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©2005 Society of Economic Geologists, Inc.

Economic Geology 100th Anniversary Volume
pp. 769–797

The Formation and Preservation of the Witwatersrand Goldfields,

the World’s Largest Gold Province
H. E. FRIMMEL,†,*
Department of Geological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa,

D. I. GROVES,
Centre for Global Metallogeny, School of Earth and Geographical Sciences, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia

J. KIRK, J. RUIZ, J. CHESLEY,

Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721

AND W. E. L. MINTER
Department of Geological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa

Abstract
The Witwatersrand goldfields in South Africa have been, and promise to remain, the world’s largest gold-
producing province, at least for the medium-term future. The majority of gold occurs, together with pyrite,
uraninite, and local bitumen, on degradational surfaces of fluvial conglomerates that were laid down in the 2.90
to 2.84 Ga Central Rand basin. Integration of recent data on the tectonic evolution of the Kaapvaal craton with
data on sediment provenance and paleocurrent directions indicate a strong tectonic control on sediment sup-
ply from vanished sources, whose equivalents are now exposed mainly in the Amalia-Kraaipan and Murchison
granitoid-greenstone belts to the west and north, respectively. Sedimentation took place first in a foreland set-
ting relative to collision between the Witwatersrand and Kimberley crustal blocks, with a subsequent change
to a retroarc position in consequence of oceanic-basin closure to the north of the craton. Most of the gold is lo-
cated within postdepositional microfractures and hydrothermal phases. Microtextural, mineralogical, geo-
chemical, and isotopic data indicate that this hydrothermal gold was derived from the local mobilization of de-
trital particles, supporting a modified paleoplacer model for the genesis of these deposits.
The distribution of heavy minerals with which gold is associated, the correlations between elements of de-
trital minerals, and the isotopic characteristics of uraninite, pyrite, and gold point to erosion of both granitic
and mafic and/or ultramafic rocks in highly variable proportions, with the latter having contributed most of the
detrital gold. The global and temporal distribution of orogenic gold deposits and Witwatersrand-type paleo-
placer deposits suggests that extraction of gold from the mantle into the continental crust has decreased con-
siderably since Mesoarchean times, probably because of decreased mantle heat-flux and partial melting rates.
The apparent uniqueness of the Witwatersrand, in terms of total gold content, can be explained by a com-
bination of intense reworking of sediments derived from a rapidly exhumed Paleo- to Mesoarchean green-
stone-dominated hinterland by active braided streams in the absence of vegetation and intense chemical
weathering under an acidic, reactive Archean atmosphere. Preservation resulted in the first instance from basin
capping by a thick pile of extensive 2.71 Ga flood basalts. Discovery of Witwatersrand-style gold deposits in ter-
ranes younger than Paleoproterozoic is highly unlikely. Only older foreland and/or retroarc basin fills on stable
cratons with a significant greenstone component are considered good targets for future exploration. The ex-
pected gold content in Eoproterozoic source rocks is at least an order of magnitude less than in their Archean
counterparts.

Introduction the South African Chamber of Mines, the remaining reserves

THE MESOARCHEAN Witwatersrand basin on the Kaapvaal
craton in South Africa (Fig. 1) is unique in many respects.
Approximately 50,000 metric tons (t) of gold have been pro-
duced from conglomerate beds (reefs) between 1886 and
2004, amounting to almost 40 percent of all the gold ever
mined during recorded history (Sanders et al., 1994; Frimmel
and Minter, 2002; <www.goldsheetlinks.com>; Appendix Fig.
A1). South Africa is still the world’s number one gold producer
with a share of approximately 17 percent and, according to
† Corresponding author: e-mail, hef@geology.uct.ac.za
*Present address: Institute of Mineralogy, University of Würzburg, Am
Hubland, D-97074 Würzburg, Germany.
in the Witwatersrand basin, estimated around 38,000 t (Frim-
mel and Minter, 2002), amount to 46 percent of known world
reserves. Not only is the Witwatersrand basin by far the largest
known depository of gold, but it also represents the best-
preserved succession of Archean sedimentary rocks, providing
the most informative natural laboratory for the study of
Archean environmental geology. The Witwatersrand mines
are the deepest in the world, with active mining taking place
under extreme conditions as deep as 3,600 m below the sur-
face and, consequently, have provided an opportunity not only
for scientific discoveries but also for geotechnical advances.
Although poorly exposed in outcrop, more than 100 yr
of underground mining and exploration has made the

769
770 FRIMMEL ET AL.

0 300 km lt
po be
Limpo
N ?
ani
Giy
urg
PIETERSBURG sb
24°S ter
BOTSWANA BLOCK Pie
Murchison
ment

MOZAMBIQUE
linea
hison
a z imbi- Murc
T ha b
?
an

Johannesburg
Kraaip

Barberton
26°S
SWAZI-
1.9

LAND
Ga
Kh e

Amalia

WITWATERSRAND
is b

KIMBERLEY BLOCK
BLOCK
elt

28°S
ment

SOUTH AFRICA
urg linea

LESOTHO
<2.6 Ga Cover
Colesb

Ventersdorp Supergroup
30°S Pongola Supergroup
1.0
Ga

Ga Central Rand Group

Na
2.8

ma West Rand/Dominion Groups

qu
a -Natal be
lt >2.8 Ga Granitoid
22°E 24°E 26°E 28°E >2.8 Ga Greenstone

FIG. 1. Distribution of main Archean stratigraphic units of the Kaapvaal craton. The Witwatersrand basin fill comprises
the West Rand and Central Rand Groups; also shown is the outline of the three crustal blocks that are believed to have amal-
gamated by 2.8 Ga to form a single craton (modified from Schmitz et al., 2004).

Witwatersrand one of the best-documented basins of its kind
in the world. In spite of the wealth of geological, geophysical,
and geochemical data, much published in hundreds of re-
search papers and theses with a considerable amount in un-
published company reports, the basic questions of genesis of
the deposits remain controversial, being described as “the
most disputed issue in the history of economic geology”
(Davidson, 1965). A sedimentary model, originally proposed
by Mellor (1916), had first been challenged by Graton (1930),
who suggested a magmatic-hydrothermal model. Since then,
workers who have studied the ore and host rocks on a micro-
scopic scale have emphasized a hydrothermal model, because
gold is typically late in the paragenetic sequence as mi-
crofracture fills and inclusions in secondary, clearly hy-
drothermal mineral grains (Ramdohr, 1958; Feather and
Koen, 1975). In contrast, those who have studied the rocks on
a macroscale noted a strong sedimentological control on gold
grade, which has been used highly successfully throughout
the history of Witwatersrand exploration and day to day min-
ing, and prompted them to advocate a sedimentary paleo-
placer model (Minter, 1978).
Following the generally accepted recognition of regional
metamorphism and postdepositional fluid flow throughout
the basin (Phillips and Law, 1994), a paleoplacer model sensu
stricto, in which all gold particles are perceived as detrital, has
been abandoned. Today there is general agreement that the
majority of gold particles, which appear late in the parage-
netic sequence, are indeed hydrothermal precipitates. Thus,
the debate has shifted to the question of whether the source
of the gold was proximal, fluvially deposited, detrital gold

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 FORMATION AND PRESERVATION OF WITWATERSRAND GOLDFIELDS
within the conglomerate beds, subsequently mobilized by
postdepositional fluids over short distances (modified paleo-
placer model), or whether the source of the gold was external
to their host rocks. The latter case would imply long-distance
chemical transport by hydrothermal fluids (hydrothermal
model). Two research groups have advocated the most recent
variants of the hydrothermal model. One model proposes au-
riferous fluids resulting from regional metamorphism (Phillips
and Myers, 1989) associated with major magmatic events,
such as the intrusion of the 2.06 Ga Bushveld Igneous Com-
plex (Gibson and Wallmach, 1995; Stevens et al., 1997), or an
inferred global thermal event around 2.7 Ga, locally ex-
pressed by the outpouring of huge volumes of flood basalt of
the Ventersdorp Supergroup (Phillips et al., 1997). The other
model (Barnicoat et al., 1997) does not specify the age or the
geologic cause of the assumed hydrothermal gold formation
but relates it to basinwide H+ metasomatism (Fig. A2).
Apart from gold, associated mineral phases that are key to
any plausible interpretation of the Witwatersrand deposits are
pyrite, uraninite, and pyrobitumen. Between 1952 and 1975,
up to 1.5 × 106 t of U3O8 (R. Herd, pers. commun., 2003) were
produced from Witwatersrand quartz-pebble conglomerates
at an average grade of 271 ppm U3O8 (Camisani-Calzolari et
al., 1984). Iron oxides are conspicuously lacking, with the
principal Fe-bearing phase being pyrite. Both pyrite and
uraninite occur predominantly in rounded form, with minor
secondary, undoubtedly hydrothermal generations also pre-
sent. Similarly, two distinct morphological types of gold are
distinguished; one type displays morphological features typi-
cal of detrital gold, whereas the other occurs as irregularly
shaped aggregates (Fig. A3) or well-crystallized, euhedral
overgrowths (Minter et al., 1993). The coexistence of these
different morphological types on a millimeter to micrometer
scale implies the presence of at least two gold generations. In
the modified paleoplacer model, the rounded gold, pyrite,
and uraninite grains are considered detrital (Frimmel,
1997b). In contrast, in the hydrothermal models, they are in-
terpreted as pseudomorphic replacements of detrital Fe ox-
ides, Fe pisolite, ferricrete, banded iron formation, and Fe-
rich shale (Phillips and Law, 2000) and/or products of
postdepositional dissolution and reprecipitation mechanisms
(Phillips and Myers, 1989; Barnicoat et al., 1997). As both
pyrite and uraninite are sensitive to redox conditions, the ge-
netic interpretations of rounded pyrite and uraninite grains in
the Witwatersrand metasedimentary rocks constrain models
of gold genesis as well as an understanding of the evolution of
the Archean atmosphere (for contrasting views on reduced
versus oxidized conditions, see Rasmussen and Buick, 1999,
and Ohmoto et al., 1999, respectively).
Irrespective of any genetic models, the mineralization in
the Witwatersrand basin, whenever it took place, must have
had tectonic controls. Understanding of the evolution of the
Kaapvaal craton has improved substantially over the past
decade, making it possible to place the evolution of the Wit-
watersrand basin and subsequent postdepositional alteration
into a regional tectonic framework. Ultimately, the question
arises as to the reasons for the uniqueness of the Witwaters-
rand basin mineralization. Where did all the gold originate,
be it detrital or hydrothermal? To this end, the principal con-
trolling factors for Witwatersrand-style mineralization and
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771
also, following a brief comparison with other similar deposits
elsewhere in the world, the chances of discovering another
Witwatersrand-type gold province are discussed.
Brief Historical Account
Witwatersrand gold was first mined on 20 December, 1885,
when the brothers F. and W. H. Struben reportedly crushed
conglomerate, probably from the lower Witwatersrand
stratigraphy (Whiteside et al., 1976). In 1886, the first rich
orebody, later known as the Main reef, was discovered by G.
Harrison on the farm Langlaagte on the western outskirts of
the future Johannesburg. Prospecting and claim-pegging
spread rapidly to the east and west of the Central Witwaters-
rand, wherever outcrops of conglomerate were found. After
the first two bore holes intersected the Main reef at depth in
1889 and 1892, geologic extrapolation, supported by drilling,
soon defined further extensions. Production gradually rose,
except for interruptions during the Anglo-Boer and First
World Wars (Fig. A4). When South Africa went off the gold
standard in 1932, renewed exploration efforts extended far-
ther southwest, where discovery of the Vaal reef in the
Klerksdorp goldfield led to a marked increase in production.
This success was largely attributed to innovative magnetic ex-
ploration methods that helped delineate subsurface strati-
graphic boundaries because of the strong response of both
magnetic shale beds within the Witwatersrand succession and
metabasaltic cap rocks (Ventersdorp Supergroup, Fig. 1). An
improved subsurface geologic understanding, together with
new cementation methods, helped overcome severe gound-
water problems and made possible the sinking of shafts to
previously untested depths. Of particular significance was the
development of the Carletonville goldfield, which has pro-
duced the highest grade ore in the entire Witwatersrand
basin: on average, 31 g/t over its mining history (Sanders et
al., 1994).
The development of the Welkom and Evander goldfields in
the late 1940s and middle 1950s, respectively, was largely
driven by new aeromagnetic (delineation of basin architec-
ture by tracing magnetic shale beds and younger mafic extru-
sive rocks) and gravimetric survey technology, making possi-
ble the first discovery of a significant blind ore district, and it
boosted gold output to an annual production peak of 989 t in
1970. Nine goldfields now extend over a distance of about 400
km along the southwestern, northwestern, northern, and
northeastern basin margin (Fig. 2): the East Rand, Central
Rand, Welkom, Carletonville, and Klerksdrop goldfields
being the largest producers. A tenth goldfield of very minor
economic significance is in the center of the basin, where the
Witwatersrand strata are upturned around the domal Vrede-
fort structure.
Over the past three decades, gold output has decreased
steadily (Fig. A4) due to a decrease in average ore grade and
an increase in production costs as the mines have gone
deeper and to more distal deposits. Escalating labor costs and
capitalization of expensive development projects are further
limiting factors. A sharp drop from US$355 to US$283/oz Au
in 1997 was met by restructuring into fewer, but larger, more
cost-effective operations. However, in 2002 gold output rose
for the first time since 1993 (by 0.4% to 395.2 t). The signifi-
cance of the US$-Rand exchange rate is highlighted by the
772 FRIMMEL ET AL.

27oE

4
Carleton- 3 2
ville Johannesburg
7 6
5 1

Evander
Klerksdorp
8
o
27 S 27oS

Vredefort

N
0 50 100km

Paleoslope
Goldfields: 9
Welkom Major fault
1 - Evander

Witwatersrand
Supergroup
2 - East Rand
3 - Central Rand Central Rand Group
4 - West Rand West Rand Group
5 - South Deep
6 - Western Areas Dominion Group
7 - Carletonville Archean granitoid
8 - Klerksdorp
Greenstone
9 - Welkom 27oE

FIG. 2. Simplified surface and subsurface geologic map of the Witwatersrand basin, also showing the distribution of
Archean granitoid domes, the location of the goldfields, major faults, and paleocurrent directions of reefs in the Central Rand
Group (from Frimmel and Minter, 2002).

fact that this modest 0.4 percent production increase trans-
lated into a 33 percent increase in the Rand value of gold ex-
ports, largely because of a weak local currency. By contrast,
the benefits of a surge to more than US$400/oz Au in 2003
were more than offset by the drastic rise in the value of the
Rand relative to the US$. As most of the reserves are located
between 3,500 and 5,000 m below surface, the future of the
South African gold mining industry will be strongly depen-
dent on the gold price and the US$-Rand exchange rate, and
on how political forces will shape future ownership of South
Africa’s mining industry.
Geologic Setting
The Witwatersrand basin occupies a central position on the
Archean Kaapvaal craton (Fig. 1). The causes of its develop-
ment and early evolution are linked with tectonic processes
on and around this craton, whose history is subdivided into
two main periods (de Wit et al., 1992). The first period
(3.64–3.08 Ga) saw the initial formation of the continental
lithosphere of the craton, with a major pulse of accretion
around 3.2 Ga. The second period (3.08–2.64 Ga) was domi-
nated by the development of intracontinental basins and
likely subduction-related magmatism along the edge of the
Kaapvaal craton (Fig. 1).
Pre-Witwatersrand basement
The oldest known crustal fragment of the Kaapvaal craton
is the ~3.64 Ga Ancient Gneiss Complex in Swaziland
(Kröner and Tegtmeyer, 1994), which forms the southern part
of the Barberton greenstone belt (Fig. 1). Products of Paleo-
archean crust formation are well preserved within that green-
stone belt, where dominantly basic-ultrabasic magmatism be-
tween 3.49 and 3.42 Ga followed tonalite emplacement
between 3.55 and 3.52 Ga (de Ronde and de Wit, 1994). The
mafic to ultramafic rocks have been interpreted as remnants
of oceanlike lithosphere (de Wit et al., 1987). Widespread
silicified zones, ironstone pods, and banded iron formation
(BIF), as well as intense metasomatism, have been attributed
to hydrothermal activity on the Barberton ocean floor (de
Ronde et al., 1994). The upper clastic part of the greenstone
belt is interpreted to comprise synorogenic deposits related to
3.2 Ga accretion of juvenile crust onto the Paleoarchean
cratonic nucleus. A change from compressional to transten-
sional tectonic activity around 3.1 Ga was accompanied by

