EconomicGeolot•y

Vol. 76, 1981, pp. 1096-1117

Geologyand Geochemistryof Sulfide Mineralization Underlying the

Pueblo Viejo Gold-Silver Oxide Deposit, Dominican Republic
S. E. I•SLEa,
Departmentof GeologicalSciences,Universityof Michigan,Ann Arbor, Michigan48109

N. RUSSELL,M. SEAWARD,
J. RIVERA,K. MCCURDY,
RosarioDominicana, S. A., Apartado Postal944, SantoDomingo,Dominican Republic

G. L. CUMMING,
Department of Physics,Universityof Alberta, Edmonton,Alberta T6G 2J1, Canada

AND J. F. SUTTER
Department of Geology, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210

Abstract

The large Pueblo Viejo oxide gold deposit was developed by weathering of a gold-
quartz-pyrophyllite deposit that formed during sedimentation in a small basin in the
upper part of the Los Ranchos Formation, one of the oldest volcanic units in the
Greater Antilles. The basin is floored by conglomeratesand agglomerates,which
grade upward into standstonesand carbonaceoussediments that include chert with
thin pyrite layers. Plant fossils, which are common in the carbonaceoussediments,
indicate that the basin was near a land mass.
The mineralized zone is roughly funnel shaped and expandsto its maximum hor-
izontal dimensionsin the carbonaceoussediments.The lower part of the funnel tube
containsalunite and diaspore. Pervasivepyrophyllite alteration makes up most of
the overlying tube and upper part of the zone, and locally extensive silicification
makesup the top of the funnel. Supergenekaolinitc is presentin the upper part of
the funnel.
Metallic minerals, consistingmostly of pyrite, are found as disseminations,layers,
and veins, with base and precious metal values being highest in the veins. Veins
are most common in the carbonaceous sediments and diminish in abundance down-
ward into the coarser clastic units. The veins contain abundant pyrite, sphalerite,
and quartz; minor barite, enargite,and pyrophyllite;and tracesof electrum,argentitc,
colusite, tetrahedrite-tennantite, geocronite, galena, and tellurides containing gold,
silver, and copper. There is a strongcorrelationbetween Au and Zn in the upper
parts of the mineralized zone and the Au:Ag ratio, which averages 1:7, decreases
slightly with depth. Au is in electrum in the lower part of the mineralized zone and
partly in tellurides in the upper part. Fluid inclusions indicate that fluids in the
veins were very dilute, boiled at least locally, and reachedtemperaturesof 130ø to
190øC.Pyrophyllite stability requires minimum temperaturesof about 260øC for the
hydrothermal system.Isotopic data indicate that most of the sulfur in the minerali-
zation was derived from seawater, whereas the strontium and lead came from the
Los RanchosFormation, which probably also supplied the preciousmetals.
The Pueblo Viejo system is similar to other gold-quartz-pyrophyllite deposits
except that it contains no known mineable vein orebodies and, instead, contains
numerous,narrow, closely spaced,irregular veins that can be mined by bulk meth-
ods. These veins are thought to have formed by hydraulic fracturing of the carbon-
aceoussedimentscausedby fluid pressuresas the hot spring systemdeveloped. The
size and shapeof the mineralized systemat Pueblo Viejo resembleactive hot spring
systemssuch as Wairakei, New Zealand, and its environment of formation probably
resembled that of the Quaternary volcano chain which crossesLake Managua in
Nicaragua.

1096
 Au-Ag OXIDE DEPOSIT, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 1097

Introduction administered by Rosario Resources.Operation

began in April 1975, at a designed rate of 7,150
THE Pueblo Viejo oxide gold-silver deposit in metric tons per day with a reserve of approxi-
the central Dominican Republic is one of the mately 27 million metric tons of oxide ore aver-
largestopen-pit gold mines in the western hemi- aging 4.23 g/metric ton Au and 21.6 g/metric ton
sphere (Fig. 1). It is operated by Rosario Dom- Ag above a cut-off of 1.4 g/metric ton Au. The
inicana, S. A., originally a joint venture of Rosa- history, geology, and geochemistry of this oxide
rio Resources Corporation, Simplot Industries, orebody will be discussedseparately(Russell et
and the Governmentof the Dominican Republic, al., 1981). In this report we are concernedwith
and now wholly owned by the Government and the zone of sulfide mineralization that underlies

0 5 10 Km
POST-LOS RANCHOS UNITS • i i i i i i

• ALLUVIUM
'•• UNDIVIDED
DIORITE
AND QUARTZ (D)(Q D)
DIORITE
•
! i
HATILLOLIMESTONE
• COT Ul
VV VVV
LOS RANCHOS FORMATION V V V

• PUEBLO
VIE4DMEMBER VV V V V V
VVV
PLATANAL MEMBER / V V•
Hachured Where Unaltered V V V

ZAMBRANA MEMBER V V V V V V V V

QUITA SUE•JO MEMBER V V VV •'•vv

Hocnured Where Massive Quortz Kerotophyre V V V V
V V V
V
PRE- LOS RANCHOS UNITS V V V V V

MAIMON FORMATION

DUARTE, PERAVILLO AND

SIETE CABEZAS FORMATIONS o

SERPENTINITE
UNDIVIDED UNITS FIG. 2

..•

•'BONAO

FI(;. 1. Generalizedgeologicmap of the Early CretaceousLos RanchosFormationand sur-

roundingregion(after Bowin, 1966,and Kesleret al., in prep.). Note that the narrow zonelabeled
"Duarte, Peravillo, and Siete CabezasFormations"that extendsto the eastof the serpentinite
consistsentirelyof PeravilloFormation.LocalityA in the LosRanchosFormationmarksthe site
of marl and limestone discussed in the text.
1098 KESLER ET AL.

the oxide ore and from which the oxide ore was finer grained sediments, some of which are car-
derivedby weathering.This sulfidemineraliza- bonaceous. One lens of carbonaceous marl and
tion, which averagesabout$ g/metric ton Au, 23 limestone in the Platanal (A, Fig. 1) contains
g/metric ton Ag, 0.8 percentZn, and 0.2 percent marine faunal and terrestrial plant remains that
Cu, has not been mined and any decisionto do indicate an Early Cretaceous,probably Neocom-
sowill dependstronglyon the future priceof gold Jan, age for the Los Ranchos Formation (Kesler
aswell ason the developmentof an economically et al., in prep.). The spilite, which ranges from
viable metallurgicalprocess.Regardless of its ul- massive to agglomeratic, is thickest to the north
timate economichistory, however, the sulfide and west of the area and is thin or absent below
mineralization at Pueblo Viejo is of interest be- Pueblo Viejo (Figs. 2 and 3). The western part
causeit is a protore from which a maior oxide of the Platanal Member, on Loma la Cuaba (Fig.
gold depositdevelopedand becauseit is an ex- 1), consists of pyrophyllite-bearing rock with
ample of a previousmetal-depositinghot spring extensive stratiform zones of pervasive silicifi-
system.In the following pageswe review succes- cation. These rocks grade downward into spilite
sivelythe geologicsettingof the PuebloViejode- and volcaniclastic rocks and are thought to be
posit,the geologyof the sulfidezone,and finally hydrothermally altered spilite and volcaniclastic
its geochemistryand probableoriginal geologic rock. The Pueblo Viejo Member, which is dis-
setting. cussedin more detail in the next section,grades
into and is coeval with the upper part of the
Regional Geologic Setting of the Pueblo Viejo Platanal Member. It is host to the gold-silver
Gold-Silver Deposit mineralization and consists of hydrothermally
The Pueblo Viejo deposit is in the upper part altered sediments and volcanic rocks.
of the Early Cretaceous Los Ranchos Formation, The Los Ranchos Formation has undergone
one of several geologic units that make up the low-grade metamorphism and contains wide-
Cordillera Central, the axial mountain range of spread calcite, chlorite, epidote, and albite as
Hispaniola (Fig. 1). Just west of the Los Ranchos well as pyrophyllite and pumpellyite locally,
Formation outcrop is a belt of metamorphosed which are characteristic of upper prehnite-pum-
sea-floor basalt and sediments (the Duarte For- pellyite or lowermost greenschistfacies condi-
mation) and sericite schists (the Maimon For- tions. Foliation is found locally in the Los Ran-
mation); these are separated by a zone of ser- chos Formation where phyllosilicates are abun-
pentinized peridotite (Bowin, 1966, 1975). K-At dant, although most rocks in the formation are
age dates (Bowin, 1966; Kesler et al., 1977) massive.
indicate that the Duarte Formation was meta- The Los Ranchos Formation is overlain to the
morphosedabout 125 m.y. ago during the early south by the Lower Cretaceous Hatillo Lime-
stages of development of the eastern Greater stone (Figs. i and 2), which is overlain in turn
Antilles. Fossil and lead isotope data for the Los by thinly bedded crystal tuff of the Las Lagunas
Ranchos Formation (Bowin, 1966; Kesler et al., Formation (Bowin, 1966). Early Cenozoic move-
1977; Kesler et al., in prep.) indicate that it was ment along the Hatillo thrust has moved the
deposited at about the same time that the Maimon Formation over the Hatillo and Las
Duarte Formation was metamorphosed, which Lagunas Formations. The Hatillo thrust fault is
makes it one of the oldest volcanic units in the cut by late Eocene diorite intrusions, which
Greater Antilles island arc. formed small iron deposits where they cut
The Los Ranchos Formation (Fig. 1) dips Hatillo Limestone(Bowin, 1966). A small diorite
about 25 ø to the southwest and has a known stra- plug and related iron orebody crops out just
tigraphic thicknessof about 1,500 m. It has been south of the Pueblo Viejo area (Fig. 2). A quartz
divided into four members of which three, the diorite stockthat cuts the Quita Suerio Member
Zambrana, Platanal, and Pueblo Viejo Members, of the Los Ranchos Formation south of Cotui
are clearly related stratigraphically and chemi- (Fig. 1) has metamorphosedkeratophyre along
cally (Kesler et al., in prep.). The remaining its northwestern boundary to the albite-epidote
Quita Suerio Member is chemically distinct and hornfels facies. We have not been able to obtain
appears to underlie the other members. It con- a radiometric age for the quartz diorite because
sists of locally vesicular keratophyre and minor of widespread deuteric alteration.
quartz keratophyre flows and tuffs, as well as
massive quartz keratophyre plugs. The Zam- Geology of the Pueblo Viejo Mine Area
brana Member consists of agglomerate, con-
glomerate,tuff, and volcaniclasticsediment.The Stratigraph[l of the Pueblo Viejo area
overlying Platanal Member containsspilite, vol- Mineralization at Pueblo Viejo is confined
caniclastic sediment derived from spilite, and largely to a small sedimentarybasin that formed
 Au-AgOXIDE DEPOSIT,DOMINICANREPUBLIC 1099

