-facies conditions. This model em-
phasizes gross upwards advection of resultant metamorphic
fluid and metals to the depositional site of orogenic gold min-
eralization at higher crustal levels (Kerrich and Fyfe 1981;
Phillips and Groves 1983; Colvine et al. 1984; Goldfarb
et al. 1986, 1988, 1989; Groves et al. 1987; Cox et al. 1991;
Powell et al. 1991; Bierlein and Crowe 2000; Goldfarb et al.
2001, 2005; Phillips and Powell 2010; Tomkins 2010; among
many others). The strengths of the model are outlined below,
as synthesized from the references above and the exhaustive
review of Goldfarb and Groves (2015). The weaknesses of the
model are discussed independently for Precambrian and
Phanerozoic deposits, as criteria vary between the two age
groups. Finally, a potentially unifying model is defined, with
additional information and refinements to that suggested by
Groves and Santosh (2016).
Strengths of the supracrustal metamorphic
model
The supracrustal metamorphic model is the only one of those
discussed above for mesozonal to epizonal (terminology of
Gebre-Mariam et al. 1995) orogenic gold deposits that could
provide a universal model to explain their extraordinary lon-
gevity throughout Earth history (Goldfarb et al. 2001). Its
main strengths are that it requires no specific association with
host rock units, as most are mineralized in gold provinces
globally, nor with any specific intrusion type. It also complies
with the broadly late-metamorphic and late-deformational
timing of gold deposition for most deposits, and the stable
and radiogenic isotope data that are internally ambiguous
but collectively suggest long and complex continental fluid
pathways (Ridley and Diamond 2000). The typical low-
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salinity H2O–CO2 (+/− CH4, N2) fluid is also that expected
from metamorphic devolatilization of supracrustal rocks (Fyfe
et al. 1978; Tarantola et al. 2007).
Proponents of this metamorphic model suggest that aurifer-
ous aqueous-carbonic fluids (Phillips and Powell 2010) are re-
leased during mid-upper greenschist- to amphibolite-facies
metamorphism of supracrustal rocks in the mid crust (Powell
et al. 1991). Up to five volume percent of fluids can be released
from both pelitic and mafic volcanic rocks (Fyfe et al. 1978;
Elmer et al. 2006), providing an adequate fluid flux for even
giant deposits (Phillips and Powell 2010). Such fluids are en-
visaged to migrate to regional fault systems, spatially associated
with major gold districts, and move upwards at supra-lithostatic
pressures to deposit ore elements and silica during pressure
fluctuations during seismic propagation along the fault networks
(Cox et al. 1991, 2001). Deposition of many orogenic gold
deposits preferentially occurred at rheological contrasts across
rock contacts close to the ductile-brittle transition (Groves
1993). Both sulfidation reactions and phase separation were
involved in gold deposition from a normally reduced, near-
neutral fluid carrying gold as a thiosulfide complex. From a
tectonic viewpoint, orogenic gold deposits may occur in ter-
ranes where anomalous heat flow and consequent regional
metamorphism was caused by a variety of crustal- to mantle-
related processes (Goldfarb et al. 1998). However, gold deposi-
tion was broadly coincident with a change in far-field stress,
with resultant transition in deformation from compression to
transpression, more rarely transtension, during accretion
(Goldfarb et al. 1988) with concomitant uplift and lowering of
lithostatic pressure (Groves et al. 1987, 2000; White et al. 2015).
In a supracrustal metamorphic model, the dominant source
rocks for fluid and metals must have changed with time, as
discussed in detail by Goldfarb and Groves (2015). In the
Phanerozoic, gold-mineralized belts are dominated by
metasedimentary rocks, commonly turbidite sequences,
which host the gold deposits. Mafic volcanic rocks are present
in some gold provinces but are not ubiquitous. Hence, meta-
morphism of a sedimentary source rock is most likely to have
produced the ore fluid in the metamorphic model. In contrast,
most Precambrian terranes that host orogenic gold deposits,
particularly those of Neoarchean age (e.g., Dong and Santosh
2016), are dominated by ultramafic to felsic volcanic rock
sequences below the crustal level of gold deposition, with
ubiquitous mafic rocks the most likely source of auriferous
metamorphic fluid. Specific gold-enriched source rocks have
been suggested for both Phanerozoic and Precambrian gold
provinces (Glasson and Keays 1978; Tomkins 2010; Large
et al. 2011; Steadman et al. 2013, 2015), but these are not
common to all orogenic gold provinces, are commonly volu-
metrically insignificant, and cannot be an important factor in
any holistic metamorphic model for orogenic gold.
Despite the obvious strengths of the supracrustal metamorphic
model, there are several weaknesses, most obviously for the
Miner Deposita
Precambrian deposits. These are discussed below, first for
Precambrian deposits as many of these are covered in the litera-
ture as summarized by Goldfarb and Groves (2015), and then for
Phanerozoic examples where weaknesses have appeared in stud-
ies of several Chinese deposits or provinces in the past decade.
Weaknesses of the supracrustal metamorphic
model: Precambrian deposits
The most obvious, potentially insurmountable, problem for
the supracrustal metamorphic model as applied to
Precambrian, particularly Archean, terranes is the occurrence
of a significant number of deposits worldwide (Fig. 2), includ-
ing the giant Hutti and Kolar deposits in India (Kolb et al.
2005a; Sarma et al. 2011), in mid- to upper-amphibolite-
facies domains, as elegantly summarized by Kolb et al.
(2015c) from analysis of the New Consort, Renco, Hutti,
Hira Buddini, Navachab, Nevoria, and The Granites deposits
(Fig. 2). Importantly, these hypozonal deposits have alteration
assemblages that formed under similar P-T conditions to the
metamorphosed host rocks (Colvine et al. 1988; Groves 1993;
Knight et al. 1993; McCuaig et al. 1993; Neumayr et al. 1993;
Bloem et al. 1994; Miller and Adams 2013). Several propo-
nents of the supracrustal metamorphic model have argued that
these deposits formed under lower P-T conditions and were
subsequently metamorphosed under amphibolite-facies con-
ditions (Tomkins and Mavrogenes 2002; Tomkins et al.