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 FORMATION AND PRESERVATION OF WITWATERSRAND GOLDFIELDS
widespread orogenic gold mineralization along late shear
zones. This inversion in the overall stress field marked the be-
ginning of intracontinental basin formation that eventually
led to the formation of the Witwatersrand basin.
Initially, an up to 2,250-m-thick bimodal volcanic sequence
with a thin basal siliciclastic unit (Dominion Group), inter-
preted to be formed in a continental rift, was laid down be-
tween 3086 ± 3 Ma (the youngest age of pre-Dominion base-
ment; Robb et al., 1992) and 3074 ± 6 Ma (the age of
volcanism; Armstrong et al., 1991). The basal siliciclastic unit
includes a conglomerate bed with abundant uraninite and
pyrite but relatively low gold content (Dominion reef). The
original extent of the Dominion basin is unknown. Paleocur-
rent data consistently point to a source area to the north or
northeast (Frimmel and Minter, 2002). Thus, a continuation
of the original basin to the south of the present distribution of
Dominion Group rocks is likely (Fig. 2).
The development of the Witwatersrand basin followed ap-
proximately 100 m.y. later. The detailed lithostratigraphic
correlation between the various goldfields across the Witwa-
tersrand basin has been problematic, but a broad subdivision
of the basin fill into the West Rand and Central Rand Groups
has long been recognized. Here the correlation as suggested
by the Witwatersrand Working Group (chaired by T.S. Mc-
Carthy) of the South African Committee for Stratigraphy is
adopted (Fig. 3).
West Rand Group
The metasedimentary rocks of the West Rand Group rest
with angular unconformity above the Dominion Group vol-
canic rocks. The group attains a maximum thickness of 5,150
m in the Klerksdorp goldfield and thins to the northeast. No
information about the thickness of this group is available from
the Welkom goldfield. The original West Rand basin most
likely extended much farther to the southwest, south, and
southeast compared to the currently known distribution of
West Rand Group rocks (Fig. 2), with sediment input
throughout the group having been consistently from sources
to the north and northeast (Frimmel and Minter, 2002).
The maximum age of West Rand Group sedimentation is
given by U-Pb data from detrital zircon grains as 2985 ± 14
Ma (Kositcin and Krapez, 2004). A minimum age for most of
the group is given by the Crown Formation lava in the
Jeppestown Subgroup (Fig. 3), the only volcanic unit within
the entire group, with a U-Pb single zircon age of 2914 ± 8
Ma (Armstrong et al., 1991). Three subgroups are distin-
guished based on varying shale/sandstone ratios and basin-
wide disconformities (Fig. 3). Within the basal Hospital Hill
Subgroup, the shale/sandstone ratio decreases upsection,
with the sandstone being predominantly quartz arenite,
which is interpreted as subtidal deposits (Eriksson et al.,
1981). Higher up in the succession, feldspathic sandstone and
quartz wacke are more abundant (Law et al., 1990; Fig. 3).
The sediment record of the West Rand Group reflects fluctu-
ations between distal fluvio-deltaic and shoreface to offshore
environments, ascribed to eustatic sea-level changes
(Stanistreet and McCarthy, 1991). Indication of cold climatic
conditions for at least parts of West Rand Group time comes
from an association of diamictite with ferruginous shale in the
lower Government Subgroup, which possibly correlates with
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773
the oldest known glacial deposit on Earth in the Pongola Su-
pergroup (Young et al., 1998).
Central Rand Group
The Central Rand Group lies unconformably above the
West Rand Group and reaches a maximum thickness of 2,880
m near the center of the present Central Rand basin around
the domal Vredefort structure (Fig. 2). Similar to the West
Rand Group, a series of cycles can be distinguished, each of
which comprises fluvially dominated coarse-grained siliciclas-
tic metasedimentary rocks above an erosion surface, but in
contrast to the West Rand Group, coarser grained siliciclastic
rocks prevail, with shale (mudstone) subordinate in amount.
Fluvio-deltaic processes dominated sediment deposition, but
tidal reworking has been suggested for the interfaces between
fluvial and shallow marine systems (Els, 1998). During depo-
sition of the Central Rand Group, the paleoslope direction
changed from a consistent dip to the south or southwest to
east and northeast along the western and southwestern mar-
gins and to the southeast and south along the northwestern
and northern margins (Minter and Loen, 1991). Two minor,
locally developed, amygdaloidal basalt units (Bird lava) in the
Krugersdorp Formation provide the only evidence of volcan-
ism in the Central Rand Group.
Two subgroups, the Johannesburg and Turffontein Sub-
groups, are distinguished within the Central Rand Group
(Fig. 3). The maximum age of deposition for the Central
Rand Group sediments is constrained by the youngest age ob-
tained on detrital zircon from the bottom of the Johannesburg
Subgroup, (i.e., 2902 ± 13 Ma; Kositcin and Krapez, 2004).
The youngest detrital zircon age of 2872 ± 6 Ma from the
Krugersdorp Formation sets the best constraint for the age of
the top of this subgroup, whereas 2849 ± 18 Ma based on de-
trital zircon or 2840 ± 3 Ma based on detrital xenotime rep-
resents the maximum age for the top of the Central Rand
Group (Kositcin and Krapez, 2004). A minimum age con-
straint on deposition of the Central Rand Group is 2780 ± 3
Ma, which is the oldest age obtained on any authigenic min-
eral (xenotime) to date in the Witwatersrand rocks (Kositcin
et al., 2003).
Tectonic setting of the Witwatersrand basin
There appears to be general agreement that the lower part
of the West Rand Group was deposited in a passive continen-
tal margin setting, facing an open ocean to the south. The pa-
leoshoreline would have been close to the northern margin of
the present basin outline. Continental rift-related rhyolite at
the bottom of the Pongola Supergroup (Nsuze Formation;
Fig. 1), considered a correlative of the Witwatersrand Super-
group (Beukes and Cairncross, 1991), has an age of 2985 ± 11
Ma (Hegner et al., 1994), equivalent to that of the lower West
Rand Group. If the lower Pongola Supergroup indeed re-
flects the same basin as the lower West Rand Group, the in-
ferred passive margin setting can be explained by postrift
thermal subsidence.
A change from upward-deepening to upward-shallowing at
the Hospital Hill-Government Subgroup boundary (Fig. 3)
has been used to suggest a change from a passive margin to a
foreland basin setting (Coward et al., 1995). Others prefer a
passive margin setting for the entire group (de Wit et al.,
774 FRIMMEL ET AL.

Subgroup

Lithology
meters Formation Reefs Age (Ma)

Group
Venterspost Ventersdorp Contact Reef 2714 ± 8 Ma1
South Deep >2780 ± 3 Ma
3

2000 Mondeor
Turffontein
<2849 ± 18 Ma
2
Bastard, EA, Upper Elsberg (< 2840 ±3 Ma)
Elsburg/
CENTRAL RAND

Eldorado
Denny’s, Beatrix, Composite
Kimberley Crystalkop, A, Kalkoenkrans, B, Kimberley
1000 Booysens
Johannesburg

Krugersdorp <2872 ± 6 Ma2

Basal, Steyn, Vaal, Saaiplas, Leader, Monarch, Bird
Luipaardsvlei ( <2822 ± 6 Ma)
2

Livingstone
Randfontein
Main Middelvlei
North, Main, South, Carbon Leader, Commonage
0
Blyvooruitzicht
Ada May, Beisa <2902 ± 13 Ma2
Maraisburg
Jeppestown

Roodepoort

Crown 2914 ± 8 Ma1

Babrosco
Veldskoen, Inner Basin reefs
1000 Rietkuil M <2931 ± 8 Ma
Koedoeslaagte Buffelsdoorn, Outer Basin reefs
Afrikander
Elandslaagte Government
Government

Palmietfontein
M

Tusschenin Rivas Reef

WEST RAND

Coronation Middle Central

Coronation M, D Rand
2000
Promise D
Bonanza Upper
Central Rand
Bonanza Ventersdorp
Contact Reef
M
Lower Central
Hospital Hill

West Rand
3000
Rand

Brixton
LEGEND
M Magnetic shale
M
D - Diamictite
4000 M Reef
Conglomerate
Parktown Sandstone
Shale
M Lava
2
5000 Orange Grove <2985 ± 14 Ma

FIG. 3. Generalized stratigraphic column for the Witwatersrand Supergroup (from Frimmel and Minter, 2002); also
shown are the stratigraphic positions of the main auriferous conglomerate beds (reefs) and their relative significance as gold
producers (insert); SHRIMP U-Pb or Pb-Pb age data from (1) zircon (Armstrong et al., 1991), (2) zircon and xenotime
(Kositcin and Krapez, 2003) and (3) authigenic xenotime (Kositcin et al., 2003).