.::::::::::
::?f.:i
• :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
o GEOLOGIC MAP
:::::::::::
:•'i" '•;::: -"ø:::;:;::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Of THE
':':':':':'
'Ii':: :r•..... : .............. •.'..•.•.:.:.:.:.:.'.:•.:.:..r--
PUEBLO VIEJO MINE AREA
o I

1:::.':::.:,
•:::::::::::: ;':• •'_ •4.:?• :•:.:.:.:.', I
ß:'::::::
r•............'.-f
..'-•.......::::::::::?:!
z5 •
',,:
•:
• •,'"•'•d'"'•
•o o
:.:.:.:....-.. KM 96•000N ß
vv

::::.."- ............... ß o o o vV
I.... ;............
':"""•"I'E
NEG
c•n :::'e'
:' o
•
o

o
v
VV
I:: •, '.p/•n=lDE
I:: :::.... a5 '. ORE
.• .•_•.': v

vV
i::i -.BODY ....
v

vv
vv
v

95•0 ON •
v v
EAST .o.
¾v
v
ORE v
v v
v
v
v

v v
.v

v
v
v

t v

v v

LITHOLOGIC
• UNITS
• HATILLO
'4••
DIORITE
LIMESTONE
•,
v v
v

v
v

LOS RANCHOS FORMATION v

• CARBONACEOUS SEDIMENTS
HACHURED WHERE CRUMPLED
v
v
• QUARTZ PORPHYRY
AGGLOMERATE

__ i• MONTE NEGRO CONGLOMERATE 93,000N ,

• SPILITECONGLOMERATE DA
'•'-•SPILITE

,;ij•
UNDIVIDED
PLATANAL
MEMBER
INCLUDING ALTERED SPILITE
(HACHURED)ANDLIMESTONE(LS)
SEDIMENTARY LAYERING
•-•-]UNDIVIDED
ZAMBRANA
MEMBER
i.O•i,FOL
IATION
• MINOR FOLD AXES

I
FzG.2. Geologicmap of the Pueblo Viejo mine area showinglocationof the Moore, East
Mejita, and Monte Negro oxideore deposits.The sulfide mineralizationdescribedin this report
underlies the Moore and East Mejita oxide deposits.The location of this map in the Los
RanchosFormation is shown in Figure 1.

in the upper Los RanchosFormation. Any south- of conglomerate mark the basin edges (Fig. 2).
ern limit of this basin is covered by younger These conglomerates interfinger with spilite
rocks (Fig. 2). On the northern, eastern, and and volcaniclastic sediment of the Platanal
western sides, however, widespread exposures Member as well as underlie and interfinger with
1100 KESLER ET AL.

carbonaceous sediments typical of the Pueblo which is described later. The carbonaceous sed-
Viejo Member (Fig. 3). The conglomerateshave iments consist of locally graded, medium- to
been divided into several distinctive lithologic coarse-grained,carbon-poor sediments in layers
units. On the northeastedge of the Pueblo Viejo 1 to 30 cm thick, which are interlayered with
area (Fig. 2) is a spilite conglomeratethat con- very fine grained, thinly bedded (0.1 to 2.0 cm)
sists of rounded cobbles of relatively fresh spi- carbonaceoussediments with locally abundant
lite up to 25 cm in diameter. Holes drilled pyrite layers. A few massive pyrite lenses up to
below the Moore oxide ore zone indicate that 10 m thick are present in the sediments. Where
this conglomerate thins rapidly to the west and it has not been strongly altered during the
south and, below the East Mejita oxide ore zone, mineralizing process,much of the thinly bedded
interfingers with quartz porphyry agglomerate carbonaceous sediment consists of minute inter-
and other less distinctive, finer grained volcan- locking quartz grains that are identical in thin
iclastic rocks (Fig. 3). This quartz porphyry section to chert. Other coarser grained layers
agglomerate consistsof fragments of quartz por- contain clastic quartz grains apparently derived
phyry with large (2-5 mm) quartz phenocrysts, from the quartz porphyry. Leaf imprints are seen
intensely silicified rock (jasperold), and pyri- in much of these sediments, large bark imprints
tized rock in a matrix of quartz porphyry. It is are found on Monte Negro, and fossil limb and
overlain locally by sediment consisting almost trunk(?) fragmentsare found at East Mejita (Rus-
entirely of quartz phenocrysts.The presence of sellet al., 1981).A largebodyof quartzporphyry
totally altered feldspar(?) "ghosts" in some thin agglomeratein the carbonaceous sedimentcrops
sectionsof the quartz porphyry, as well as its out in an arcuate, north-trending zone that ends
texture, indicate its close affinity to the more southof the Moore oxideore zone (Fig. 2). This
massive quartz keratophyresof the Quita Suerio agglomeratebody restson altered spilite in the
Member. The• spilite conglomerate also grades south(Fig. 2) and on carbonaceous sedimentsin
westward into quartz eye conglomerate, which the north (Fig. $). In contrastto the quartz por-
is generally finer grained than the quartz por- phyry below East Meiita, this body is surrounded
phyry agglomerates, has fewer fragments, and by relativelylittle sedimentcontainingitsdetritus
lacks a quartz porphyry matrix. Cobble size in and wasprobablyemplacedby slumpingor fault-
this unit appears to coarsen to the south and ing, althoughno trace of sucha displacementis
west, and farther in these directions the position known.
of the quartz eye conglomerate is taken by On the northwest, the carbonaceous sedi-
altered spilite (Fig. 3, section A-B•. ments interfinger with and are overlain by the
These fragmental units and the spilite are Monte Negro conglomerate (Fig. 3). It grades
overlain by a sequence of fine- to medium- into the previously mentioned spilite conglom-
grained, thinly layered sandstones(Fig. 3). On erate to the east and is distinguished from it by
the northeast, the sandstonesexhibit well-devel- the presence of more than 9.0percent cobbles of
oped grading and have interlayers of carbona- quartz porphyry, jasperoid, and pyritized rock.
ceous sediments. To the southwest, they are Most cobbles are well rounded and range up to
finer grained, more homogeneous,and lack car- 10 cm in diameter. On the north and west, the
bonaceous material. Note in the two sections Monte Negro conglomerate grades into altered
(Fig. 3) that these sediments are overlain by a spilite on Loma la Cuaba (Fig. 1).
lens (flow?) of spilite in the south and underlain
by a spilite lens in the north. Structure of the Pueblo Viejo area
Carbonaceous sediments overlie these sand- The Los Ranchos Formation dips gently to the
stones and spilite and extend westward and southwest on a regional scale, although within
southward over the spilite (Fig. 3). They reach the mine area the structural grain trends more
a maximum thickness of about 120 m below the nearly north-south(Fig. 9.). For instance, the car-
Moore oxide ore zone, where they are overlain bonaceous sediments in the northern part of the
locally by a thin wedge of conglomerate that is Moore oxide ore zone form a gentle north-trend-
correlated with the Monte Negro conglomerate, ing anticline and another such fold is found

FIG. 3. Cross sections(looking north) acrossthe Pueblo Viejo mine area. See Figure 2 for
location of crosssections. Deep diamond drill holes used to control sectionsare shown, but
numerous 200-m rotary holes and shallower holes of all types are omitted. Section 94,600N
includes holes between 94,700N and 94,500N.
 A--B SECTION 95,300
MOORE OXIDE
4001 MONTE NEGRO

"""'1 = . oN,ms
.

200•

Meters• C•//•.'••f-- ORE

ALUNITE
AND
ALTERAT
C-D SECTION 94,600
MOORE OXIDE EAST MEJITA

4001
•00 ORE
BODY
++
•_+• OXIDE
ORE
BODY D

2oo• .-' •:::::::::::::::::::::

.......'•"••••••••.
:'.::•
vv--vvv..v
v
• '. •'• ']] ..... ;]: .... ::; ..... ;:: ..... :]] .... •:;•."'_.•V ,, V V V

• ._,.;
,_•
o :--=•[-•• • • • ø, ::::::::::::::::::::::::::
....
v•v•v
i:::::!:..::::::..::::::.:..::::i:.:.::::
:".'-•:•v
v.
.v,,'
LITHOLOGIC
UNITS

400

D
300

200

I00

0
Meters

LITHOLOGIC UNITS

QUARTZ
PORPHYRY
AGG LOMER ATE CONGLOMERATE

SANDSTONE
CARBONACEOUS SS. QUARTZ
EYE
CONGLOMERATE VOLCANICL ASTIC ROCKS

• CARBONACEOUS
SEDIMENT MONTENEGROVv•--
• UNDIVIDED
ZAMBRANACONGLOMERATE MEMBER

ORE AND ALTERATION

OXIDE
ORE SULFIDE
ORE LIMIT OF
ALTERATION
MINERAL

11Ol
1102 KESLER ET AL.

about 1 km to the east (Fig. 2). North-trending TA}•LE1. InstrumentalNeutronActivationAnalysesof Layered

faults bound the quartz porphyry agglomerate Pyrite from the Carbonaceous
Sediments
on the west where they have caused strong
deformation of the carbonaceous sediments. The Sample DDH-71-107m Tunnel 2-#5 DDH-100-16m
carbonaceous sediments are also strongly Ag 5.1 40 8.1
deformed in a zone that trends northward along As 85 840 950
the western edge of the Moore oxide ore zone. Au 1.1 1.3 6.8
Ba 400 5,200 260
Here the sediments exhibit a pervasive axial Cd 30 24
plane cleavage that parallels metamorphic fol- Co 6.3 54 54
iation in other parts of the Los Ranchos For- Cr 25 28 15
mation. Cu 640 5,700 760
La 0.57 0.25 2.1
Distribution and Mineralogy of M ineralization Na 47 18 89
and Alteration Sb 8 13 64
Sc 2.4 1.5 4.0
Distribution of ore minerals and precious Se 26 121 13
metal values V 44 65 36

