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STRUCTURAL CONTROLS ON ORE LOCALIZATION IN EPITHERMAL GOLD‐SILVER DEPOSITS: A MINERAL SYSTEMS

APPROACH

David A. Rhys*
Panterra Geoservices Inc., 14180 Greencrest Drive, Surrey, B.C., V4P 1L9, Canada
*Corresponding author: email [email protected]
Peter D. Lewis
Eldorado Gold Corporation, 550 Burrard Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6C 2B5, Canada
Julie V. Rowland
The University of Auckland, 23 Symonds Street, Auckland, 1010, New Zealand

Published reference: Rhys, D. A., Lewis, P. D., and Rowland, J. V., 2020, Structural controls on ore
localisation in epithermal gold-silver deposits: a mineral systems approach: In: Rowland, J., and Rhys,
D., Applied Structural Geology of Ore-Forming Hydrothermal Systems: SEG Reviews in Economic
Geology, v. 21, p. 83-145.

ABSTRACT

Epithermal deposits form in tectonically active arc settings and magmatic belts at shallow crustal levels as
the products of focused hydrothermal fluid flow above, or lateral to, magmatic thermal and fluid sources.
At a belt scale, their morphology, geometry, style of mineralization, and controls by major structural
features are sensitive to variations in subduction dynamics and convergence angle in arc and post‐
subduction settings. These conditions dictate the local kinematics of associated faults, influence the style
of associated volcanic activity, and may evolve temporally during the lifetime of hydrothermal systems.
Extensional arc settings are most commonly associated with arc‐parallel low‐ to intermediate‐sulfidation
fault‐fill and extensional vein systems, whereas a diversity of deposit types including intermediate‐
sulfidation, high‐sulfidation, and porphyry deposits occur in contractional and transtensional arc settings.
Extensional rift and post‐subduction settings are frequently associated with rift‐parallel low‐sulfidation
vein deposits and intermediate and high‐sulfidation systems, respectively.
At a district scale, epithermal vein systems are typically associated with hydrothermal centers along
regional fault networks, often coextant with late fault‐controlled felsic or intermediate composition
volcanic flow domes and dikes. Some districts form elliptical areas of parallel or branching extensional
and fault‐hosted veins that are not obviously associated with regional faults, although veins may parallel
regional fault orientations. In regional strike‐slip fault settings, dilational jogs and step‐overs, and fault
terminations often control locations of epithermal vein districts, but individual deposits or ore zones are
usually localized by normal and normal‐oblique fault sets and extensional veins that are kinematically
linked to the regional faults. Faults with greatest lateral extent and displacement magnitude within a
district often contain the largest relative precious metal endowments, but displacement even on the most
continuous ore‐hosting faults in large epithermal vein districts seldom exceeds more than several hundred
meters, and is minimal in some districts that are dominated by extensional veins.
Veins in epithermal districts typically form late in the displacement history of the host faults, when the
faults have achieved maximum connectivity and structural permeability. While varying by district,
common unidirectional vein filling sequences in low‐ and intermediate‐sulfidation veins comprise sulfide‐
bearing colloform‐crustiform vein‐fill, cockade and layered breccia‐fill stages, often with decreasing
sulfide‐sulfosalt +/‐ selenide abundance, and finally late carbonate‐fill; voluminous early pre‐ore barren
quartz +/‐ sulphide‐fill is present in some districts. These textural phases record cycles associated with
transient episodes of fluid flow triggered by fault rupture.
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The textural and structural features preserved in epithermal systems allows for a field‐based evaluation
of the kinematic evolution of the veins and controlling fault systems. This can be achieved by utilizing
observations of: 1) fault kinematic indicators, such as oblique cataclastic foliations and Riedel shear
fractures, where they are preserved in silicified fault rock on vein margins, 2) lateral and vertical variations
in structural style of veins based on their extensional, fault‐dominated, or transitional character, 3)
extensional vein sets with preferred orientations that form in the damage zones peripheral to, between,
or at tips of fault‐hosted veins, and 4) the influence of fault orientation and host rock rheology and
permeability on vein geometry and character. Collectively, these factors allow the prediction of structural
settings with high fracture permeability and dilatancy, aiding in exploration targeting.
Favorable structural settings for the development of oreshoots occur at geometric irregularities,
orientation changes, and vein bifurcations formed early in the propagation history of the hosting fault
networks. These sites include dilational, and locally contractional, steps and bends in strike‐slip settings.
In extensional settings, relay zones formed through the linkage of lateral fault tips, fault intersections, and
dilational jogs associated with rheologically induced fault refraction across lithologic contacts are common
oreshoot controls. Upward steepening, dilation, and horsetailing of extensional and oblique‐extensional
fault‐hosted vein systems in near surface environments are common, and reflect decreasing lithostatic
load and lower differential stress near surface. In these latter settings, the inflection line and intersections
with branching parts of the vein system intersect in the 2 paleostress orientation, forming gently plunging
linear zones of high structural permeability that coincide with areas of cyclical dilation at optimal boiling
levels to enhance gangue and ore precipitation.
The rheological character of pre‐ and syn‐ore alteration also influences the structural character,
morphology, and position of mineralized zones. Adularia‐quartz‐illite dominant alteration, common to
higher‐temperature upflow zones central to intermediate‐ and low‐sulfidation epithermal vein deposits,
behaves as a brittle, competent medium enabling maintenance of fracture permeability. Lateral to and
above these upflow zones, lower temperature clay‐dominated assemblages are less permeable and aid
formation of fault gouge that further focuses fluid flow in higher‐temperature upflow zones. Fault
character varies spatially, from entirely breccia and gouge distally through progressively more
hydrothermally lithified fault‐rocks and increasing vein abundance and diminishing fault rock abundance
proximal to oreshoots. In poorly lithified volcaniclastic rocks or phreatic breccia with high primary
permeability, fault displacement may dissipate into broader fracture networks, resulting in more
dispersed fluid flow that promotes the formation of disseminated deposits with low degrees of structural
control.
In disseminated styles of epithermal deposits, mineralization is often associated with synvolcanic growth
faults, or exploits dikes and phreatic breccia bodies, feeding tabular zones of advanced argillic and silicic
alteration that form stratabound replacement mineralized zones. In lithocap environments common to
high‐sulfidation districts, early, laterally continuous, near‐surface barren zones of advanced argillic
alteration and silicification form near the paleowater table above magmatic‐hydrothermal systems. In
many high sulfidation deposits, these serve as aquitards beneath which later hydrothermal fluids may
localize mineralization zones within permeable stratigraphic horizons, although deeper mineralization
may also be present within or emanating from faults unrelated to lithocap influence. Silicified lithocaps
may contain zones with high secondary structural permeability that localize ore through the formation of
zones of vuggy residual quartz and/or elevated fracture densities in the rheologically competent silicified
base of the lithocap, often along or emanating laterally outward from ore‐controlling faults. Syn‐ore faults
in such settings may form tabular intensely silicified zones that extend downward below the lithocap.
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1.0 INTRODUCTION

Hydrothermal ore deposits that form at shallow crustal levels include a variety of deposit types with
varying degrees of structural control, the most commonly explored for and exploited being the epithermal
Au‐Ag deposit class. The spectrum of styles encompassed by epithermal deposits provides insight into
the nature of ore localization in the brittle crustal regime, and reflects the interplay of fault dynamics and
structural architecture, host rock rheology, magmatism, fluid flow, and hydrologic proximity to the
paleosurface. These factors in turn define characteristics applicable to both the vectoring of district scale
exploration for new resources and to the better definition of Au‐Ag ore controls within deposits.

The many underground and surface mines developed in epithermal districts provide opportunities to
review the structural characteristics and kinematic framework of the range of deposit styles in this class.
Advances in the last two decades in the understanding of fault dynamics in upper crustal brittle settings,
largely through studies related to hydrocarbon exploration, (e.g., Faulkner et al., 2010; Fossen and
Rotevatn, 2016), neotectonics, and geodynamics, and in the understanding of fluid flow in faults and
active geothermal systems (e.g., Curewitz and Karson, 1997; Sibson, 2000; Rowland and Sibson, 2004;
Caine et al., 2010; Faulds et al., 2010; Faulds and Hintze, 2015) provide new insight into the structural
processes controlling regional to deposit scale ore distribution patterns. Nonetheless, apart from
individual deposit studies there are few recent reviews addressing the range of structural styles and
influences on structurally‐controlled fluid flow and oreshoot controls in epithermal environments (e.g.,
Berger and Henley, 2011; Micklethwaite, 2009; Paez et al., 2011; Cox and Munroe, 2016; Gülyüz et al.,
2018).

In this review, we approach the structure of epithermal deposits from a mineral systems perspective
(McCuaig and Hronsky, 2014), addressing the tectonic influences, structural controls and processes that
operate, and their feedback with hydrothermal processes which collectively allow the focus and
concentration of metals into an ore deposit. We initially review tectonic settings within which epithermal
deposits occur, providing context on first‐order controls on their regional distribution and the factors that
influence structural architecture, orebody position, and depth of formation. We then examine the
physical processes active in the epithermal environment, and the role these play in the formation of
epithermal deposits. Later sections review the range of structural styles and controls on ore localization
in epithermal districts, with examples from deposits studied by the authors and drawn from published
studies. As with any review, there are exceptions to the general patterns presented due to the broad
variability of natural systems, but we strive to convey the most common structural elements and controls
which may be encountered.

1.1 Epithermal deposit classification

Extensive study of epithermal deposits and their modern geothermal analogues over the last three
decades has led to the adoption of a geochemical classification system based on the sulfidation state of
hypogene mineral assemblages (Sillitoe and Hedenquist, 2003), to which we refer throughout this review:

High‐sulfidation (Hedenquist, 1987; Sillitoe, 1999) or acid sulfate (Heald et al., 1987) epithermal deposits
are typically Au‐Cu‐As‐Ag ± Sb ± Bi ± Te bearing, pyrite‐rich disseminated and subordinate fault‐hosted
deposits which form from condensates of acidic magmatic volatiles above igneous sources. These often
occur in association with porphyry Au‐Cu deposits in active calc‐alkaline andesitic to dacitic volcanic
centers (Arribas, 1995; Sillitoe, 1999; John et al., 2018). They are associated with advanced argillic and
silicic alteration assemblages that are zoned from inner residual/massive quartz and quartz‐alunite ±
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pyrophyllite ± diaspore indicative of higher temperature acidic fluids, to outer dickite, kaolinite, and illite‐
smectite assemblages that reflect cooler buffered conditions (Arribas, 1995; Hedenquist and Taran, 2013).