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 FORMATION AND PRESERVATION OF WITWATERSRAND GOLDFIELDS
1992). In a recent SHRIMP detrital zircon study, a general
decrease in the complexity of zircon provenance age spectra
is recorded upsection through the West Rand Group
(Kositcin and Krapez, 2004). This is interpreted as reflecting
an increasing maturity of the hinterland as is expected for an
evolving passive margin, thus supporting a thermal subsi-
dence origin for the entire West Rand Group.
The variation upsection in paleoslope directions in the
lower Central Rand Group, together with the increase in con-
tinental to marine sediment ratio, indicates a change to a pro-
gressively shrinking continental basin. This is well reflected
by the detrital zircon age spectra (Kositcin and Krapez, 2004),
which increase in complexity upsection through the Central
Rand Group. A progressively greater variety of source rocks
must have been eroded through the period of the Central
Rand Group, reflecting tectonic loading and thus a foreland
basin setting for this group. The same study also suggested
that granitoids were contemporaneously unroofed—a prove-
nance more consistent with a back-arc than with a foreland
fold-thrust belt—from which the authors conclude a retroarc
basin setting for the Central Rand Group. Both sinistral and
dextral strike-slip along the northern and western margins,
respectively, has led Stanistreet and McCarthy (1991) to pos-
tulate a southeast-directed tectonic escape basin. However,
some of the faults referred to by these authors are post-
Witwatersrand in age. With considerably more and better age
data available, more reliable integrated sedimentation rates
can be calculated. Interestingly, these indicate a minimum of
63 m/m.y. for the West Rand Group, considerably greater
than 18 m/m.y. for the Central Rand Group. Such a differ-
ence is inconsistent with a simple retroarc foreland basin, as
already pointed out by Maynard and Klein (1995). This in-
consistency may be, at least partly, a function of sediment
preservaton and erosion. From the West Rand into the
Central Rand Group, the proportion of degradation surfaces
and conglomerates, in which the older stratigraphic units ap-
pear reworked, increases considerably (Fig. 3). Consequently,
the lower integrated sedimentation rate obtained for the Cen-
tral Rand Group might reflect a higher degree of sediment
reworking.
By analogy with the Pongola Supergroup, a major folding
event during deposition of the upper Central Rand Group be-
tween 2837 ± 5 and 2824 ± 6 Ma, defined by pre- and post-
folding felsic intrusive rocks, has been suggested (Gutzmer et
al., 1999). Along the western basin margin, the angles of un-
conformity increase upsection in the Central Rand Group,
which reflects progressive uplift of the hinterland to the west.
From the above tectonic synthesis, it becomes apparent that
the generally used, deeply entrenched term “Witwatersrand
basin” can be misleading, because it embraces at least two dif-
ferent basin types, with a major sequence boundary between
the West Rand and Central Rand Groups. Therefore, the
Witwatersrand basin is best described as a successor basin
that contains erosional remnants of tectonically stacked sedi-
ments originally deposited in at least two fundamentally dif-
ferent tectonic settings.
The two mafic volcanic units within the Witwatersrand Su-
pergroup remain somewhat enigmatic, as neither passive
margins nor foreland basins are particularly favorable settings
for such volcanism. Basaltic volcanism on passive margins can
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 775
775
be caused by reactivation of fundamental faults as a far-field
response to changes in the rate or direction of plate tectonic
processes or plume magmatism. By implication, the Crown
Formation lavas might record a change from thermal to reac-
tivated subsidence. In contrast, the Bird volcanic interval in
the upper Central Rand Group could be related to a change
from a subduction- to a collision-related, retroarc foreland
domain (Stanistreet and McCarthy, 1991).
Based on the paleoslope direction, the main tectonic do-
mains in the hinterland controlling the style of sedimentation
in the Witwatersrand basin were to the north and west, al-
though paleoslope directions in the Evander goldfield indi-
cate more local controls. Along the northern margin of the
Mesoarchean Kaapvaal craton, east- to northeast-trending
greenstone belts (Murchison, Pietersberg, and Giyani green-
stone belts; Fig. 1), surrounded by granitoids, yielded single-
zircon age data that overlap with the age of Witwatersrand
sediment deposition (Brandl et al., 1996; Poujol et al., 1996,
2003; Poujol and Robb, 1999; Kröner et al., 2000; Poujol,
2001). All of these belts seem to have a 3.2 to 3.3 Ga base-
ment. In the Murchison granitoid-greenstone terrane, meta-
morphosed granite, tonalite, and rhyolite have been dated be-
tween 3.02 and 3.09 Ga, overlapping with deposition of the
Dominion Group rocks. Felsic volcanic rocks and granite
from the same terrane, dated at 2970 ± 10 Ma, might reflect
crustal thinning related to early Witwatersrand rifting.
Younger, syntectonic felsic intrusions in the Giyani granitoid-
greenstone terranes are dated between 2877 and 2874 Ma,
whereas, in the Murchison terrane, further granitoid em-
placement is indicated at 2901 ± 12 and, with several age de-
terminations, between 2820 and 2811 Ma. Shear zone-hosted
orogenic gold deposits occur in the mafic to ultramafic rocks
of these greenstone belts. Only the Pietersberg belt hosts a
sequence of predominantly coarse-grained siliciclastic
metasedimentary rocks with minor paleoplacer gold occur-
rences (Uitkyk Formation). Based on lithological similarities
and a maximum sedimentation age of 2901 ± 2 Ma, formation
has been correlated with the Witwatersrand Supergroup (de
Wit et al., 1993).
A series of intrusive events has also been identified in the
Amalia-Kraaipan granitoid-greenstone terrane along the
western margin of the craton (Robb et al., 1992; Anhaeusser
and Walraven, 1999; Poujol et al., 2002; Schmitz et al., 2004).
A minimum age for the supracrustal successions is given by a
U-Pb zircon date of 3033 ± 1 Ma obtained for a mafic intru-
sive body. Ages between 2932 ± 1 and 2926 ± 2 Ma for meta-
morphic and anatectic zircon date both the time of accretion
of a ca. 2930 Ma volcanic arc and continental collision be-
tween the so-called Kimberley and Witwatersrand crustal
blocks (Schmitz et al., 2004). Deep seismic reflection profiles
through the west-central Kaapvaal craton (de Wit and Tinker,
2004) indicate Neoarchean amalgamation of a series of tec-
tonically stacked crustal slivers along east-propagating thrusts
that reach the surface next to the Witwatersrand basin. This
major tectonic event to the west of the craton, which proba-
bly also involved the upper mantle, greatly affected the Wit-
watersrand basin fill and explains the change in style of syn-
Central Rand Group deformation from west to east, as
documented by Frimmel and Minter (2002) and Jolley et al.
(2004). Subsequently, crustal thickening and uplift led to
776 FRIMMEL ET AL.
variable exhumation of, and decompression melting in, the
Kimberley block, with resulting high-level granitoids as young
as 2727 ± 6 Ma (Robb et al., 1992), while the Witwatersrand
block underwent subsidence with sedimentation in the Cen-
tral Rand basin (Schmitz et al., 2004).
The age of the youngest granitoids in the Kraaipan belt
(about 2790 Ma) is similar to the 2783 ± 2 Ma age of the
Gaborone Suite rapakivi-type granite and related volcanic
rocks in southern Botswana (Grobler and Walraven, 1993;
Moore et al., 1993). Considering the inferred retroarc fore-
land setting and age constraints discussed above for the Cen-
tral Rand Group, the younger granitoids in the hinterland to
the north, northwest, and west might reflect the correspond-
ing magmatic arc, possibly related to a southward-dipping
subduction zone. The ocean that was closing at that time
probably separated the amalgamated Witwatersrand-Kimber-
ley block from the Pietersburg block. Such a combination of
foreland basin, related to westward subduction, and retroarc
basin related to the closure of an ocean farther north, would
help explain the apparent inconsistency between integrated
sedimentation rates and a simple retroarc basin mentioned
above. The Limpopo orogeny, often used as an explanation
for the inferred foreland position of the Central Rand basin
(e.g., Burke et al., 1986), took place more than 100 m.y. after
the Witwatersrand Supergroup rocks had been laid down.
Apart from great ambiguity about the existence of a Hi-
malayan-style Limpopo orogeny, the available age constraints
rule out any relationship between tectonic events that shaped
the Limpopo belt and the Witwatersrand basin.
Post-Witwatersrand evolution of the Kaapvaal craton
Abundant seismic data across the Witwatersrand basin (for
examples see Frimmel and Minter, 2002; Tinker et al., 2002;
Jolley et al., 2004) clearly illustrate folding and thrusting
along the western and northern basin margins and block
faulting throughout the basin. Low-grade metamorphic min-
eral assemblages throughout the basin (for a review see
Phillips and Law, 1994) are testimony to postdepositional
modification that is related to a series of tectono-thermal
events initiated during, and following, Witwatersrand sedi-
ment deposition (Fig. A5).
The Ventersdorp Supergroup, which attains a maximum
thickness of at least 3,700 m, starts with the coarse-grained
siliciclastic Venterspost Formation above a regional unconfor-
mity at the top of the Witwatersrand Supergroup. The Ven-
terspost Formation contains the auriferous Ventersdorp Con-
tact Reef immediately above the erosional unconformity—an
important orebody that is similar to Witwatersrand reefs.
Only in the Welkom goldfield, the Ventersdorp Supergroup
rests paraconformably above the Witwatersrand Supergroup
and the Ventersdorp Contact Reef is not developed (Minter
et al., 1986). This is explained by a lack of reworking of the
older, auriferous Witwatersrand sediments along that contact.
The thin siliciclastic sequence of the Ventersdorp Forma-
tion at the bottom of the Ventersdorp Supergroup is overlain
by flood basalts of the Klipriviersberg Group, dated at 2714 ±
8 Ma (Armstrong et al., 1991). The unconformity below the
Ventersdorp Contact Reef should represent a hiatus of at
least 50 m.y., because the reef sediments cannot be much
older than the overlying mafic lavas as their extrusion oc-
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 776
curred prior to sediment lithification. This is supported by the
youngest detrital xenotime age of 2729 ± 19 Ma obtained on
the Ventersdorp Contact Reef (Kositcin and Krapez, 2004).
An age of 2709 ± 4 Ma for the Klipriviersberg basalt shows
that the bimodal volcanic activity recorded in the Ventersdorp
Supergroup was short-lived. Deposition in a rift that evolved
into an Atlantic-type continental margin is inferred from seis-
mic profiles that indicate considerable thickening of the Ven-
tersdorp Supergroup toward the west of the craton (Tinker et
al., 2002). Inboard extension and crustal thinning is indicated
by contemporaneous ultrahigh-temperature metamorphism
recorded in granulite xenoliths within kimberlites (Schmitz
and Bowring, 2003).
A link between Ventersdorp rifting and collision between
the Kaapvaal and Zimbabwe cratons (Burke et al., 1985) is
unlikely. Granulite-facies metamorphism associated with
southward thrusting of the Southern Marginal zone of the
Limpopo belt on to the Kaapvaal craton is dated at 2691 ± 7
Ma (Kreissig et al., 2001), and syntectonic granites from the
Central zone of that belt range in age from 2664 to 2572 Ma
(McCourt and Armstrong, 1998), later than onset of Venters-
dorp flood basalt extrusion. However, the age of the Klipriv-
iersberg Group overlaps with an earlier northward-thrusting
phase, dated at 2729 ± 19 Ma (Passeraub et al., 1999), which
affected greenstone belts along the northern Kaapvaal craton,
as well as with granite in the immediate vicinity of the Wit-
watersrand (Robb et al., 1992). The Klipriviersberg extension
could thus be explained by southward-directed subduction
beneath the Kaapvaal craton prior to continental collision. Al-
ternatively, the ultimate cause for Ventersdorp rifting might
not reside in crustal plate tectonics but be a result of a man-
tle plume (Hatton, 1995).
A second thrust event in the Witwatersrand basin, first rec-
ognized by Roering (1990) as post-Platberg and pre-Transvaal
in age, is most likely a distant expression of the collisional tec-
tonic processes in the Southern Marginal zone of the
Limpopo belt. This was followed by regional peneplanation
prior to marine transgression over most of the craton. Subsi-
dence rates calculated from the thickness of the largely chem-
ical, marine sedimentary rocks are in good agreement with
thermal subsidence due to lithospheric cooling after the Ven-
tersdorp thermal anomaly (Tinker et al., 2002). In the Witwa-
tersrand area, these chemical sedimentary rocks are known as
the Chuniespoort Group, with lower and upper age con-
straints given by a 2642 ± 2 Ma lava and a 2432 ± 31 Ma tuff
bed, and a 2480 ± 6 Ma zircon in BIF, respectively (Eriksson
et al., 1995; Nelson et al., 1999). Of significance to the debate
on the genesis of Witwatersrand gold is the presence of a thin,
but laterally extensive, basal conglomerate and sandstone unit
(Black Reef Quartzite Formation) that rests on the post-Ven-
tersdorp erosion surface at the bottom of the predominantly
carbonatic Chuniespoort Group, because it contains a con-
glomerate (Black reef) that is almost indistinguishable from
the auriferous, uraniferous, and pyrite-rich Witwatersrand
reefs.
A major sequence boundary separates the Chuniespoort
Group from the overlying Pretoria Group. These two groups,
although unified as the Transvaal Supergroup in the litera-
ture, have little in common. The boundary is marked by a
strongly weathered erosional unconformity reflecting a hiatus
 FORMATION AND PRESERVATION OF WITWATERSRAND GOLDFIELDS
of ~80 m.y., above which lies a volcano-sedimentary succes-
sion with alluvial fan and fan delta deposits with minor marine
influence (Eriksson et al., 1995). Deposition of the Pretoria
Group was followed after another hiatus by the contempora-
neous extrusion of felsic volcanic rocks (Rooiberg Group) and
emplacement of the mafic to ultramafic 2059 ± 1 Ma (Buick
et al., 2001) Rustenberg Suite and 2054 ± 2 Ma (Walraven
and Hattingh, 1993) granitic Lebowa Suite, both of the
Bushveld Igneous Complex to the north of the Witwatersrand
basin. An elevated crustal geotherm related to large-scale
magmatic underplating and intraplating, also probably re-
sulted in the intrusion of alkali granite and mafic plutons
within the Witwatersrand basin, some dated at 2078 ± 12 Ma
(Moser, 1997). The last major disturbance experienced by the
Witwatersrand strata is reflected by a 30-km-wide domal
structure, the Vredefort Dome (Fig. 2), that could well be
the core of the oldest (2023 ± 2 Ma; Kamo et al., 1996; Moser,
1997) and largest (250–280 km diam; Henkel and Reimold,
1998) known terrestrial impact structure.
All of the above tectonothermal events had some effect on
the Witwatersrand strata. Following diagenesis, which could
not have been later than 2780 Ma (Kositcin et al., 2003), a
first stage of lower greenschist-facies metamorphism was at-
tained along the northern basin margin coeval with high-
grade metamorphism and tectonism in the Southern Mar-
ginal zone of the Limpopo belt, as indicated by kyanite- and
pyrophyllite-bearing pre-Transvaal thrust faults (Coetzee et
al., 1995). In most parts of the basin, regional peak metamor-
phic conditions of 300° to 350°C at 3 kbars were likely
achieved during deposition of the Pretoria Group (Frimmel
and Minter, 2002). In particular, the lower parts of the basin
fill experienced further thermal metamorphism during the
emplacement of the Bushveld Igneous Complex, when the
central craton experienced an anomalously high geothermal
gradient (Frimmel, 1997a). The low-pressure amphibolite-fa-
cies mineral assemblages around the Vredefort Dome sup-
port this gradient (Gibson and Wallmach, 1995), where the
stratigraphically lower units were subsequently upturned by
the Vredefort meteorite impact.
Several stages of enhanced fluid circulation through the
Witwatersrand basin are recognized, ranging from diagenetic
basin dewatering to a number of hydrothermal fluid infiltra-
tion events. Isotopic evidence for these events comes from U-
Pb analyses of hydrothermal rutile, zircon, and xenotime,
which are considered most reliable, whereas Rb-Sr, U-Pb,
and Pb-Pb ages of various hydrothermal sulfides and bitumen
have only limited geochronological meaning (Zartman and
Frimmel, 1999). The most reliable age data (Robb et al.,
1990; Armstrong et al., 1995; Kositcin et al., 2003) cluster
around 2720 Ma (Ventersdorp extension), 2580 Ma (early
Transvaal thermal subsidence), possibly around 2200 Ma
(Pretoria extension), and 2060 Ma (Bushveld event). A fur-
ther hydrothermal infiltration event has been ascribed to the
Vredefort impact, based on crosscutting relationships with
dated pseudotachylyte, and on fluid inclusion and gold chem-
istry data (Frimmel et al., 1999).
Nature of the Witwatersrand Reefs
The orebodies (reefs), located at a number of different
stratigraphic levels, are typically composed of mature pebbly
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777
arenite that comprises a variety of fluvial lithofacies ranging
from clast-supported oligomictic conglomerate to loosely
packed conglomerate, pebbly arenite, or pebble lag surfaces
associated with trough cross-bedded quartz arenite (Fig. 4A).
Rarely, ore is associated with debris-flow lithofacies, such as
in the Beatrix reef (Minter et al., 1988). Gold has been mined
from at least 30 reefs, the most important of which are shown
in Figure 3, with those from the Central Rand Group ac-
counting for 95 percent of total production. Within the suc-
cession, there is an upward decrease in total Au yield (Fig. 3)
and average grade. For example, the Carbon Leader, repre-
senting one of the richest reefs at the bottom of the Central
Rand Group, has yielded an average grade of 25 g/t as did the
Basal/Steyn reefs, whereas the reefs in the upper parts of the
Central Rand Group and the overlying Ventersdorp Contact
Reef have averaged 5 to 12 g/t (Frimmel and Minter, 2002).
Orebodies, ranging in thickness from decimeters to a few
meters, are confined between a basal degradation surface,
normally an angular unconformity, and an upper planar bed-
ding surface that separates it from overlying quartz wacke or
siltstone (Minter and Loen, 1991; Fig. A6). The lower and
upper contacts of the orebodies are marked by a sharp de-
crease in bulk-rock Au concentrations from levels in the
range of several parts per million (see above) to concentra-
tions below 20 ppb. Typical background values of Au concen-
trations in the finer grained sediments are less than 5 ppb, but
locally, in the immediate vicinity (within 1–2 m) of reefs, Au
concentrations can reach as much as 1 ppm (Phillips, 1987).
Thus, the principal difference between a given orebody and
its footwall, as well as hanging wall, lies in its coarser grain
size and orders of magnitude higher concentrations of detri-
tal minerals and Au contents.
The lenslike geometry of the sedimentary beds comprising
the orebodies defines fluvial bar and channel bedforms that
display unimodal paleocurrent directions (Smith and Minter,
1980). The thicker orebodies represent multichannel se-
quences of conglomerate and quartz arenite deposited by re-
peated flood- and waning-stage flows. Depositional environ-
ments for the orebodies range from proximal alluvial fan (e.g.,
EA reefs in Eldorado Formation) to terraced fluvial (e.g.,
Ventersdorp Contact Reef), braid plain (Composite reef) and
braid delta merging with shoreline environments (Frimmel
and Minter, 2002; Fig. A7). In some places, the planar top of
the orebodies reflects burial beneath fine-grained sediments
after shoreline encroachment (e.g., Basal and Carbon Leader
reefs), but elsewhere eolian deflation is indicated (Minter,
1999; Fig. A8).
The large-scale spatial variation in Au is illustrated by the
position of the main goldfields (Fig. 2). They are all located
along the margin of the Central Rand basin, where the main
entry points of complex river systems into the original basin
were located (Minter and Loen, 1991). On a mine scale, the
highest Au grades are usually, but not exclusively, in the chan-
nel facies. This is illustrated using the Vaal reef as an example.
Comparison between reef thickness (Fig. 5A) and Au grade
distribution (Fig. 5B) shows that the gold is concentrated
along paleochannels with highest grades in those areas where
these channels reach maximum thickness. This is typical for
many reefs (see example of the Basal reef in Jolley et al.,
2004). However, Figure 5 shows also another area of Au
778 FRIMMEL ET AL.

A B

Au I D Qz I
C

Qz II Au II
Py I

E F G Au I
Zr Au
II

H I
Qz Py II

Py I

Bi
FIG. 4. A. Concentration of gold particles along crossbeds in pebbly quartz arenite at the base of the Basal reef placer,
Welkom goldfield. Three foresets converge with the bottomset toward the right (see Minter et al., 1992); scale bar = 1 cm.
B. Contrasting morphological types of gold particles occurring together in the hand specimen shown in (A): Rounded mi-
cronuggets (left panel) and hydrothermally mobilized, secondary gold (right); scale bar = 0.2 mm. C. In situ gold micronugget
(Au I) with overfolded rims next to rounded pyrite (Py) in section of hand specimen shown in (A) under combined trans-
mitted and reflected light; scale bar = 0.2 mm. D. Secondary gold (Au II) as inclusions within hydrothermal quartz (Qz II)
that forms overgrowths around detrital quartz (Qz I) from a thin section domain immediately adjacent to that shown in (C);
note the difference in fluid inclusion typology between Qz I and Qz II; scale bar = 0.2 mm. E-G. Scanning electron micro-
scope images of spheroidal (E), toroidal (F), and disklike (G) gold particles released by HF digestion from hand specimen
shown in (A); scale bars = 0.1 mm. Note the overfolded rim of the gold particle in (F). The gold particle shown in (G) con-
tains a detrital zircon grain with a fracture that is filled by secondary gold and displays euhedral, secondary gold overgrowth
(Au II). H. Upward-fining imbricate pyrite pebble lags between quartz-pebble lags, Basal reef placer, Welkom goldfield;
scale bar = 1 cm. I. Euhedral, secondary pyrite (Py (II) overgrowths around older, rounded cores (Py I), Ventersdorp Con-
tact Reef, Klerksdorp goldfield; scale bar = 0.2 mm.