Mineralization and alteration in the Pueblo

Viejo protore was formed by a hot spring system Iron analysesand pointcountsindicatethat theseseparates con-
sistedof about90 percentpyrite. All resultsexpressed
in partsper
that operated in the upper part of the Los Ran- million(ppm).Analyses by AlanCuddy.
chos Formation. Mineralized and altered rock in
the hot spring system has a funnel shape and
reaches its greatest horizontal extent in the car- m thick, which are most common below the north-
bonaceoussediments (Fig. 3). Disseminated ore ern part of the Moore oxide ore zone. Small
minerals are found throughoutthe funnel-shaped amountsof sphaleriteare presentin someof these
mineralized zone, and vein and layered ore min- lensesand mostof them exhibit elevatedprevious
erals are most abundant in the upper part of the metal values.A 2-m-thick pyritic lensjust below
zone. The only abundant disseminated sulfide the oxide interface in the northern part of the
mineral is pyrite. Sphalerite is found in a few Moore oxide ore zone assayed4.6 g/metric ton
sandstonelayers in the lower part of the carbon- Aug, 280 g/metric ton Ag, 0.05 percentCu, and
aceous sediments. Precious metal values are low 0.01 percent Zn.
to absent in these disseminated sulfides except Vein mineralization is most abundant and best
where they are closely associatedwith veins. developed in the carbonaceoussediments, where
Layered sulfides are found in several forms, the veins reach thicknesses of 10 cm. Veins are
of which the most abundant are the 0.01- to 2.0- less abundant in the underlying sandstonesand
cm-thick layers in the carbonaceoussediments fragmental units where they occur as discontin-
containing pyrite, with variable proportionsof uous pods or stringers that reach a thickness of
chert, carbonaceousmaterial, and alteration min- only i to 2 cm. In the few localities where the
erals. Some layers are almost exclusivelypyrite. veins have been observed at the surface, they
The pyrite is framboidal, octahedral, dodecahe- show no preferred orientation, bifurcating and
dral, or cubic in form and somecubic grainsex- crosscuttingeach other in an irregular pattern.
hibit internalframboidalghosttextures.Somelay- Although many veins are nearly vertical, some
ers consistof pyrite grainsthat decreasein size have shallow dips and a few follow layering.
upward,suggesting depositionfrom a densitycur- The walls of most veins are very irregular-and
rent. Controversyover the preciousmetal values even ptygmatic. Attempts to mine these veins
in theselayerswasfueledby an early testin which have been unsuccessful,largely because they
12 hand-pickedseparatesof layered pyrite aver- are narrow and irregular, and the wall rock is
aged8.9 g/metric ton Au and 72 g/metric ton Ag weak. The present operation mines the oxidized
in comparisonto averagesof 72 g/metric ton Au vein-wall-rock material in bulk.
and 250 g/metric ton Ag for a similar numberof The veins consist of megascopically visible,
pyrite samplesfrom veins. Subsequentmultiele- alternating, bilaterally symmetrical layers of
ment analyses(Table 1) indicate lessenrichment quartz, pyrite, and sphalerite with quartz, barite,
in the layered pyrite and, combined with ore and pyrophyllite filling the remaining open
microscopyobservations,suggestthat local pre- space. In the larger veins, the pyrite and sphal-
ciousmetal enrichementin thesepyrite layersis erite form finger-sized botryoidal massesand in
related to veining. The carbonaceous sediments the smaller veins they form botryoidal layers.
alsocontainlensesof massivepyrite from 1 to 10 Other vein minerals that have been verified by
 Au-AgOXIDE DEPOSIT,DOMINICANREPUBLIC 1103

X-ray diffraction analysis include tennantite- indicatethat the gold is closelyassociatedwith

tetrahedrite and galena. Semiquantitative elec- sphalerite. Inasmuch as sphalerite is present
tron microprobe analysesof pyrite, sphalerite, almost exclusively in the veins, this correlation
and enargitehave detectedsmall 0.5- to 10.0-# is further proof that gold mineralization is asso-
grains with the compositionsof argentire, chal- ciated with veining. The lack of an Au:Zn cor-
costibite,colusite,electrum, geocronite,jordan- relation in the underlying conglomerate units
ite, stibnite, and tellurides of gold, gold-silver, (Table 2) is related in part to the scarcityof zinc
and copper. Many of these minerals appear to in veins in these rocks.
be concentrated in widely separated growth Information on the relative importance of
zonesin pyrite, which were first recognizedby electrum and tellurides as gold hosts was
J. N. Hartley of Battelle Memorial Laboratories. obtained from tellurium assaysfor several sec-
Some relatively large (1-2 mm) grains of geo- tions of mineralized core. Note in Figure 4 that
cronite(?)and jordanite(?) are associatedwith there is a goodcorrelationbetween Au and Te
sphalerite. A second type of vein that is wide- for samplesfrom all stratigraphicunits, whereas
spread in the mineralized zone contains only no such correlation is observed for Ag and Te.
quartz, with local native sulfur or realgar in Referenceto the Au-Ag-Te ternary diagram(Fig.
deeper levels. These veins are commonly irreg- 5) shows that the mineralization exhibits an
ular in form, narrow (up to 3 cm in width), and approximatelyconstantAu:Te ratio but variable
cut sulfide veins. They carry precious metal val- Ag:Te and Au:Ag ratios. Note further that sam-
ues locally. ples from the conglomerateunits (in the lower
part of the system) have relatively low Au:Ag
Localization and mineralogyof the gold ratios and a small compositional range, whereas
As with most low-grade gold deposits,one of samplesfrom the sandstone-spiliteand particu-
the greatestchallengesat Pueblo Viejo has been larly the carbonaceoussedimentsexhibit a size-
to determine the mineralogical and geological able compositional range and relative enrich-
controlson gold abundance.Fine-grained (100 ment in Au and Te. Figure 5 can be used to
t• and smaller) native gold has been panned define the mineralogy of gold at Pueblo Viejo
from richer parts of the oxide ore (Russell et al., only if all Au, Ag, and Te in each sample is in
1981), but megascopicallyvisible gold has not minerals that do not include other elements.
been seenin the sulfide zone. Althoughelectron Althoughmicroprobedata indicate that someAg
microprobestudy of vein material has indicated is in argentiteand sulfosaltsand someTe is in
the presenceof gold in electrum,tellurides,and coppertellurides, only the sulfosaltsare wide-
geocronite,the scarcityof suchobservations makes spread.Thus, it appearsthat the gold in the frag-
it difficult to useore microscopyto determinethe mental units is part of the assemblagesilver-rich
distributionand relativeimportanceof thesehosts electrum-hessite with or without sulfosalts,
and their relationshipto other sulfidemineralsin whereas in the carbonaceous sediments elec-
the ore. To deal with this problem we have used trum is less abundant and more gold is con-
assaydata to infer the geologicaland mineral- tained in tellurides. The sandstone-spiliteunit
ogicalsettingof the gold. Table 2 showselement- exhibits an intermediate mineralogy.
element correlationcoefficientsfor Au, Ag, Cu, Metal distribution and zoning in the
and Zn assaysfrom about 2,$00, 2-m intervalsof mineralized area
drill core.Where possible,the data havealsobeen
divided into three groupsindicatingtheir host Variations in metal abundance in the Pueblo
rock and, therefore,depth in the mineralizedsys- Viejo mineralized system were determined by
tem. For purposesof interpretation, we have ac- summing,for each drill hole, all 2-m assayinter-
cepted specificelement-elementcorrelationcoef- vals above a specified cut-off grade. Gold in the
meaningfulif they are 0.45 oxide ore was included in the summation
ficientsasgeologically
or morefor boththe raw and transformed(to log- becauseof its immobility (Russellet al., 1981).
arithm base10) data. The level of 0.45 was chosen This could not be done for zinc or copper, because
becausedata exhibitingthisdegreeof correlation they have been leachedfrom the oxide zoneand
showvisiblecovariancein scatterplots.For large their sumsrepresentonly metal in the sulfide
populations suchasthese,levelsof 0.45 are highly zone. Becausemostholeswere drilled to approx-
significant. imately the samedepth (200 m) and becausethe
For the carbonaceous sediments and under- southwestward dipsof the strataroughlyparallel
lying sandstonesand spilite, Table 2 shows a topography,eachholesampledapproximatelythe
strong Au:Zn correlation, which we interpret to same thicknessof mineralized ground. Cut-off
1104 KESLER ET AL.

TABLE2. CorrelationCoefficients
(R) for VariousCombinations
of Precious
and BaseMetalsBasedon Assays
of 2-m CoreSamples

Raw data Transformed data

R N R N

Carbonaceous sediments

Au:Ag 0.2954 386 0.4537 379

Au:Cu 0.3866 386 0.1483 364
Au:Zn 0.4797' 386 0.4982* 386
Ag:Cu 0.2101 386 0.3143 370
Ag:Zn 0.3178 386 0.4060 374
Cu:Zn 0.3273 386 0.0605 368

Sandstone-spilite
Au:Ag 0.3734 322 0.5569' 320
Au:Cu 0.0821 321 0.1091 318
Au:Zn 0.5939' 320 0.4676' 318
Ag:Cu 0.4212 321 0.1940 320
Ag:Zn 0.1461 320 0.3206 320
Cu:Zn -0.0398 319 -0.0446 318

Conglomerates
Au:Ag 0.6426' 407 0.6349' 405
Au:Cu 0.0851 407 0.1538 404
Au: Zn 0.1763 407 0.2530 360
Ag:Cu 0.2812 407 0.2929 406
Ag:Zn -0.0219 407 -0.0636 362
Cu:Zn 0.0373 407 -0.1420 361

All data

Au:Ag 0.3208 2,328 0.6499' 1,954

Au:Cu 0.1984 2,327 0.3982 1,874
Au:Zn 0.4121 2,325 0.5725' 1,788
Ag:Cu 0.3747 2,327 0.5817' 2,179
Ag:Zn 0.1516 2,325 0.5502' 2,091
Cu:Zn 0.0939 2,324 0.5348 2,032

Correlationcoefficients
are givenfor raw data and for data transformed
to base10 logarithms.
Correlationcoefficients are alsogiven
for thosedatathatcouldbedividedintothreegroupsonthebasisof hostrock:carbonaceous sediments,
sandstone-spilite,
andconglomerates
units.N = the numberof analyses. Statisticaltestsmadeby William Oppenheimer.* Correlationcoefficientis greaterthan0.45, which
is consideredsignificantasexplainedin the text.