Intermediate‐sulfidation and low‐sulfidation (Hedenquist, 1987; Hedenquist et al., 2000) epithermal

deposits are associated with quartz‐adularia‐calcite‐illite alteration, and form from meteoric water‐
dominated, near neutral pH hydrothermal fluids. While intermediate‐ and low‐sulfidation deposits are
generally considered separate classes, an overlap between them is present in vein systems in some
districts. They are derived from dilute hydrothermal fluids in association with Au‐Ag ± As‐Sb‐Se in low‐
sulfidation deposits that are distal to potential magmatic sources, to more saline fluids and sulfide‐rich
Au‐Ag ± Zn‐Pb‐Cu metal assemblages in deeper intermediate‐sulfidation deposits which generally have a
closer spatial association with magmatic‐hydrothermal systems (John et al., 2018). Corbett and Leach
(1998) refer to carbonate‐base metal Au systems as an alternative classification of intermediate‐
sulfidation deposits with carbonate and sphalerite‐galena rich assemblages, many of which have
disseminated forms in breccia bodies and/or occur as veins peripheral to porphyry systems.

2.0 TECTONIC SETTINGS AND DISTRICT SCALE STRUCTURAL CONTROLS ON EPITHERMAL DEPOSITS

Epithermal precious and base metal deposits are formed in the upper parts of magmatic‐hydrothermal
systems at temperatures generally <300° C and depths of <1.5 km, and usually <1 km, most commonly in
subaerial settings (Hedenquist et al., 2000; Simmons et al., 2005). Although older examples are
documented, most epithermal deposits are Jurassic or younger in age due to the low preservation
potential of the shallow geological environment in older arcs. Epithermal deposits form in active volcanic
arc, post‐subduction volcanic arc, and rift settings, and in each of these settings they demonstrate close
spatial, temporal, and genetic associations with volcanic and intrusive rocks (White et al., 1995; Sillitoe
and Hedenquist, 2003; Simmons et al., 2005; Garwin et al., 2005; Richards, 2009; John et al., 2018).
Because the nature of magmatism, structural architecture, and style of epithermal mineralization varies
between these tectonic settings, we discuss each separately in the following section and in Table 1.

2.1 Active Volcanic Arc Settings

Volcanic arcs form along plate boundaries that are associated with subduction of oceanic crust beneath
an overriding plate of either oceanic or continental affinity. Despite the convergent nature of these plate
boundaries, the overriding plate may deform through arc‐normal extension, transtension or
transpression, or arc‐normal contraction, depending on plate convergence angle and rate, subducting slab
dip angle, degree of mechanical coupling between plates, and the age and density of the subducted
oceanic crust (Figure 1; Acocella and Funiciello, 2010). These strain conditions may vary along‐strike in an
arc or temporally within a given position in an arc (Yanez et al., 2001; Garwin et al., 2005). The geometry
and kinematics of the fault networks in these different settings may be further complicated by factors
such as older faults in the arc basement (Gow and Walshe, 2005; Rowland and Simmons, 2012) and high
degrees of arc curvature (e.g., Sumatra‐Banda arc: McAffrey et al., 2000). Nonetheless, they show
predictable patterns in the style of volcanism and the geometry of magmatic features, all of which
fundamentally influence the styles, abundance, position, and structure of arc‐related hydrothermal
systems (Table 1; e.g., Tosdal and Richards, 2001; Acocella and Funiciello, 2010; Acocella, 2014).
Variations in subduction regime, convergence rate and orientation, subduction dip angle, terrane
collisions, mantle upwelling, and the subduction of slab ridges, seamount chains, and tears, have been
proposed to cause local tectonic reorganization and intra‐arc stress changes which can trigger
metallogenic events within arcs (Garwin et al., 2005; Sillitoe, 2008, 2010; Richards and Holm, 2013; Holm
et al., 2019).
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2.1.1 Contractional to neutral arcs

Plate boundaries with high rates of convergence, shallow subducting slab dip angles, terrane accretion
related orogenesis, and mechanical coupling between plates all favor arc‐normal shortening. In these
settings structural patterns are dominated by arc‐parallel reverse faults with varying degrees of strain
partitioning into strike‐slip transfer faults occurring in parallel or in conjugate sets (Stanton‐Yonge et al.,
2016). Volcanism is volumetrically subdued, with arc‐normal dikes and elongate volcanic centers
developed within grabens that form at a high angle to the orientation of the arc (Figure 1B; Acocella et
al., 2008; Tibaldi et al., 2010; Acocella, 2014). Syntectonic intrusions may be emplaced as arc‐normal or
arc‐oblique elongate bodies exploiting extensional faults and fracture networks (de Silva et al., 2006;
Tibaldi et al., 2010; Naranjo et al., 2017).

High‐sulfidation epithermal deposits, commonly with spatially associated porphyry and locally
intermediate‐sulfidation epithermal mineralization, form in these contractional to neutral tectonic
settings, in some districts during transitions between extensional and contractional conditions (e.g.,
Chelopech: Chambefort and Moritz, 2006). Especially in larger districts, high‐sulfidation deposits are
associated with volumetrically minor coeval volcanic rocks and shallowly emplaced intrusive rocks formed
at or near the end of contractional arc cycles (Chiaradia et al., 2009; Bissig et al., 2015). Individual deposits
are commonly aligned with arc‐parallel or arc‐oblique lithological and structural trends and igneous
centers.

In the Andes of South America, numerous world‐class porphyry and high‐sulfidation deposits occur in
areas of thick crust where periods of sustained flat slab subduction and contractional to transpressional
arc conditions were present through much of the period of Neogene metallogenesis (Kay and Mpodzis,
2001; Sillitoe, 2008; DeCelles et al., 2015). Arc‐oblique, northeasterly trends are evident in the alignment
of flow domes and lithocap alteration zones at Yanacocha (Chicama‐Yanacocha corridor, Longo et al.,
2010), the orientations of veins and faults within several Oligocene to mid‐Miocene age porphyry and
high‐sulfidation replacement and stratabound (manto) deposits (e.g., Morococha, Cerro de Pasco,
Baumgartner et al., 2009, Catchpole et al., 2015), vein orientations in many epithermal districts of Peru
(e.g., Caylloma, Quirivilca in Peru: Echavarria et al., 2006), and in faults which host the Neogene California
Vetas high‐sulfidation district of Colombia (La Bodega/La Mascota and Angostura deposits: Bissig et al.,
2015; Madrid et al., 2017; Table 1).

Arc‐normal faults, potentially influenced by inherited basement structures, also control the alignment of
porphyry and epithermal districts in New Guinea and Guadalcanal that formed during Miocene and
Pliocene contractional arc conditions and arc‐collision related orogenesis (Hill, 1991; Gow and Walshe,
2005; Tapster et al., 2011; White et al., 2014; Holm et al., 2019). Although these features have locally
been interpreted as strike‐slip transfer faults (e.g., Corbett and Leach, 1998), the lack of lateral
displacement, the presence of volcano‐sedimentary basins (grabens) and aligned dikes and volcanic vents,
and the association with intermediate‐sulfidation extensional veins (e.g., at Wafi: Rinne et al., 2018) imply
formation as extensional faults in response to arc‐parallel extension (Figure 1B, right).

In the southwestern United States and Northwestern Mexico, contractional arc conditions accompanied
by probable flat‐slab subduction persisted from the Late Cretaceous to approximately Late Oligocene
times (Ferrari et al., 2007). Intermediate‐ and high‐sulfidation epithermal deposits formed during this
period occupy northeast‐striking arc‐perpendicular extensional faults or transverse faults (Henry et al.,
1991) which are parallel to elongate stocks and mineralized sheeted vein sets and dikes associated with
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Late Cretaceous to Paleocene porphyry systems (Rehrig and Heidrick, 1972; Heidrick and Titley, 1983).
The orogen‐oblique, northeast‐trending Colorado Mineral Belt and its Laramide‐age precious metal vein
systems initiated during this phase of flat‐slab subduction, aligned parallel to the convergence direction
between the North American and Kula‐Farallon plates (Chapin, 2012). The belt’s location and orientation
may have been influenced by Precambrian basement fabric (Tweto and Sims, 1963) above a slab tear or
oceanic plateau in the subducted Farallon Plate (Caine et al., 2010; Chapin, 2012).

Neutral arc settings favor formation of epithermal systems with mainly lithological control and no direct
association with active fault systems. Some high‐sulfidation replacement deposits with low degrees of
structural control (e.g., Pierina, Alto Chicama) may have formed during such conditions between
contractional episodes (Sillitoe, 2008), or in local areas where low differential stresses were not amenable
to the formation of through‐going faults and veins. Porphyry systems in these settings commonly show
radial or concentric vein patterns (e.g., El Teniente: Cannell et al., 2005).

2.1.2 Extensional arcs

Periods of slab rollback or retreat, which commonly occur during the subduction of old, dense oceanic
crust or under conditions of low convergence rate, typically result in intra‐arc extension. Regional fault
patterns in these extensional arcs are dominated by arc‐parallel normal fault systems (Figure 1A; e.g.,
Ferrari et al., 2007), which form first‐order controls on intermediate‐ and low‐sulfidation epithermal
deposits. Transfer faults and arc‐oblique basement faults can also locally influence the position and
orientation of epithermal systems (e.g., Wilson and Rowland, 2016). Active extension in these
environments assists magma ascent and enhances volcanism (Ferrari et al., 2007), which may result in
large igneous provinces with associated intermediate‐ and low‐sulfidation epithermal districts (Camprubí
and Albinson, 2007) and only rare development of porphyry and high‐sulfidation epithermal
mineralization (Sillitoe and Perello, 2005).

Epithermal deposits in extensional arc environments are commonly associated with andesite‐dominated
volcanic cycles and late phases of rhyolitic volcanism in flow domes, dikes, and spatially restricted
pyroclastic rocks, as typified by the Tertiary Sierra Madre Occidental Belt of Mexico (Ferrari et al., 2007;
Camprubí and Albinson, 2007) and the Cretaceous Okhotsk‐Chukotka Volcanic Belt of northeastern Russia
(Akinin and Miller, 2011; Tikhomirow et al., 2012). Deposits in these districts formed over protracted
periods of arc extension, and many have been progressively buried by later stages of volcanic rocks (e.g.,
Camprubí and Albinson, 2007). At least in the Sierra Madre district, mineralization is broadly coeval with
the onset of low‐volume rhyolitic volcanism (e.g., Guanajuato, Pachuca, Palmarejo; Geyne et al., 1963;
Gross, 1975; Murray and Busby, 2015). Extensional arc conditions are also documented at least
transiently during the formation of Tertiary arc‐related epithermal deposits in Japan (e.g., Watanabe,
2005) and in New Zealand in both the Miocene Coromandel Volcanic Zone (Mauk et al., 2011) and the
geothermally active Taupo Volcanic Zone (Rowland and Sibson, 2004). In central Nevada, the late
Oligocene Round Mountain ‐ Gold Hill and other low‐sulfidation districts formed during conditions of rapid
southwestern arc migration that were possibly related to slab rollback which predated the transtensional
Walker Lane Belt, (Henry and John, 2013; John et al., 2015).

2.1.3 Transtensional and transpressional arcs

In transtensional and transpressional arc settings, regional strain is focused along arc‐parallel to slightly
oblique strike‐slip faults that bound domains undergoing extension or contraction (Figure 1C, right).
These settings are common in arcs during periods of oblique subduction, although even high‐angle oblique
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convergence can result in partitioning of strain into arc‐parallel strike‐slip faults and coeval arc‐transverse
strike‐slip transfer faults that may occur in parallel or in conjugate sets, often between strike‐slip faults in
Riedel geometries (Veloso et al., 2015; Stanton‐Yonge et al., 2016). Normal faults kinematically linked to
the strike‐slip faults may form oblique to the arc axis (Veloso et al., 2015).