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 A B
B B
A A
LEGEND LEGEND

0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00
Paleochannel Paleochannel

Fault Fault

Vaal Reef isopach (cm) Gold grade (cmg/t) Stilfontein

Stilfontein
>100 >3500
50 - 100 1750 - 3500
Zandpan 875 - 1750 Zandpan
25 - 50
13 - 25 <875
<13

Hartebees= Hartebees=
fontein fontein

779
Vaal Reefs Vaal Reefs
er

er
Buffelsfontein Buffelsfontein
Riv

Riv
al

al
Western Western
Va

Va
Reefs Reefs
FORMATION AND PRESERVATION OF WITWATERSRAND GOLDFIELDS

Vaal Reefs South Vaal Reefs South

N N
Orkney 0 1 2 km Orkney 0 1 2 km

FIG. 5. Relationship between reef thickness and gold grade at the Vaal reef, mined out suboutcrop to the northwest of Orkney, Klerksdorp goldfield: A. Reef isopach
plan. B. Gold isocon trend-surface plan; also shown are mapped paleochannels, mine names, and boundaries at the time of mining.
779
780 FRIMMEL ET AL.
concentration toward the northeastern corner of the studied
area. There, highest Au grades are reached where the reef
consists of only a single layer of scattered pebbles, many of
which are ventifacts, above a flat footwall (Fig. A9). This
clearly illustrates that no single mechanism can be held re-
sponsible for the concentration of Au in the reef bodies.
Gold, together with uraninite and pyrite, are spatially asso-
ciated with unquestionably detrital minerals, such as rounded
zircon and chromite (for a complete list of minerals identified
to date in Witwatesrand reefs see Phillips and Law, 2000). All
of these minerals are particularly concentrated on degrada-
tion surfaces marked by pebble lags or at the base of clast-
supported conglomerate units, but also on crossbedded fore-
sets, bottomsets, and coset boundaries (Fig. 4A). Thick
orebodies of 1 m or more may contain multiple graded beds,
each with allogenic minerals concentrated along the basal
degradation surface. Case studies on the element distribution
within reefs, such as the Kimberley reef (Rasmussen and
Fesq, 1973), the Steyn reef (Frimmel and Minter, 2002), and
the Vaal reef (Fox, 2002), illustrate a good correlation be-
tween U and Au, but the correlation between Au and Zr, as
well as Cr, is less pronounced. However, the larger data set
from the Vaal reef shows that Au enrichment is linked with Zr
enrichment, but samples rich in Zr do not necessarily contain
elevated Au contents. A good correlation also exists between
grain size (i.e., flow velocity) and Zr as well as Au and U
(Smith and Minter, 1980; Frimmel and Minter, 2002).
The Witwatersrand reefs are not only extremely rich in Au
but also are one of the world’s largest U depositories. One of
the richest reefs was the Monarch reef, a small-pebble distal
placer, mined at a mean grade of 2,860 ppm U3O8. The prin-
cipal U minerals are uraninite, brannerite, and leucoxene,
with a systematic decrease in uraninite/brannerite ratio up-
section. For example, in the Welkom goldfield, the urani-
nite/brannerite ratio is 8.7 in the Steyn reef, whereas no
uraninite is present in the younger Beatrix reef (Minter et al.,
1988). Similarly, all the U in the Black reef, from which a
specimen with as much as 3,350 ppm U3O8 has been reported
(Bourret, 1975), occurs as brannerite.
There is a broad systematic trend in the U/Au ratio upsec-
tion. In contrast to the Central Rand Group reefs, the Do-
minion reef is highly uraniferous but does not contain signif-
icant amounts of gold. Within a given stratigraphic unit, both
Au and U concentrations decrease from the basin margin to-
ward its center but at different rates. A systematic increase in
the U/Au ratio down the paleoslope from 10–3 to 10 is noted
in the Welkom goldfield, with uraninite being enriched in the
more distal facies, probably as a result of hydraulic mineral
sorting (Minter et al., 1986). This is also illustrated by the
coarse-grained Main reef, which has an average pebble size of
37 mm and a U/Au ratio of less than 25 as opposed to the rel-
atively finer grained, more distal Monarch reef, whose aver-
age pebble size is 16 mm and whose U/Au ratio is 128 (Ven-
nemann et al., 1995). An example of downslope increase in
U/Au on a smaller scale is given in Figure A10.
It has been noted that Witwatersrand gold is intimately as-
sociated with carbonaceous matter, which occurs as stratiform
seams and as spherical, glassy globules (Fig. A11). The carbon
seams occur preferentially in deposits reflecting more distal
environments but are conspicuously absent from proximal,
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 780
high-energy deposits. Furthermore, they occur only in con-
glomerates and sandstones that contain rounded pyrite. The
distribution of the carbon seams on paleosurfaces, on sedi-
mentary accumulation surfaces, and on trough crossbeds and
ripple surfaces (Minter, 1981; Buck, 1983) has led previous
researchers to suggest that they represent algal mats (Hall-
bauer, 1975). However, such an interpretation is no longer
tenable, since it has been recognized by many workers that
these hydrocarbons occur preferentially along microfractures
(e.g., Jolley et al., 2004) and that all the various textural forms
of hydrocarbons in the Witwatersrand are hydrothermal py-
robitumen (Gray et al., 1998). The source of these hydrother-
mal hydrocarbons remains, however, problematic. A bulk and
molecular chemical and isotopic study (Spangenberg and
Frimmel, 2001) suggested derivation from a variety of bio-
mass in a reducing environment, with subsequent short-range
hydrothermal mobilization. That study also revealed that de-
rivation from migrating oils sourced outside the Witwater-
srand basin, the most obvious candidate being the lower
Transvaal basin, is unlikely, but basin-internal euxinic and
near-shore oxic marine shales, such as those of the Booysens
Formation, could be potential source rocks. In those reefs
that contain such carbonaceous matter, such as the Carbon
Leader, Basal, and Vaal reefs, the highest Au and U concen-
trations are located in the zones that are particularly rich in
pyrobitumen. On a microscale, the pyrobitumen-filled mi-
crofractures typically contain some gold. Oil migration—and
thus by implication gold transport—has been suggested both
prior (England et al., 2002a) and during (Jolley et al., 2004)
fracturing. It should be noted, however, that many highly au-
riferous reefs, such as the Main and Kimberley reefs in the
Central and West Rand goldfields, do not contain any note-
worthy amounts of bitumen.
Genetic Controversy
A major argument by those who advocate a placer model
has been the strong sedimentological control on the grade
distribution of ore used successfully in daily exploration (for
examples of the relationship between ore grade and sedimen-
tological features, see Figs. 5, A10). This fact is recognized by
those researchers who prefer a hydrothermal model, but they
emphasize basin-wide postdepositional alteration and hy-
drothermal textures of most of the gold and other phases,
such as sulfides, U minerals, and bitumen, in the reefs. Cur-
rently, two end-member models, each with variations, are de-
bated.
1. In the modified paleoplacer model, transport of detrital
gold particles into the host sediments is assumed to have
taken place by fluvial processes with subsequent short-range
(micrometer- to meter-scale) mobilization of the gold, largely
within the host rock, by infiltrating hydrothermal fluids and/or
degradation of in situ hydrocarbon or hydrous phases. Gold
mobilization and recrystallization induced by hydrothermal
fluid infiltration has been ascribed to the emplacement of the
Ventersdorp Supergroup lavas (Pretorius, 1991), to burial
metamorphism in lower Transvaal Supergroup times and the
Vredefort impact event (Frimmel et al., 1999), as well as to
Pretoria Group deposition and the emplacement of the
Bushveld Igneous Complex (Robb et al., 1997).
 FORMATION AND PRESERVATION OF WITWATERSRAND GOLDFIELDS
2. Hydrothermal models explain the gold as having been
introduced into the host rocks from an external source
through the infiltration of postdepositional hydrothermal flu-
ids. The presence of gold in the conglomeratic host rocks is
inferred as a consequence of long-range, basin-wide fluid
flow combined with chemical and structural controls (Phillips
and Law, 2000; Jolley et al., 2004). One hydrothermal model
infers a separate origin for gold, uraninite, and hydrocarbons
(Phillips and Law, 2000), whereas another seeks to explain all
of them as cogenetic (Barnicoat et al., 1997). In either case,
the hydrothermal gold is sourced outside the present host
rocks, either in different stratigraphic positions within the
Witwatersrand basin, such as postulated proximal exhalites
(Hutchinson and Viljoen, 1987), or external to the basin. The
infiltration of the inferred auriferous hydrothermal fluids has
been linked to several different events that range from Ven-
tersdorp volcanism (Phillips et al., 1997), regional metamor-
phism (Phillips and Myers, 1989), or the emplacement of the
Bushveld Igneous Complex (Stevens et al., 1997).
The main arguments in support of either a hydrothermal or
a modified paleoplacer model are summarized in Table 1.
Critical to these arguments are textural, geochemical, and
TABLE 1. Main Arguments for Hydrothermal and Modified Paleoplacer Models for the Witwatersrand Gold Deposits
Hydrothermal model
Gold is late in paragenetic sequence (Feather and Koen, 1975;
Barnicoat et al., 1997)
Gold is associated with acid metamorphic alteration (Phillips and
Myers, 1989; Barnicoat et al., 1997)
Basin-wide distribution of pyrophyllite related to large-scale H+
metasomatism (Barnicoat et al., 1997)
Late Archean atmosphere was oxidizing (uraninite and pyrite
not detrital; Ohmoto et al., 1999)
Abundant rounded pyrite and uraninite particles associated with the gold
ore are of postdepositional hydrothermal origin (Barnicoat et al., 1997)
Rounded pyrite derived from basin-wide sulfidation of black sands
(Phillips and Myers, 1989)
Strong correlation between gold and hydrothermal pyrobitumen
(Nagy, 1993; Gray et al., 1998)
Conglomerate beds were preferred channels for infiltration of
gold-bearing hydrothermal fluids (Barnicoat et al., 1997)
Gold was introduced into the Witwatersrand basin after sediment
deposition (Phillips and Myers, 1989; Barnicoat et al., 1997)
Hydrothermal introduction of gold into the basin during peak
metamorphism, coeval with 2.06 Ga Bushveld event
(Phillips and Law, 1994)
Hydrothermal introduction of gold into the Witwatersrand basin
during global 2.7–2.6 Ga gold-forming thermal event, coeval with
Ventersdorp Supergroup volcanism (Phillips et al., 1997)
Lack of suitable source area for placer gold (Phillips and Myers, 1989)
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781
isotopic characteristics of the ore components that are dis-
cussed in detail below.
Textural, geochemical, and isotopic features of
the main ore components
Pyrite: Pyrite is the most common heavy mineral in all the
fluvial deposits of the Witwatersrand. Only in marine sedi-
mentary rocks, such as shales in the West Rand Group, are Fe
oxides (predominantly magnetite) present instead of pyrite
(Frimmel, 1996). Pyrite occurs in a number of different tex-
tural forms (Ramdohr, 1958; Hallbauer, 1986; England et al.,
2002b) that are grouped into (1) rounded, compact, (2)
rounded, porous, and (3) euhedral.
The rounded compact variety is by far the most common
form in all reefs (Fig. 4H) except in the Ventersdorp Contact
Reef, where the pyrite grains are euhedral. However, etching
of these grains reveals that most have one or more rounded
cores, with the euhedral outline being an artifact of sec-
ondary, authigenic and/or hydrothermal overgrowth around
preexisting rounded, compact pyrite cores (Fig. 4I; England
et al., 2002b; Frimmel and Minter, 2002). Most of the
rounded pyrite grains range in diameter from 0.5 to 2 mm,
with some reaching as much as 5 mm (Fig. 4H), and their
Modified placer model
Rare coexistence of rounded gold micronuggets with secondary,
hydrothermal gold on millimeter scale (Minter et al., 1993)
Composition of fluid inclusions in auriferous hydrothermal quartz indicate
neutral to basic pH (Frimmel et al., 1999)
Increase in chemical index of alteration in footwall toward reef related to
chemical weathering under acidic atmosphere (Sutton et al., 1990;
Frimmel and Minter, 2002)
Late Archean atmosphere was reducing/acid (detrital uraninite and pyrite
stable; Rasmussen and Buick, 1999)
Isotopic data for rounded sulfides and uraninite yield ages older than time
of sedimentation (Rundle and Snelling, 1977; Kirk et al., 2001)
Pyrite morphology, cyrstallography, and truncated growth zonation patterns
indicate detrital nature of rounded grains (MacLean and Fleet, 1989;
Fleet, 1998; England et al., 2002b)
Derivation of hydrothermal pyrobitumen from local intrinsic oils, based on
bulk and molecular *13C data (Spangenberg and Frimmel, 2001) and fluid
inclusion studies (England et al., 2001a)
Local variability in gold composition within a given reef reflects differences
in source areas (Frimmel and Gartz, 1997)
Sedimentological control on gold distribution (Minter, 1978);
Negative correlation between authigenic/hydrothermal xenotime and
orebodies (Kositcin, 2003)
Re-Os ages of the gold are older than time of sedimentation
(Kirk et al., 2002)
Lack of significant secondary permeability after >600 m.y. of burial,
diagenesis, and low-grade metamorphism (Frimmel, 1997)
Sedimentary reworking of Witwatersrand gold ore in late Ventersdorp
diamictite was followed by Witwatersrand-style gold mineralization in the
post-Ventersdorp Black reef
Calculated background value for eroded source area corresponds to mean
Au content of Archean granitoid-greenstone crust (Loen, 1992)
781
782 FRIMMEL ET AL.
surfaces display impact marks and etch pits (Hallbauer, 1986).
Evidence of mechanical abrasion of the rounded grains is
given by truncation of oscillatory growth zonation, defined by
variable As contents at grain boundaries (MacLean and Fleet,
1989). A crystallographic study (Fleet, 1998) revealed that
some of these rounded grains are single crystals and not the
polycrystalline or twinned crystals expected if they were
pseudomorphs after black sands, as suggested by Phillips and
Myers (1989) and Phillips and Law (2000). Associated with
this form of pyrite are similarly rounded, compact arsenopy-
rite and cobaltite particles (Saager and Oberthür, 1984; Eng-
land et al., 2002b). Genetically significant mineral inclusions
in rounded pyrite are feldspar (Fig. A12), calcite, corundum,
and spessartine, all of which are absent in the metamorphic
mineral assemblage of the metasedimentary host rocks. Sev-
eral centimeter-thick, almost monomineralic, fining-upward
pyrite beds, displaying imbrication with the same orientation
as intercalated quartz-pebble lags, are present in a number of
reefs, with the Basal reef of the Welkom goldfield providing
particularly good examples (Fig. 4H).
The porous pyrite displays a variety of internal textures,
ranging from laminated aggregates and rounded concretions
to oolitic-colloform and dendritic forms. Many concretionary
and colloform varieties are fragmented, broken, and have
truncated internal structures, from which mechanical trans-
port is inferred (Fig. A13).
Postsedimentary, euhedral to subhedral pyrite occurs pref-
erentially adjacent to zones of hydrothermal alteration, such
as veins and faults. This form is, on average, finer grained and
typically associated with other authigenic and/or hydrother-
mal sulfides (chalcopyrite, cobaltite-gersdorffite, pyrrhotite,
galena, and arsenopyrite) and pyrobitumen (Gartz and Frim-
mel, 1999; England et al., 2002b). Euhedral pyrite over-
growths are common and, in places, are contiguous with
pyrite that fills fracture or pore spaces (Fig. A14).
A laser-ablation sulfur isotope study (England et al., 2002b)
revealed that the rounded pyrite forms have a wide range in
δ34S values (–4.7 to +6.7‰), not only at the mine and stope-
face scale but even at the sample scale over less than 1.5 cm2.
These workers also recorded adjacent ooidlike pyrite grains
with marked isotopic zonation but opposing trends (core to
rim increase and decrease in δ34S, respectively). In a previous
SHRIMP study (Eldrige et al., 1993), large heterogeneities in
δ34S (–7 to +32‰) were noted in single pyrite grains and be-
tween different morphological types. Such heterogeneity and
the noted opposing core to rim trends in isotopic composition
are difficult to reconcile with precipitation from a geochemi-
cally homogeneous hydrothermal fluid, and more likely re-
flect variation in pyrite from the eroded source rock and/or
bacteriogenic sulfate reduction in the depositional environ-
ment. The heterogeneity in rounded pyrite is in stark contrast
with the narrow range in δ34S values obtained for authigenic
and/or euhedral pyrite (–0.5 to +2.5‰).
Attempts to date the various forms of pyrite using the U-
Th-Pb isotope systems (Barton and Hallbauer, 1996; Poujol et
al., 1999; Zartman and Frimmel, 1999) were met with mixed
success. Authigenic and hydrothermal pyrite is typically en-
riched in uranogenic Pb, whereas the rounded forms have a
less radiogenic isotopic signature. However, absolute Pb-Pb
ages need to be viewed with caution as the 238U and 235U
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decay schemes were likely decoupled, presumably by the se-
lective diffusion of 222Rn from uraninite and its subsequent
capture in hydrothermal precipitates, leading to erroneous
ages (Zartman and Frimmel, 1999). More reliable is an Re-Os
isochron age of 2.99 ± 0.11 Ga for rounded, compact pyrite
from the Vaal reef, which is clearly older than the time of sed-
iment deposition and provides a strong argument for the de-
trital origin of much of the pyrite (Kirk et al., 2001).
Pyrobitumen: Petrographic, organo-geochemical, bulk, and
molecular C isotope studies of the various forms of bitumen,
both stratiform seams and spherical globules, indicate deriva-
tion from the decomposition of a variety of biomass that was
buried within the Witwatersrand sediments with hydrocarbon
migration over variable distances (Gray et al., 1998; Spangen-
berg and Frimmel, 2001). A strong spatial association be-
tween uraninite and bitumen, the latter typically surrounding
the former, led to the interpretation that the bitumen formed
by the polymerization and crosslinking of liquid hydrocarbons
around irradiating grains, predominantly uraninite, in the
host sedimentary rock (Schidlowski, 1981). Direct evidence
of oil migration comes from the presence of oil-bearing fluid
inclusions (Drennan et al., 1999; England et al., 2002a). Esti-
mates for the Neoarchean to Eoproterozoic geotherm in the
Kaapvaal craton range from 15° to 27°C/km (Frimmel, 1997a;
Gibson and Jones, 2002). Assuming even the lower end of this
range and considering the average thicknesses of the Witwa-
tersrand successions, temperatures corresponding to the oil
window (100°–150°C) should have been reached during the
deposition of the Central Rand Group. Early oil generation
during burial, when an interconnected porosity was still pre-
served, is supported by the relative timing of oil-bearing fluid
inclusion entrapment in compaction-related microfractures
and early syntaxial quartz overgrowths (England et al.,
2002a). However, later oil migration, together with gold and
sulfide mobilization, during postpeak metamorphic fracturing
has also been documented from several reefs (Gartz and