2004; Tomkins and Grundy 2009; Phillips and Powell
Fig. 2 Global distribution of hypozonal orogenic deposits in Precambrian and Phanerozoic amphibolite-facies domains and enigmatic Phanerozoic
deposits where timing negates a supracrustal metamorphic source. The base map is revised from Artemieva (2006)
2009). However, Kolb et al. (2015c) have demonstrated that
most of these deposits clearly formed under broadly
amphibolite-facies conditions, except where they were
overprinted during a later orogenic event, unrelated to the event
during which the deposits formed. Hence, the fluid source must
have been deeper than the 15-km (possibly up to 20 km) depth
of deepest orogenic gold deposit formation. Additional evidence
for a deep source, below the supracrustal sequences hosting the
gold deposits, is provided by lead isotope evidence from the
Neoarchean gold province of Western Australia. Browning
et al. (1987) and McNaughton et al. (1993), among others, show
that the lead isotope ratios of galenas from the giant Eastern
Goldfields Province of the Yilgarn Craton reflect the age and
composition of the basement rocks to the supracrustal green-
stone belts, implicating a deeper source or a deeper flow path-
way for the auriferous ore fluids. In addition, the dominantly
mafic rocks of most Precambrian greenstone belts create a po-
tential metal-source problem. As discussed below, while all
gold-related metals can be liberated during devolatilization of
turbidites, it is not so clear for greenschist- to amphibolite-facies
metamorphism of mafic volcanic rocks. For example, Pitcairn
et al. (2015) demonstrate that, although gold can be liberated in
similar concentrations from basalt as from turbidites, in New
Zealand examples, arsenic, the most common gold-associated
element in Precambrian orogenic gold deposits, is not liberated
during amphibolite-facies metamorphism.
Finally, recent research on multiple sulfur isotopic compo-
sitions of Neoarchean orogenic gold deposits in Western
Australia (Fig. 3) demonstrates that neither local supracrustal

rocks nor granitic intrusions supply the majority of sulfur for
deposition of gold-related sulfides in the deposits. A source of
sulfur external to the continental rocks is required.
In a recent study, LaFlamme et al. (2018) showed that the
mass-independent fractionation of sulfur (MIF-S) is directly
linked to the degree of δ34S fractionation. Based on multiple
sulfur isotope dataset from the Neoarchean Lady Bountiful oro-
genic gold deposit in the Yilgarn Craton of Western Australia,
together with data compiled from other ca. 2.65-Ga orogenic
gold deposits of the Yilgarn Craton, they excluded a purely
MDF-S process. They also compiled a large dataset from
Archean sedimentary rocks, which displays highly variable
MIDF positive and negative signals (fig. 11 in LaFlamme
et al. 2018) with most Yilgarn sedimentary sulfur having a
positive signal (Salvaraja et al. 2017: fig. 3). Their results show
that the sulfur for the auriferous fluids was derived from a
reservoir that was homogenized at depth and contained
recycled MIF-S was sourced from an Archean sediment reser-
voir. Given that the only abundant sedimentary rocks in the
supracrustal successions lie above the rock sequences hosting
the orogenic gold deposits, the only reasonable sedimentary
sulfur reservoir is a sediment wedge above a subduction zone.
Weaknesses of the supracrustal metamorphic
model: Phanerozoic deposits
Generic problems
The Phanerozoic orogenic gold deposits in general fit the
supracrustal metamorphic model well in that the overwhelm-
ing majority of significant mesozonal to epizonal deposits are
recorded to be in greenschist-facies domains, mainly in
Fig. 3 Summary of multiple
sulfur isotope compositions of
Neoarchean gold deposits in the
Yilgarn Block of Western
Australia compared to possible
Yilgarn sedimentary reservoirs
and magmatic reservoirs. The
field of the great majority of
Yilgarn orogenic gold deposits
analyzed from the Kalgoorlie,
Agnew, and St. Ives goldfields
and the Wallaby and Lady
Bountiful gold mines is
generalized from Salvaraja et al.
(2017) and LaFlamme et al.
(2018): outliers that fall into the
magmatic field are mainly from
anomalous deposits in the
Kalgoorlie goldfield
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turbidite sequences (Goldfarb et al. 2005). Further, Pitcairn
et al. (2006) demonstrate that it is feasible to release signifi-
cant Au, As, Bi, Sb, Te, and W, the major ore elements, during
greenschist- to amphibolite-facies metamorphism of thick tur-
bidite sequences of the Otago Schists of New Zealand.
However, the abundant quartz veins that typify the transition
from amphibolite-facies to greenschist-facies rocks during re-
gional mapping, and can be used to define this boundary in
districts with limited exposures, are totally barren of gold.
Further, it is not clear how the multitude of different tectonic
environments and metamorphic processes (Goldfarb et al. 2005)
that produce metamorphic belts in orogens can all generate sim-
ilar orogenic gold deposits via fluid release by intra-basinal
metamorphic processes. It is also still not clear how such fluids
can migrate laterally on a kilometer-scale into the crustal-scale
faults that normally control gold mineralization, or less-common
major fault meshes where such crustal-scale faults appear absent
(Vearncombe 1998; Tripp and Vearncombe 2004) at the first-
order tectonic scale. Ferry (1994) shows that such lateral flow is
possible, particularly if induced by external tectonic perturba-
tions such as fluid drainage caused by dilatant fault zones
(Sibson 1992), but most authors, such as Ord and Oliver
(1997), suggest that vertical advection would be dominant.
Hence, there may be a mass balance problem in terms of the
volume of gold-bearing fluid migrating via lateral flow.