Obliquely convergent arcs may show only weak structural influence on magmatic activity. (Acocella et al.,
2018). Where such influence is present, magmatism is often focussed within extensional domains
between arc‐parallel and arc‐oblique strike‐slip faults (Melnik et al., 2006; Piquer et al., 2016) in relays
and pull‐apart basins at steps and releasing bends (Busby, 2012; Tibaldi et al., 2010; Perez‐Flores et al.,
2016). Shallow intrusions in these settings often manifest as steeply‐dipping dikes and elongate intrusions
emplaced at high angles to arc axes (Palacios et al., 2007; Tibaldi et al., 2010). These same extensional
domains also form first‐order controls on epithermal districts (e.g., Rebagliati et al., 1998; Corbett and
Leach, 1998; Drew, 2005; Berger, 2007) within which ore‐controlling faults include extensional and
transverse fault sets that are oblique to or perpendicular to the dominant arc‐parallel strike‐slip fault
systems (Berger et al., 2003; Vikre and Henry, 2011). These secondary faults splay from the through‐going
strike‐slip faults, form links between them, or occur in localized extensional domains (Figure 1C, right), as
has been interpreted in the Miocene and younger Walker Lane Belt of Nevada (e.g., Goldfield and
Comstock: Berger, 2007) and for Neogene deposits of the Philippine arc and the western Banda‐Sumatra
arc of Indonesia (Table 1; Corbett and Leach, 1998; Waters et al., 2011).

2.2 Post‐subduction, post‐collisional arc settings

Following cessation of subduction after collisional or accretionary episodes, or during periods of rapid slab
rollback and slab tear, slab delamination results in conditions of extension or transtension within arc
systems (Kelley and Ludington, 2002; Richards, 2009). Continued magmatism may be highly focused if
above a slab tear (Wilson and Rowland, 2016), or be dispersed across a broad, diffuse arc under extension
(Menant et al., 2018; Holm et al., 2019). Although structural controls on magmatic activity and
hydrothermal systems in these settings are similar to those in their extensional to transtensional
counterparts in active convergent arcs, post‐collisional arcs differ in that they are accompanied by
asthenosphere upwelling, generating melts from subduction‐modified lithosphere that are associated
with alkaline to mildly alkaline volcanism (Kelley and Ludington, 2002; Richards, 2009, 2015; Menant et
al., 2018; Holm et al., 2019).

Deposits in post‐subduction and post‐collisional settings are exemplified by several districts in the western
Tethyan belt. In the South Apuseni district of Romania, intermediate‐sulfidation epithermal
mineralization and coeval Au‐Cu porphyry systems are associated with andesitic volcanism formed in
transtensional and extensional settings, interpreted to have formed during post‐collisional extension and
adjustment (Neubauer et al., 2005). Similar tectonic settings are interpreted for intermediate and high‐
sulfidation epithermal deposits in the Oligocene‐Miocene Rhodope and Anatolian belts (e.g., Perama Hill,
Biga Peninsula, Efemcukuru, Copler; Richards, 2015; Sanchez et al., 2016; Menant et al., 2018). Alkaline‐
magmatic related epithermal deposits including Cripple Creek, Lihir, Porgera, and Emperor are also
interpreted to have formed in post‐subduction and post‐collisional environments, or in distal back‐arc
settings related to slab delamination, tear, or breakoff associated with the generation of mantle‐derived
alkalic magmatism (Jensen and Barton, 2000; Kelley and Ludington, 2002; Holm et al., 2019). These
deposits were formed in low or neutral differential stress conditions with localized radial (Cripple Creek;
Kelley and Ludington, 2002;) or subsidence and/or topographically‐controlled extensional mineralized
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fault and veins within and peripheral to volcanic centers (Porgera, Emperor, Lihir; Jensen and Barton,
2000; Eaton and Setterfield, 1993; Sykora et al., 2018).

2.3 Rift settings

Intracontinental rift settings are host to several important epithermal districts, most notably the low‐
sulfidation districts of the Miocene Northern Nevada Rift (John, 2001), the Jurassic epithermal district of
the Deseado Massif in Argentina (Giacosa et al., 2010; Tassara et al., 2017), and the Neogene to recent
Afar Rift of northeastern Africa (Moussa et al., 2012). Low‐sulfidation epithermal deposits in these areas
occur mainly in rift‐parallel to oblique normal faults that also control the orientations of dikes and
positions of magmatic centers (Acocella and Funiciello, 2010; Keir et al., 2015). Mineralization is
associated with bimodal volcanism, albeit with only a minor mafic component in the Deseado region
(Pankhurst et al., 1998). The Northern Nevada Rift is interpreted to be related to activity of the
Yellowstone hotspot and/or mantle plume (e.g., Ponce and Glen, 2002), and is situated in a back arc
setting relative to the temporally overlapping Walker Lane transtensional andesitic arc (John, 2001; Vikre
and Henry, 2011). Younger Pliocene epithermal deposits also occur in northern Nevada related to ongoing
Basin and Range extensional faulting with minimal volcanic input (e.g., Wind Mountain, Florida Canyon,
Hycroft: Coolbaugh et al., 2010). The Jurassic Deseado Massif deposits formed within the Chon Aike large
igneous province during initial rifting of Gondwana (Pankhurst et al., 1998). These deposits occur in rift‐
oblique to rift‐parallel transtensional settings associated with extensional basins and half grabens,
possibly in the back‐arc to the proto‐Andean subduction zone (Giacosa et al., 2010).

2.4 Temporal evolution of tectonic setting during mineralization

Mineralized provinces that formed over significant time periods may span changes in plate convergence
rate or direction, resulting in changes in the style of epithermal mineralization, controlling structural
features, and related magmatic activity. Such changes may include temporal variations in the orientations
of epithermal veins and ore‐hosting faults, synvolcanic faults, and dikes as exemplified by the Paleocene
to Early Miocene Sierra Madre Occidental epithermal district in Mexico and its extensions (Camprubí and
Albinson, 2007). In this region, dikes, intermediate‐sulfidation epithermal fault‐ and vein‐hosted deposits,
and extensional faults dominantly have arc‐transverse east to northeast trends prior to 31‐33 Ma, related
to northeasterly flat slab subduction (e.g., Tayoltita‐San Dimas, Topia districts; Dreier, 1984; Henry et al.,
1991; Montoya‐Lopera et al., 2019). In mid‐Oligocene time, slab rollback or breakoff led to a rapid change
to extensional arc conditions and widespread arc‐parallel normal faulting coincident with migration of arc
magmatism towards the trench (Ferrari et al., 2007). Epithermal deposits formed during this younger
period are dominated by northwest and north‐northwest dikes, extensional faults, and Ag‐Au bearing vein
systems (Montoya‐Lopera et al., 2019; e.g., Palmarejo, El Oro, Guanajuato, Fresnillo and Pachuca
districts), consistent with arc‐perpendicular extension.

A temporal evolution of vein orientations correlating with changes in arc tectonic conditions is also
recorded in the Coromandel Volcanic Zone (Hauraki district) in New Zealand, and in the Tertiary
epithermal deposits of southern Japan. In the Coromandel Volcanic Zone, a period of slab rollback
beginning at 15 Ma corresponded with a change from north‐northwest to northeast striking epithermal
veins in the northern part of the region. This change was followed by southeasterly migration of a bimodal
andesite‐rhyolite arc migration from the now extinct Colville Arc to the present‐day Tonga‐Kermadec‐
Taupo Arc (Mauk et al., 2011; Christie et al., 2007; Rowland and Simmons, 2012). Veins in the Hauraki
district in the latter arc fill dominantly northeast‐striking, arc parallel, intra‐arc extensional faults (Christie
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et al., 2007; Rowland and Simmons, 2012), consistent with the present structural environment in the
active Taupo Volcanic Zone.

In Kyushu, Japan, mineralized faults and veins within intermediate and high‐sulfidation epithermal
deposits that formed under compressional arc conditions during the period from 5 to 3.5 Ma vary in
orientation, but include arc‐oblique trends (Watanabe, 2005; Morishita and Nakano, 2008). In contrast,
younger deposits formed after slowing of subduction and a transition to extensional arc conditions are
limited to low‐sulfidation vein systems that are controlled by arc‐parallel grabens and normal faults
(Watanabe, 2005).

Fluctuations from contractional to extensional arc conditions may also explain the systematic changes in
the orientations of Neogene intermediate‐sulfidation vein systems in southeastern Peru. These range
from mid‐Miocene (19‐14 Ma) northeasterly arc‐perpendicular trends in the Caylloma, Selene and
Orcopampa districts (Gibson et al., 1995; Dietrich et al., 2005; Echavarria et al., 2006), to dominantly
northwest arc‐parallel vein systems associated with the 11 to 5 Ma Arcata and Shila‐Apacheta‐Paula
deposits (Candiotti et al., 1990; André‐Meyer et al., 2002).

3.0 THE EPITHERMAL ENVIRONMENT

Epithermal deposits form in dynamic tectonic environments and are the products of fluids that have
evolved physically and chemically during transport from the magmatic to the near‐surface environment
(Fournier, 1999; Hedenquist et al., 2000). Although this paper focuses on the structural controls on the
deposits themselves, an overview of the processes controlling this evolution is provided here as it is
important to the overall interpretation of epithermal systems.

3.1 Structural and hydrological architecture of epithermal hydrothermal cells

Epithermal deposits occur at shallow levels of upflowing hydrothermal plumes, and are the product of
advective transport, fluid flow, and metal‐transport and deposition, for which fluid channelways are
largely structurally controlled. The nature of these structural controls and the physical and chemical
characteristics of the hydrothermal system varies with depth (Rowland and Simmons, 2012) and
tectonomagmatic setting.

In compressional arc settings, multiple deposit types may be centered on hydrothermal plumes
surrounding magmatic centers, including high and intermediate‐sulfidation epithermal deposits that are
spatially associated with stratovolcanoes (e.g., Figure 2) or dome fields (Arribas, 1995; Sillitoe, 1999,
2010). These epithermal deposits are commonly spatially and genetically linked to underlying porphyry
systems (Arribas et al., 1995; Hedenquist et al., 1998; Rinne et al., 2018) as well as skarns, carbonate‐
replacement, and base metal vein deposits related to the same mineralizing system. In these arc settings,
magmas may stall at shallow‐crustal levels, impeding volcanic effusion and allowing development of long‐
lived magmatic‐hydrothermal systems above fractionating magma chambers (Sillitoe and Perello, 2005;
Chiaradia et al., 2009). High temperature upflow zones for buoyant condensates of magmatic volatiles
feeding high‐sulfidation deposits are often localized along synvolcanic brittle faults, which also host, or
are overprinted by, dikes and phreatomagmatic breccia bodies (Figure 2). Permeability in these zones
may be enhanced by early acid‐leached residual (vuggy) quartz alteration (Arribas, 1995; Heinrich et al.,
2004; Hedenquist and Taran, 2013). Peripheral to the high‐sulfidation systems, dilute magmatic fluids are
channeled laterally by units with high primary permeability, and/or fault networks which may feed more
 10

distal intermediate‐sulfidation epithermal mineralization (Figure 2; Hendenquist et al., 2000; Weis et al.,
2012).