Frimmel, 1999; Jolley et al., 2004) and this is most likely re-
lated to the Vredefort impact event (Frimmel, 1997b).
Uraninite: Uraninite is the principal U mineral in the Wit-
watersrand reefs where it occurs together with pyrite, gold,
and other heavy minerals concentrated along basal degrada-
tion surfaces. Most uraninite particles are well rounded, typ-
ically about 100 µm in diameter, and enclosed, or partially re-
placed, by bitumen, thus explaining the good correlation
between bitumen seams and U content (Minter, 1978). Radi-
ogenic galena is common in variable proportions within or
around the uraninite particles.
Considering the genetic relationship between preexisting
uraninite grains and the polymerization and cross-linking of
liquid hydrocarbons to form the present pyrobitumen, at least
some of the uraninite must be older than the hydrocarbons.
Formation during diagenesis is indicated for the bulk of the
hydrocarbons (England et al., 2002a). Consequently, urani-
nite must be detrital or early diagenetic. Secondary, postde-
positional uraninite and other U-bearing minerals, mainly
brannerite, are considered to be products of partial mobiliza-
tion of the earlier, rounded uraninite (England et al., 2001a).
A detrital origin of the rounded uraninite grains is further in-
dicated by their mineral chemistry and U-Pb geochronology.
Even on a thin-section scale, adjacent grains show a great
 FORMATION AND PRESERVATION OF WITWATERSRAND GOLDFIELDS
variation in Th/U ratio, which reflects provenance from a va-
riety of source rocks. Many uraninite grains are rich in Th
(avg 3.9 wt %), which is inconsistent with a low-temperature
hydrothermal origin but indicative of granitic to pegmatitic
sources (Feather and Glathaar, 1987; Grandstaff, 1981). Di-
rect dating of uraninite grains from the Dominion reef
yielded a U-Pb age of 3050 ± 50 Ma (Rundle and Snelling,
1977), overlapping with the age of sedimentation but dis-
tinctly older than the overlying Witwatersrand sediments.
Gold: Gold shows similar textural variability as pyrite and
uraninite and occurs as rounded, spheroidal, disklike and
toroidal particles, as well as irregular, dendritic aggregates,
fracture fills, or euhedral overgrowths and inclusions in sec-
ondary pyrite (Fig. 4). Most of the rounded particles have
longest diameters that range from 50 to 120 µm with few par-
ticles reaching as much as 1 mm, whereas the secondary gold,
be it as inclusions in secondary pyrite of euhedral overgrowth
on rounded gold or as fracture fills, is at least an order of mag-
nitude smaller in size (Hallbauer, 1986; Hallbauer and Els,
1986). A study on the gold grain-size distribution across the
Evander goldfield revealed a systematic decrease in grain size
toward the northeast, which has been related to increased
transport distance down the paleoslope (Hirdes, 1979). The
existence of both rounded and secondary, hydrothermal gold
particles within the same thin section (Minter et al., 1993)
points to a polyphase gold entrapment history, with the
rounded particles likely derived by mechanical (fluvial) trans-
port and secondary gold by precipitation from a hydrothermal
fluid.
In exceptional circumstances, torroidal gold particles dis-
play microtextures, such as overfolded rims, identical to those
on modern, wind-transported placer gold (Fig. 4C, F). This,
together with the presence of well-preserved ventifacts, has
led Minter (1999) to propose that subaerial eolian processes
may have played an important role in condensing the sedi-
ment sequence and concentrating gold. Although more than
1,300 examples of gold micronuggets have been described
from a single hand specimen from the Basal reef (Minter et
al., 1993), not enough information is available from other
reefs across the basin to quantify the basin-wide proportion of
rounded and secondary gold particles. Hallbauer (1986) esti-
mated that about 5 to 40 percent of all the gold in a given reef
is recrystallized or mobilized, whereas Barnicoat et al. (1997)
noted exclusively hydrothermal, secondary gold particles in
their sample set. Similar to pyrite, it is expected that the ratio
between primary and secondary gold particles varies strongly
between different areas in the basin.
Secondary hydrothermal gold is typically associated with bi-
tumen (Fig. A11) or chlorite that postdates secondary pyrite,
or is included within secondary pyrite. In contrast, rounded
pyrite is typically devoid of gold inclusions (Fig. A14).
Considerable compositional variability (with respect to
Au/Ag/Hg ratios) exists between gold particles within a given
reef, in some cases even within a given thin section (Reid et
al., 1988; Frimmel and Gartz, 1997). Individual gold particles
are, however, homogeneous, which is readily explained by the
diffusion rates of Ag and Hg through gold at the temperatures
to which the Witwatersrand rocks were subjected during bur-
ial and metamorphism (Frimmel et al., 1993). Only gold par-
ticles in quartz veins that have been ascribed to the Vredefort
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783
impact, based on field relationships with impact-related
pseudotachylite, have internal compositional variability
(Frimmel and Gartz, 1997).
First attempts to date the gold directly by the Re-Os
method yielded an isochron age for four samples from the
Vaal reef that corresponds to an age of 3016 ± 110 Ma and,
when combined with rounded pyrite from the same hand
specimen, defines an age of 3033 ± 21 Ma (Kirk et al., 2002).
This is substantially older than the age of sedimentation.
Contrasts with orogenic gold deposits
Many workers who favor a hydrothermal model for the
Witwatersrand gold emphasize similarities to orogenic gold
deposits. Both deposit types are characterized by their com-
mon gold-pyrite-carbon association (Phillips and Myers,
1989) and by a striking paragenetic similarity. However, there
are a number of major differences that cannot be explained
by a purely hydrothermal model (Groves et al., 2003). These
include the rounded, subspherical morphology of most of the
Witwatersrand pyrite and their highly variably geochemical
and S isotope compositions, which are in contrast to the typi-
cally subhedral to euhedral, compositionally more restricted
pyrite recorded from orogenic deposits.
On a larger scale, all known examples of host sedimentary
successions for Witwatersrand-type deposits formed in fore-
land and/or retroarc basins—the most common setting for
modern placer gold deposits (e.g., Henley and Adams, 1979).
In contrast, most orogenic gold deposits occur in near-arc
and, less commonly, arc settings (Goldfarb et al., 2001). The
overall structure of the Witwatersrand is typically synclinal,
whereas most sediment-hosted orogenic gold deposits are
anticlinal (e.g., Partington and Williams, 2000). The Witwaters-
rand and other conglomerate-hosted orebodies take the form
of gently dipping sheets, a few centimeters to a few meters
thick, and extend over several to tens of square kilometers.
This is unlike the overall shape and totally different from the
lateral extent of most known epigenetic or orogenic deposits.
Both the nature and scale of wall-rock alteration within the
Witwatersrand goldfields contrast with those of orogenic de-
posits. Barnicoat et al. (1997) suggested that widespread, per-
vasive alteration by acidic oxidized fluids has affected the Wit-
watersrand basin over distances of several hundreds of meters
across stratigraphic boundaries and is thus orders of magni-
tude more extensive than the mineralized zones in most oro-
genic deposits. Quartz (-carbonate) veins containing high Au
grades are omnipresent in orogenic gold systems within
quartz-rich sedimentary successions but are rare in most Wit-
watersrand reefs. Where present, the quartz veins are typi-
cally devoid of significant amounts of Au, U, pyrite, or other
minerals suggested to result from pervasive hydrothermal flu-
ids. Auriferous quartz veins, as described for instance from
the Ventersdorp Contact Reef (Gartz and Frimmel, 1999),
are a rare exception. Most Witwatersrand quartz veins are lo-
cated at high angles to bedding planes rather than extension
veins subparallel to bedding as predicted by the compres-
sional hydrothermal model (Barnicoat et al., 1997; Gartz and
Frimmel, 1999; Jolley et al., 1999).
A further problem with an orogenic association for the Wit-
watersrand gold mineralization relates to timing. If this min-
eralization were orogenic, it could not be ascribed to a single
784 FRIMMEL ET AL.
orogenic phase. The fact that Witwatersrand ore is present as
mechanically transported clasts within late-Ventersdorp di-
amictite, and yet the same style of gold mineralization marks
the younger, post-Ventersdorp Black reef, clearly attests to
more than one phase of mineralization (Frimmel and Minter,
2002). Of particular note is that mineralization in the Black
reef postdates orogenic events that could have theoretically
focused fluid flux and resulted in gold being deposited in its
current position.
Preferred genetic model
There is general agreement that the Witwatersrand basin
was affected by regional metamorphism and widespread hy-
drothermal alteration at several stages during its postdeposi-
tional history between 2.8 and 2.0 Ga. Most minerals of the
sedimentary and minor volcanic protoliths were recrystal-
lized, mobilized, or reacted to form new minerals. These
postdepositional processes include local sulfidation, as em-
phasized by Phillips and Myers (1989), as well as the precipi-
tation of hydrothermal gold, pyrite, uraninite, bitumen, and
many other phases.
All of the genetic models include the presence of gold de-
rived from the movement of hydrothermal fluids. However,
the fundamental question in the genetic debate is whether
this hydrothermal gold was derived from detrital gold parti-
cles within their current host rocks or from an external
source. Two gold-bearing hydrothermal fluids have been sug-
gested. One is similar to the fluid inferred for Archean oro-
genic gold deposits (Phillips and Law, 2000), in which gold is
assumed to have been transported as a bisulfide complex in
an H2O-CO2-dominated, relatively reduced, low-sulfur, low-
salinity fluid. The other is highly acidic and oxidized (Barni-
coat et al., 1997) with gold transport as a hydroxy complex
(Gray et al., 1998). Reduction of aqueous gold species to ele-
mental gold by interaction with preexisting bitumen plays an
important role in all hydrothermal models and is used to ex-
plain the strong association of gold and bitumen and the tex-
tural position of gold grains in microfractures in bitumen.
Major arguments favoring an external hydrothermal source
of gold rely on mineral and chemical zonation patterns at the
deposit to hand-specimen scale and elemental correlations
(Fox, 2002). The recorded zonation patterns clearly demon-
strate hydrothermal fluid-rock interaction but do not con-
tribute to solving the question of the gold source. Hydrother-
mal versus detrital element correlations are more crucial in
this regard. Fox (2002) presented a data set of 290 analyses of
conglomerate-bearing Vaal reef samples that show excellent
correlations between Au, U, and Ag, a poor but positive cor-
relation of Au with Cr and (Co + Ni), and a very poor positive
correlation of Au with Zr on a stope scale. Similar results have
been obtained previously for the Kimberley (Rasmussen and
Fesq, 1973) and Steyn reefs (Frimmel and Minter, 2002).
The very good correlation between Au and Ag (r = 0.96) is
caused by gold being the principal sink for Ag, both being al-
loyed in variable proportions with each other and Hg (Utter,
1979; Reid et al., 1988; Frimmel and Gartz, 1997). Similarly,
the positive correlation with Co and Ni is readily explained by
precipitation of cobaltite-gersdorffite together with hy-
drothermal gold particles (Frimmel et al., 1993; Fox, 2002)
and elevated concentrations of Co and Ni in pyrite (Hallbauer
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and Els, 1986; Przybylowicz et al., 1995). The good correla-
tion, in places, between Au and U as well as Cr, can be as-
cribed to a spatial association with heavy sands that contained
detrital uraninite and chromite particles. As the formation of
bitumen is genetically and spatially related to detrital urani-
nite, hydrothermal gold precipitation by a locally available re-
ductant would have taken place preferentially near, or within,
fractures of uraninite, thus further explaining the positive Au-
U correlation, at least on a small scale. It should be noted,
however, that in some reefs, or parts of reefs, the correlation
between Au and U is very poor. A prime example is a section
of the Vaal reef, where it extends from a channel facies to a
thin pebble lag (Figs. 5, A9). Not only does hydraulic sorting
diminish the expected Au-U correlation (as indicated by the
downslope increase in U/Au), but in certain reef environ-
ments, where the reef thins to a laterally extensive sheet of a
thin, winnowed pebble layer, the amount of detrital uraninite
is low and that of gold is very high (Fig. A9).
The poor correlation between Au and Zr has been used as
a major argument against a detrital origin of the gold, because
the distribution of Zr is controlled by zircon, effectively all of
which is detrital (Fox, 2002). If the gold were detrital, such
poor correlation should reflect differences in the hydraulic
behavior during repeated sediment reworking as explained by
Smith and Minter (1980). As discussed further below, zircon
is derived from felsic sources, whereas the gold is most likely
derived from mafic and/or ultramafic sources. Thus, a further
factor contributing to a poor Au-Zr correlation on a larger
scale is sediment supply from source areas with variable fel-
sic/mafic rock ratios. Interestingly, many Zr-rich samples are
devoid of Au, simply indicating a gold-poor source area,
whereas only a single sample (out of 290) of Fox’s (2002) data
set shows elevated Au contents at the lower end of the Zr con-
centration spectrum. Recently, similar results have been ob-
tained also for the Ventersdorp Contact Reef (H.E. Frimmel,
unpub. data). If the gold had been introduced into the host
sedimentary rocks by hydrothermal fluids, both zircon-rich
and zircon-poor domains should have been affected to a sim-
ilar degree. This is not the case. It should be also noted that
the Au-Zr correlation differs between reefs and is strongly de-
pendent on the size of the analyzed samples. For example,
the correlation in the Kimberley reef is much better than in
the Vaal reef, with the Steyn reef taking an intermediate po-
sition (Fig. 6A). Similarly, the correlation between Au and Co
(presumably originating from mafic and/or ultramafic rocks in
the source areas) is highly variable between reefs (Fig. 6B).
Apart from hydraulic aspects and source-area characteristics,
hydrothermal dispersion is the most probable cause of the
noted, generally poor, correlation between Au and other ele-
ments concentrated in detrital minerals. Hydrothermal mobi-
lization of various detrital phases, with different solubilities of
the involved species over distances of millimeters to meters
within a given orebody, would invariably lead to a weakening
of any correlation between elements originally concentrated
in these detrital phases.
Other arguments for a hydrothermal origin include the
observation that the bulk of gold grains are in or near micro-
fractures, filled with bitumen and uraninite and/or branner-
ite, which postdate early, bedding-parallel pyrite-pyrrhotite-
quartz–filled fractures that contain no gold (Fox, 2002; Jolley
 FORMATION AND PRESERVATION OF WITWATERSRAND GOLDFIELDS
A
100
Au (ppm)
1 mixing scenarios. Second, the gold and pyrite from the Vaal
0.01
10 100 1000
Zr (ppm)
1000
B from the Ventersdorp Contact Reef and the Elsberg reef
100 Kimberley Reef
Steyn Reef
Vaal Reef
Au (ppm)
10
1 rounded pyrite and resulting isochron ages would be rela-
0.1
0.01
1 10 Co (ppm) 100
FIG. 6. Au vs. Zr (A) and Co (B) diagrams for the Kimberley reef (n = 83;
Rasmussen and Fesq, 1973), the Steyn reef (n = 30; Frimmel and Minter,
2002), and Vaal reef (W.E.L. Minter, unpub. data, n = 52).
et al., 2004). While this observation demonstrates the undis-
puted hydrothermal nature of the bulk of the gold particles, it
does not clarify the distance of hydrothermal gold transport:
short-range intraformational mobilization of detrital gold ver-
sus long-range infiltration from an external source.
The documented existence of gold micronuggets (Fig. 4) is
central to the debate on the gold genesis. Forms comparable
to more than 1,300 rounded, disklike, and torroidal gold par-
ticles, described in detail by Minter et al. (1993), have so far
not been recorded from unequivocally hydrothermal gold de-
posits. Even if some of the overfolded rim structures of these
gold micronuggets are spatially associated with diagenetic
phases, such as florencite-grandallite group minerals (Jolley
et al., 2004), the preservation of these delicate structures dur-
ing rock digestion in hydrofluoric acid clearly demonstrates
that they are an integral part of the micronuggets, thus sup-
porting their interpretation as products of eolian transport
(Minter, 1999).
One of the strongest arguments for the introduction of gold
into the Witwatersrand basin by fluvial transport comes from
the Re-Os ages that indicate an age for the gold (and rounded
pyrite) that is older than that of sediment deposition (Kirk et
al., 2002). Some advocates of the various hydrothermal mod-
els have suggested that the Re-Os isochron age of the Vaal
reef gold and pyrite represent mixing trends of two or more
different ad hoc end members. However, a number of lines of
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785
evidence contradict this assertion. First, there is excellent
agreement between the Re-Os isochron ages of gold and
rounded pyrite from the Vaal reef. The two ages are within a
standard deviation of each other, and gold and pyrite from the
same hand sample result in a more precise isochron age that
is within a standard deviation of the two individual ages (Kirk
et al., 2002). The high precision (low MSWD) of the isochron
ages would be difficult to reproduce in separate phases with
reef that yielded isochron ages of ~3 Ga also gave initial Os
isotope compositions identical within error to the Os isotope
composition of the mantle at 3 Ga. This internal agreement is
difficult to reconcile with mixing or other models but sup-
ports derivation of detrital gold from similarly aged green-
stone terranes in the Witwatersrand basin source area (see
discussion below). Third, the Re-Os isochron ages of gold and
pyrite are consistent with the 2.9 to 3.5 Ga model ages of gold
(Kirk et al., 2001) and osmiridium from the Evander goldfield
(Hart and Kinloch, 1989).
The Os data and mass-balance considerations are consis-
tent with the concept of short-range mobilization of detrital
gold particles, as the high Os concentration of gold and
tively immune to later small-scale mobilization by minor vol-
umes of fluids with low Os concentrations (Kirk et al., 2001).
Distal dissolution and mobilization of gold (and thus Os)
would significantly change the 187Os/188Os isotope systemat-
ics. Distal transportation of gold in the hydrothermal model
1000
would mix Os derived from the crust with Os from the source;
consequently the 187Os/188Os would only increase above that
of mantle values at 3.0 Ga (~0.109). The low 187Os/188Os val-