Furthermore, Ridley (1993) suggests that the high fluid pressure
in the crustal-scale faults promotes outward flow down pressure
gradients into subsidiary faults that host the gold ores. Hence,
the mechanism that could promote fluid flow from the metamor-
phic belt into the regional-scale faults at depth and then back into
the rock sequences at higher crustal levels is unclear.
The demonstration that gold mineralization normally post-
dates regional metamorphism in host sequences, that is
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retrogressive (Leader et al. 2010, 2013; Wilson et al. 2013), in
some instances by several million years (Perring et al. 1987;
Nesbitt 1991), is another potential problem, shared by both
Phanerozoic and Precambrian deposits. This problem is gener-
ally overcome by proponents of supracrustal metamorphic
models by indicating that peak metamorphism is attained later
at deeper crustal levels than at the crustal level of gold deposi-
tion (deeper-later model of Stuwe 1998). However, this does
not completely explain why early greenschist-facies metamor-
phism involves grain-boundary fluid migration with pervasive
metamorphic fabrics and assemblages and ubiquitous, totally
barren, quartz veins in contrast to the focused fluid flux that can
produce high-grade gold shoots later in the metamorphic histo-
ry. A possible solution is provided by Goldfarb et al. (1988)
who suggest that, late in orogeny, a change in far-field stress
from compression to transpression unlocked metamorphic-fluid
reservoirs stored in the mid to upper crust as the overlying
greenschist-facies domains with their deformational fabrics
cooled. This does not completely explain why the fluid was
suddenly capable of depositing large quantities of gold when
there is no recorded evidence that the earlier fluid was gold-
bearing from studies of ubiquitous metamorphic rocks.
Finally, as for the Neoarchean of Western Australia, oro-
genic gold deposits throughout the Paleozoic of Ireland
(Standish et al. 2014) are characterized by highly variable lead
signatures, reflecting many different lithologies, including the
basement, thus indicating a source external to the hosting
supracrustal sequences for at least these deposits.
Problems with specific gold provinces and deposits
Weaknesses of the supracrustal metamorphic model at the spe-
cific province or deposit scale fall into three categories: (1)
mesozonal to epizonal deposits that formed in high-grade base-
ment rocks hundreds of millions of years after metamorphism
of the basement; (2) amphibolite-hosted hypozonal deposits;
and (3) mesozonal to epizonal deposits that are temporally dis-
connected to regional metamorphism of their host sequences. It
is evident from Fig. 4 that the deposits that are so far recognized
to fit into one of these three categories in China lie close to the
craton margins of the North China or Yangtze Blocks.
Category 1 The giant Jiaodong gold province in the eastern
half of the North China block (Li et al. 2015b; Song et al. 2015;
Yang et al. 2015a, b, 2016b) is the most obvious example in
category 1 (Fig. 4). It represents a region of major lithospheric
erosion of originally thick buoyant Archean SCLM (Griffin
et al. 1998; Santosh 2010), caused by anomalously complex
Mesozoic slab subduction pene-contemporaneously from the
north, south, and east. This led to slab devolatilization, conse-
quent melting, and associated voluminous granitic magmatism
(Windley et al. 2010). The associated Yanshanian (Jurassic-
Cretaceous) orogeny that occurred within the de-cratonized
North China block was typified by basement uplift, regional
extension, ca. 165–90-Ma granite intrusion, and ca. 130–120-
Ma gold formation within the eastern margins of this highly
modified cratonic basement (Goldfarb and Santosh 2014;
Deng et al. 2015). The structural control and more protracted
period of gold mineralization argue against a magmatic-
hydrothermal fluid model, and the Precambrian high-grade
metamorphism of the basement rocks clearly invalidates a
supracrustal metamorphic-devolatilization fluid model for the
gold event. Despite this, the widespread gold episode correlates
with changing far-field stresses and plate reorganizations as
interpreted for other orogenic gold provinces.
For these reasons, the Jiaodong deposits have generally
been classified as orogenic gold deposits (Wang et al. 1998;
Goldfarb et al. 2001, 2005; Yang et al. 2015a, b, 2016b). They
show no close spatial relationship to granitic intrusions of the
same age, nor evidence of metal zonation related to thermal
gradients around hot intrusions. However, they do show a
clear structural control along regional faults (Yang et al.
2018; Deng et al. 2019), and ore and wall rock-alteration
mineralogy, fluid inclusion compositions, and stable isotope
chemistry are similar to more typical orogenic gold deposits,
particularly of epizonal type (Yang et al. 2015a, b, 2016a).
The Tertiary gold deposits in northwestern Mexico along
the Megashear Zone in the Proterozoic-Phanerozoic terranes
of northern Mexico (Iriondo 2001; Goldfarb et al. 2007) are
hosted in reactivated high-grade Proterozoic basement in ex-
tensional structures within metamorphic core complexes in a
similar scenario to the Jiaodong deposits in the North China
block. They present an identical problem to the supracrustal
metamorphic model as do the Jiaodong deposits.
Category 2 Although the literature (summarized by Goldfarb
et al. 2001, 2005; Goldfarb and Groves 2015) stresses that the
overwhelming majority of Phanerozoic orogenic gold deposits
are mesozonal to epizonal deposits in greenschist-facies do-
mains, there are exceptions as for Precambrian equivalents.
The late Carboniferous to early Permian (315–285 Ma) gold
deposits of the Variscan belt in the Massif Central and
Montagne Noire of France (Goldfarb et al. 2001) include de-
posits in amphibolite-facies domains. Some of these deposits
had significant gold production in the Salsigne (117 t = 4 Moz
gold) and St-Yrieix (37 t = 1.3 Moz gold) districts. Here, the
time gap between early subduction and compressional orogen-
esis, and gold mineralization, which formed during post-
orogenic transpressional to extensional doming and exhuma-
tion (Olivier et al. 2004), was less than 200 million years, with
gold-mineralized domes parallel to the orogen (Whitney et al.