gradesof 1.5, $.0, and 4.5 g/metric ton Au wereoxide ore zone to the east are not underlain by
usedfor goldin compilingtheseabundancemaps. abundant veining and thus exhibit little zinc
For zinc, cut-off gradesof 0.5 and 1.5 percent mineralization in Figure 6C. The barren zone
were usedand, for Cu, cut-off gradesof 0.25 andbetween the East Mejita and Moore zones is
0.75 percentwere used.The shapeand sizeof the occupiedby a streamvalley that has presumably
gold and zinc zonesdo not changesignificantly removed intervening mineralized material. The
as the cut-off grade is lowered. Thus, the min-copper mineralization (Fig. 6B) forms a more
eralizedzoneappearsto be closelyconfinedeven irregular and smaller trilobate zone that also
at low grades,and we have usedonly the highest centers below the southern part of the Moore
cut-off gradesto depict zoningfor eachmetal in oxide ore zone. Similar summation maps for
Figure 6. gold, zinc, and copper in the conglomerateunits
It can be seen in Figure 6A and C that the (Fig. 6D, E, and F) provide an indication of the
distribution of gold and zinc is similar. Both distribution and intensity of mineralization in
metals are distributed in a roughly trilobate the lowerpart of the hydrothermalsystem.These
zone (beneath the Moore oxide orebody) that is mapsare basedon fewer holes,and the depth
elongated north-south.The northern part of the of penetration into the conglomerate units
Moore oxide orebody and the entire East Mejita varies. It can be clearly seen, however, that all
 Au-Ag OXIDE DEPOSIT, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 1105

mE
three metals occupy smaller areas than they do
in the entire systemand that metal accumulation • o CARBONACEOU$
SEDIMENT
in this lower zone is about one-third of that in lY/ •
20.•l ]]! u •
a,SANDSTONE-SPIL
x QU•TZ PORPHYRY
the entire system. Both gold and zinc are con- //7/11 '• •GL(,M•-RATE •O
. /// ///• • •TZ EYE •-
centrated along north-south zones with maxi-
mum gold values in the southern part of this • ///S• o• GLOME•E.
zone. Copper is essentially absent except in the
previously mentioned small area east of the high
intensity gold zone, even at lower cut-off grades.
Vertical variations in the Pueblo Viejo system
are also discussedby Russellet al. (1981), who
show that the abundance of Au, as well as the
Au:Ag ratio, increasesupward in the deposit.
,07
Proof of these generalizations can be seen in • 20 • 40 50 60 70 80 90
Figure 4, which shows that Au abundances in
samples from the carbonaceous sediments are FIG. 5. Low-temperature phase equilibria in the Au-Ag-
much higher than those from the sandstones, Te system(after Markham, 1960) showing compositionsof
mineralized material from the carbonaceous sediments,
spilites, and conglomerates. Note also that the sandstone-spilite, and conglomerate-quartz porphyry
abundance of Te decreases downward, while agglomerate. All proportions are by weight. Samples con-
the Ag abundanceremains unchanged. Figure taining less than I g/metric ton of any of the three elements
5 confirmsthe downward decreaseof the Au:Ag have not been included in this plot. Note that Kelly and
Goddard (1969) have shown that the results of Markham
ratio in the deposit. (1960) are more applicable to observed phase relations in
Distribution and mineralogyof alteration natural telluride ores than are the high-temperature data of
Cabri (1965).
The mineralized zone at Pueblo Viejo (Fig. 3)
is best delineated by aluminosilicate minerals,
which form an elongatedfunnel that is deepest at its western side. Low-grade metamorphic
minerals, such as calcite, chlorite, albite, and
epidote are widespread outside this funnel-
.ol shaped zone but are not present within it. Pyr-
ophyllite and quartz with less abundant alunite
SILVER and kaolinite, and very minor diaspore and sid-
x

erite, make up the mineralized zone. The con-

tact between the mineralized zone and the sur-

•' 2o
rounding rock is gradational over a distance of
•6
about 10 m and the depth to calcite in the drill
CARBONACEOUSSEDIMENTS
SANDSTONE AND SPILITE
holes outlines the funnel-shaped mineralized
QUARTZ PORPHYRY
zone very effectively (Fig. 7). Unlike the ore
AC-C4_OME• AND (•IARTZ minerals, alteration minerals are not confined to
EYE CONGLOMERATE
veins but also pervade the wall rock. In some
%' parts of the system, in fact, the rock has been so
Te (ppm)
extensively altered that it consists now of a sin-
16
gle alteration mineral, usually pyrophyllite or
"' GOLD quartz, with disseminated pyrite. In such
o
intensely altered zones carbonaceous material
hasbeenremoved,and quartz phenocrysts or de-
• x' o o
o trital grainshave been recrystallizedor partly re-
o ooo placed.
6[-%%
o5.c• •o o
•o As can be seen in Figure 3, some of the alter-
ation minerals exhibit a systematiczoning pat-
tern. Alunite forms an elongated dome (Fig. 8)
I I
in the neck of the funnel-shaped mineralized
Te [ppm)
zone,and pyrophylliteand kaolinite are found at
FIC. 4. Correlation plots for Au:Te and Ag:Te for miner- successively higher levels in the system. The
alized carbonaceoussediments,sandstone-spilite,and con- kaolinite is consideredto be supergenein origin
glomerate-quartzporphyry agglomerate. because it occurs near the surface (Fig. 3) and
1106 KESLER ET AL.

ALL UNITS

95500
N•• 95,
SOON
/ \ /\ ß5,S00 N //%
_j \,•
/.j_• x..)4.Sg/t.
/'./_J,.I.! (
GOLDCUT OFF
/•-'" • COPPER /
/ ZINC
1.5%CUT OFF

/ •'L_•,, • J./• •,/x7 I__-c'-•, •"-•-x

94•00N X • J

El ß
CONTOURS
0-100-200-$00 g/f CONTOURS0-10% CONTOURS 0-25-75 %

CONGLOMERATIC UNITS

,/./ / COPPER /./I, ,) ZINC

/•':•.,, ) 4.5•'t.
CUTOFF •:'•':,' / OZ5%CUT
OFF •:•7/' ) 1.5%CUTOFF
.,.;•.. • . /..• . ,f . /..J7. •

LJ' .•1
ß • ......
. •/ .... .'•
ß e•eI ß ß ß(e I

:. ' '

CONTOURSO-50-1OO •/t CONTOURSO-I0% CONTOURSO-IO%

•. 6. Co.tours o• metal •eeumub•o. below •e Moore a• East Meji• o•i•e orebo•ies

(ou•i.e• by •ashe• ]i. es) ob•i.e• by summi.g •]] •ss•ys [or •m i.te•]s exeee•i.g 4,• •
me•e to. Au, 1.• peree.t Z., a.• 0.?• peree.t Cu i. •]] holes (which are show. as •o•).
A, B, a.• C show to.tours base• o. sumso• •e e.tire ]e.• o• •e •ole regardlesso• •e
]it•olo•e u.it. D, g, •.• F showeo. toursbase• o. sums•or mi.e•liz•tio. i. eo.glomerates
..•edyi.g •e sa.•sto. e a.• spilite, e.g., •or •e ]owe• paA o• •e mi.er•lize• system.•ese
a•d the followi.• figurese•. be locatedi• Figures• •.d 8 usi.• the o•i•e ore out]i•es•.• the
coordinatesystem.

is paragenetically later than pyrophyllite. The present in some parts of the alunite zone. Alun-
upper central parts of the mineralized system, ire is cut by pyrophyllite. Siderite is found in a
within this supergene kaolinite zone and the small area of the carbonaceous sediments below
present zone of oxide ore, contain extensive the north end of the Moore ore zone. Vein-
zones of pervasive hypogene silicification, or hosted barite is present above the alunite dome
jasperoid. Where pyrophyllite is present in this within the mineralized carbonaceous sediments.
jasperoid, it forms well-defined, crosscutting Gypsum is found west of and above the alunite
veins and masses. The alunite dome consists dome in barren carbonaceous sediments.
locally of as much as 50 percent alunite coexist- The altered-mineralized funnel below the
ing with quartz and pyrite. Minor diaspore is Moore oxide ore zone is part of an extensive
 Au-AgOXIDE DEPOSIT,DOMINICANREPUBLIC 1107

hydrothermal system that operated in the upper

part of the Los Ranchos Formation. A similar ß
" ", 95,500N
funnel probably underlies mineralization at lI \\
Monte Negro. Jasperoid and pyrophyllite are I

widespread throughout the Pueblo Viejo and

Platanal Members outside the area of known ',, ALUNITE DOME
/!
sulfide mineralization. As noted earlier, altera-
tion on Loma la Cuaba measures 5 km by 5 km /

in area and is at least 100 m thick. It consists of

pyrophyllite with extensive stratiform silicified
95,000 N
zones, some of which contain hematite. In the ...... ;--.
Zambrana and Quita Sueno Members pyrophyl-
lite is absent and jasperoid is confined to much
smaller zones. ß /!

Relationship between mineralization and ß

alteration
The antithetic relationship between precious
metal values and calcite can be seen in Figure
3. Note further that ore is found in both the
kaolinire and pyrophyllite zones but is less
widespread in the alunite zone. Most veins that
contain significant precious metal values are ß

bordered by silicification, which ranges from

pervasive in the upper part of the systemto thin
(1 to 3 cm) selvages in the lower part of the FIG. 8. Contourson the upper limit of alunite alteration
below the Moore and East Mejita oxide ore bodies (dashed
line). Drill hole locationsare shown by dots and contours
are in meterswith respectto sealevel.

system; they contain pyrophyllite or have pyro-

phyllite halos. As noted previously, the kaolinire
!R LIMIT OF
observed at Pueblo Viejo is thought to be a
;ALCITE
; IN ,"aETE•$ WITH
product of present-day weathering rather than
CE TG SEA LEVEL
metamorphism,and it thereforebearsno genetic
relationshipto the hypogenegold values.Russell
et al. (1981)showthat goldvaluesdo not correlate
directly with degreeof silicificationin the oxide
zone. They also show, however, that hypogene
goldvaluesare higherin the oxideore than in the
underlyingsulfideore. Thus,it mustbe concluded
that the highest precious metal values in the
Pueblo Viejo systemare found in the upper part
. I of the pyrophyllitezone,generallybelowthe areas
of most intensesilicification.Areas of high pre-
cious metal values in the alunite zone are asso-
ciated with late native sulfur-bearingveins.
Environment and Timing of Sedimentation,
Mineralization, Alteration, and Metamorphism
The geologic observationssummarized above
indicate that the Pueblo Viejo hydrothermal sys-
tem was active at least in part during deposition
FIG. 7. Contourson the upper limit of calcite below the
Moore and East Mejita oxide orßbodies(dashedlines). Drill of the upper Los Ranchos Formation. As noted
hole locationsare shown by dots, and contoursare in meters above, sediments of the Pueblo Viejo Member,
with respectto sealevel. in which the hydrothermal system operated,
 108 KESLER ET AL.

