Buffalo Canyon: An Oligocene Greisen-Like Intrusion-Related Gold Deposit in the Union Mining District, Nye County, Nevada
type: CreativeWork
description: Reduced intrusion-related gold (RIRG) deposits have been documented around the globe, and have been best studied in Alaska and Yukon, but few examples have been documented in Nevada. One occurrence in Nevada is the Jurassic Bald Mountain deposit in eastern Nevada; however, for most Nevada occurrences there has been insufficient work that establishes a genetic connection to intrusions or determines their age. Buffalo Canyon is a gold prospect located near the historic Berlin mining area in northern Nye County, Nevada, where gold, silver, copper, lead and zinc were mined in the past from mesothermal quartz veins. Buffalo Canyon contains the more recently discovered Everson prospect, a poorly defined gold deposit, which has characteristics of RIRG deposits. The district includes a series of intrusions emplaced into Triassic metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks. These previously undated intrusions vary in composition from diorite to granodiorite and granite. U-Pb dating of zircons by LA-ICPMS has revealed distinct intrusive events in the Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Oligocene. Metaluminous, biotite-pyroxene diorite stocks to porphyritic granodiorite dikes have been dated at 162.03 + 0.91 Ma and 158.72 + 0.94 Ma, respectively. Peraluminous, ilmenite-bearing leucogranite plugs and dikes have been dated at 81.96 + 0.43 Ma and 82.9 + 0.30 Ma, respectively. A variety of Oligocene dikes and small plugs that include quartz-monzodiorite, quartz monzonite, dacite and granite are metaluminous to peraluminous and locally ilmenite-bearing. Four dates of Oligocene intrusions fall within error of each other. They yielded dates of 25.13 + 0.29, 24.9 + 0.30, 24.8 + 0.40 Ma and 24.6 + 0.30 Ma. Country rocks at Buffalo Canyon, particularly those near Jurassic intrusions, are metamorphosed to biotite hornfels. Biotite hornfels is overprinted by sodic-calcic alteration that is likely related to Jurassic intrusive activity, and consists primarily of actinolite + albite in veins and dissemina…
abstract: Reduced intrusion-related gold (RIRG) deposits have been documented around the globe, and have been best studied in Alaska and Yukon, but few examples have been documented in Nevada. One occurrence in Nevada is the Jurassic Bald Mountain deposit in eastern Nevada; however, for most Nevada occurrences there has been insufficient work that establishes a genetic connection to intrusions or determines their age. Buffalo Canyon is a gold prospect located near the historic Berlin mining area in northern Nye County, Nevada, where gold, silver, copper, lead and zinc were mined in the past from mesothermal quartz veins. Buffalo Canyon contains the more recently discovered Everson prospect, a poorly defined gold deposit, which has characteristics of RIRG deposits. The district includes a series of intrusions emplaced into Triassic metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks. These previously undated intrusions vary in composition from diorite to granodiorite and granite. U-Pb dating of zircons by LA-ICPMS has revealed distinct intrusive events in the Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Oligocene. Metaluminous, biotite-pyroxene diorite stocks to porphyritic granodiorite dikes have been dated at 162.03 + 0.91 Ma and 158.72 + 0.94 Ma, respectively. Peraluminous, ilmenite-bearing leucogranite plugs and dikes have been dated at 81.96 + 0.43 Ma and 82.9 + 0.30 Ma, respectively. A variety of Oligocene dikes and small plugs that include quartz-monzodiorite, quartz monzonite, dacite and granite are metaluminous to peraluminous and locally ilmenite-bearing. Four dates of Oligocene intrusions fall within error of each other. They yielded dates of 25.13 + 0.29, 24.9 + 0.30, 24.8 + 0.40 Ma and 24.6 + 0.30 Ma. Country rocks at Buffalo Canyon, particularly those near Jurassic intrusions, are metamorphosed to biotite hornfels. Biotite hornfels is overprinted by sodic-calcic alteration that is likely related to Jurassic intrusive activity, and consists primarily of actinolite + albite in veins and dissemina…
author: Quillen, Patrick
keywords: Buffalo Canyon, Gold, Greisen, Intrusion-related, Nevada, Oligocene
date published: 2017
date modified: 2026-07-27T21:48:09Z
provider: University of Nevada - Reno
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Nevada - Reno

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/11714/1994