2004). The deposits described as Bdeep-seated gold deposits^
by Bouchot et al. (2005) fit the classification of hypozonal
orogenic gold deposits in that they have an early ore stage
dominated by pyrrhotite and arsenopyrite with some loellingite,
common in Archean hypozonal orogenic gold deposits from

Fig. 4 Distribution of hypozonal orogenic deposits in amphibolite-facies
domains and enigmatic deposits where timing negates a supracrustal
metamorphic source in China. Base map adapted from Goldfarb (in press
China gold issue of EG). The ca. 200-Ma West Qinling deposits formed
within a post-collisional setting, the 185-Ma Danba deposit formed
Western Australia (Neumayr et al. 1993), followed by a late ore
stage with gold, base metals and Bi-bearing minerals.
Homogenization temperatures of low-salinity H2O–CO2–CH4
fluid inclusions range from 260 to 450 °C, with interpreted P-T
depositional conditions of up to 4.0–5.5 kbar and 450–500 °C.
Other exceptions include some ~ 370-Ma lode-gold deposits
hosted in turbidite sequences in the Paleozoic Meguma Group,
Nova Scotia, Canada (Kontak et al. 1990; Ryan and Smith
1998). Although most gold deposits are sited in greenschist-
facies domains, several, including Beaver Dam and Cochrane
Hill, are located in amphibolite-facies domains and are
interpreted by Kontak et al. (1990) to be associated with retro-
gression during regional doming. They have ore mineral assem-
blages of pyrrhotite-scheelite-molybdenite-Bi-Te minerals, fluid
temperatures approaching 450–500 °C, and sulfide δ34S values
of 9 ± 1‰. On the basis of these parameters, Kontak et al. (1990)
suggest derivation of ore components from a sub-crustal source.
The recently recognized hypozonal orogenic gold deposit
at Danba (Zhao et al. 2019) is located in a poorly documented
gold province on the northwestern margin of the Yangtze
Craton, China, which is dominated by a > 1000-km
Mesozoic domal domain along the Longmenshan thrust nappe
belt. It is located southeast of the Songpan-Garzê accretionary
Miner Deposita
during post-peak metamorphism, the 150-Ma Huangjindong deposit is
hosted by Neoproterozoic slate, the 120-Ma Jiaodong deposits occur
within the ca. 1.85-Ga metamorphic basement, and the Miocene
Ailaoshan deposits formed after termination of shear movement
prism that itself is bordered by the Paleo-Tethyan Garzê-
Litang suture related to Late Triassic closure of the Paleo-
Tethyan Ocean. Danba is sited in Devonian sequences in a
high-grade metamorphic terrain that includes a metamorphic
core complex. Around the deposit, peak sillimanite-grade
metamorphic conditions of 6 ± 0.5 kbar and 650 ± 50 °C at
ca. 193 Ma were followed by retrograde sillimanite-grade
conditions of 4.5 ± 0.5 kbar and 550 ± 50 °C. The Danba de-
posit is hosted in a broadly stratabound ductile-brittle shear
zone with high-T proximal alteration assemblages of biotite-
amphibole-plagioclase and ore assemblages dominated by
pyrrhotite, but with a strong association between gold and
bismuth tellurides. The mineral composition of these assem-
blages, together with heating/freezing studies of low-salinity
H2O–CO2–CH4 fluid inclusions, indicates P-T conditions of
early ore deposition of approximately 4–5 kbar and 500–
650 °C at around 185 ± 9 Ma as indicated by Re–Os geochro-
nology on ore-related molybdenite. In conjunction, all data
demonstrate that Danba represents a Lower Jurassic
hypozonal orogenic gold deposit that formed during post-
peak metamorphic retrogression. It appears to be the best an-
alog of the hypozonal deposits of the French Massif Central
and Montagne Noire, and possibly hypozonal Meguma
Miner Deposita
deposits, in terms of tectonic evolution, structural association,
nature of economic ore bodies, P-T conditions of gold depo-
sition, and interpreted fluid and metal sources.
Category 3 Goldfarb and Groves (2015) suggest that
there are significant timing problems with a supracrustal
metamorphic model for the mesozonal to epizonal oro-
genic gold deposits in the potentially giant Triassic
Qinling gold province (~ 1100-t gold resource) on the
southern margin of the North China block (Chen et al.
2008). This region marks the closure of the northern-
most paleo-Tethys sea and the tectonic suturing of the
Yangtze and North China Cratons (Li et al. 2015a;
Dong and Santosh 2016; Tang and Santosh 2018).
Recent research on the large Yangshan, Mian-Lue-
Ning, and Manaoke orogenic gold districts in the prov-
ince (Li et al. 2018) confirm that, at the time of region-
al metamorphism, there were no previously un-
metamorphosed voluminous source rocks that could
have experienced amphibolite-facies metamorphism,
with liberation of gold and other metals during conver-
sion of gold-bearing pyrite into pyrrhotite to form the
gold deposits. They also favor an external deeply
sourced fluid for formation of the West Qinling
deposits.
The ~ 150-Ma Huangjindong goldfield (Dong et al. 2008),
with gold resources of ~ 100 t in mineralized Neoproterozoic
slate (Wang et al. 2016), is located along the crustal-scale
Chang-Ping Fault in the Jiangnan Orogen, Hunan Province,
China. The mesozonal orogenic gold deposits are dominated
by structurally controlled auriferous arsenopyrite-pyrite-
quartz-(scheelite) veins and quartz-rich breccias that overprint
earlier barren quartz veins (Zhang et al. 2018). Hydrothermal
activity was initiated at the ductile-brittle transition, but
evolved to brittle-dominated deformation, all within a
transpressional environment: a typical scenario for orogenic
gold deposits.