were deposited in a restricted basin. The pres- fact that veins do not follow foliation and appear
ence of quartz porphyry agglomerateand spilite to be deformed by it. The absence of remnant
in the sediments indicates that volcanism took foliation in strongly silicified rocks, which com-
place locally during sedimentation. The distri- monly retain the texture of the original rock,
bution of coarse-grainedsediment in and below suggeststhat silicification preceded foliation.
the Pueblo Viejo Member indicates that large Lead isotope and K-Ar measurementssupport
amounts of clastic material flooded the basin these interpretations in part and provide further
early in its existence. Later sedimentation was insights into the timing of mineralization and
marked by alternating finer grained clastic metamorphism. Cumming and Kesler (1976 and
influxes and chemical sedimentation of chert manuscripts in preparation) have shown that
and some pyrite. Carbonaceous material was lead isotopicratios from vein minerals at Pueblo
deposited in relatively large amounts during Viejo are similar to those in unaltered Los Ran-
periods of decreased clastic sedimentation. chos Formation and that lead isotopic system-
Although this transition in the nature of sedi- atics indicate an age of 130 to 110 m.y. for the
mentation suggestsa general decrease in basin unit, which agrees with the previously men-
relief with time, the western edge of the basin tioned fossil data on the age of the Los Ranchos
must have remained steep as is indicated by the Formation. The presence of alunite in the alter-
position of the Monte Negro conglomerate (Fig. ation zone provided an opportunity to obtain a
3, sectionA-B) and the presence of isolated cob- K-Ar age on the actual mineralization-alteration
bles in the sandstones and carbonaceous sedi- event. Ashley and Silberman (1976) have shown
ments in the Monte Negro area. that alunite provides a geologically reasonable
Although conditions in the carbonaceoussed- K-Ar age for the Miocene mineralization at
iments must have been anoxic enough to permit Goldfield, Nevada, but little is known about the
accumulation of pyrite and carbonaceousmate- behavior of argon in alunite from older, more
rial, water depths were probably relatively shal- disturbed geologic units such as the Los Ran-
low. Ripple marks and dessication cracks are chos Formation. For this reason, the alunite was
observed locally in the fine-grained clastic sed- analyzedusingthe 4øAr/a9Ar method(Dalrymple
iments. In addition, the abundance of plant fos- and Lanphere, 1971). The alunite used for anal-
sils, including large bark and limb fragments, ysis comes from a pyrite-alunite vein, 205 m
suggestsa near-shore environment. below the present surface and well within the
Numerous observations indicate that miner- alunite zone of Figure 3. Almost 98 percent of
alization and alteration took place at least in part the gas was released in two fractions (Table 3):
during this sedimentation. For one thing, sili- 33.5 percent gives an age of 61.6 _ 0.9 m.y. and
cified cobbles and pyrite-rich fragments are 64 percent gives an age of 67.8 - 0.8 m.y. K-Ar
common in the conglomerates and quartz por- ages of 80 to 60 m.y. have been obtained on
phyry agglomerate. Some pyrite-rich layers in several quartz diorite plutons in Hispaniola
the carbonaceoussedimentsappear to be graded (Sutter and Kesler, unpub. data; Bowin, 1975,
and, thus, must also be clastic in origin. The table 4). The quartz diorite stock near Cotui
presence of widespread foliation in pyrophyllite (Fig. 1) could be of this age, although we have
at Pueblo Viejo and Loma la Cuaba (Fig. 1) not yet been able to obtain a reliable isotopic
indicates that alteration preceded regional meta- estimate of its age. Our present interpretation of
morphism. Further proof of this is seen in the these isotopic observations in the light of the

TABLE8. AnalyticalData for 4øAr/•ArAgeSpectraon Alunitefrom DiamondDrill Hole 177-205m

in the PuebloViejo SulfideSystem

Temperature Apparent
step •Ar•c •øAra Age•
øC 4øAr/a•Ar a•Ar/a9Ar 4øAra/a•Ar•c (% of total) % (m.y.)
450 5.396 0.003326 4.407 34.70 81.7 61.60 _ 0.92
Fuse 5.145 0.000942 4.861 65.30 94.5 67.88 _ 0.79

4øAr/•Artotal-gasage-- 65.99

• Errorestimate
reflects
analytical
precision
only;calculated
in mannerdescribed
by CoxandDalrymple(1967).Constants usedin
agecalculations
are thosesuggested
by SteigerandJ/iger(1978).Neutronfluxmonitormineraldatausedis thatgivenby Sutterand
Smith (1979). Analysismade at Ohio Stae Universityby JohnF. Sutter.
 Au-AgOXIDE DEPOSIT, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 1109

TABLE 4. FluidInclusion
Homogenization
Temperatures
fromthe PuebloViejoMineralized
System

Number and Homogenization

Sample Geologic
setting typeof inclusions temperatures

SH-I-1 Quartz eye

sediment 2, PS or S 180øC
T-2-2 Quartzvein with
no sulfides 1, PS or S 130øC
RD-77-28 Quartzvein with 5, PS or S 180øC
no sulfides 1, PS or S 157øC
DDH-161-77m Quartzvein with a, p(?) 195øc
no sulfides 1, PS(?) 182øc
1, PS or S 150øC
DDH- 159-95m Sphalerite-quartz 1, PS or S 180øC
vein 1, PS or S 152øC
DDH-160-56m Pyrite-sphaleriteo 1, S 112øC
quartz vein 1, S 152øC
1, P(?) 175øC
DDH- 177-156m Quartz-native 9.,p(?) 15aoc
sulfur vein 9•,p(?) 158øC
2, P(?) 165øC
1, P(?) 186øC
DDH- 176-156m Quartz-native
sulfur vein 2, P(?) 1•øc

All inclusions
werefoundin quartz.Testsrun by JoaquinRuizand S. E. Kesler.

available geologicconstraintsis that the alunite
did, in fact, form at about 130 m.y. but that sub-
sequent thermal affects associated with
emplacement of the quartz diorites caused
essentiallycomplete argonloss.
Chemical Conditions of Alteration and Vein
Mineralization
Fluid inclusion geochemistry
The fine-grained nature of the ore and alter-
ation minerals at Pueblo Viejo makes it difficult
to find fluid inclusions large enough for quan-
titative heating and freezing measurements.
Most inclusions that were seen are irregular in
shapeand belong to a large populationof small
inclusions. Some larger inclusions are solitary
and have the form of negative crystals. Classi-
fication of the inclusions as primary, pseudose-
condary,or secondary(Table 4) is doubtful. The
most common inclusion type observed con-
tained liquid and a vapor bubble. Daughter
crystals are extremely rare and, where seen,
were too small to be identified confidently.
Vapor-rich inclusions,commonly in close asso-
ciation with the liquid-rich inclusions, were
seen in samples from both sulfide and quartz-
native sulfur veins. In somesamples,liquid-rich
inclusionswith no vaporbubble coexistedwith
liquid-vapor inclusions. These inclusions were
clearly secondary,but it could not be deter-
mined whether they formed from trapping of a
very low temperature solution or by necking of
earlier higher temperatureinclusions.It should
be stressed that, although Pueblo Viejo has
undergonelow-grademetamorphism,we do not
considertheseinclusionsto be representativeof
that eventbecausethey are in euhedralcrystals
that line veins and show no evidence of meta-
morphicdeformation.
Freezing experimentsrun on these inclusions
were ambiguous because their small size pre-
vented determination of the final disappearance
of ice. Indirect evidence, however, such as the
lack of daughtersaltsin the inclusions,the lack
of NaC1. 2H20 in frozen inclusions, and the
sharp increase in vapor bubble movement at
temperatures near 0øC during freezing runs,
indicates that the inclusion fluids have very low
salinities. Heating experimentswere also diffi-
cult but yieldedthe informationshownin Table
4. It can be seen here that most inclusions ho-
mogenizedin the 150ø to 190øCrange.Note that
we did not find any significanttemperaturedif-
ferencebetweensulfide-bearingand sulfide-free
quartz veins.The relatively commonassociation
betweenvapor-richand liquid-richinclusions in
the PuebloViejo samplessuggests that boilingwas
a widespreadevent in the system,which means
that the homogenizationtemperaturesrequire no
pressure correction.For dilute solutions
at 200øC,
pressures as low as 16 bars,corresponding to a
depth of only 160 m, will preventboiling (Haas,
1971). Mostof the inclusionassemblages suggest-
1110 KESLER ET AL.

TABLE5. Compositionof Fluid InclusionLeach Solutionsand Temperatures

Ca Mg K Na F C1 T1 T2
Sample ppm ppm ppm ppm ppm ppm oC oC

DDH-176-192m 34 0.5 2.0 8.4 5.1 5.7 240 232

RD-72-22 65 0.5 2.2 6.7 4.7 2.9 247 247
DDH-160-56m 1.8 0.4 2.1 8.8 1.5 5.9 253 143
DDH-124m 10 0.2 1.0 4.9 2.1 3.5 240 227
RD-72-78-22m 13 0.4 1.0 6.1 3.2 3.5 235 209
SH-I-1 5.5 0.3 1.5 10.1 3.5 237 192

The calculationsfor thesesolutions usethe empiricalgeothermometersof Fournierand Truesdell(1973)for T1 and Fournierand

Potter(1979) for T2. Testsfor chargebalancein theseleachatesindicatean excess positivecharge.Althoughthis couldbe due to
analyticalerror,we suspectthat it reflectsthe presence
of an undetected
anionspeciessuchassilicaor sulfate.Analyzedby Richard
Zimmerman.

