video explaining the deposition of lode gold

benny

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Sep 15, 2012
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I watched the whole thing with coffee.
Thanks
Very good.
 

I was just thinking about this video the other day in regards to how tight he's kept the stope. Must be some good gold in there to keep at it for all those years, or he's just got a good paying hobby.

One thing I believe that doesn't get appreciated is the speed of formation of veins during seismic events. Once the earthquake commences and the fracture is formed, it doesn't need to stay open for a millennia, centuries, decades, years, months, days or even seconds.

Hydrothermal fluid intrusion into fractures takes place in microseconds. The pressure is that strong. In those seismic systems then, the hydrothermal fluid acts as a 'blinder' if you will to prevent the crack from closing tight. It fills the space with the same pressure now exerted outward from inside of the solution center until the next crack is formed due to seismics. As the heat and pressure from that fluid has weakened the rock around it, there's now a greater chance of movement in that particular spot again. The next fluid pulse comes, and the vein grows.

The intruded fluid may be only micrometers wide per event but it's good enough to end up causing additional stresses on the country rock. Consider for a second those earthquakes in California, or the one off the coast of Sumatra in 2005. On a geologic time scale, those are minor events.

When a really big quake comes through every 500-1000 years or so, then you get those huge pulses of fluid. On top of that, those once-in-10,000-year quake or one-in-100,000-year quake comes along and really shakes things up and you get a massive pulse of fluid coming in. Lather, rinse, repeat with once-per-million-year quakes and 1 in 10,000,000 year events too.
 

Looking at this video it appears the normal range of vein flow accrues from 10 to 60 degree angles. The flow rate for the veins must be dependent on pressures, mass, cooling rate, and time of the crack opening. Thus the pinching off of that one flow in time.
 

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