Modern geothermal analogues to intermediate‐ and low‐sulfidation environments in extensional arcs, rift,
and strike‐slip environments indicate that hydrothermal convection is driven by buoyancy created by
density differences between plumes of magmatically‐heated meteoric water with a minor magmatic
component and the surrounding colder groundwater (Henley, 1985; Fournier, 1991, 1999; Henley and
Berger, 2000; Rowland and Sibson, 2004; Rowland and Simmons, 2012). Models for epithermal systems
in extensional arcs, rifts, and strike‐slip settings (Figure 3) suggest that these environments are vertically
stratified into: 1) a basal aseismic zone, 2) an overlying sub‐epithermal zone associated with faulting
under seismic conditions, 3) a mineralized zone at epithermal deposit levels, and 4) an uppermost
discharge or steam‐heated, low temperature argillic altered zone, or "clay cap" (Fournier, 1999; Davatzes
and Hickman, 2010; Rowland and Simmons, 2012). In the aseismic zone, which typically occurs below
depths of 2 to 6 km, magmas driving thermal convection of hydrothermal fluids are mantled by hot
(>400°C) wallrocks which undergo ductile, steady state deformation under normal strain rates (Fournier,
1991, 1999). The low permeability of this environment leads to near‐lithostatic fluid pressure conditions
(Fournier, 1999; Nemcok et al., 2007; Davatzes and Hickman, 2010). In contrast, the lower temperature
overlying rocks deform through aseismic brittle‐frictional creep under sub‐lithostatic, often hydrostatic
fluid pressures, or through seismic fault rupture which enhances structural permeability. Fault rupture
events, triggered by increases in pore fluid pressure or strain rate increases due to the intrusion of
magmas, may extend into the upper part of the aseismic zone (Fournier, 1991, 1999; Sibson, 2001). Such
breaches may release saline, metal‐bearing magmatic volatiles into the overlying seismogenic domain
where they are diluted by meteoric water and ascend along faults and interconnected fault‐fracture
networks into the shallower epithermal environment (Fournier, 1999; Cox, this volume; Sibson, 2000,
2001). The morphology of active fault‐fracture conduits exerts a primary control on the ascent of
hydrothermal fluids into the epithermal environment and influences the form and distribution of
hydrothermal plumes (Fournier, 1999; Henley and Berger, 2000; Rowland and Simmons, 2012; Figure 3).
These same fault conduits can be exploited by dikes of immediately pre‐mineralization age (e.g., Geyne
et al., 1963; John et al., 2003; Murray and Busby, 2015) that may be associated with an underlying
magmatic source driving the epithermal system. Dike intrusion may aid in the further development,
dilation, and propagation of the fault‐fracture network (Figure 3; John et al., 2003; Rowland and Sibson,
2004; Bursik et al., 2003).

3.2 Epithermal deposit morphology

Epithermal systems encompass a broad spectrum of mineralization styles, including discrete veins or fault‐
hosted veins, stockwork vein networks, disseminated bulk tonnage deposits, and breccia‐hosted deposits.
These mineralization styles reflect the physical properties of host rocks and their response to the physical
and chemical processes active in the epithermal environment, and can be considered within the context
of structural, lithologic, and hydrothermal end‐members (Sillitoe, 1993; Figure 4):

Structural control is dominant where ore mostly occurs in discrete veins and fault networks, often
crosscutting multiple lithologic units. Structural control is linked to the interplay between the
stress/strain environment during mineralization and the mechanical anisotropies and rheological
characteristics of the host rock sequence, and the resulting localization of fluid conduits and dilatant
veins. These controls may influence variations in fracture density and width of permeable damage
zones surrounding faults, changes in orientations of controlling structures, interaction and linkage of
faults, or combinations of these features.
 11

Lithologic control manifests as preferential mineralization within specific lithologic units due to their
primary permeability, or their susceptibility to developing secondary permeability through chemical
(acid leaching) or structural (fracture network generation) processes. High primary permeability and
reactivity are most common in medium‐ to coarse‐grained clastic or breccia units in volcaniclastic
sequences, or in carapace breccia to flow domes, which often are the hosts to disseminated or veinlet‐
controlled mineralization styles. Because intergranular primary porosity in fragmental and clastic units
decreases with depth due to compaction and diagenesis, the potential for disseminated mineralization
in such units is greatest at shallow depths (Rowland and Simmons, 2012).
Hydrothermal control results from processes that have increased, or conversely decreased and confined,
permeability within the host rock sequence. Examples include: a) disseminated mineralization in zones
of hydrothermally‐enhanced secondary permeability (e.g., residual vuggy quartz alteration zones), b)
mineralization localized beneath clay caps in near‐surface steam‐heated and lithocap settings, and c)
pipe‐like to tabular phreatic and phreatomagmatic, hydrothermal polymictic breccias which can form
permeable fluid conduits and favourable hosts to mineralization. The generation of secondary
permeability can support a feedback mechanism by focusing hydrothermal fluids that further enhance
alteration and permeability development.

Most epithermal deposits or districts display components of structural, lithological, and hydrothermal
controls, and the dominant control may vary in different parts of a deposit or district. For example, the
generation of permeable vuggy residual quartz through acid leaching may be localized within a specific
lithotype due to its primary permeability, chemical reactivity, or susceptibilty to fracturing. Similarly, ore
may be localized preferentially within through‐going fault networks where they transect a rheologically
favorable lithologic unit as a result of refraction‐enhanced dilation or greater development of fracture
networks. Deposits formed at depths <300 m below the paleowater table are often dominated by
lithologic or hydrothermal control and tend to have disseminated or replacement styles (Sillitoe, 1993).
Conversely, systems formed at deeper levels under higher confining pressures and differential stress
levels, and with limited influence of near‐surface volcanic features and water table‐related alteration,
typically show a higher degree of structural control (Albinson et al. 2001). The relative influences of the
different types of control can also vary temporally in a system, especially in disseminated deposits where
hydrothermal alteration progressively modifies the permeability and tensile strength of the host rocks.
The different fluid characteristics, host rocks, and paleotectonic settings of the epithermal environments
result in structural control being more common in low‐ and intermediate‐sulfidation settings, and
stratigraphic or hydrothermal control being more common in high‐sulfidation deposits.

4.0 STRUCTURE OF VEIN‐HOSTED EPITHERMAL DISTRICTS AND DEPOSITS

Vein‐hosted epithermal deposits typically form in active tectonic settings with high regional strain rates
and display strong control by regional and local fault networks (Micklethwaite, 2009; Micklethwaite et al.,
2010). These are dominantly intermediate‐ and low‐sulfidation deposits and include most epithermal
deposits formed in extensional arc and rift settings, especially where competent flow‐dominated volcanic
or basement sequences promote the formation and maintenance of brittle fault‐fracture networks. Vein‐
hosted high‐sulfidation deposits are less common, but include significant parts of notable examples such
as Goldfield (Nevada), El Indio (Chile), Famatina (Argentina), and the California‐Vetas district of Colombia
(Berger and Henley, 2011; Jannas et al., 1999, Madrid et al., 2017). These high‐sulfidation vein deposits
may contain phases transitional to intermediate‐sulfidation mineralization styles, particularly in late,
often high‐grade veins, and are typically superimposed on earlier fault‐controlled disseminated
mineralization within advanced argillic alteration assemblages (e.g., El Indio: Jannas et al., 1999). Although
not vein hosted, the Guanaco high‐sulphidation deposit in Chile displays similar strong structural control
 12

with narrow high‐grade replacement zones concentrated along arc‐oblique faults (Guido et al., 2014;
Altman et al., 2017).

The following sections review vein‐hosted epithermal deposits with a focus on those of the low and
intermediate sulfidation classes, beginning with the physical processes that create and maintain
permeability of the fault‐fracture networks which facilitate and localize ore formation. We then review
textures common to vein‐hosted deposits that result from these processes, including breccia textures
which are common in epithermal vein environments (Table 2).

4.1 Relative timing of volcanism, faulting, and mineralization in epithermal vein systems

In districts where epithermal mineralization accompanies significant volcanic activity, synvolcanic growth
faults are important controls on mineralization. These may include normal and oblique‐normal slip faults
in extensional arc, rift, and post‐subduction settings (e.g., Diakow et al., 1991; Murray and Busby, 2015),
or second‐order normal faults within pull‐apart basins in strike‐slip, transtensional, or transpressional
tectonic settings (e.g., Corbett and Leach, 1998; Berger, 2007). Evidence for synvolcanic faulting includes
thickness variations in primary volcanic units on adjacent fault blocks, facies variations such as the
presence of lacustrine sedimentary rocks in small basins within the volcanic sequence (Figure 5A; e.g.,
Leavitt et al., 2004; Milliard et al., 2018), and the localization of dikes, small stocks, phreatomagmatic
breccias, and flow domes along fault traces and corridors (e.g., Geyne et al., 1963; McDonald, 1990; Camus
et al., 1991; Diakow et al., 1991; Bobis et al., 1995; Rebagliati et al., 1998; Leavitt and Arehart, 2005; Rhys
et al., 2017; Leary et al., 2016; Gülyüz et al., 2018). Domes may be associated with subaerial volcanic and
volcaniclastic rocks that thicken, on or were only deposited or preserved on, down‐dropped fault blocks
(e.g., Murray and Busby, 2015). In these settings, late‐ or post‐mineralization strata may be deposited on
top of the fault and show no stratigraphic offset, burying the epithermal system and obscuring the
magnitude of displacement on the underlying fault (Figure 5A; Murray et al., 2013).

In fault‐controlled epithermal vein deposits, field relationships commonly indicate that mineralization
formed relatively late in the fault development process and after any syn‐tectonic magmatism when
hydrothermal activity was well‐established. Late timing relative to fault development is commonly
indicated by the lack of fault disruption or offset of vein material, or the overprinting of fault rock (gouge,
cataclasite) by veins, related alteration and pre‐mineralization dikes (e.g., Leavitt et al., 2004; Sporli and
Cargill, 2011; Rhys et al., 2017; Figures 5B, 6). Several low‐sulfidation vein systems that preserve evidence
of surface hydrothermal venting display stratigraphic evidence for late timing relative to faulting (e.g.,
Favona, New Zealand; Republic, Washington; Fruta del Norte, Ecuador; Cerro Negro, Argentina; Cinola,
B.C.; McLaughlin, California, and Ivanhoe, Nevada: Sherlock et al., 1995; Fifarek et al., 1996; Rebagliati et
al., 1998; Wallace, 2003; Rhys and Keall, 2008; Leary et al., 2016). In most of these examples, sinter,
lacustrine sediments, and locally hydrothermal eruption breccias occur in hangingwall basins that formed
during late stages of growth faulting (e.g. McLaughlin, California: Sherlock et al., 1995; Bodie, California: Vikre
et al., 2015; Cerro Blanco, Guatemala: Mohaseb et al., 2019). Vein material may occur as fragments in
immediate post‐mineralization strata that cover and truncate mineralized faults, but which also contain
late‐hydrothermal alteration and surface sinter (e.g., Leary et al., 2016; Vidal et al. 2016). These
relationships imply that some faults hosting epithermal vein systems in near‐surface settings may
represent the shallow low‐displacement manifestation of growth faults that have much greater, largely
pre‐mineralization displacement at depth (Figure 5A).