ingthatboilingtookplacecamefromat or above in the deposit appears to be of later, supergene

this depth belowthe presentsurface. origin, rather than a remnant of earlier alteration
The compositionof leach solutions obtained or metamorphism. Furthermore, the pyrophyl-
from vein sampleslarge enough to provide suf- lite is extremely widespread and abundant and
ficient material are given in Table 5. Charge forms relatively large, unfoliated grains locally.
balancesfor all of the leachates except for sam- Finally, pyrophyllite is found locally in other
ple SH-i-1 indicatea deficiencyof anions,prob- parts of the upper Los RanchosFormation but
ably representedby unanalyzed sulfate and sil- is not found in alteration zones in the lower Los
ica. The leachates in Table 5 indicate that the Ranchos Formation, which contain sericite.
Pueblo Viejo hydrothermal solutions were cal- The lowest estimate of the minimum temper-
cium-sodium-chlorine waters. Application of the ature for the assemblage pyrophyllite-quartz is
emipirical geothermometers of Fournier and about 260'C (Hemley et al., 1980). This value
Truesdell (1973) and Fournier and Potter (1979) was calculated from experimental data and
indicates that the last water-rock equilibration applies for pressureson the liquid-vapor curve,
for these solutions took place from 250ø to as such as would have prevailed at Pueblo Viejo.
low as 150øC (Table 5). This temperature range Thus, if we are correct in concludingthat pyro-
overlaps most of the homogenization tempera- phyllite at Pueblo Viejo formed by hydrother-
tures (Table 4) and extends to somewhat higher mal processes,then most alteration and presum-
values. The calculated values of column T2 ably most mineralization took place at temper-
(Fournier and Potter, 1979) for the two samples atures of about 250 ø to 300øC. These
for which homogenization temperatures are temperatures are about 100øC above the maxi-
available, agree closely with the respective mum homogenizationtemperaturesobservedin
homogenization temperatures. fluid inclusions (Table 4). In view of the poor
quality and scarcityof fluid inclusionsat Pueblo
Mineral stabilities
Viejo, we place more confidence in the pyro-
Use of mineral stabilities to define the con- phyllite stability data. The approximatestability
ditions of mineralization at Pueblo Viejo is com- fields for most of the important minerals in the
plicated by uncertainty over which minerals Pueblo Viejo system are depicted in Figure 9
formed during hydrothermal processes and for a temperature of 250øC. This temperature is
which resulted from later, low-grade meta- intermediate between that indicated by pyro-
morphism. The most important of these miner- phyllite stability and that indicated by fluid
als, of course, are alunite, barite, pyrophyllite, inclusions and, as such, can be used for either
and pyrite. Of these, alunite, barite, and pyrite case. Activities of 10 -2 m were used for sulfur
are clearly of hydrothermalorigin, whereaspy- and potassiumbecauseof the low salinity of the
rophyllite could have been deposited during observed fluid inclusions. Of most interest is the
mineralization or it could have formed by meta- relationship between the alunite and pyrophyl-
morphism of a kaolinire-rich alteration assem- lite stability fields because pyrophyllite is so
blage (Wall, 1976; Sykes and Moody, 1978). We much more widespread than alunite (Fig. 3).
have concluded that the pyrophyllite formed Increases in potassium concentrationcause the
during hydrothermal alteration for several rea- alunite field to expand slightly, but cause a sig-
sons. Most importantly, the only kaolinire seen nificant reduction in the size of the pyrophyllite
 Au-AgOXIDE DEPOSIT, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 1111

field (Fig. 9). Thus, althoughpotassiumconcen- T= 2500C

trations could have been higher than 10-2 m in
the alunite zone, they were probably near this •S = 10-2 m
level in the pyrophyllite zone. The size of the i

•K= I 0 -2m
barite field depends on both total sulfur and bar- 3O

ium concentrations. The field shown here

requires barium concentrationsof about 10-6 m. •ß = pY--ALU-
PRP
HM
Under these conditions, barite and alunite are x• ----BAR-PY-
PRP
not stable together, which agrees with our field
observations. Both alunite and barite were 7• -' pY-PRP
depositedwith pyrite, and the barite assemblage
included pyrophyllite. The conditions under
which this could have occurred are shown by BAR
the stippled and dashed fields, respectively. 38

The assemblagepyrophyllite-pyrite could have

been depositedanywhere within the lined field. ,_1 40
Native sulfur, which is found in a few sulfide- I
free, quartz veins at Pueblo Viejo, presents an 42
unresolved problem. This phase melts at about
115øC (Barton and Skinner, 1979, p. 297) and 44
thus should have been dispersed by post miner- i

alization metamorphism. Its persistence could I

i
46
be due to failure of metamorphismto melt it or 0 2 4 6
!

I0 12 14
to the fact that it was deposited after meta-
morphism, although neither explanation is very pH
convincing. FIe. 9. A pH-fo, diagram showing stability fields for
importantmineralsin the Pueblo Viejo sulfide system.Data
Solubilitiesand ore deposition used to construct the diagram are from Helgeson (1969),
Precious metals in hydrothermal solutions can Ohmoto (1972), and Knight (1977). Use of the widespread
phase pyrophyllite rather than kaolinite, which is stable at
be transportedas chloride (Seward, 1976; Hen- 250øC in equilibrium with quartz, does not change the con-
ley, 1973), sulfide (Seward, 1973), telluride, and figuration of the diagram. The heavy dotted line represents
possibly other complexes (Barnes, 1979). Chlo- part of the pH-fo2 range over which a solution with a bulk
ride complexes would be dominantat fo, con- sulfur isotopiccompositionof + 15 per mil will yield pyrite
ditionsabovethe heavy dotted line in Figure 9, with a compositionof-9 per mil and barite with a com-
position of + 16 per mil accordingto Ohmoto (1972). It also
and sulfide and probably telluride and organic coincides approximately with the H2S-HSO7 boundary for
complexes would dominate below this line. sulfur speciesat 250øC, which affects the relative stability
Increasing pH would enhance the stability of of chloride and bisulfide complexes as mentioned in the
text.
sulfide complexesbut decreasethat of the chlo-
ride complexes. In view of these considerations
and the stabilities of the various mineral assem-
blages(Fig. 9), it seemslikely that preciousmet- The actual deposition of barite must have taken
als in the Pueblo Viejo systemwere transported place by cooling, because no other mechanism
as chloride complexes.Deposition of these pre- such as mixing or dilution seemsgeologically or
cious metals from chloride complexes could chemically reasonable (Blount, 1977). Cooling
have been causedby either decreasingtemper- becomes an effective depositional mechanism
ature or by reduction as solutions rose from the for barite in solutions with salinities of about 0.2
alunite dome area into the carbonaceous sedi-
m NaC1 or greater, which agrees with the indi-
ments. As is noted in the next section, carbon cationsobtained from our freezing tests on fluid
and sulfur abundancesin these sedimentssup- inclusions.
port this interpretation. Later solutions rising Jasperoid, which is most abundant in the
through the central parts of these same veins upper part of the Pueblo Viejo system, was
would contact less carbonaceous material and deposited almost entirely by massive replace-
would therefore deposit more sulfate minerals ment. Silica solubility decreases sharply with
such as barite. The position of the barite field temperature below about 300øC (Holland and
in Figure 9 suggeststhe likelihood that the pH Malinin, 1979, fig. 9.8). Thus, these jasperoid
of solutionsrising through the systemincreased. zones probably mark isotherms at or below
1112 KESLER ET AL.

TABLE6. AverageSulfurand CarbonContentsof Barrenand MineralizedPyriticCarbonaceous

Sediments
beneaththe NorthernPart of the MooreOxide Orebody

Rocktype Carbon Sulfur

Average Range N• Average Range N

Barren sediment 1.8% 1.0-2.5% 21 6.8% 2.9-9.0% 21
Mineralized sediment 0.5% 0.1-1.8% 92 8.2% 0.6-19.8% 71

1N = numberof analyses.Analysesperformedat PuebloViejo assaylaboratory.

about 300øC, where cooling in the upper part of Moore oxide orebodyand are similar except that
the hydrothermal system caused deposition of one group containsabundantveining with gold
silica. values and the other does not. Note that the
mineralized sediments contain distinctly less
Geochemistry and Source of Sulfur, Carbon, carbon and more sulfur than do the barren sed-
Strontium, and Other Constituents in the
iments. As can be seen in Figure 10, the S:C
Pueblo Viejo Deposit ratios of the barren sediments form a normal dis-
Sulfur and carbon abundances tribution peaking at about 1.2, whereas S:C
The average sulfur and carboncontentsof bar- ratios in the mineralized sediments form a
ren, pyritic, carbonaceoussediments are com- skewed distribution extending to much higher
pared to those of gold-bearing, pyritic, carbon- S:C ratios. Comparison of these S:C ratios to
aceous sediments in Table 6. All sediments thoseprovided by Williams (1978) in his survey
analyzed for this tabulation come from the same of S:C ratios in barren and mineralized sedi-
general area beneath the northern part of the ments shows that the barren Pueblo Viejo sed-
iments have unusually high S:C ratios, whereas
S:C ratios in the mineralized Pueblo Viejo sed-
25
iments resemble ratios in mineralized sediments
from other areas. Williams (1978, p. 1044) sug-
zo MINERALIZED geststhat unusually high S:C ratios result from
development of pyrite overgrowthson original
15
sedimentarypyrite. Pyrite overgrowthsare very
common at Pueblo Viejo.
If the mineralized and barren sediment at
Pueblo Viejo had similar S and C abundances
U) 5
initially, the results indicate that the mineral-
ized sediments have lost C and gained S in
<:• 0 5 10 15 20 25 :50 :5540 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80
relation to the barren sediments. Williams'
(1978) study indicated that a change in the S:C
ratio as large as is seen at Pueblo Viejo can be
•13 5
achieved only if carbonaceousmaterial is con-
sumed in a reaction that reduces sulfate in the
z ,• BARREN mineralizing solution to permit precipitation of
sulfide. On the basis of the average S and C
contents of the barren and mineralized sedi-
ments (Table 6), it appears that almost two
atoms of C in some form were consumed to
2
yield one atom of reduced S. Williams (1978, p.
1049) notes that this ratio would result from
oxidation of elemental carbon rather than of
methane. Abundant carbonaceous material was
..... . . •o• g • g• available in the sediments to react with any sul-
fate in solution in the veins at Pueblo Viejo, and
S/C (Atomic Proportions) the previously discussedEh-pH and solubility
F•c;. 10. HistogramsshowingS:C atomicratiosfor miner- constraintssuggestthat such a reaction could
alized and barren carbonaceous sediments. have causedore deposition.
 Au-Ag OXIDE DEPOSIT, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 1115

T^•LE 7. Sulfurand CarbonIsotopeAnalysesof Ore and AlterationMineralsand Wall Rockfrom the

PuebloVieio MineralizedSystem

Geologic
Mineralor rock Location setting S% C%

Sulfur isotopeanalyses
Pyrite DDH-112-15m layer -3.8
Pyrite DDH-101-21m layer -3.5
Pyrite Tunnel2-#5 layer -6.0
Pyrite DDH-100-16m layer -8.0
Pyrite DDH- 177-205m vein -3.6
Pyrite RD-72-22 vein -6.8
Sphalerite RD-72022 vein -9.1
Sphalerite DDH-92-46m vein -10.1
Barite DDH-92o46m vein 18.8
Barite DDH-98-23m vein 20.0
Alunite DDH- 177-205m vein 21.6
Gypsum DDH-166-164m vein 8.9
Native sulfur DDH-182-154 rug -8.4

Carbon isotopeanalyses
Carbonaceous
mine sediment DDH-100-16m layer -24.2
Carbonaceous
mine sediment Tunnel 2-#5 layer -25.1

All analyses
were obtainedcommerciallyfrom Geochron,Inc.