ues of gold and sulfides (Kirk et al., 2001, 2002) preclude
large-scale hydrothermal mobilization of gold. Thus, isochron
ages would only be preserved if mobilization of detrital and/or
basinal gold (and contained Os) was limited or if detrital
and/or basinal gold served as nucleation sites for later hy-
drothermal gold and associated Os.
While all the evidence presented in favor of one or another
hydrothermal model (Table 1) can also be explained by a
modified paleoplacer model, there are a number of argu-
ments that are inconsistent with a hydrothermal introduction
of the gold into their host rocks. These arguments range from
the noted difference in chemistry between gold particles, to
the occurrence of micronuggets together with secondary
gold, and to the radiometric Re-Os data. The same argu-
ments, chemical and isotopic heterogeneity with, in places
truncated, zonation patterns, spatial association of different
morphological types, including rounded varieties, on a mi-
croscale, and radiometric ages older than the time of host
sediment deposition, are equally applicable to the associated
pyrite and uraninite. On a macro- to megascale, the spatial
distribution of the ore and the alteration patterns are unlike
any known hydrothermal gold province. A genetic model with
introduction into the host rocks by fluvial transport of detrital
particles is therefore preferred.
Mobilization of the Gold
Fluid inclusion and petrological studies of the mineral as-
semblage associated with what are clearly hydrothermal gold
785
786 FRIMMEL ET AL.
particles (Frimmel et al., 1999) make it possible to constrain
the physicochemical conditions of gold mobilization. All ex-
amples of gold-mobilizing fluids (Fig. A15) discovered in Wit-
watersrand samples so far have been described as aqueous-
carbonic with considerable amounts of gaseous higher
hydrocarbons, liquid oil, and, in places, bitumen (Drennan et
al., 1999; Gartz and Frimmel, 1999; England et al., 2001a).
They were moderately saline (6–16 wt % NaCl equiv) with
Ca2+ as dominant cation, neutral to slightly basic (pH =
5.7–7.2), and overall reduced (Frimmel et al., 1999). Tem-
perature and pressure during gold mobilization did not ex-
ceed 300° to 350°C and 3 kbars (Frimmel, 1997a) and, under
these conditions, Au was most probably transported as
Au(HS)2– (Benning and Seward, 1996).
From the distribution of Au in arsenian pyrite (Kesler et al.,
2003), it is deduced that the incorporation of Au can take
place even at undersaturated conditions. Thus, the Au mobil-
ity should have been controlled inter alia by the As concen-
tration in the fluid. Fluctuations in As concentration within
Witwatersrand fluids may be indicated by growth zonation
patterns in authigenic and/or hydrothermal pyrite that are de-
fined by variable As contents (MacLean and Fleet, 1989), al-
though cyclic variations in As content driven by precipitation
kinetics could also have contributed to the recorded zonation.
However, no association between gold and As-rich pyrite, as
is recorded in most Carlin-type and many other gold deposits,
has been documented so far for the Witwatersrand (Fox,
2002). There, the abundance of gold indicates that the local
intragranular fluid within the host conglomerate bodies must
have been saturated with respect to Au0.
Potentially more important factors in the precipitation of
the secondary gold were the local presence of liquid and
gaseous hydrocarbons and bitumen, all of which acted as re-
ductants. This might explain the apparent discrepancy in the
descriptions of gold morphology. Samples from which gold is
described as occurring almost exclusively in subhorizontal
fractures (Barnicoat et al., 1997; Fox, 2002; Jolley et al., 2004)
come from reefs rich in bitumen, whereas those containing
gold with detrital morphology (Minter et al., 1993) come from
bitumen-poor samples. The extent of gold mobilization might
have been controlled by the availability of hydrocarbons,
whose maturation by both burial and the circulation of hy-
drothermal fluids would have rendered the local fluids en-
riched in light hydrocarbons and liquid oil (England et al.,
2002a). This generation of an H2O-poor fluid would also help
explain the ubiquitous rarity of quartz veins (relative to the
overall amount of siliciclastic rocks in the entire succession).
In domains devoid of hydrocarbons, electrochemical precipi-
ation, as explained by Möller and Kersten (1994), provides an
alternative mechanism for hydrothermal gold precipitation.
Evidence in support of such a process comes from the spatial
association of gold at contacts between domains of low and
particularly high As contents within rounded pyrite (e.g.,
Przybylowicz et al., 1995).
During the complex postdepositional evolution, the detrital
mineral assemblages in the Witwatersrand sediments were
subjected to a series of alteration events, including diagene-
sis, hydrothermal infiltration, and burial, regional, thermal,
and shock metamorphism. A particularly useful monitor min-
eral for hydrothermal infiltration is xenotime. This mineral
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 786
has been characterized geochemically and dated throughout
the Witwatersrand stratigraphy (England et al., 2001b;
Kositcin, 2003; Kositcin et al., 2003). Interestingly, diagenetic
xenotime is relatively abundant in the reefs compared to their
surroundings, but hydrothermal xenotime, which is distin-
guished by a lack of an Eu anomaly in chondrite-normalized
plots and enrichment in middle rare earth elements (REE) at
the expense of heavy REE, is present in lesser amounts
within the reefs. This enrichment of the auriferous conglom-
erate beds in detrital xenotime and its depletion in hy-
drothermal xenotime relative to the surrounding arenite
package speaks against a comparatively higher postdiagenetic
permeability of the conglomeratic host beds. Such an in-
creased permeability selectively along the conglomerate beds
would be required, however, by the hydrothermal models in
order to account for the overall markedly stratiform character
of the ore deposits. Comparison between xenotime age data
from reefs and those from interlayered barren arenitic units
reveals two main fluid infiltration events that affected the
reefs at ca. 2490 and 2210 Ma, whereas the nonreef arenite-
hosted xenotime ages indicate additional events around 2720
and 2050 Ma (Kositcin, 2003; Kositcin et al., 2003).
Xenotime growth around 2720 Ma can be explained by
fluid circulation and possible heating of the basin as a conse-
quence of the outpouring of the Klipriviersberg Group lavas.
However, there is no evidence of gold precipitation at that
stage. Gold mobilization during deposition of the Chu-
niespoort Group at around 2550 to 2580 Ma has been pro-
posed in the past based on unpublished SHRIMP age data
obtained on hydrothermal zircon associated with hydrother-
mal gold (Armstrong et al., 1995) and a U-Pb age for hy-
drothermal rutile (Robb et al., 1990). Some xenotime age
data, both from reefs and arenitic interbeds, are within that
range (Kositcin, 2003). Further fluid infiltration toward the
end of lower Transvaal thermal subsidence, under the over-
load of the Chuniespoort Group chemical sediments, appears
indicated by the peak in xenotime ages at about 2490 Ma
(Kositcin et al., 2003). As this hydrothermal event is recorded
within the reefs, it could well be a cause of gold mobilization.
The same applies to the hydrothermal event around 2210 Ma,
which coincides with the extrusion of the Hekpoort lavas of
the Pretoria Group.
The Bushveld event is considered not to have had any sig-
nificant effect on the distribution of the Witwatersrand gold.
The emplacement of the voluminous, predominantly mafic to
ultramafic Bushveld Igneous Complex at 2054 to 2059 Ma
into the upper portions of the Transvaal Supergroup, some 60
km to the north of the Witwatersrand basin, must have been
associated with a severe disturbance of the geotherm, thus
triggering thermal metamorphism. However, significant hy-
drothermal fluid flow through the Witwatersrand rocks at that
stage is unlikely. Connate waters would have already been ex-
pelled during diagenetic dehydration and primary permeabil-
ity would have been reduced to a minimum (Frimmel and
Minter, 2002). This is supported by an absence of hydrother-
mal xenotime of Bushveld age within mineralized Witwater-
srand reefs (Kositcin, 2003).
A most effective postdiagenetic event that created inter-
connected fractures on almost every scale throughout the
Witwatersrand basin was the 2023 Ma Vredefort meteorite
 FORMATION AND PRESERVATION OF WITWATERSRAND GOLDFIELDS
impact in the middle of the presently preserved basin (Fig. 2).
Gold was mobilized by circulating meteoric waters within that
probably very short-lived fracture network, as documented
for the Ventersdorp Contact Reef (Gartz and Frimmel, 1999).
The short duration of this particular event and kinetic effects
may be responsible for the lack of hydrothermal xenotime
with corresponding ages (Kositcin et al., 2003).
Irrespective of the timing of gold mobilization, the gold was
moved, in general, only over short distances. The local coex-
istence of detrital micronuggets and secondary gold provides
evidence that gold mobilization was limited to the microme-
ter to millimeter range. Elsewhere, gold mobilization might
have been on the decimeter to meter scale but largely con-
fined to within reef beds. This is because, in general, irre-
spective of the thickness of the conglomeratic orebodies,
there is a sharp contact with respect to Au grade along the
bottom and top boundaries of each orebody. Only locally did
dispersion of gold occur farther beyond the conglomeratic
host rock into footwall, hanging-wall, and crosscutting faults,
but this is of no economic significance.
Source of the Gold
The ultimate source of gold is one of the fundamental ques-
tions remaining to be answered for the Witwatersrand de-
posits. Before discussing the origin of the inferred detrital
gold, the most likely source rocks for the host sediments are
examined. Although the pebble lithology of the reef con-
glomerates differs significantly across stratigraphic positions
Number of modes
0 2 4 6
3450
3400
3350
3300
3250
Age (Ma)
3200
3150
3100
3050
3000
2950
2900
FIG. 7. Detrital zircon age histogram showing significant age modes for the Central and West Rand Groups, compared
with the age ranges for potential source rocks on the Kaapvaal craton (modified from Kositcin and Krapez, 2004).
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00
787
and between goldfields, the average pebble assemblage in a
Witwatersrand conglomerate comprises about 85 percent
vein quartz, 12 percent chert, 2 percent quartz porphyry, and
1 percent metamorphic clasts (Frimmel and Minter, 2002).
The high Th content of many uraninite particles attests to a
granitic and/or pegmatitic source. This is corroborated by the
rare grains of detrital cassiterite, molybdenite, and columbite
(Feather and Koen, 1975) but also by bright cathodolumines-
cence of many detrital quartz grains with dominance of wave-
lengths around 400 nm (Fig. A16; Gartz, 1996). Furthermore,
the concentrations of granitophile elements, such as Zr, Ta,
Th, and REE, show a very good correlation (r ≥ 0.9) with
each other in the conglomerates. The abundance of chert and
locally quartz porphyry pebbles point to an Archean green-
stone lithofacies in the source area. Derivation of the pebbles
from mainly Archean granitoid and pegmatite (55%) as well
as mesothermal quartz veins and marine chert (45%) is also
indicated by oxygen isotope data (Vennemann et al., 1992,
1995).
Detrital zircon age spectra (Kositcin and Krapez, 2004) in-
dicate the following ages of significant felsic rocks in the
source area: 3310 to 3300, 3090 to 3060, 2990 to 2980, 2950
to 2940, and 2920 to 2910 Ma. The zircon provenance age
spectrum for the Central Rand Group is considerably more
complex and spans a wider range (3450–2870 Ma) than that
for the West Rand Group (3300–2960 Ma; Fig. 7). This con-
firms the inferred tectonic setting of a passive margin for the
West Rand Group, with sediment supply from fewer sources
8 10 Potential provenance
Amalia-Kraaipan belt
Giyani belt
Central Rand Group Murchison belt
Pietersburg belt
Dominion basin
West Rand Group
Barberton belt
Pongola basin
787
788 FRIMMEL ET AL.
and no tectonic rejuvenation, and that of a foreland basin for
the Central Rand Group, with increasingly more varied
source rocks, continuous tectonic rejuvenation, and erosion to
older stratigraphic levels. Corresponding counterparts for all
of the recorded detrital zircon age modes are known from the
surroundings of the Witwatersrand basin (Fig. 7). Ages rang-
ing from 2840 to 2813 Ma of detrital xenotime are not repre-
sented among those for detrital zircons, most likely because
they were derived from high U granitoids, whose zircon
grains would have been metamict (Kositcin and Krapez,
2004). High U granite and pegmatite bodies of comparable
age are known from the southern Murchison belt (Poujol and
Robb, 1999; Poujol, 2001), near the Giyani belt (Kröner et al.,
2000), and from the Barberton belt (Meyer et al., 1994).
Almost 3 b.y. of erosion have made any of the currently ex-
posed Paleo- to Mesoarchean tectonic units of the Kaapvaal
craton improbable source areas for the Witwatersrand sedi-
ments. However, a nearly complete overlap of detrital zircon
and xenotime age spectra with ages from Paleo- to
Mesoarchean granitoid-greenstone terranes surrounding the
Witwatersrand basin is evident and source areas that corre-
spond to at least some of the originally higher crustal levels of
these terranes are therefore possible. Ages that correspond to
the oldest detrital zircons from the Central Rand Group are
reported only from the Barberton belt. Equivalents to the de-
trital zircon age mode of 3310 to 3300 Ma (West and Central
Rand Groups) are known from the Giyani and Barberton
belts. The minor detrital zircon age modes between 3210 and
3090 Ma reflect various granitoid bodies that form the base-
ment to the Witwatesrand basin. Most of the detrital zircon
grains in both the West Rand and Central Rand Groups rep-
resent the age modes between 3060 and 3080 Ma, which cor-
respond to the time of felsic volcanism in the Dominion rift.
Comparable ages are also known from felsic volcanic rocks
and granitoids in the Murchison belt (Poujol et al., 1996; Pou-
jol and Robb, 1999). All younger detrital zircon grains could
have been sourced, based on sediment transport directions
and age correlations, from higher crustal level equivalents of
the Mesoarchean Amalia-Kraaipan, Murchison, and Giyani
granitoid-greenstone terranes.
The period around 3.0 Ga seems to have been critical for
the crystallization of many of the main detrital ore phases.
Earlier studies on the U-Th-Pb isotope systematics of
rounded pyrite and uraninite (Burger et al., 1962; Rundle and
Snelling, 1977) already pointed to a crystallization age around
3.0 Ga. This was supported by subsequent U-Th-Pb isotope
studies on rounded pyrite from reefs as young as 2642 Ma
(Black reef; Barton and Hallbauer, 1996), although in general
pyrite as well as other sulfides, and particularly bitumen, do
not provide meaningful Pb-Pb ages for reasons mentioned
above. Stronger support for a 3.0 Ga source age comes from
Re-Os age data on osmiridium (Hart and Kinloch, 1989),
pyrite (Kirk et al., 2001), and gold (Kirk et al., 2002).
The existence of a relatively stable cratonic block prior to
Witwatersrand sedimentation is implied from the rare pres-
ence of diamond in some reefs (Ramdohr, 1958; Feather and
Koen, 1975), probably related to the presence of kimberlite
pipes in the source area. This is confirmed by mantle inclu-
sions in diamonds and seismic topology studies, which cor-
roborate old subcontinental lithosphere beneath the Kaapvaal
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00
craton (Shirey et al., 2004). A mafic to ultramafic component
in the source area, as expected for an Archean granitoid-
greenstone terrane, is indicated by the abundance of detrital
chromite and subordinate platinum group element (PGE)-
bearing minerals. The ratios between the different PGE in in-
dividual reefs are surprisingly consistent throughout the Wit-
watersrand gold mines but significantly different from
younger deposits, such as the Rustenberg Layered Suite and
post-Archean dunite and kimberlite. For example, the (Os +
Ir)/(Os + Ir + Pt + Ru) ratio is between 0.7 and 0.8 for Wit-
watersrand reef samples in contrast to values around 0.1 for
younger igneous occurrences (De Waal, 1982). The high pro-
portion of Os and Ir in the Witwatersrand reefs, and thus by
implication in the PGE-bearing minerals therein, has been
interpreted as reflecting a strong placer maturity (Cousins,
1973). The consistency in both the PGE mineralogy and the
PGE ratios along strike and downslope, and the relative prox-
imal position of the Witwatersrand placer deposits, may
point, however, to a specific source-area characteristic. In a
recent chemical and isotopic study of the PGE alloys in the
Evander goldfield, Malitch and Merkle (2004) not only con-
firmed the detrital nature of the PGE alloys but also con-
cluded that they were sourced from a chondritic to subchon-
dritic mantle.
Interestingly, the rounded, compact pyrite varieties in the
Witwatersrand have one to two orders of magnitude higher
Re and Os concentrations than the euhedral secondary pyrite
(Kirk et al., 2002). The low Os concentrations of the sec-
ondary pyrite are consistent with their hydrothermal origin, as
Os has a low solubility in aqueous fluids (Xiong and Wood,
2000). The relatively high Os concentration in the rounded
pyrite, and also in the whole-rock analyses of reef samples,
points to derivation from mafic-ultramafic source rocks that
formed by high degrees of partial melting, as can be expected
for Paleo- to Mesoarchean systems. Exceedingly high Os con-
centrations, of as much as 4.16 ppm reported by Kirk et al.
(2001) for gold from the Vaal reef, are possibly the result of
contamination by minute inclusions of PGE minerals. How-
ever, a series of subsequent analyses of gold from the Vaal
reef (Kirk et al., 2002) and from the Basal reef, both of
torroidal micronuggets and secondary, hydrothermal gold
crystals (J. Kirk, unpub. data; Fig. 8) show consistent Re con-
centrations between 4 and 37 ppb and Os concentrations be-
tween 2 and 15 ppb. These values are orders of magnitude
greater than those for younger gold deposits as well as for
average continental crust (Fig. 8). The similarity in Os con-
centrations between the torroidal micronuggets and the sec-
ondary gold attests to the short range of mobilization, as any
longer range hydrothermal transport should have led to de-
pletion in Os.
In view of the very high Os concentrations it may be spec-
ulated that the gold and the pyrite were sourced not in
greenstone-hosted hydrothermal veins but in magmatic or
high-temperature magmatic-hydrothermal phases within
mantle-derived mafic-ultramafic rocks. This is supported by
the initial 187Os/188Os ratio of 0.108, which corresponds to the
estimated Os isotope composition of the mantle at about 3.0
Ga (e.g., Kirk et al., 2002). A greenstone terrane with a strong
volcanic arc component, ~3.0 Ga in age, thus appears to be
the most likely principal source for the gold. A potential
788
 FORMATION AND PRESERVATION OF WITWATERSRAND GOLDFIELDS 789