These timing relationships imply that many fault‐hosted epithermal vein systems formed during periods
of near maximum fracture connectivity, when fault networks have the greatest potential to tap and
 13

channel deeply‐sourced hydrothermal fluids. Importantly, the fault networks that host epithermal vein
systems are the cumulative product of deformation that may have evolved over time, and thus may not
be representative of, or optimally oriented in relation to the stress regime that prevailed during
mineralization (Micklethwaite, 2009).

Effects of post‐mineralization faulting vary from negligible in many deposits, to substantial tectonic
reworking through brecciation and imbrication of the mineralized system (e.g., Willis and Tosdal, 1992).
Late faults typically form zones of unconsolidated gouge that exploit vein margins and/or anastomose
across veins. Where developed along and adjacent to vein margins, post‐mineralization faults often
accommodate only minor late displacement and have little effect on overall deposit morphology. Late
fault offsets and dismemberment of orebodies are not considered further in this review as they are
unrelated to the development of the epithermal system.

4.2 Structural elements in epithermal settings: concepts and definitions

Structural features active during the formation of epithermal deposits comprise networks of faults,
fractures, and veins that formed under seismogenic conditions during episodic rupture events (Sibson,
2001). These brittle structures channel hydrothermal fluid flow and ultimately control or influence the
position and morphology of orebodies in the epithermal environment. Individual structures within these
networks can be described in terms of three macroscopic brittle failure modes (Sibson, 2000, 2001;
Schopfer et al., 2006): a) shear fractures, formed through displacement parallel to fracture surfaces, b)
extensional fractures accommodating opening perpendicular to fracture surfaces, and c) hybrid fractures
that form through displacement oblique to fracture surfaces, and occur in orientations between those of
shear and extensional fractures. In the shallow crustal conditions of the epithermal environment, failure
mode is dictated by the interplay between tensile strength and friction coefficients of host rocks, fluid
pressure, and local stress states (Cox, this volume; Sibson, 2000). Hydrothermal veins may exploit
fractures related to all three failure modes as mixed‐mode networks of fault‐fill and extensional veins.

4.2.1 Fault‐fracture networks and models

Fault‐fracture networks are commonly described in terms of Andersonian fault theory, which describes
predicted fault orientations for rheologically isotropic rocks in end‐member fault models corresponding
to extensional, strike‐slip, or contractional settings (Figure 7; Anderson (1905, 1951). This classification
is based on the premise that at shallow levels, principal stress axes (1 ≥ 2 ≥ 3) will be either parallel or
perpendicular to the earth’s surface (Figures 3, 7), and will have predictable geometric relationships to
fault systems. In this model, a) conjugate fault surfaces intersect parallel to the intermediate stress axis
σ2 and are equally inclined at approximately 30 to the maximum compressive stress axis σ1; b)
displacement direction on fault surfaces is perpendicular to the σ2 axis; and c) associated extensional
fractures and veins form parallel to the σ1‐ σ2 plane, with poles parallel to the 3‐axis. Normal and strike‐
slip fault environments, both of which favor formation of vertical extension veins, or settings with oblique‐
normal displacement faults intermediate between them, represent the most common settings for
epithermal deposits (Figure 7A and B).

Anderson’s fault model provides a useful framework for assessing the overall structural setting and
predicting oreshoot controls in relatively simple fault‐controlled deposits, where fault kinematics at the
time of mineralization can be established through the assessment of shear sense indicators and
lithological offsets. More complex structural environments will deviate from the idealized model due to
factors that may include: a) pre‐existing faults that are reactivated or interact with younger faults (e.g.,
 14

Giba et al., 2012; Blenkinsop et al., 2018), b) local stress orientation changes, particularly where faults
propagate through the connection of en echelon or closely‐spaced minor faults, c) rheologically
anisotropic host rocks, d) changes in stress orientation or re‐orientation of early‐formed faults during
progressive deformation, and e) areas with triaxial strain and polymodal faulting, where orthorhombic or
more complex symmetry of primary fault sets may develop (Krantz, 1988; Healy et al., 2015). These
departures from simple Andersonian fault models result in highly fractured and permeable or dilatant
structural sites that form important oreshoot controls in many epithermal deposits, which are explored
in further detail in section 5 of this paper.

4.3 Faults

Fault networks in epithermal systems have in general experienced higher fluid flux, more elevated
temperatures, and greater amounts of dilation than their non‐mineralized counterparts in similar crustal
settings. In this section, we discuss the characteristics of fault rocks in these settings, their influence on
permeability within the evolving hydrothermal system, and features guiding the kinematic interpretation
of fault networks.

Faults within the epithermal environment range from simple zones of cataclasite and gouge distal to
oreshoots, to zones with compositionally and texturally complex veins and hydrothermally overprinted
fault rocks within oreshoots. These latter zones include the classic fault‐fill veins that commonly
characterise vein‐type epithermal systems (see Section 4.6). The lithostructural character of fault rocks
reflects factors including host rock rheology and mineralogy, timing of movement relative to
hydrothermal events, the type and intensity of alteration present, strain rate, and magnitude of fault
displacement (Curewitz and Carson, 1997; de Paola et al., 2008; Micklethwaite, 2009; Micklethwaite et
al., 2010; Davatzes and Hickman, 2010).

Faults that form at shallow crustal levels range from narrow slip surfaces with minor fault‐generated
fillings, to broader zones with a central core composed of cataclasite or clay gouge fault rocks flanked by
anastomosing or branching slip surfaces (Caine et al., 1996; Wibberley et al., 2008). Both the fault core
zone and surrounding damage zone commonly widen and increase in structural complexity with
increasing fault displacement (Kim et al., 2004; Peacock et al., 2017). The damage zone morphology and
width also varies with position along a fault corridor, widening in areas of strain accommodation at fault
steps and bends, as well as fault relay zones, intersections, and terminations (Peacock et al., 2017). In
epithermal environments, these damage zones focus hydrothermal fluids and often host extensional vein
sets and stockworks peripheral to the main fault structures (Blenkinsop, 2008; Faulkner et al., 2010).

Faulting in shallow crustal settings is accommodated through cataclastic flow, a process that includes
inter‐ and intra‐granular fracturing, frictional sliding on fractures and grain boundaries, and
grain/fragment rotation (Sibson, 1977, 1986; Knipe, 1989; Stewart and Hancock, 1990). These
mechanisms result in characteristic fault rocks as material is progressively crushed and ground along the
fault (Engelder, 1974; Scholz, 1987). The most common classification schemes for fault rocks divide them
into unlithified (incohesive) and lithified (cohesive) classes, which are then subdivided according to matrix
grain size and the relative abundance of fragments and matrix (Higgins, 1971; Sibson, 1977; Woodcock
and Mort, 2008). Subdivisions of incohesive rocks include fault breccia and gouge, depending on relative
proportions of matrix and clasts. For cohesive fault rocks, subdivisions include cataclasite or
protocataclasite to fine‐grained cataclasite or ultracataclasite, depending on the degree of grain size
reduction due to comminution (Sibson, 1977; Woodcock and Mort, 2008). Although cataclasite is not
normally present at crustal levels of <4 km depth (Sibson, 1977), it may form in the epithermal
 15

environment due to the elevated temperatures along fluid upflow zones or from the hydrothermal
cementation of material initially formed as fault breccia or gouge (Figure 8; Berger et al., 2003; Gülyüz et
al., 2018).

Fault rocks often contain banding defined by variations in composition, grain size, and matrix abundance.
This banding forms as a result of different intensities of comminution, cementation, and entrainment of
wall rock and vein material, often generated during multiple episodes of slip and inter‐slip cementation
(de Paola et al., 2008; Wibberley et al., 2008; Gülyüz et al., 2018). Banded textures may be enhanced by
foliation formed through pressure solution (Renard et al., 2000; Gratier et al., 2002), where preferential
dissolution of quartz and carbonate grains leaves residual planar fabrics and stylolites defined by less
soluble clay minerals, sulfide minerals, or carbonaceous material (Figure 8D, E, F). The presence of
pressure solution fabrics in cataclastic fault rocks implies syn‐hydrothermal creep of the hosting fault
system between pulses of brittle displacement (cf. Wintsch et al., 1995; Gratier et al., 2002).

In intermediate‐ and low‐sulfidation veins, cataclasite and ultracataclasite can intermingle with and
overprint vein stages, forming narrow bands along vein‐wall rock contacts (typically in the footwall;
Figures 8E, F) or between vein stages (Figures 8B, D) (e.g., Sporli and Cargill, 2011; Gülyüz et al., 2018).
They also occur as tabular zones coring faults in high‐sulfidation deposits (Figure 8C). Cataclasite fault
rocks in epithermal settings typically have a grey to cream colored matrix when unoxidized (Figure 8A, C,
D), with the grey matrix tinted by fine‐grained pyrite or very fine‐grained recrystallized quartz and
comminuted rock flour‐rich matrix. Where subject to supergene oxidation, this matrix may transform to
a brown or red‐brown color in which Fe‐oxides replace hypogene pyrite.

Syn‐mineralization timing of cataclasite is often indicated by the presence of abundant vein fragments
within a hydrothermally cemented fault rock matrix (Figures 8A, B), or by the successive overprinting of
vein and cataclasite (Figures 8F, G). In these environments, co‐mingling of vein fillings and cataclasite is
common with gradational boundaries between the two marked by variations in hydrothermal mineral fill
(typically quartz, carbonate minerals, or sulfides). Alternatively, composite vein‐cataclastic breccia may
result from successive overprinting of vein formation and cataclastic brecciation (Figures 8F, G). These
patterns imply that fault rocks were repeatedly formed and overprinted by vein filling, associated with
cycling between periods of faulting‐induced brecciation and aseismic hydrothermal precipitation (Jebrak,
1997). Late‐ to post‐mineral periods of faulting may result in gouge‐filled fault surfaces overprinting and
reactivating earlier cataclasite and vein fillings (e.g., Micklethwaite, 2009; Paez et al., 2011).