Carbon isotope analyses Ohmoto (1974, fig. 3), the pyrite-sphalerite pair
Isotopic analyses of carbon in two samples of in sample RD-72-22 formed at the improbably
carbonaceoussediment (Table 7) exhibit a very low temperature of 100øC, the barite-sphalerite
light composition. These values are consider- pair in DDH-92-46m formed at about 300øC,
ably lower than those typical of either marine and the alunite•pyrite pair in DDH-177-205m
formed at 320øC, if alunite and barite do not
limestone or probable juvenile carbon (Hoefs,
1973; Rye and Ohmoto, 1974; Faure, 1977) and, fractionate SO•2 differently. These last two tem-
instead, indicate an organic origin for the car- peraturesfall abovethe previouslydescribedfluid
bonaceous material. This conclusion is in accord inclusiontemperaturesbut are reasonablein the
with the recognition of poorly preserved plant light of the informationon pyrophyllite stability,
remains in these same sediments. whether it is hydrothermal or metamorphic in
origin.
Sulfur isotope analyses The most reasonable sources for the sulfur at
Isotopic analyses of sulfur from sulfide min- Pueblo Viejo are Cretaceous seawater (15 per
erals in the layers as well as sulfides, sulfates, mil, Holser and Kaplan, 1966) and Los Ranchos
and native sulfur in the veins exhibit a wide rock sulfur, which probably had a composition
compositional range from -10.1 to +21.6 per of 0 per mil. For a solution containing 15 per
mil (Table 7). Individual minerals and geologic mil sulfur, deposition under the fo2-pH condi-
settings exhibit greater isotopic similarities, tions of the alunite-pyrite and barite-pyrite
however. For instance, four pyrite samples from fields of Figure 9 will yield barite with a com-
the layers range from -8.0 to -3.5 per mil, and position of 16 per mil and pyrite with a com-
overlap the two vein pyrites that were analyzed position of- 9 per mil. These compositionsare
(-3.6 and -6.8 per mil). Vein sphalerite is con- very similar to those observed in the vein pyrite
sistently lighter than pyrite (- 9.1 and - 10.1 per and barite. Solutionscontaining 0 per mil sulfur
mil). In contrast,the sulfur in barite and alunite will yield - 25 per mil pyrite and 0 per mil bar-
is very heavy and ranges only from 18.8 to 21.6 ite, which bear no resemblance to the measured
per mil. In the three samplesfrom which coex- isotopic ratios. For assemblagescontaining only
isting minerals were analyzed, the direction and pyrite and pyrophyllite, which would have
approximate magnitude of isotopic fractionation formed at lowerfo2, these generalizationsdo not
correspondsto that expected in inorganic reac- hold and either sourceof sulfur is possible. The
tions. On the basis of the summary of Rye and source of sulfur in the layers cannot be deter-
1114 KESLER ET AL.

TABLE8. StrontiumIsotopicAnalysesof Mineralsfrom the strontium came from the spilite, whereas vein
PuebloViejo HydrothermalSystem sulfur came from seawater are related to the sul-
fur:strontiumratios of the two sources.Although
Geologic
Mineral(s) Samplenumber setting S7Sr/SSSr both spilite (e.g., basalt) and seawater contain
about 900 ppm sulfur, the S:Sr ratio of spilite is
Barite PV-AO-B-P vein 0.70404 _+ 0.00010 about 2 whereas that of seawater is over 100
Barite 1 PV-AO-B vein 0.70476 _+ 0.00010
Barite DDH-92-g7m vein 0.70511 _+ 0.00010
(Turekian and Wedepohl, 1961; Mason, 1966).
Gypsum DDH-166o164m vein 0.70405 _+ 0.00010
Thus, even in a system in which seawater con-
Calcite DDH-160-188m alteration tributes 90 percent of the sulfur, it can account
patch 0.70551 _+0.00010 for only about 10 percent of the strontium.

• Accompanied
by minor(10%)sphalerite. were Other constituents
Analyses
made at the Departmentof Physics,Universityof Alberta, Lead isotopic data for the Los Ranchos For-
underthe supervision
of G. L. Cumming.
mation and Pueblo Viejo mineralization (G. L.
Cumming, unpub. data) show that trace lead in
mined using the methods of Ohmoto (1972) the veins probably came from the Los Ranchos
Formation. In view of this result and the stron-
because simple inorganic fractionation will not
yield the appropriate pyrite composition from tium isotopic data presented here, it seems
either sourcewithin the stability field of carbon. likely that iron, zinc, and the precious metals
were also derived from the Los Ranchos For-
Organically induced reduction of sea-water sul-
fate could yield sulfide compositions in the mation, inasmuch as none of these metals is
abundant in seawater.
observedrange (Faure, 1977, p. 404), and we
consider this a likely sourcefor the layered sul- Relationship of the Pueblo Viejo Deposit to
fide. The similarity of isotopic compositionsof Other Gold-Silver Deposits
pyrite in the layers and veins suggeststhat much
vein sulfur was remobilized in turn from this The observations discussed here indicate that
sea-water-derived, layered sulfide. However, the Pueblo Viejo deposit was formed by a shal-
the S and C abundances summarized above low, acid, hydrothermal system similar to those
indicate that some new sulfur was added to the that formed suchwidely separatedgold deposits
system during vein formation and the isotopic as Chinkuashih, Taiwan (Folinsbee et al., 1972),
data suggest that this came directly from sea- Goldfield, Nevada (Ashley, 1974), and Rodalqui-
water rather than from the layered pyrite. lar, Spain (Lodder, 1966). Other gold-poor
hydrothermal systems for which a hot spring
Strontium isotope anal•ises origin is generally accepted exhibit similarities
The isotopic compositionsof strontium in five to Pueblo Viejo. For example, Iwao (1970) has
low-rubidium samples from the Pueblo Viejo describednumerouspyrophyllite deposits,some
area range from 0.7040 to 0.7055 (Table 8). The of which are in geothermal zones, in which
sulfatesthat form part of the actual hydrothermal widespread silica forms a cap over the alumi-
systemare less radiogenic than the single value nosilicatesjust as it does in Pueblo Viejo. Alun-
obtained for calcite from outside the pyrophyl- itc is found either in the deeper zones of these
lite zone. All of these values are considerably deposits, as it is at Pueblo Viejo, or near the
lower than the range of 0.707 to 0.708 that is base of the silicified zone where it probably
characteristic of Cretaceous seawater (Veizer formed by supergeneprocesses.
and Compston,1974; Petermanet al., 1970). The Considerable similarities are also observed
lowest values coincide with the probable initial when Pueblo Viejo is compared to active geo-
s7Sr/S6Sr ratio for the Los Ranchos Formation thermal systems. The pyrophyllite zone at
(Kesler et al., 1980). Using approximate values Pueblo Viejo has the same funnel shape and
of 0.704 for the Los Ranchos initial ratio and approximate size as the area outlined by iso-
0.7075 for Cretaceous seawater indicates that therms at Wairakei (Elder, 1965). Temperatures
more than two-thirds of the strontium in the deduced for Pueblo Viejo are similar to those
Pueblo Viejo system must have been derived measured at Wairakei and estimated for other
from the Los Ranchos Formation. The most geothermal systems (Brook et al., 1978). Most
likely sourcefor this strontium was alteration of such geothermal systemscontain solutions with
the spilite that underlies Loma la Cuaba and the salinities of less than I percent (Ellis and
western part of the Pueblo Viejo area. The Mahon, 1978, table 3.1), which is similar to the
apparently contradictory indications that vein salinities inferred for Pueblo Viejo. Wiessberg
 Au-Ag OXIDE DEPOSIT, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 1115

(1969) has described ore-grade gold-silver pre-

cipitates from three geothermal zones in New
Zealand, and Ewers and Keays (1977) have
shown that the Broadlands geothermal system
deposited Au and Ag near the surface and Zn,
Cu, Pb, and Ag, as well as other elements, at
depth.
Acceptance of a hot spring environment for
the Pueblo Viejo system offers an explanation
for the unique aspect of the deposit. Whereas
other gold-pyrophyllite-quartz deposits contain
mineable vein orebodies, Pueblo Viejo is a net-
work of thin veinlets that can only be mined in
bulk. This vein network could have developed
by hydraulic fracturing, which has been sug-
gested to account for the upper extensive part
of the funnel-shapedgeothermal zone at Wair-
akei. According to Fyfe et al. (1978), overpres-
sures formed when fluid moving upward at
Wairakei was ponded and expanded laterally
beneath an impermeable zone. The resulting
failure is thought to have produced thin irregu-
lar veins, less than 10 cm in width. The veins
at Pueblo Viejo are of this type and they are
most abundant in the carbonaceous sediments,
l•a. 11. Locationof probable ascendingsolutionsin the (McBirney and Williams, 1965).
PuebloViejo hydrothermalsystemas indicatedby gold,pyr-
ophyllite,and alunite distribution.The presenceof the high
copper zone to the east of this area suggeststhat it accu-
mulated in a local sedimentarysetting or from anothersys- This project is the result of continuing support
tem.
which would almost certainly have been
impermeable. Thus, the unusual form of the
veins at Pueblo Viejo is probably related to con-
tainment of the hydrothermal system below a
local, carbonaceous,chert basin that eventually
ruptured as a result of hydraulic fracturing. The
zone along which fluids moved upward at
Pueblo Viejo is probably marked by the coinci-
dence of gold enrichment, deepest pyrophyllite,
and highest alunite as shown in Figure 11.
The geologic environment in which this basin
formed was characterized by proximity to ter-
restrial plants, but, at the same time, it was in
one of the earliest volcanic units to form in the
Greater Antilles and one that contains marine
fossils (Kesler et al., in prep.). A possible com-
promise between these indications of terrestrial
and marine environmentsmight be the flanks of
a volcano such as Momotombo which extends
into the northern end of Lake Managua in Nic-
aragua (McBirney and Williams, 1965). As can
be seen in Figure 12, the volcano chain of which
Momotombo is a part contains several calderas
or collapse structuresand, if a similar one were
present in Lake Managua, it would provide a
setting analogousto that envisioned for Pueblo
Viejo. This sort of geologic setting could develop
in either a marine or fresh water environment,
and our sulfur isotopic data suggest that a
marine setting is more likely for the Pueblo
Viejo mineralization. It should be recalled, in
this context,that Lake Managuabegan as an arm
of the sea but is now a fresh water lake
Acknowledgments
from a large number of industry, academic, and
1116 KESLER ET AL.