100000 P-type mantle sulfides

10000 WA gold

1000
S-rich komatiite
Vaal Reef gold
100
Os (ppb)

10 Basal Reef
gold Torroidal gold Basal
s Crystalline gold Reef
e/O Barberton
1 ntle R
vein gold Upper Elsburg/Ventersdorp
Ma Contact Reef (70:30)
old
da g Vaal Reef
0.1 Moe
Average continental crust
0.01 Papua New Roraima gold Average South African
pie peridotite xenolith
Guinea Gym
epithermal gold Allende meteorite sulfide
0.001
0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 100 1000 10000
Re (ppb)
FIG. 8. Re vs. Os concentration for gold of different age and setting, compared with average continental crust (Esser and
Turekian, 1993), average of South African peridotite xenoliths (calculated from Pearson et al., 1995), and Allende and P-type
mantle sulfide (Shirey and Walker, 1998). The line connecting peridotite xenoliths and P-type sulfides has a mantle Re/Os
ratio; WA gold ~70:30 mixture of gold from Upper Elsberg and Ventersdorp Contact Reefs, Western Areas Gold Plant, Carle-
tonville goldfield (Kirk et al., 2001), Vaal reef data from Kirk et al. (2001, 2002), all other data are from J. Kirk (unpub. data,
2004). The Barberton data represents gold from Mesoarchean mesothermal vein gold; also shown for comparison are data
fields for the Paleoproterozoic Moeda and Roraima paleoplacer deposits, a Permotriassic orogenic gold deposit (Gympie,
eastern Australia; Draper, 1998) and epithermal gold from Papua New Guinea.

extraction mechanism for the gold could have been the for-
mation of pyrrhotite from an Archean mantle-derived melt
that was characterized by a slightly reduced oxygen fugacity.
If some (or all) of the Witwatersrand gold was derived from
magmatic gold, finely dispersed in Archean greenstone rocks,
instead of orogenic vein deposits, a collectively much larger
gold reservoir would become available from which to draw
the enormous quantities of gold deposited in the Witwaters-
rand basin. From mass balance constraints, Loen (1992) cal-
culated that the total amount of gold (80,000–100,000 t) in
the Central Rand Group would require a gold concentration
in the source rock between 0.4 and 6.8 ppb. This is not more
than typical Au background concentrations in Archean green-
stones (e.g., Stone and Crocket, 2003). Yet, it does not explain
the apparent uniqueness of the Witwatersrand deposits.
Apart from a fertile source, other factors are required to ex-
plain the locally high gold contents of the eroded sediments.
These other factors include a combination of a suitable tec-
tonic setting and paleoenvironment in which processes of me-
chanical upgrading are markedly facilitated, as well as an ex-
ceptional preservation potential of the ancient auriferous
sediments. The nature of these other factors may become
clearer from an assessment of the distribution of Witwaters-
rand-type deposits through both space and geologic time.
Comparison with Other Witwatersrand-Type Deposits
The distribution of other known deposits of a style similar
to that of the conglomeratic orebodies in the Witwatersrand
Supergroup (Table A1) helps in understanding the likely rea-
sons for the apparent uniqueness of the Witwatersrand gold
accumulation. Prime examples on the Kaapvaal craton are the
2714 Ma Ventersdorp Contact Reef at the base of the exten-
sive Klipriversberg Group flood basalt layers and the 2642 Ma
Black reef at the base of the Transvaal Supergroup, and, to a
lesser extent, the Au-poor, but otherwise comparable 3074
Ma Dominion reef and ca. 2985 Ma modified paleoplacer de-
posits at the base of the Mozaan Group (Pongola Super-
group).
The Ventersdorp Contact Reef, which attains a thickness of
0.1 to 4.0 m, consists largely of pebble to cobble conglomer-
ate in multiple fluvial channels, and contains a large propor-
tion of reworked older Witwatersrand Supergroup units. Eco-
nomic gold grades are typically associated with zones of high
pyrite content (as much as 15 vol %; Gartz and Frimmel,
1999). The setting of this reef differs from the other Witwa-
tersrand reefs in that its hanging wall is in direct contact with
geochemically and rheologically contrasting flood basalt,
which has led to a more intense metasomatic alteration and
recrystallization of the reef and its immediate surroundings
(Gartz and Frimmel, 1999). The strong geochemical contrast
with the mafic hanging wall is interpreted to have caused a
somewhat different hydrothermal mineralogy with, in places,
pyrrhotite occurring instead of secondary pyrite, and quartz
veins with abundant calcite or bitumen; the calcite versus bi-
tumen distribution apparently depended on meter-scale vari-
ations in the ambient oxygen fugacity. Potassic alteration