4.3.1 Kinematic interpretation of syn‐mineralization faults

Interpreting the kinematic development of faults and veins during the mineralization process is crucial to
predicting the locations, orientations, and morphology of sites of dilation that control the district‐scale
position of orebodies and their internal oreshoots. Common tools for the kinematic analysis of faults
include features formed within the fault rocks themselves during slip episodes, and features external to
the fault zone (Figures 9, 10). Some of these are linked directly to the hydrothermal system (e.g., vein
orientations) whereas others rely on features not related to hydrothermal activity (e.g., displaced
markers) and require independent evidence to establish timing relative to mineralization.

a) Displacement of geological markers: Offsets of geological features, such as stratigraphic contacts,

intrusions or pre‐existing faults or folds, provide a useful but often under‐utilized fault movement
indicator. Linear features (fold hinge lines of a specific surface, cylindrical intrusions, intersection
lines of two planar features) are most useful in that they provide unique piercing points where they
 16

intersect the fault plane, thereby constraining net slip magnitude and direction. Planar markers
such as stratigraphic contacts provide only apparent displacement, and must be combined with
other indicators of slip direction to determine net slip. Growth faults may display diminishing
displacement of stratigraphic units up section (Figure 5A). Geological offset markers should be used
with caution when interpreting syn‐mineralization fault kinematics, because they provide only a
record of net displacement since the inception of the fault and the formation of the marker feature,
and may include displacement increments pre‐ or post‐dating the hydrothermal system.
b) Folding of stratified units: Fault‐related monoclinal folding or the rotation and tilting of layering in
the hangingwall and/or footwall adjacent to faults due to fault propagation and/or frictional drag
(forced) folding provides an indication of apparent shear sense and magnitude (Jackson et al., 2006;
Trippanera et al., 2015; Coleman et al., 2019).
c) Slickenlines and other tool marks on fault slip surfaces: Slickenlines include both wear‐induced
striations (Figures 9A, 10) and mineral growth features (slickenfibres; Figure 10) that develop on slip
surfaces parallel to the slip direction during increments of fault displacement (Petit, 1987; Doblas,
1998). Although these are the most common form of slip direction and shear sense indicator utilized
by geologists, slickenlines can easily be overprinted and new sets can form during late increments
of even minor (millimeter scale) displacement of fault surfaces (e.g., Means, 1987). Slickenlines
consequently are not always reliable in determining the dominant or syn‐mineralization slip vector
on faults, and should be compared to independent kinematic indicators. Generally, more
pronounced and deeper striations, slickenlines associated with films of quartz or carbonate minerals
(Caine et al., 2010), or slickenfibres (slickolites) which contain fibrous minerals (quartz, calcite)
suggesting syn‐hydrothermal growth, are more reliable indicators than weakly developed striations.
Linear corrugations on fault surfaces with amplitudes of centimeters to meters (Figure 10), also
termed fault mullions, result from significant displacement parallel to slip direction, and are often
parallel to dominant slickenlines. Other features developed on fault surfaces that provide indicators
of shear sense include: a) ridge‐in‐groove structures, comprising elongate striae and ridges
extending from irregularities or lithic fragments entrained on the slip surface which taper in the
direction of slip (Figure 9B), and b) linear or undulating fractures on fault slip surfaces that include
chatter marks and intersections with extensional or synthetic fractures, which form at high angle to
slip direction (Petit, 1987; Figure 10).
d) Oblique foliation and Riedel shear fabrics in cataclasite and gouge: Penetrative foliation fabrics (P
foliation of Logan et al., 1979) formed by processes of compaction‐ and/or shear‐induced alignment
of phyllosilicate/clay minerals and pressure solution are common features of cataclasite and gouge
(Figures 8E, 8F, 9D, 9E). These fabrics often are accompanied by synthetic Riedel shear fractures (R1
or R'; Figures 9D, 9E), that are oblique to and accommodate slip between fault planes in a sense
synthetic to that of the overall fault zone (Figure 9; Logan et al., 1979; Rutter et al., 1986; Dresen,
1991; Faulkner et al., 2003; de Paola et al., 2008). Both Riedel shear fractures and P foliations
intersect fault slip surfaces in an intersection line that is approximately perpendicular to the slip
direction, and the asymmetry of these features relative to the fault plane indicates shear sense
(Chester and Logan, 1987; Faulkner et al., 2003). When occurring in foliated cataclasite in association
with epithermal veins, or cemented and preserved by silicification or adularia‐quartz alteration along
mineralized faults, these features can provide a reliable indicator of fault kinematics at the time of
mineralization (e.g., Gülyüz et al., 2018). Synthetic Riedel shear fractures are close in orientation to
and may be partially filled by extensional veinlets developed during fault displacement, constraining
their syn‐hydrothermal timing. Conversely, P foliation preserved in poorly‐lithified fault gouge may
result from late, post‐mineralization fault movement.
e) Vein and fault‐fracture geometry and character: Orientations of extensional veins formed by hydraulic
fracturing are controlled by the local principal stress axes (Cosgrove, 1995; Sibson, 1996), and when
 17

forming in sheeted sets (Figure 11A to 11F) can provide indicators of paleostress at the time of
individual vein‐forming episodes. Their line of intersection with coeval fault surfaces is approximately
perpendicular to slip direction, and can thus be utilized to estimate the slip vector at the time of vein
formation (Blenkinsop, 2008; Gülyüz et al., 2018; Figures 7, 9C, 10, 11F). Similarly, if faults develop
as conjugate sets, the angular relationships between faults can be used to infer slip direction and
sense even where direct kinematic indicators are lacking (Blenkinsop, 2008). In geometrically
complex intersecting vein networks, the relationship between dilatancy and orientation of different
elements of coeval fault‐vein networks can also be utilized to calculate opening vectors and implied
slip direction, as is demonstrated by Nortje et al. (2006). Caution must be exercised where extension
veins exploit pre‐existing discontinuities or have orientations reflecting local variations in paleostress
orientations (e.g. Blenkinsop, 2008), as described in section 5.2.6 below. If showing preferred
orientations, joints ‐ which by definition lack vein fill or any offset across them (Peacock et al., 2016)
‐ may also be utilized to understand fault kinematics if their timing and relationships to increments
of fault displacement and hydrothermal activity can be established. Otherwise, joints provide limited
kinematic information, and unless altered, extensive joints generally post‐date hydrothermal activity.

The characteristics of different epithermal environments will in part determine which types of kinematic
indicators are most likely to be preserved. For example, in intermediate‐ and low‐sulfidation systems,
veins often overprint indicators formed within fault rock, and consequently extensional vein orientation,
fault geometry, and stratigraphic separations provide the best indicators of the kinematic framework. In
high‐sulfidation deposits fault rocks may be overprinted by dikes and phreatic breccias or obscured by
intense silicification, and it is generally only late hydrothermal or post‐mineralization fault strands that
preserve kinematic information.

Kinematic interpretation may also be complicated by temporal changes in local or regional stress states
during the lifetime of a hydrothermal system, which may be manifested as overprinting sets of differently‐
oriented mineralized veins and faults, or variations in kinematic indicators associated with different
mineralization stages (e.g., Micklethwaite, 2009; Sporli and Cargill, 2011; Micklethwaite and Silitonga,
2011). These changes may result from a) local (orebody‐scale) stress variations related to interaction
between propagating faults (Figure 13B), b) rotation of fault blocks, c) intrusion of dikes or magma at
depth, or d) far field conditions such as changes in arc kinematics. Because epithermal veins typically
form in environments of low differential stress, temporal or transient variations in deposit‐scale
paleostress conditions are likely common, and may alter fluid pathways and positions or styles of
mineralization as the system evolves (Berger et al., 2003; Micklethwaite, 2009).

4.4 Hydrothermal alteration effects on structural styles in vein deposits

Hydrothermal alteration within the epithermal environment can profoundly modify rock rheological
properties, thereby influencing deformation processes, structural permeability, and hydrothermal fluid
circulation (Davatzes and Hickman, 2010). Alteration processes can both enhance structural permeability
by creating zones more susceptible to brittle processes such as microcracking and brecciation, (Curewitz
and Karson, 1997; Sibson, 2001; Woodcock et al., 2007), and destroy permeability through mineral
precipitation, pore‐space compaction, and formation of gouge within fault zones (Woodcock et al., 2007).
Here we discuss these processes in intermediate‐ and low‐sulfidation deposits; where they are closely
linked to the strong structural control on ore distribution and deposit style.

In fault hosted intermediate‐ and low‐sulfidation vein deposits, thermal zoning of alteration and vein
minerals formed in hydrothermal conduits influences the cohesive strength of fault rocks, and dictates
 18

the positions where faults have sufficient strength to form and maintain extensional fractures and central
veins (Figures 12, 13). In these deposits and their modern geothermal analogs, adularia‐quartz‐illite ±
chlorite wallrock alteration is localized in the inner, higher temperature (200‐250°C) part of the central
upflow zone proximal to the ore controlling structure (Figure 5; Figure 12 C, F; Davatzes and Hickman,
2010; Heap et al., 2020). This adularia‐dominant alteration passes outward and upward to peripheral
argillic alteration with illite, smectite, and calcite/carbonate assemblages formed in the presence of cooler
(100‐200°C), CO2‐rich steam‐heated waters (Cooke and Simmons, 2000; Wallier, 2009; Hedenquist et al.,
2000; Simmons and Browne, 2000; Davatzes and Hickman, 2010; Figure 12B, D, E).

Adularia‐dominant alteration commonly forms pale grey, tan, or green‐grey inner envelopes to veins and
syn‐hydrothermal faults at ore levels (e.g., Buchanan, 1980, 1981; Dreier, 1982; McDonald, 1990; Diakow
et al., 1991; Eng et al., 1996; Rebagliati et al., 1998; Leavitt and Arehart, 2005; Gemmell, 2007; Warren et
al., 2007; Wallier, 2009; Paez et al., 2011; Rhys et al., 2017; John et al., 2018). This alteration is often
under‐recognized due to the difficulty in identifying adularia which is often fine‐grained and mistaken for
quartz (silicification), but can be recognized using geochemical and Na‐cobaltinitrite staining techniques
(Warren et al., 2007; Barker et al., 2019). The inner adularia‐dominant alteration varies from envelopes
<20 cm wide on mineralized structures, to broad zones tens of meters wide that envelop fault damage
zones and fracture networks in areas of branching veins or broader vein zones, such as in the Waihi district
(Hughes and Barker, 2017; Barker et al., 2019; Figure 5A). Silicification is locally developed in upper levels
of intermediate‐ and low‐sulfidation deposits and may be transitional to adularia‐dominant alteration
(Buchanan, 1981; Albinson et al., 2001; Simmons and Browne, 2000; John et al., 2018). The competent,
hard nature of these alteration types, and of associated quartz‐dominant vein fill, makes them susceptible
to brittle failure (Figure 7F), promoting maintenance of fracture permeability within the principal vein
system during repeated rupture events (Heap et al., 2020).

The lower temperature clay‐dominant domains that form peripheral to upflow zones represent weak
areas which are susceptible to generation of gouge along fault planes (Figure 13). These gouge‐rich zones
inhibit fracture formation and promote ductility, minimizing permeability and dilatancy and localizing fluid
flow and preferential ore shoot development within the main fluid conduits (e.g., Chester and Logan,
1987; Caine et al., 2010; Rowland and Simmons, 2012). As alteration progresses with evolution of the
hydrothermal system, variations in alteration style may consequently accentuate rapid transitions
between poorly‐mineralized, impermeable clay‐rich fault segments with oreshoots in dilational upflow
zones where fracture permeability in is maintained in competent adularia‐dominant alteration (Figure 13;
Curewitz and Karson, 1997).

