Contrib Mieral Petrol.doc

Contrib Mineral Petrol (2012) 163:427-447 DOI 10.1007/s00410-011-0678-4 ORIGINAL PAPER New constraints on fluid sources in orogenic gold deposits, Victoria, Australia Bin Fu ? Mark A. Kendrick ? Alison M. Fairmaid ? David Phillips ? Christopher J. L. Wilson ? Terrence P. Mernagh  Received: 6 January 2011/Accepted: 29 July 2011/Published online: ? Springer-Verlag 2011 Abstract Fluid inclusion microthermometry, Raman spectroscopy and noble gas plus halogen geochemistry, complemented by published stable isotope data, have been used to assess the origin of gold-rich fluids in the Lachlan Fold Belt of central Victoria, south-eastern Australia. Victorian gold deposits vary from large turbidite-hosted ‘orogenic’ lode and disseminated-stockwork gold-only deposits, formed close to the metamorphic peak, to smaller polymetallic gold deposits, temporally associated with later post-orogenic granite intrusions. Despite the differences in relative timing, metal association and the size of these deposits, fluid inclusion microthermometry indicates that all deposits are genetically associated with similar low- salinity aqueous, CO2-bearing fluids. The majority of these fluid inclusions also have similar 40Ar/36Ar values of less than 1500 and 36Ar concentrations of 2.6-58 ppb (by mass) that are equal to or much greater than air-saturation levels (1.3-2.7 ppb). Limited amounts of nitrogen-rich fluids are present at a local scale and have the highest measured Ar/ Ar values of up to 5,700, suggesting an external or distinct source compared to the aqueous fluids. The Communicated by J. L. R. Touret. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00410-011-0678-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. Fu () ? M. A. Kendrick ? A. M. Fairmaid ? D. Phillips ? J. L. Wilson School of Earth Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia e-mail: binfu@.au T. P. Mernagh Onshore Energy and Minerals