Geological and isotopic data indicate that the ore-forming
components had a metamorphic source. Importantly, however,
the host Neoproterozoic slate exposed over all the province
has only undergone greenschist-facies metamorphism, and so
cannot be an effective, dominant source of intra-basinal meta-
morphic ore fluid or metal (Zhang et al. 2018). A deeper,
external, and higher-metamorphic-grade source is required
(e.g., Tomkins 2010).
A series of Lower Miocene orogenic gold deposits, includ-
ing the disseminated-style Chang’an, Zhenyuan, and Jinchang
gold deposits, are distributed along the western margin of the
NNW-trending Ailaoshan shear zone, which broadly separates
the South China Block in the east from the Indochina Block in
the west in southeastern Tibet (Deng and Wang 2016). At the
deposit scale, the three disseminated-type deposits were con-
trolled by regional brittle faults parallel to the Ailaoshan shear
zone. The disseminated deposits formed at temperatures of
240–180 °C and depth of 1–3 km (e.g., Xiong et al. 2007;
Chen et al. 2010), which were classified into epizonal gold
deposits using the terminology of Gebre-Mariam et al. (1995).
The paleomagnetic data from mineralized rocks indicate a
very late timing of gold mineralization following termination
of the dominant shearing and fault displacement at ca. 21 Ma,
arguing against an intra-basinal or supracrustal source of
metamorphic ore fluid (Gao et al. 2018). Integration of C–O
and He–Ar isotope compositions from ore-related carbonate
and pyrite, respectively, in the deposits indicate a fluid source
with both mantle and crustal components. This, together with
timing relative to regional metamorphism, suggests a deep
sub-crustal source for the Ailaoshan deposits, although, at
the deposit scale, wall rock alteration, trace-element composi-
tion of gold-bearing pyrite, and variable sulfur isotope
compositions from the three deposits relate to reaction of this
fluid with the various wall rocks.
Viability of the supracrustal metamorphic
model as a unifying concept
Although the supracrustal metamorphic model broadly satisfies
the majority of constraints from geological, geochronological,
geochemical, isotopic, and fluid inclusion data, there are a num-
ber of weaknesses in terms of a unified model, as discussed
above. The Precambrian examples provide the greatest prob-
lems, with evidence that ore fluids were derived from below
15-km depth and carry components that must have been de-
rived from the basement to the gold-hosting greenstone belts.
Furthermore, there is doubt that all metal components can be
derived from greenschist- to amphibolite-facies metamorphism
of a basaltic rock, the only volumetrically viable source in the
greenstone belts, in contrast to evidence suggesting that such
components can be derived from sedimentary sources for many
Phanerozoic deposits. There is also the problem of definition of
the precise mechanism by which ore fluid migrated laterally on
a kilometer scale into the regional-scale faults that clearly con-
trol the location of most gold districts and provinces globally.
Finally, the model does not adequately explain the conjunction
of apparent late- to post-metamorphic timing in host sequences
precisely at the time that a change in far-field stresses promoted
a change from compression, as represented by the structures
and metamorphic fabrics in the host rocks, to transpression or
transtension, as demonstrated by the geometry of the orogenic
gold ore bodies.
As shown above, there are also Phanerozoic hypozonal
orogenic deposits in France, Canada, and China, and problems
of timing of gold mineralization relative to regional metamor-
phic events are emerging from interpretation of a number of
Phanerozoic orogenic gold provinces in China: the most
prominent being Jiaodong, but also including Ailaoshan,

Danba, Huangjindong, and West Qinling. Notably, all lie close
to long-lived craton margins that were affected by previous
orogenic events that could enrich the lithosphere in gold-
related elements, as discussed below.
The ore fluid in all cases is clearly a low-salinity H2O–CO2
metamorphic fluid, but the evidence above collectively sug-
gests a source below the supracrustal sequences that host the
gold deposits, as also concluded by Wyman et al. (2016). As
argued above, this cannot be the lower crust, nor a mantle
plume and associated granulitization. Similarly, the ore fluid
is unlikely to be exactly the same fluid that caused regional
metamorphism of supracrustal rocks with no evidence of any
gold enrichment. This specific metamorphic ore fluid appears
to have been liberated at a unique time in the orogenic cycle
during a change in far-field stress. As orogenic gold deposits
are inevitably formed in accretionary or, less commonly, col-
lisional tectonic environments related to subduction (Goldfarb
et al. 2001, 2005), and not in other types of metamorphic belts,
this suggests a fundamental relationship to a change in plate
motion.
In seeking an explanation and a unified model, it is impor-
tant to view those deposits that unequivocally cannot have
formed from a metamorphic fluid derived from within the host
supracrustal sequences because they had been metamor-
phosed to at least the amphibolite facies hundreds to thou-
sands of million years previously. As discussed above, such
Tertiary deposits occur along the Megashear Zone in the
Proterozoic-Phanerozoic terranes of northern Mexico
(Iriondo 2001; Goldfarb et al. 2007), but these are not well
described. Conversely, the Cretaceous deposits of the giant
Jiaodong gold province are very well described (Wang et al.
1998; Goldfarb et al. 2007; Goldfarb and Santosh 2014; Yang
et al. 2016a; Deng et al. 2018). Therefore, these are first
discussed below in an attempt to solve the problems discussed
above and seek to develop a unified model that can explain the
origin of all orogenic gold deposits of all ages.
Viable fluid source for the giant Jiaodong
gold province
As discussed above, in contrast to the normal situation where
orogenic gold deposits formed within 50–200 million years
after the deposition of their host supracrustal sequence
(Goldfarb et al. 2001), the Jiaodong deposits formed at ca.