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790 FRIMMEL ET AL.
along the reef affected the mafic hanging wall and the
arenitic, pyrophyllite-bearing footwall for up to a few meters
from the reef and was followed by a chloritization event con-
fined to the reef. The latter was responsible for gold mobi-
lization largely within the reef (Gartz and Frimmel, 1999).
The 2642 Ma Black reef is an immature fluvial sediment
that filled channels on a regional erosional unconformity at
the base of the Transvaal Supergroup. It is mineralogically
and petrographically indistinguishable from the Witwaters-
rand reefs, with the exception of a lower metamorphic grade
and the presence of brannerite instead of uraninite. In con-
trast to the Witwatersrand reefs, the Black reef is overlain by
chemical marine sedimentary rocks rather than a thick silici-
clastic package.
The second largest known paleoplacer gold deposits out-
side the Kaapvaal craton are hosted by the Tarkwaian System
of Ghana, whose age is constrained between 2133 and 2097
Ma (Oberthür et al., 1998; Pigois et al., 2003). Past produc-
tion was approximately 310 t Au (Pigois et al., 2003). Reserves
in 2002 totaled 131 Mt at 1.6 g/t for 215 t Au within a re-
source of 340 Mt at 1.6 g/t for 534 t Au (Gold Fields Ltd.,
unpub. annual report, 2003). The known amount of gold in
that depository is thus two orders of magnitude less than in
the Witwatersrand. Similar to the Witwatersrand, the gold is
hosted by quartz-pebble conglomerate beds, interbedded
with sandstone units, all of which experienced greenschist-fa-
cies metamorphism that led to recrystallization and redistrib-
ution of many of the minerals, including gold. In contrast to
the Witwatersrand, however, heavy minerals associated with
the gold are hematite and magnetite rather than pyrite, in ad-
dition to rutile and zircon. Uranium-bearing minerals are rare
to absent and there is no significant bitumen. The individual
gold grains are located in the matrix, concentrated along
heavy mineral foresets, small fractures, on quartz-pebble
boundaries, in pressure-solved quartz between quartz peb-
bles, as inclusions in hematite derived from the oxidation of
detrital magnetite during metamorphism, and associated with
metamorphic chlorite and white mica (Hirdes and Nunoo,
1994; Pigois et al., 2003). Extremely rare sulfides are re-
stricted to zones of local sulfidation of heavy mineral sands
adjacent to quartz veins, where they bear no relationship to
gold mineralization (Hirdes and Nunoo, 1994).
The source of placer gold remains unknown but may be de-
rived from vanished orogenic and/or intrusion-related gold
deposits from an earlier Eburnean gold-forming event. Based
on a geochronological study of detrital zircon grains (Pigois et
al., 2003), the most likely source for the Tarkwaian sediments
is from within the underlying Birimian Supergroup. The
Tarkwaian basin is considered syntectonic with respect to the
Birimian orogeny, whereby major compressional deformation
and metamorphism postdate Tarkwaian sedimentation. This
implies that the Birimian lode gold deposits, with a SHRIMP
U-Pb hydrothermal xenotime age of 2063 ± 9 Ma (Pigois et
al., 2003), cannot be the source for the Tarkwaian placer gold.
Interestingly, CO2-rich fluid inclusions in quartz pebbles
from gold-bearing conglomerate compare well with those
from epigenetic gold deposits in the area (Klemd et al., 1993).
The lack of an older granitic basement to the Birimian Su-
pergroup, plus the relatively undifferentiated nature of syn-
Birimian granitoids (Pigois et al., 2003), explain the lack of
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 790
U-rich minerals, despite the abundance of zircon in the sedi-
mentary sequence.
In Brazil, comparable Paleoproterozoic sedimentary cover
rocks above greenstone belts also contain auriferous quartz-
pebble conglomerates, with few large gold deposits at the
base of fluvial and beach sequences (e.g., Jacobina deposit in
Bahia and Moeda deposit, Quadrilatero Ferrifero, in the
northern and southern Sao Francisco craton, respectively).
An estimated 50 t of Au has been recovered from conglomer-
ates in the Serra de Jacobina region (Teixeira et al., 2001). A
foreland setting for the Jacobina basin has been proposed
(Ledru et al., 1997), with U-Pb data for detrital zircon and an
Rb-Sr whole-rock age for a postcollisional granitoid in the Ja-
cobina-Contendas Mirante belt, providing maximum and
minimum age constraints for the basin fill of 2086 and 1883
Ma, respectively.
The bulk of the gold extracted from the Jacobina deposits
came from pyritic quartz-pebble conglomerate and minor
quartz arenite intercalations of the lowest formation, inter-
preted as representing alluvial fan and braided stream de-
posits. The gold occurs as fibrous to oval-shaped particles,
typically associated with euhedral pyrite. Detrital phases in-
clude zircon and chromite, whereas metamorphic and/or hy-
drothermal phases comprise pyrrhotite and pyrite, fuchsite,
white mica, minor andalusite, rutile, and tourmaline (Ledru
et al., 1997). Minor gold occurrences in hydrothermal sulfidic
alteration along shear zones and quartz veins in the vicinity
led some workers to postulate an epigenetic model for these
gold deposits (Teixeira et al., 2001). In that model, the ore is
explained by hydrothermal infiltration of an acidic fluid, the
age of which overlaps with ca. 1.9 Ga peraluminous granite,
but the gold source remains speculative. By analogy with the
Witwatersrand, the likely hydrothermal gold source was de-
trital gold in the local conglomerate beds. A possibly more in-
tense metamorphic or hydrothermal overprint would have led
to a complete obliteration of the original detrital microtex-
tures and morphological forms of the gold, as is the case in
some Witwatersrand reefs (e.g., the Ventersdorp Contact
Reef). The S isotope composition of the pyrite points to a
magmatic origin (Teixeira et al., 2001), but it remains unclear
whether the hydrothermal pyrite is related to sulfidation of
originally detrital Fe oxides or reflects mobilized detrital
pyrite as in the Witwatersrand.
In contrast to the Witwatersrand, Tarkwa, and Jacobina ex-
amples, the Moeda deposits (Minter et al., 1990) are not in a
thick siliciclastic succession but rather are located at the base
of a thin (120-m) siliciclastic, predominantly arenitic succes-
sion, whose age is loosely constrained between 2.8 and 2.2
Ga. The gold occurs together with heavy mineral concen-
trates, predominantly coarse-grained rounded pyrite, in the
matrix of cobble conglomerates that form discrete bars and
sheets above an angular unconformity. Sediment transport
was from the northwest into individual basins that were sepa-
rated by basement ridges of Archean chert and iron forma-
tion. Mineralogy, geochemistry, and gold concentrations are
similar to those of the Witwatersrand deposits (Minter et al.,
1990).
Another analogue to Witwatersrand-type deposits is sited in
the Roraima Supergroup, in northern South America (Santos
et al., 2003). It consists of largely undeformed sandstones,
 FORMATION AND PRESERVATION OF WITWATERSRAND GOLDFIELDS
minor conglomerates, shale, and felsic airfall tuffs, all of
which rest on a 2.25 to 2.00 Ga granitoid-greenstone terrane
(Trans-Amazon province) of the Guyana Shield in the north-
west of the craton. That terrane contains lode gold deposits
and probably represents a continuation of the lode gold-bear-
ing, Eburnean granitoid-greenstone belts of West Africa. The
Roraima sedimentary rocks represent braided fluvial sedi-
ments deposited in alluvial plain to subaerial braided delta
and possibly shallow marine environments, for which a fore-
land setting has been suggested (Santos et al., 2003). The flu-
vial sediments appear enriched in Au with a background con-
centration in the arenitic fraction of 10 ppb (i.e., more than
the average 6 ppb for Witwatersrand arenites) and maximum
Au grades in quartz pebble conglomerates on basal degrada-
tion surfaces of as much as 26 g/t over a 5-cm thickness. In
contrast to the other examples above, no significant metamor-
phic or hydrothermal overprint is indicated for the Roraima
host rocks. Similar to the Witwatersrand deposits there is an
apparent sedimentological control on Au grade, gold micro-
nuggets are preserved, and a paleoplacer model is suggested.
The age of the Roraima auriferous conglomerates is con-
strained by a U-Pb single zircon age of 1901 ± 1 Ma for a tuff
bed overlying a conglomerate bed (H.E. Frimmel, unpub.
data, 2001). The O isotope composition of the quartz pebbles
indicates derivation of the vast majority of the pebbles from
orogenic vein quartz (Minter et al., 2002). This, together with
paleocurrent directions and detrital zircon ages (Santos et al.,
2003), points to a source for the sediment, and by implication,
the gold in the 2.0 Ga Trans-Amazon greenstone belt to the
north and northeast of the Roraima basin.
It is evident from this comparison that the Witwatersrand
deposits are not unique in terms of style of mineralization.
Furthermore, it has to be recognized that Witwatersrand-
style gold mineralizaton occurred not only in a number of cra-
tons but also at different times. The style cannot be ascribed
to a single, outstanding, gold-forming event. There are other
uraninite and pyrite placer deposits that bear many similari-
ties to those of the Witwatersrand, although none of these
contain significant amounts of gold. These include the 2.9 to
2.6 Ga Bababudan Group in India (Srinivasan and Ojakangas,
1986) and the 2.45 Ga Elliot Lake Group, Huronian Super-
group, in Canada (Sutton and Maynard, 1993). Interestingly,
in contrast to the Witwatersrand, none of the quartz pebbles
in the Elliot Lake Group carry an O isotope signature com-
parable with orogenic vein quartz (Vennemann et al., 1995).
The lack of gold in these deposits might therefore simply re-
flect a lack of suitable source rocks in the eroded hinterland.
Distribution of Gold Paleoplacer Deposits through Time
A lack of information on the total sediment volume and
level of preservation of the other basins from which Witwa-
tesrand-type gold deposits have been described (as summa-
rized above) prevents a reasonable estimate on the total
amount of detrital gold likely to be present (or having been
present) in these basins. Nevertheless, accepting a Meso-
archean greenstone source for the Witwatersrand gold, an in-
triguing relationship emerges between addition of gold to the
continental crust and the formation of juvenile continental
crust over time (Fig. 9A). More than half of all known mine-
able gold in the world was added to the crust by the end of
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 791
791
1.0
A
2.4
Juvenile continental crust (10 9 km3)
Gold Resources (10 9 ounces)
0.8
2.0
1.6 0.6
1.2
0.4
0.8
0.2
0.4
0 0
60 B
Frequency (%)
40
Precambrian crust covered
20
0
0 1 2 3 4
Age (Ga)
FIG. 9. A. Histogram comparing gold resources and volume distribution of
juvenile continental crust with time. Age of the Witwatersrand gold from
Kirk et al. (2002), all other gold data from Goldfarb et al. (2001); continental
crust distribution data from Condie (1998). B. Distribution of continental
crust with time (Goodwin, 1991).
the Archean, when more than a third of continental crust had
formed (Condie, 1998). During the Proterozoic and Phanero-
zoic eons, major crust-forming periods were around 2.0 to 1.8
Ga and again over the past 0.6 b.y. These periods are also
characterized by increased rates of formation of orogenic gold
deposits (Goldfarb et al., 2001), reflected by the age distribu-
tion of paleoplacer deposits as well. By far the largest amount
of paleoplacer gold is known from the Mesoarchean to Eo-
proterozoic period. The only other period from which signif-
icant placer gold deposits are known is from the Tertiary to
Recent (Groves et al., 2003).
Although only a rough approximation (gold inventory from
Phanerozoic porphyry deposits being excluded), an almost ex-
ponential decrease in the extraction rate of Au from the man-
tle into the continental crust over Earth history appears to be
suggested from the comparison of gold resources (including
those that have been mined out) and the distribution of con-
tinental crust over time (Fig. 9). Two exceptions to this trend,
which is defined effectively by the enormous amount of
Mesoarchean gold in the Witwatersrand, are noteworthy. One
exception is the Paleoarchean for which only little gold is re-
ported, which is best explained by the comparatively small
volumes of coeval continental crust. The other exception is
the peak in the Phanerozoic, which is most likely an artifact of
792 FRIMMEL ET AL.
the better preservation potential for younger orogenic belts
(Fig. 9B).
A decrease in Au extraction rate from the mantle into the
continental crust appears to be mirrored in the Re-Os data
(Fig. 8). Compared to younger gold, Archean gold (repre-
sented by the Witwatersrand data) has considerably higher Os
concentrations and near-mantle initial 187Os/188Os ratios that
match those of sulfides in Archean komatiite. The higher Os
concentrations can be explained by the higher melting rates
expected for the Archean (Arndt et al., 1997; Parman et al.,
2001). Consequently, the postulated extraordinary amounts of
Au in Mesoarchean mafic-ultramafic rocks (relative to
younger mafic-ultramafic rocks in particular and the overall
continental crust in general), some of which was eroded into
the Witwatersrand basin, could be the result of a major pulse
of cratonization in early Mesoarchean times. Up to that time,
around 3.0 Ga, the extraction rate of Au (and Os) into the
crust would have been significantly higher than later in
Earth’s history, because magmas were sourced from hotter,
more fertile mantle relative to younger mantle-derived mag-
mas, thus leading to higher average Au concentrations in the
Paleo- to Mesoarchean crust. The pulse in cratonization
around 3.0 Ga could then have yielded a particularly large
volume of such Au-enriched crust, available for erosion into
subsequent sedimentary basins.
The environmental conditions in the Archean and Eopro-
terozoic may also explain the apparent uniqueness of the Wit-
watersrand gold deposits. Although some of the acid alteration
evident in the Witwatersrand (and also Jacobina) mineral as-
semblages can be explained by postdepositional metasoma-
tism (Barnicoat et al., 1997; Teixeira et al., 2001), there is
strong geochemical evidence of acid weathering on erosion
surfaces (Frimmel and Minter, 2002). Taking into account el-
evated volcanic degassing of the early Earth, atmospheric CO2
and SO2 levels were likely much higher than today, offseting a
potential decrease in surface temperature due to a lower solar
luminosity (e.g., Sagan and Mullen, 1972; Walker et al., 1983;
Kasting, 2001; Frimmel, 2005). The scarcity of Archean car-
bonate rocks implies that the volcanic CO2 production rate ex-
ceeded the silicate weathering rate, rendering the atmosphere
more acidic and consequently more chemically aggressive.
Chemical erosion of the source area would have been consid-
erably more intense than later in Earth’s history.
The lack of vegetation and widespread organisms in the
Archean depositional environments would have permitted
more vigorous sedimentary reworking in braided stream sys-
tems and made possible more effective wind sorting. The lat-
ter is documented by the widespread occurrence of ventifacts
and morphological evidence of eolian abrasion of gold parti-
cles (Minter, 1999).
Particularly high uplift rates in the source area are inferred
from the tectonic relationship between the development of
the Central Rand basin, the principal reservoir of the detrital
gold, and collisional tectonic processes involving small conti-
nental blocks. This, in turn, would imply intense syntectonic
rejuvenation of river systems. All of these processes, which
are unique to the Archean, would clearly have assisted in up-
grading gold contents.
Combined, the above evidence explains why Witwatersrand-
type placer deposits are likely to be restricted to Mesoarchean
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00
and possibly Eoproterozoic successions. However, the ques-
tion remains why no other deposits of comparable size to
those of the Witwatersrand have been discovered to date on
any other craton. It is known that the Kaapvaal craton con-
tains old subcontinental mantle lithosphere (e.g., Shirey et al.,
2004), which would imply a high preservation potential for
the Archean to Early Proterozoic successions due to the
buoyancy of the lithosphere. Although recent isotopic data in-
dicate that it is not unique in this regard (Richardson et al.,
2004; Shirey et al., 2004), there is a lack of similarly well-pre-
served Archean foreland basins on other cratons, such as the
Amazon, Siberian, and Slave cratons. This might be explained
by the peculiar tectonothermal history, involving early colli-
sional tectonics, of the Kaapvaal craton.
Since recognition that the Vredefort dome near the center
of the Witwatersrand basin is the product of the largest and
oldest known terrestrial impact (Henkel and Reimold, 1998),
the Witwatersrand basin has been interpreted repeatedly as
the deeply eroded remnant of the corresponding impact
structure (e.g., Gibson and Reimold, 1999). Final diameters
of the impact structure between 250 and 280 km were ob-
tained by Henkel and Reimold (1998) from geophysical, in
particular gravity, modeling. These estimates are close to the
current diameter of the Witwatersrand basin. It is therefore
tempting to explain the current basin architecture by the im-
pact, in which case an assumed layer of resistant impact melt
would have provided an excellent protection for the underly-
ing rocks, including the auriferous Witwatersrand strata, from
erosion (Gibson and Reimold, 1999). There are, however,
three fundamental problems with such an interpretation.
First, the original shape of at least the Central Rand basin is
well established from paleocurrent directions and the distrib-
ution of sedimentary facies and their thicknesses. This shape
broadly conforms to the model of an impact structure, but it
was formed some 800 m.y. before the impact took place. Sec-
ond, the current Witwatersrand basin is not circular, as ex-
pected for an impact structure, but elongated along a north-
east-southwest axis. This has been explained by Henkel and
Reimold (1998) as being the result of post-2.0 Ga orogenic
activities along the craton margin. However, no post-2.0 Ga
deformation that would be of sufficient extent to explain such
a change in the overall shape of the basin has been recorded
in the Witwatersrand to date. To the contrary, effectively all
significant strain can be ascribed to tectonic events prior to
2.0 Ga (e.g. Coward et al., 1995; Jolley et al., 2004). Third, the
radius for a potential impact melt volume has been calculated
at 12.5 to 19 km (Henkel and Reimold, 1998). This is smaller
than the distances between the Vredefort dome and the various
goldfields, which range from 40 to more than 150 km (Fig. 2).
Although the Vredefort impact, having hit Earth fortu-
itously near the center of the Witwatersrand basin, may have
played an important role in the mobilization of the gold and
other constituents as it created an interconnected fracture
space throughout the basin, its significance for the preserva-
tion of the basin fill is rather limited. Far more important, and
probably of first-order significance for the preservation of the
Witwatersrand basin fill, was the outpouring of the Venters-
dorp Supergroup lavas in an enormous flood basalt province
that covered large parts of the craton. The burial beneath several
kilometers of basalt relatively early in the postdepositional
792
 FORMATION AND PRESERVATION OF WITWATERSRAND GOLDFIELDS
history of the Witwatersrand sediments provided optimal pro-
tection from erosion. The central position of the Witwater-
srand rocks on the buoyant Kaapvaal craton prevented them
from being significantly affected by subsequent tectonic ac-
tivity over the past 2 b.y., which added to their exceptional
preservation.
Implications for Future Exploration
Considering the enormous economic significance of the
Witwatersrand deposits, exploration for comparable deposits
is of strong interest. The applied strategy for, and ultimately
the success of, such exploration efforts will be heavily depen-
dent on the underlying genetic model. A foreland and/or
retroarc setting for the targeted siliciclastic host rock succes-
sion would be highly advantageous irrespective of the genetic
model preferred. If the Witwatersrand deposits were of hy-
drothermal origin, exploration targets would appear to be in-
dependent of age and younger, Late Precambrian and
Phanerozoic foreland basin settings should become interest-
ing exploration targets. Hydrothermal models emphasize the
genetic relationship between earlier uraninite, its importance
for bitumen formation, and, in turn, the importance of bitu-
men for gold precipitation. Consequently, if this causal rela-
tionship is correct, only Archean and Eoproterozoic succes-
sions should be of interest to exploration, because detrital
uraninite would not survive transport in most post-Eopro-
terozoic, oxidized environments.
If, however, a modified paleoplacer model is adopted for
the Witwatersrand deposits, as preferred here, exploration
strategies would revolve around questions of source area and
preservation potential. As discussed in this paper, Paleo- to
Mesoarchean greenstone belts appear to have the highest
gold potential, irrespective of whether world-class gold de-
posits are present. A decrease in the age of the source rock
correlates with a drastic drop in gold potential. There are no
significant gold deposits derived from post-2.0 Ga sources
comparable to the Witwatersrand. Thus, the exploration po-
tential of paleoplacer deposits derived from terranes younger
than Eoproterozoic should be negligible. Although the oxida-
tion state of the contemporaneous atmosphere plays a crucial
role in the mineralogy of the detrital minerals associated with
the gold, it does not control the distribution of detrital gold
particles, as evidenced by the Fe oxide-bearing auriferous
conglomerates of the Tarkwa basin.
All in all, a combination of molasse-type siliciclastic sedi-
ment accumulation in a foreland and/or retroarc basin setting,
dominance of Archean to Eoproterozoic greenstone belts in
the source area, high uplift rates of the hinterland, and in-
tense sedimentary reworking in continuously reactivated
braided rivers, is considered to yield the highest potential for
targeting of Witwatersrand-type gold deposits. A Meso- to
Neoarchean setting offers a higher potential for elevated gold
grades relative to an Eoproterozoic setting. Interestingly, the
oldest stable cratonic blocks are also those that have the high-
est diamond potential, such as the Amazon, Siberian, and Slave
cratons. These same cratons should therefore also have the
highest potential for hosting Witwatersrand-type gold deposits
in blind Meso- to Neoarchean foreland and/or retroarc basin
fills. Remnants of such sedimentary successions are so scarce
that the chances of discovering new deposits of a similar size
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 793
793
as those of the Witwatersrand are considered slim. Known
Paleoproterozoic sedimentary succession of similar style,
such as in the Roraima Supergroup, can be regarded as highly
prospective regional targets for Witwatersrand-style paleo-
placer deposits, although with resources that are expected to
be at least an order of magnitude smaller.
Acknowledgments
The senior author thanks the editorial team of this volume
for the invitation to contribute this overview paper. The orig-
inal manuscript benefited from constructive reviews and
comments by S. Kesler, L. Robb, J. Thompson, and J. Heden-
quist. M. Tredoux kindly provided the Barberton gold sam-
ples for Re-Os isotope analysis. DIG is grateful to Neil
Phillips for introducing him to the Witwatersrand and its con-
troversies and for the stimulating reseach carried out by his
coresearchers, G. England, N. Kositcin, B. Krapez, N. Mc-
Naughton, and B. Rasmussen. We thank Anglogold-Ashanti
for funding and opportunities to examine the Vaal reef and
Ventersdorp Contact Reef. Some of the work presented here
was funded by the South African National Research Founda-
tion (grant to HEF, gun no. 2053697) and National Science
Foundation grant EAR-0308656.
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