Similar fluid focussing may be associated with gently‐dipping lenticular clay alteration zones common in
the upper discharge or outflow zones above many low‐ and intermediate‐sulfidation epithermal vein
systems. These may represent steam‐heated argillic alteration above the paleo‐water table (Ebert and
Rye, 1997; Sillitoe, 2015), or clay caps concealing deeper fault‐vein systems, as exemplified in the Midas
district, Nevada (Goldstrand and Schmidt, 2000), and at the Pachuca (Dreier, 1982), Fresnillo (Gemmell et
al., 1988; Albinson, 1988) and Palmarejo districts of Mexico (Figure 12, E; Rhys et al., 2017). Clay alteration
zones may be lithologically controlled; for example, permeable volcanic and sedimentary units are altered
to clay above less reactive, lower premeability host rocks at Hishikari (Izawa et al., 1990; Sekine et al.,
2002) and Hollister (Wallace, 2003); similarly, blind veins occur beneath clay altered tuff horizons in the
Waihi district (e.g., Correnso: Hobbins et al., 2012). Once formed, these clay zones may form an upper
limit to fracture propagation and vein formation due to their low shear strength, enhancing lateral fluid
flow within the more permeable underlying rocks (Facca and Tonani, 1967; Dempsey et al., 2012). Faults
with higher displacement may breach the near‐surface argillic environment, allowing venting into
 19

hotsprings and sinter in topographic lows, possibly accompanied by hydrothermal eruption breccia
deposits (Sherlock et al., 1995; Sillitoe, 2015). Depending on the depth of erosion into the epithermal
system, faults above productive veins may be erosionally recessive within clay caps (Figure 12D), or may
form resistant ribs at levels with silicification and/or adularia‐dominant alteration (Figure 12F; Wallier,
2009).

Fluctuations in the level of the paleowater table through variations in the flux of hydrothermal fluid flow,
or progressive erosion and topographic changes may result in telescoping of steam heated clay alteration
into upper parts of the vein system (Sillitoe, 2015). These clays will overprint hypogene adularia‐illite
quartz assemblages, potentially decreasing structural permeability (Ebert and Rye, 1997). Late in the
activity of the hydrothermal system, diminishing fluid flux is associated with downward penetration of
CO2‐rich, cooler groundwater, resulting in the common paragenetically late infilling of central parts of
veins with calcite or Fe‐Mn carbonate species and clay alteration of adularia during collapse of the
hydrothermal cell (Simmons, 1991; Simmons et al., 2000).

4.5 Seismicity, fluid pressure cycling, and vein formation

Compositional and textural layering in epithermal veins is evidence for formation during multiple fluid
pulses. Textural features of banded veins, as well as recent studies of modern geothermal systems (e.g.
Louis et al., 2019), imply that these pulses of fluid injection are linked to seismic events along controlling
fault systems (Jebrak, 1997; Henley and Berger, 2000; Sibson, 2001; Woodcock et al., 2006, 2007; Zhang
et al., 2008; Caine et al., 2010; Cox and Munroe, 2016; Gülyüz et al., 2018; Peacock et al., 2019; Cox, this
volume).

4.5.1 Elevated fluid pressures and hydraulic fracturing in epithermal systems

Measurements from active geothermal systems indicate that at depths analogous to epithermal
environments, fluid pressures are at or slightly above hydrostatic levels, due to the open connection of
fault‐fracture networks to the surface (Fournier, 1991, 1999; Rowland and Simmons, 2012; Figure 3).
Hydrodynamic and suprahydrostatic fluid pressures, typically about 10‐40% greater than cold hydrostatic
pressures, have been documented in active geothermal fields (e.g., Rowland and Simmons, 2012;
Davatzes and Hickman, 2005; Simmons et al., 2007) and may promote hydraulic fracturing and fault‐valve
activity (Cox, 2016; and this volume). Fluid inclusion studies from epithermal deposits, including
McLaughlin, California (Sherlock et al., 1995), Round Mountain, Nevada (Henry et al., 1997), Sombrerete‐
Colorada, Mexico (Albinson, 1988), Specogna, British Columbia (Rebagliati et al., 1998), Manantial Espejo,
Argentina (Wallier, 2009), and Favona, New Zealand (Rhys and Keall, 2008) also document fluid pressures
in excess of hydrostatic values, based on constraints provided by depth below paleowater table indicators
such as the local presence of coeval sinter, low temperature blankets of water table silicification and syn‐
vein stratigraphic units. Variations between fluid inclusion populations in the same vein system in some
deposits indicate that while hydrostatic conditions dominate, supra‐hydrostatic to near‐lithostatic
conditions may have prevailed locally and/or transiently during development of some vein stages (e.g.,
André‐Meyer et al., 2002: Apacheta, Peru). Thus, assumptions of hydrostatic fluid pressure gradients in
the interpretation of fluid inclusion studies from epithermal systems may lead to overestimation of
paleodepths of mineralization.

Suprahydostatic fluid conditions promote fluid pressure‐induced dilation of existing fracture, vein and
fault surfaces and hydraulic fracturing, even at shallow depths (Sibson, 1987; Atkinson, 1987; Cosgrove,
1995; Micklethwaite, 2009). Hydraulic fracturing as a mechanism of vein formation occurs when fluid
 20

pressure exceeds the minimum principal stress plus the rock tensile strength (Pf > 3 + T, where Pf is the
pore fluid pressure and T is the tensile strength of the rock; Phillips, 1972; Cosgrove, 1995). This process
is common under conditions of low differential stress (<4T) which inhibit formation of conjugate shear
fractures (Secor, 1965; Phillips, 1972; Sibson, 1996, 2000). Hydraulic fractures form perpendicular to the
3 principal stress axis (Cosgrove, 1995; Blenkinsop, 2008), providing useful indicators of the local
paleostress state for kinematic analysis. Transient near‐lithostatic fluid pressures may induce hydraulic
fracturing and the formation of sub‐horizontal extension veins in association with steeply‐dipping vein
sets, as is observed in some epithermal deposits (Figure 14A; e.g., Comstock, Nevada, Efemcukuru, Turkey,
and Waihi, New Zealand). Under conditions of very low differential stress, extension veins formed
through hydraulic fracturing will have orientations independent of, or only weakly controlled by, principal
stress axes. These may form stockwork zones of interconnected extensional veins lacking a strong
preferred orientation, or zones of irregular vein matrix breccia with wallrock fragments (Jebrak, 1997;
Woodcock et al., 2007; Caine et al., 2010).

4.5.2 Fluid pressure cycling in fault zones

In the seismogenic regime (generally above 15 km depth) fault displacement is accommodated

predominantly by stick‐slip behaviour (Byerlee, 1990, 1993; Sibson, 1984) with inter‐seismic periods of
stress accumulation punctuated by seismic slip events (Sibson, 2001; Woodcock et al., 2007; Caine et al.,
2010). The continuous or cyclical activation of fault‐fracture networks enables sufficient focused fluid
flow over the life of a hydrothermal system to form an ore deposit (Sibson, 2001; Cox et al., 2001;
Micklethwaite et al., 2010; Cox, 2016, this volume). As proposed by Sibson (1986, 1987, 2000, 2001), this
cyclic process of stress buildup and relief contributes to episodic fluid flow and fluid redistribution along
faults through several mechanisms (Figure 15):
a) Mean stress cycling (Figure 15A): In normal fault regimes a bulk dilational field forms around the fault
zone during interseismic periods, permitting ingress of fluids into vertical fractures and pore spaces
(Sibson, 2000). On rupturing, the mean and the least principal stresses increase rapidly, leading to a
transitory increase in pore fluid pressure and expulsion of fluids along the fault and through extension
and shear fractures. This creates lateral gradients in hydraulic head that induce significant fluid
redistribution, a process which has been proposed to explain protracted post‐seismic fluid discharge
from faults in modern tectonic settings (e.g., Borah Peak earthquake, Idaho: Muir‐Wood & King,
1993; Muir‐Wood, 1994).
b) Suction pump effects (Figure 15B): Coseismic dilation at jogs, relays, and other irregularities in a
hydrostatically pressured fault system creates void spaces and a rapid drop in fluid pressure in the
dilated area (Sibson, 1987). Rapid fluid migration from adjacent parts of the fault and peripheral
damage zone into the dilational site may result in implosion brecciation. Post‐failure microseismicity
continues within the dilational jog and along the non‐slipped segments of the fault, relieving strain
energy buildup before a return to pre‐failure conditions with hydrostatic fluid pressure levels.
c) Fault‐valve activity (Figure 15C): Fluids ascending a fault network during aseismic periods may pond
below an interval where mineral precipitation, impermeable gouge, or irregularities in the fault zone
throttle or block fluid flow (Sibson, 2001). Fluid pressures below the seal may build to supra‐
hydrostatic to lithostatic levels during aseismic periods, driving fluid infiltration into adjacent
wallrocks and the formation of extensional veins, while above the seal, fluid pressures will be near
hydrostatic levels (Sibson, 1987, 2001; Cox et al., 2001; Cox, this volume). Periodic breaching of the
sealed interval, triggered by fault rupture or by fluid overpressuring of the sealed interval, results in
rapid depressurization and upward transport of fluids along the controlling fault. Fluid pressures
subsequently equalize to near hydrostatic levels, before precipitation of hydrothermal minerals
induces repetition of this process (Cox, this volume). Transient conditions of fluid overpressuring
 21

implied from fluid inclusion studies and field relationships suggest that conditions permissible for
fault valve activity occur in some epithermal deposits. Hydrodynamic effects can also maintain fluid
pathways within choked, low permeability fault‐fracture conduits through explosive hydrofracture in
shallow levels of the hydrothermal system (Hedenquist and Henley, 1985; Browne and Lawless,
2001).

The processes described above maintain or allow re‐establishment of permeable fracture networks
between major slip events, (Henley and Berger, 2000; Micklethwaite, 2009), resulting in feed‐back
between precipitation of hydrothermal minerals that seal fluid pathways, and active deformation that
restores permeability. The cyclic fluid pressure changes related to these processes may induce
brecciation, flashing, vigorous adiabatic boiling, and precipitation of gangue minerals and precious metals
during phase separation and loss of dissolved gases (primarly CO2 and H2S; Henley and Berger, 2000; Caine
et al., 2010; Cox, 2016; Cox and Munroe, 2016). This can occur at different levels in hydrothermal systems
as the controlling fault systems propagate and expand, and as sealing and seismicity occur within different
parts of fault networks (Micklethwaite et al., 2010; Cox, this volume).