126–120 Ma, some 2 billion years after the Paleoproterozoic
basement rocks in the North China Craton formed, and experi-
enced high P-T metamorphism (Yang et al. 2014; see review in
Goldfarb and Santosh 2014). Importantly, prograde metamor-
phism of supracrustal host rocks cannot have provided aurifer-
ous fluids and these and ore metals must have been derived
from a deeper source prior to being advected up the Tan Lu
and other crustal-scale fault systems in the province (Goldfarb
Miner Deposita
et al. 2007). Deep crustal-basement sources are highly unlikely,
as discussed more generally above, implicating a sub-crustal
source. This leaves the subducted oceanic crust and overlying
sediment wedge as the most viable fluid and metal source,
although direct devolatilization of an overlying frozen mantle
wedge cannot be completely ruled out as a fluid source under
specific conditions (e.g., Wyman et al. 2008). Goldfarb and
Santosh (2014), Goldfarb and Groves (2015), and Groves and
Santosh (2016) evaluate how subduction could have provided
the source of the Jiaodong ore fluids (Groves and Santosh 2016:
fig. 3). Basically, devolatilization of a subducted slab can result
in extensive upward fluid flux along slab-mantle boundaries
(Sibson 2004; Peacock et al. 2011) into fore-arc or accreting
terrane margins. Such metamorphic-fluid release occurs when
the base of the fore-arc mantle wedge becomes fully hydrated
(Katayama et al. 2012). At this stage, the oceanic slab will
devolatilize, together with its overlying pyrite-bearing oceanic
sediment wedge. The latter is important as most proponents of
specific source rocks for formation of orogenic gold deposits
stress the importance of gold-enriched pyrite in sediments or
sedimentary rocks, as gold and related elements can be released
to the fluid via breakdown of pyrite to pyrrhotite (Large et al.
2009, 2011; Steadman et al. 2013). The highly sheared
serpentinized layer at the bottom of the corner of the mantle
wedge may provide a particularly permeable zone for slab
dewatering at slab depths of less than 100 km and temperatures
of 650 °C (Kawano et al. 2011). Over-pressured fluids (Sibson
2013) could then migrate up-dip, channeling into crustal-scale
fault zones at higher crustal levels to eventually form orogenic
gold deposits at even shallower levels in lower-order structures
(Breeding and Ague 2002; Hyndman et al. 2015).
Goldfarb and Santosh (2014) apply this model to the giant
Jiaodong orogenic gold province, suggesting that the Tan Lu
fault system carried the auriferous fluid derived from slab
devolatilization up to higher crustal levels to deposit gold in
the numerous deposits in the province. An important factor in
such a model is the trigger to cause fluid release in the slab and
sediment wedge. As discussed by Seno and Kirby (2014), such
a trigger might be the end of subduction or stalling of the slab
during subduction, particularly flat subduction (Wyman et al.
2008; Wyman and Kerrich 2010) which could result in a
change of stress regime as plates were reorganized with subse-
quent switchover from compression to transpression. That such
fluids can be transported from the mantle to crustal levels in
crustal-scale fault zones is shown by radiogenic isotope, halo-
gen, and noble gas data of the San Andreas Fault system
(Kennedy and van Soest 2007; Pili et al. 2011) and the
Karakorum Fault zone (Klemperer et al. 2013).
Although the slab devolatilization model is only a hypo-
thetical one, because all radiogenic and stable isotope ratios
and other geochemical data are equivocal for any model for
the genesis of orogenic gold deposits, it is the model that can
best satisfy the available geological and geochronological
Miner Deposita
constraints for the gold deposits of the Jiaodong Peninsula.
However, the recent results from Saunders et al. (2018) that
show that the lithospheric mantle in the Eastern Block of the
North China Block is anomalously rich in gold (median 3.5-
ppb Au versus global median of 1.2-ppb Au) also allow the
possibility of an indirect connection to subduction, as outlined
below for the more-western Danba and Ailaoshan deposits.
An equivalent subduction-related model is also likely for
the Tertiary gold deposits in northwestern Mexico and south-
ernmost Arizona that are hosted in reactivated high-grade
Proterozoic basement in extensional structures within meta-
morphic core complexes in a similar scenario to the deposits in
the North China block.
Application of Jiaodong model to other gold
provinces
The questions then remain whether the subduction-related
model for the giant Jiaodong gold province can first satisfy
constraints on ore fluid source for other anomalous members
of the orogenic gold clan discussed above, and then whether
they provide the key to understanding all orogenic gold de-
posits in terranes of all ages.
Certainly, a subduction-related model can explain the oc-
currence of hypozonal orogenic gold deposits in Precambrian,
particularly Neoarchean, greenstone belts, and, more rarely,
Phanerozoic hypozonal deposits in France, Canada, and
China. It is also compatible with evidence that gold and other
ore-related elements are more likely to be derived from
devolatilized sedimentary rocks, in this model the auriferous
pyrite-bearing sediment slab overlying the subduction slab,
than derived from supracrustal mafic rocks. It also satisfies
the timing constraints for the generation of gold mineraliza-
tion in the Phanerozoic provinces in West Qinling and
Huangjindong in China. For example, the δ34S values of
ore-bearing sulfides at Huangjindong are consistent with those
from Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous sediment-hosted oro-
genic gold deposits globally. The Yanshanian gold minerali-
zation age is also contemporaneous with subduction of the
paleo-Pacific plate. The more highly anomalous Ailaoshan
and Danba provinces are discussed separately below.
In terms of a viable unifying model at a global scale, the
Jiaodong model can explain the ubiquitous worldwide relation-
ship to subduction and generation of juvenile crust, rather than
reworking of existing continental crust, the late-metamorphic
timing of orogenic gold mineralization, and the temporal coinci-
dence of auriferous-fluid release and transition from compression
to transpression if a stalled slab resulted in a change in far-field
stress. As discussed above, it can also explain the occurrence of
Precambrian deposits at crustal depths below those inferred for
the supracrustal metamorphic model and the lead isotope evi-
dence that fluids interacted with basement. It also obviates the
somewhat problematic issue of the regular ~ 35-km spacing of
world-class deposits (Doutre et al. 2015) and extensive lateral
fluid flow, as the crustal-scale faults extend to the ~ 35-km-depth
Moho and slab-related metamorphic fluids could be channeled
directly into them with subsequent upward flow. It also elegantly
explains the conflicting isotopic and halogen and rare gas evi-
dence for upper-to-lower crustal and mantle components. Finally,
it overcomes the problem of implication of different source rocks
with time as the most favored source rocks, gold-enriched pyrite-
rich marine sediments, would have been available in sediment
wedges above down-going slabs throughout Earth history.