government organizations. Field work and some convection systems with reservoir temperatures •>90øC:
laboratory work during the early part of this U.S. Geol. Survey Circ. 790, p. 18-85.
Cabri, L.J., 1965, Phase relations in the Au-Ag-Te system
project (1972 to 1976) were financed by Rosario and their mineralogical significance: ECON. GEOL., v. 60,
Resources Corporation, the National Research p. 1569-1606.
Council of Canada, and the University of Cox, A., and Dalrymple, G. B., 1967, Statistical analysis of
Toronto. During the final stage of the project, geomagnetic reversal data and the precision of potassium-
laboratory work was supported by grant argondating: Jour.Geophys.Research,v. 72, p. 2603-2614.
GA158284 from the National Science Founda- Cumming, G. L., and Kesler, S. E., 1976, Source of lead in
Central American and Caribbean mineralization: Earth
tion and by the University of Michigan, and Planet. Sci. Letters, v. 31, p. 262-268.
field and some analytical work were supported Dalrymple, G. B., and Lanphere, M. A., 1971, 4øAr/a9Ar tech-
by RosarioDominicana, S. A. We are very grate- nique of K-Ar dating: a comparisonwith the conventional
technique: Earth Planet. Sci. Letters, v. 12, p. 300-308.
ful to all these organizations for their support Elder, J.W., 1965, Physical processesin geothermal areas,
and especially to Rosario Dominicana, S. A., for in Lee, W. H. K., ed., Terrestrial heat flow: Am. Geophys.
permission to publish this report. Numerous Union, Geophys. Mon. Set. 8, p. 211-234.
individuals have provided assistance to us in Ellis, A.J., and Mahon, W. A.J., 1978, Geochemistry and
this effort. K. Monster, P. K. Brown, M. Essing- geothermal systems:New York, Academic Press,476 p.
Ewers, G. R., and Keays, R. R., 1977, Volatile and precious
ton, and J. Galbraith mapped parts of the mine metal zoning in the Broadlands geothermal field, New
and its surroundings. Mineralogical, geochemi- Zealand: ECON. GEOL., v. 72, p. 1337-1354.
cal, and statisticalinformation was provided by Faure, G., 1977, Principles of isotope geology: New York,
J. N. Hartley of Battelle Memorial Laboratories, John Wiley, 464 p.
Folinsbee, R. E., Kirkland, K., Nekolaichuk, A., and Smejkal,
Richland, Washington; by Claudia Gasparini of V., 1972, Chinkuashih--a gold-pyrite-enargite-barite
MinMet Scientific, Toronto, Ontario; and by hydrothermal deposit in Taiwan: Geol. Soc. America
research projects of Robert Wingfield and E. P. Mem. 135, p. 323-335.
Dillon at the University of Toronto and Steven Fournier, R. O., and Potter, R. W. II, 1979, Magnesium cor-
Catlin, William Oppenheimer, Richard Zimmer- rection to the Na-K-Ca chemical geothermometer: Geo-
chim. et Cosmochim.Acta, v. 43, p. 1543-1550.
man, Alan Cuddy, Joaquin Ruiz, and Carl Taylor Fournier, R.O., and Truesdell, A.H., 1973, Am empirical
at the University of Michigan. Discussionswith Na-K-Ca geothermometer for natural waters: Geochim. et
Paul L. Cloke and William C. Kelly and critical Cosmochim.Acta., v. 37, p. 1255-1275.
reviews by T. G. Theodore and V. J. Wall were Fyfe, W. S., Price, N.J., and Thompson, A. B., 1978, Fluids
in the earth's crust: Devel. Geochemistry,v. 1,383 p.
useful in clarifying several aspects of the pre- Haas, J. L., Jr., 1971, The effect of salinity on the maximum
sentation. The illustrations were drafted by Der- thermal gradient of a hydrothermal system at hydrostatic
win Bell and Ignacio Camilo and the manuscript pressure: ECON. GEOL., v. 66, p. 940-946.
was typed by Beverly Hartley. Helgeson, H.C., 1969, Thermodynamics of hydrothermal
systemsat elevated temperatures and pressures:Am. Jour.
August 28, 1980; Januartj 22, 1981 Sci., v. 267, p. 729-804.
Hemley, J. J., Montoya, J.W., Marinenko, J. W., and Luce,
R.W., 1980, Equilibria in the system AI•Oa-SiOzoI4zOand
REFERENCES
some general implications for alteration/mineralization
Ashley, R. P., 1974, Goldfield mining district: Nevada Bur. processes:ECON. GEOL., v. 75, p. 210-228.
Mines Geology Rept. 19, p. 49-66. Henley, R.W., 1973, Solubility of gold in hydrothermal
Ashley, R. P., and Silberman, M. L., 1976, Direct dating of chloride solutions:Chem. Geology, v. 11, p. 73-87.
mineralization at Goldfield, Nevada, by potassium-argon ttoefs,H. D., 1973, Stableisotopegeochemistry: New York,
and fission-trackmethods:ECON.GEOL.,v. 71, p. 904-924. Springer-Verlag,123 p.
Barnes, H. L., 1979, Solubilities of ore minerals, in Barnes, 1tolland,H. D., and Malinin, S. D., 1979, The solubilityand
H.L., ed., Geochemistry of hydrothermal ore deposits: occurrence of non-ore minerals, in Barnes, H. L., ed., Geo-
New York, Wiley-Interscience, p. 404-460. chemistryof hydrothermalore deposits:New York, Wiley-
Barton,P., and Skinner,B. J., 1979, Sulfide mineral stabilities, Interscience, p. 461-508.
in Barnes, tt. L.• ed., Geochemistryof hydrothermal ore Holser, W. T., and Kaplan, I. R., 1966, Isotope geochemistry
deposits:New York, Wiley-Interscience,p. 278-408. of sedimentary sulfates:Chem. Geology, v. 1, p. 93-135.
Blount, C. W., 1977, Barite solubilities and thermodynamic Iwao, S., 1970, Clay and silica deposits of volcanic affinity
quantities up to 300'C and 1400 bars: Am. Mineralogist, in Japan, in Tatsumi, T., ed., Volcanism and ore genesis:
v. 62, p. 942-957. Tokyo, Univ. Tokyo Press,p. 267-278.
Bowin, C.O., 1966, Geology of the Central Dominican Kelly, W. C., and Goddard, E. N., 1969, Telluride ores of
Republic: Geol. Soc.America Mem. 98, p. 11-84. Boulder County, Colorado:Geol. Soc. America Mem. 109,
1975, The geology of Hispaniola, in Nairn, A. E. M., 2,37 p.
anti Stclli, F. G., Ocean basinsand margins,v. 8, Gulf of Kesler, S. E., Lewis, J. F., Jones, L. M., and Walker, R. L.,
Mexico and Caribbean: New York, Plenum Pub. Co., p. 1977, Early island-arc intrusive activity, Cordillera Cen-
427-51 .•. tral, Dominican Republic: Contr. Minerology Petrology,
Brook, C.A., Mariner, R. H., Mabey, D. R., Swanson, J. R., v. 65, p. 91-99.
Guffanti, M., and Muffler, L. J.P., 1978, Hydrothermal Knight, J.E., 1977, A thermochemical study of alunite,
 Au-AgOXIDE DEPOSIT,DOMINICANREPUBLIC 1117

enargite,luzonite, and tennantitedeposits:ECON.GEOL., Steiger, R. H., and J'hger,E., 1978, Subcommission on geo-
v. 72, p. 1321-1336. chronology:Convention on the use of decay constantsin
Lodder, W., 1966, Gold-alunitedepositsand zonal wallrock geochronology and cosmochronology; in Contributionsto
alterationnear Rodalquilar,S. E. Spain: Univ. Amsterdam, the geologictime scale;Am. Assoc.Petroleum Geologists,
Geol. Inst., Mededeel., no. 318, 95 p. Geology No. 6, p. 67-71.
Markham, N.L., 1960, Synthetic and natural phases in the Sutter,J. F., and Smith, T. E., 1979, •øAr?9Aragesof diabase
systemAu-Ag-Te: ECON. GEOL., v. 55, p. 1148- 1178. intrusions from Neward trend basins in Connecticut and
Mason, B., 1966, Principlesof geochemistry,3rd ed.: New Maryland: Initiation of central Atlantic rifting: Am. Jour.
York, JohnWiley, 315 p. Sci., v. 279, p. 808-831.
McBirney, A. R., and Williams, H., 1965, Volcanichistory of Sykes, M.L., and Moody, J.B., 1978, Pyrophyllite and
Nicaragua:Univ. California Pub. Geol. Sci., v. 55, 65 p. metamorphismin the Carolina slate belt: Am. Mineralo-
Ohmoto, H., 1972, Systematicsof sulfur and carbonisotopes gist, v. 63, p. 96-108.
in hydrothermal ore deposits: ECON. GEOL., v. 67, p.
551- 578. Turekian,K. K., and Wedepohl,K. H., 1961,Distributionof
the elementsin somemaior unitsof the earth'scrust:Geol.
Peterman, Z.E., Hedge, C. E., and Tourtelot, H.A., 1970,
Soc. America Bull., v. 72, p 175-192.
Isotopic compositionof Sr in seawater throughout Pha-
nerozoic time: Geochim. et Cosmochim. Acta, v. 34, p. Veizer, J., and Compston,W., 1974, 8?Sr?6Sr compositionof
105-120. seawater during the phanerozoic: Geochim. et Cosmo-
Russell,N., Seaward,M., Rivera, J., McCurdy, K., Kesler, chim. Acta, v. 38, p. 1461-1484.
S. E., and Cloke,P. L., 1981,Geologyand geochemistry of Wall, V.J., 1976, Gold and pyrophyllite mineralization in
the PuebloVieio gold-silveroxide ore deposit,Dominican the Devonian acid volcanics of the Yalwal-Eden belt
Republic:Inst. Mining Metallurgy Trans., Nov. [abs.]: AustralianSoc. Explor. GeophysicsBull., v. 7, p.
40.
Rye, R.O., and Ohmoto, H., 1974, Sulfur and carbon iso-
topes and ore genesis:A review: ECON. GEOL., v. 69, p. Weissberg,B.G., 1969, Gold-silver ore-grade precipitates
826-- 842. from New Zealand thermal waters: ECON. GEOL., v. 64,
Seward,T. M., 1973,Thio complexesof Au and the transport p. 95-108.
of Au in high temperature ore solutions:Geochim. et Cos- Williams, N., 1978, Studiesof the base metal sulfide depos-
mochim.Acta,v. 37, p. 379-399. its at McArthur River, Northern Territory, Australia; II,
• 1976, Stability of C1 complexesof Ag in high temper- The sulfide-S and organic-C relationshipsof the concor-
ature solutions up to 350'C: Geochim. et Cosmochim. dant depositsand their significance:Ecoa. GEOL.,v. 73,
Acta, v. 90, p. 1329-1346. p. 1036-1056.