Metamorphic heating would have consistently transformed py-
rite to pyrrhotite, releasing gold and related elements such as Ag,
As, Bi, Sb, Te, and W into a sulfur-bearing ore fluid.
The richness of Neoarchean orogenic gold deposits could at
least be partly explained by the occurrence of the most gold-
enriched sedimentary/diagenetic pyrites at this time in Earth
history (Large et al. 2014, 2015). The higher CO2 content of
the Archean ore fluids could also be explained by a greater
degree of carbonation in Archean oceanic rocks due to a com-
bination of more-susceptible high-MgO basalts and lack of CO2
sinks. Santosh and Omori (2008) and Santosh et al. (2009)
evaluated CO2 circulation through time and proposed schematic
subduction models for the Archean and post-Archean scenarios
which further enhance a model for greater degrees of carbon-
ation of orogenic gold deposits in Archean source rocks and
resultant CO2-rich fluids (fig. 4 in Groves and Santosh 2016).
Thus, the slab devolatilization model, shown schematically
in Fig. 5, can potentially explain the conjunction of parameters
that consistently characterize the orogenic gold deposit clan.
Like all models, it suffers from a lack of understanding of the
precise processes operating at depth in the system, and, in this
specific case, the lack of knowledge of subduction-zone ge-
ometry at the time of gold mineralization and whether analo-
gies to fluid migration into modern fore-arcs can be made to
accreted terranes containing back-arc components at the time
of slab devolatilization. However, the model is considered
here to be the most consistent if the fundamental concept of
a unified model for orogenic gold systems, such as those for
other coherent mineral deposit groups, is valid.
Anomalous indirect subduction-related
scenarios
As discussed above, generation of gold mineralization for the
Danba hypozonal orogenic gold deposit (Zhao et al. 2019) and
for the Ailaoshan epizonal orogenic gold belt is unlikely to be
related to regional metamorphism. The timing is also incom-
patible with direct derivation from devolatilization of
subduction-related sediment wedges. The belts hosting both
groups of deposits are anomalous in terms of their tectonic
history and zones of metamorphic core complexes, suggesting

Fig. 5 Schematic representation
of subduction-based global model
for the formation of orogenic gold
deposits. Fluids, released from
subducted slab and sediment or
from the hydrated mantle wedge,
travel up-dip along the interface
between the slab and the
overlying wedge or base of the
lithosphere. The over-pressured
ore fluids intersect deep crustal
faults, and then advect upwards to
form orogenic gold deposits in
second-order structures or
hydraulically fractured rock
bodies. Figure revised from
Goldfarb and Groves (2015) and
Wyman et al. (2008)
anomalous crustal heating and extension. In both cases, there
is evidence of underlying SCLM that was metasomatized dur-
ing devolatilization related to an earlier subduction event
(Zhou et al. 2002; Zhao and Zhou 2008). The most viable
model for ore-fluid generation is devolatilization of this
metasomatized SCLM with subsequent advection up crustal-
scale faults adjacent to the gold districts, as shown schemati-
cally in Fig. 6.
It is widely accepted that metasomatized SCLM may be
gold-enriched (e.g., Griffin et al. 2013) and may be the source
of magmas and magmatic-hydrothermal or hybrid fluids for
some gold and gold-copper deposits, including IRGD, IOCG,
and Carlin-type deposits (Hronsky et al. 2012). However, such
an origin is rare for orogenic gold deposits because melting
and generation of gold- and volatile-enriched magmas is more
likely than direct generation of gold-rich fluids.
As discussed by Zhao et al. (2019), the mechanisms for mi-
gration into the crust by such anomalous fluids created through
devolatilization of metasomatized SCLM have been rarely ad-
dressed (Kennedy et al. 1997; Burnard and Polya 2004; Finlay
et al. 2010; Klemperer et al. 2013), with seismic pumping along
crustal-scale faults as one logical mechanism (Weatherley and
Henley 2013; Cox 2016). Rapid passage of such deeply sourced
ore fluid through faults with zones of local water saturation may
be the mechanism to prevent the ore fluids from being consumed
through partial melting to produce magmas in surrounding less-
hydrous environments (Schrauder and Navon 1994; Bureau and
Keppler 1999; Klein-BenDavid et al. 2011; Rospabé et al. 2017).
Summary and conclusions
There are no modern examples of orogenic gold mineralization,
with the youngest small orogenic gold deposits forming about
12–15 million years ago in the European Alps, and the youngest
Miner Deposita
significant orogenic gold deposit forming about 50 million years
ago (Goldfarb et al. 2001). They also form over a crustal depth
range unparalleled by any other gold deposit group with the
possible exception of iron-oxide copper-gold deposits (Groves
et al. 2010), in very complex tectonic environments where vari-
ous mantle and crustal processes could be involved in crustal
heating and fluid release. Therefore, it is to be expected that their
origin is controversial and that research tools such as fluid inclu-
sions, stable and radiometric isotope ratios, and other geochem-
ical methodologies should prove equivocal. Such genetic contro-
versy has existed for a century or so for gold-only lode-gold
deposits, and continues today despite their recognition as a co-
herent orogenic gold deposit group by Groves et al. (1998).
If the orogenic gold deposit group has a coherent set of critical
features, like all other deposit groups, it should share a specific
origin and relate to a unified minerals-system model, as also
argued most eloquently by Wyman et al. (2016). Based on con-
sistent relationships and geochronological constraints, two vari-
ants of a metamorphic model are the only possibilities of provid-
ing such a unified model: (1) a model involving devolatilization
of deeper supracrustal sequences underlying the host rocks to the
deposits, and (2) a model involving a sub-crustal source (Wyman
et al. 2016), most likely devolatilization of a subducted slab and
overlying sediment wedge.
The supracrustal metamorphic model requires that source
rocks varied from mafic volcanic rocks to sedimentary rocks
from the Precambrian to Phanerozoic, that auriferous metamor-
phic fluid derived at greenschist- to amphibolite-facies PT con-
ditions was expelled to higher crustal levels and resulted in min-
eralization in rocks that were metamorphosed in the same event,
and that significant lateral flow of such fluid towards crustal-scale
faults was possible. In such a model, the relatively common
Precambrian hypozonal gold deposits (Fig. 2), and less-
common Phanerozoic equivalents, deposited under
amphibolite-facies conditions, and the young epizonal to
Miner Deposita

Fig. 6 Geodynamic models for a

the Mesozoic dome–related
hypozonal orogenic gold deposit
at Danba and b the Cenozoic
shear–related epizonal Chang’an
and Zhenyuan orogenic gold
deposits along the Ailaoshan
orogenic belt, on the western
margin of the South China Block.
At Danba, auriferous fluid,
derived from devolatilization
of sub-continental lithospheric
mantle that was metasomatized in
the Neoproterozoic, is interpreted
to have migrated upwards into
amphibolite-facies host sequences
subsequent to Paleo-Tethyan
ocean closure and block amal-
gamation. At Ailaoshan, a similar
auriferous fluid, also derived from
metasomatized mantle, is pro-
posed to have advected to higher
levels in the crust as a result of
lithosphere extension and
asthenosphere upwelling after
crustal shearing

mesozonal deposits formed in much older, previously metamor-
phosed host rocks, such as in the giant Jiaodong gold province,
have to be considered anomalous exceptions to the model. It is
thus not a unified model for all orogenic gold deposits of all ages.
In contrast, the slab devolatilization hypothesis, developed
for the giant Jiaodong gold province, has the potential to be a
unified model (Fig. 5) that can incorporate all orogenic gold
deposits including the high-PT Precambrian and Phanerozoic
deposits and Phanerozoic deposits where timing of mineraliza-
tion and regional metamorphism is incompatible. It can explain
why there is a consistent connection between post-peak meta-
morphic auriferous-fluid advection and change in tectonic re-
gime due to stalling of a subducted slab, how over-pressured
fluid can migrate directly upwards into crustal-scale fault zones
and then down hydraulic gradients into gold depositional sites at
the ductile-brittle transition. It involves a common fluid source,
the slab and overlying pyritic sediment wedge, throughout geo-
logical history. This model has the potential to explain both the
higher CO2 contents of Precambrian orogenic ore fluids, due to
lack of marine sinks for CO2, and the economic importance of
Neoarchean deposits due to the anomalously high gold contents
of syngenetic pyrites in marine sediments at that time. It is truly
a holistic model, whose only uncertainty, shared with all models,
is the precise processes operating at depth: in this case exactly
how fluid is channeled along the slab-mantle boundary and how
this fluid can migrate ocean-wards to the accreted terranes that
typically host these orogenic gold deposits.
In conclusion, it is believed that slab devolatilization pro-
vides a robust model that explains most of the tectonic- to
deposit-scale features of orogenic gold deposits throughout
Earth history and requires less special pleading of specific
explanations for individual anomalous and controversial

examples. In this view, the anomalous deposits, including
those of the giant Jiaodong gold province, provide the key to
unlocking a unified minerals-system model, not the excep-
tions to a supracrustal metamorphic model.
The only clear exceptions are some gold districts in China
where an indirect association with subduction is indicated. In
these cases, auriferous fluid is interpreted to have been liber-
ated by devolatilization of underlying metasomatized SCLM
resulting from a previous orogeny.
In terms of exploration significance, the model confirms
the ubiquitous distribution in paleo-subduction environments
of all geological ages. It stresses the importance of
lithosphere-tapping fault and shear zone systems that can tap
fluids from the Moho and below. It also de-emphasizes reli-
ance on exploration in greenschist-facies terrains, opening up
opportunities in less-explored amphibolite-facies terranes. In
fact, some of the more recent orogenic gold discoveries were
made in amphibolite terranes in Western Australia (e.g.,
Tropicana: e.g., Doyle et al. 2009) and Quebec, Canada
(e.g., Eleonore: Fontaine et al. 2015). The anomalous deposits
and variants on the model re-emphasize (Goldfarb et al. 2007)
the potential importance of zones of metamorphic complexes
that mark anomalous high-temperature tectonic environments
to host anomalous gold deposits including the Carlin-type
deposits of China (Wang and Groves 2018).
Acknowledgements We are indebted to many colleagues over many years
who have contributed to our knowledge of gold mineralization and associ-
ated tectonic environments and processes. We are particularly indebted to
Rich Goldfarb, formerly of the USGS and now a consultant, for his invalu-
able contributions including the enlightenment he has provided on the
Jiaodong gold province. We sincerely thank Hesen Zhao for the help with
the figures. The data and interpretations for gold deposits of the Ailaoshan
Belt are taken from a paper by QF Wang and others which was in revision
and could not be referenced at the time the proofs of this paper were verified.
Funding information The research was partly funded by the National Key
Research and Development Project of China (2016YFC0600307,
2016YFC0600107-4), the National Natural Science Foundation of China
(Grant No. 41702070, 41572069), the MOST Special Fund from the State
Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, China
University of Geosciences (Grant No. MSFGPMR201804), and the 111
Project under the Ministry of Education, and the State Administration of
Foreign Experts Affairs, China (Grant No. B07011).
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