Fluid pressure cycling can be particularly effective at localizing fluid flow and vein development where
fault irregularities such as relays, dilational jogs and steps, and terminations focus strain or arrest
movement after major fault rupture events (Micklethwaite, 2009; see section 5.2). Fluid injection
experiments along faults and aftershock patterns after earthquakes suggest that in these areas, hydraulic
fracturing and dilation is associated with aftershock micro‐seismicity (Cox, 2016). This hydraulic fracturing
may be facilitated by ponding of overpressured fluids near the arrest site, where new fracture
permeability generated during the preceding rupture diminishes, inhibiting fluid flow (Sibson, 2001; Cox,
this volume). This in turn promotes further fracture propagation and localized dilational events a
controlling faults and in peripheral damage zones (Cox, 2016, and this volume). Outside of arrest sites,
microseismicity may also propagate along the non‐slipped sections of a fault, accommodating incremental
displacement between major rupture events as fluids migrate through the fault network. These processes
may contribute to localized dilation and vein‐filling episodes along the fault‐vein network that
incrementally expand the vein system between major rupture events. Hydraulic fractures and extensional
veins formed during these inter‐seismic episodes may vary in orientation, reflecting local variations in the
orientation of paleostress axes due to stress perturbations at fault irregularities (Figure 14B, C; Blenkinsop,
2008; Faulkner et al., 2010; Gülyüz et al., 2018; Cox, this volume). Extensional veins may also form parallel
to fault surfaces due to the rapid drop in fluid pressure in dilational fault segments at rupture, associated
with implosion of voids and extension of the immediate wallrock to the fault (Figure 14C; Cox, this
volume).

4.6 Epithermal veins: textures and formation mechanisms

Veins are broadly defined as tabular or sheet‐like bodies formed by dilation and infilling of extensional
fractures, faults, or hybrid fractures (Sibson, 2000; Woodcock et al., 2007). Extensional and fault‐fill veins
can occur in close spatial association in epithermal systems, and can be gradational in style and share
many compositional and textural features. Despite these gradations, distinguishing between fault‐fill and
extensional end members is important in interpreting the kinematic development of epithermal deposits
and the continuity of ore‐bearing structures.

Extensional veins in epithermal systems occur most abundantly as arrays of narrow (usually 0.2‐to‐50‐cm‐
wide) veins and veinlets near the tips of fault‐fill veins, and more rarely as vein sets distal to faults
(Blenkinsop, 2008; Figure 11). They often are characterized by syntaxial textures with elongate to
 22

prismatic (comb textured) or crustiform‐colloform growth perpendicular to vein walls, and may have
symmetrical layering flanking central voids and drusy lenticular cavities (Figure 11C; e.g., Gülyüz et al.,
2018). Extensional veins may display granular texture and inequant fabric growth where rapid dilation
results in fracture opening faster than mineral precipitation (Woodcock et al., 2007). Vein breccia with
hydrothermal mineral matrix occurs locally in larger extension veins, but is generally single‐phase and
localized in contrast to the more widespread and polyphase breccias that are characteristic of fault‐fill
veins. Extension veins often occur in sets of multiple generations, with a mineral paragenesis similar to
that in nearby fault‐fill veins.

Fault‐fill veins are usually the largest and most continuous veins in epithermal districts. Because the
hosting faults often accommodate successive increments of displacement during and after vein formation,
fault‐fill veins are texturally diverse and record alternating infilling and brittle deformation events.
Textures may include crustiform or colloform banded quartz‐dominated material deposited as gradual
open space filling, alternating with hydrothermal breccia fill and cataclastic breccia formed during
increments of displacement and associated dilation (Dong et al., 1995; Camprubí and Albinson, 2007;
Moncada et al., 2012). In sites of high dilation, vein fill may overprint cataclastic fault rock to the degree
that no fault rock remains, even for faults with large stratigraphic offsets.

Field relationships, textural characteristics, and continuous paragenetic ore‐stage sequences in veins
indicate that episodes of focused and high flux fluid flow occur over relatively short timescales of 102 to
103 years (Cox and Munroe, 2016). Such timescales also are implied by the duration of high fluid flux
events in modern geothermal systems (Henley and Berger, 2000; Simmons and Brown, 2007; Milicich et
al., 2018; Louis et al., 2019). Continuous filling cycles may be confined to individual veins, but as fluid
pathways evolve across a district, additional vein systems may evolve with similar cycles associated with
localized increments of fault displacement and vein propagation. This may occur repeatedly during
broader durations of hydrothermal activity across different veins in a district (e.g., Tayoltita: Enríquez et
al., 2018) that define the lifetime (105 to 106 years) of the hosting hydrothermal system (Henley and
Berger, 2000; Rowland and Simmons, 2012).

4.6.1 Vein textures as indicators of structural process and evolving fluid injection episodes

Epithermal veins typically have sharp wallrock contacts and layered textures formed by incremental
infilling of open fractures during multiple pulses of fluid injection (Figures 6, 16). Within vein‐hosted
epithermal deposits, often only certain generations of vein fill or vein sets introduce Au‐Ag mineralization
(Ferguson, 1927; Camprubí and Albinson, 2007; Moncada et al., 2012), so understanding vein paragenesis
and structural control on individual vein generations is important in assessing Au‐Ag grade distribution. In
low‐ and intermediate‐sulfidation epithermal districts, most veins are filled with a combination of quartz,
adularia, carbonate minerals, Mn‐silicates, clay/phyllosilicate minerals (illite, smectite, chlorite, mixed
layer clays), sulfides (pyrite, sphalerite, galena, chalcopyrite, tetrahedrite, and Ag, Pb and Cu ‐ sulfosalt
phases), and selenides. Higher sulfide and Mn‐silicate contents are more common in intermediate‐
sulfidation systems, particularly at increasing depth, than in low‐sulfidation deposits (Hedenquist et al.,
2000; Simmons et al., 2005; Camprubí and Albinson, 2007; Clark and Gemmell, 2018). Veins in high‐
sulfidation deposits generally consist of pyrite ± enargite ± base metal sulfides associated with late stages
of disseminated mineralization, or paragenetically late quartz‐sulfide ± alunite ± barite transitional to
intermediate‐sulfidation assemblages (Arribas, 1995; Simmons et al., 2005).

The complexity and diversity of vein fillings in low‐ and intermediate‐sulfidation epithermal deposits
varies spatially with respect to dilational sites along faults. Thinner veins with low textural diversity and
 23

low sulfide content are common distal to or on the low‐grade margins of ore zones, whereas high‐grade
veins and oreshoots contain broader textural and mineralogical variations with a higher number of vein
generations (Figures 6, 16, 17 e.g., Dong et al., 1995; Camprubí and Albinson, 2007; Moncada et al., 2012).
Ore‐bearing vein stages typically display an upward decrease in quartz crystallinity and sulfide content,
reflecting thermal and compositional evolution of hydrothermal fluids as they move along structural
conduits (Albinson et al., 2001; Simmons et al., 2005; John et al., 2018). Mineral‐filling sequences may
vary between veins or even within oreshoots in the same vein in response to temporal evolution of fluid
pathways due to migrating fault rupture episodes and localized hydrothermal sealing of permeability (cf.
Cox, this volume).

Where discernible, vein filling sequences may occur as a) inward‐facing symmetrical growth where older
stages are deposited on vein margins and younger stages in vein cores, particularly common in steeply‐
dipping veins (e.g., Figure 6A; Ferguson, 1927; Buchanan, 1980; Milesi et al., 1999; Wurst, 2004; Echavarria
et al., 2006; Camprubí and Albinson, 2007), b) unidirectional filling in veins with shallower inclination,
implying incremental upward gravitationally controlled growth (e.g., parts of Guanajuato Veta Madre), or
c) multiple crosscutting or sub‐parallel to lenticular discrete vein and breccia generations which
collectively fill the full width of the vein (Figure 6C; e.g., Chauvet et al., 2006; Clark and Gemmell, 2018).
All styles may be present in the same vein system, with symmetric fill more common in dilational vein
segments and larger extensional veins or dilational oreshoots. Multiple crosscutting vein generations are
most common in fault‐fill veins, typically accompanied by breccia phases, but also occur as sets of closely‐
spaced extensional and mixed‐mode vein sets. Cataclasite may form bands or occur as breccia fragments
within dilational vein stages, recording increments of fault displacement between episodes of vein filling.

Ore‐bearing (precious metal bearing) vein stages are commonly preceded by locally voluminous sulfide‐
poor white massive to crustiform‐colloform quartz (e.g., Comstock Lode, Nevada: Hudson, 2003; Aurora,
Nevada: Vikre et al., 2015; Waihi, N.Z., parts of Kupol, Russia, and Midas, Nevada: Figures 6A,6D ; Paez et
al., 2011; Shimizu, 2014; Gülyüz et al., 2018; Paola et al., 2018), massive, monomictic chaotic to mosaic
quartz matrix breccia (Figures 6D, 17B; Clark and Gemmell, 2018), or Mn‐silicate mineral ± pyrite filling
episodes (e.g., Rozalia: Kubac et al., 2018). These early stages have been interpreted to form during early
stages of faulting and fracture development when hydraulic continuity of the system was first established
(Jebrak 1997; Woodcock et al., 2007; Caine et al., 2010). Pre‐ore material within faults may also include
polymictic breccia with rock flour matrix on the margins of dikes, probably formed by phreatomagmatic
interaction with early hydrothermal or meteoric fluids.

Crustiform‐colloform banded vein sequences

Crustiform‐colloform banded quartz‐adularia‐sulfide‐clay ± chlorite ± carbonate vein fill is the principal

ore‐bearing component in many extensional and fault‐fill epithermal veins. Much of the Au and Ag
content is concentrated in a restricted number of crustiform bands that comprise only a small part of
these veins (Milesi et al., 1999; Camprubí and Albinson, 2007; John et al., 2018). Colloform chalcedonic
laminations may imply a colloidal, silica gel precursor (Hedenquist and Arribas, 2017). Together with
adularia and lattice textured calcite, the latter which is often prseudomorphed by later replacement
quartz, these features are indicators of boiling and cooling of the hydrothermal fluid that may be
associated with precious metal precipitation (Simmons and Browne, 2000; Simmons et al., 2005; Shimizu,
2014). Sets of bands with common mineralogical and textural characteristics may form during and
following individual seismic episodes along the hosting structures (Gemmell et al., 1988; Micklethwaite,
2009; John et al., 2018; Cox, this volume). Within these, individual oscillatory lamina may be the products
 24

of the hydrodynamic effects during energetic two‐phase flow (Henley and Berger, 2000; Simmons and
Browne, 2000).

Most commonly, both precious metal and sulfide content is elevated in early ore stages, suggesting early
saline and hotter fluids followed by progressively diminishing metal budget and retrograde thermal
conditions (e.g., Buchanan, 1980; Henley and Berger, 2000; Camprubí et al., 2001; Camprubí and Albinson,
2007: e.g., Waihi, Julietta, Portovelo, and low‐sulfidation deposits such as Midas, Hishikari, and Kupol;
Figures 16A, B, E, F). Ore‐bearing stages typically commence with colloform‐crustiform layering defined
by alternating lamina of quartz, sulfides, adularia, and chlorite or clay minerals (Bobis et al., 1995; Dong
et al., 1995; Camprubí and Albinson, 2007; Moncada et al., 2012; Shimizu, 2014; Kubac et al., 2018). These
may overgrow pre‐ore barren quartz stages or occur as symmetric lamina on the margins of veins
("ginguro" texture; Shimizu, 2014) (e.g., Favona, Midas, parts of Kupol; Hishikari: Izawa et al., 1990: Fig.
6A, Fig. 16A, D). Early sulfide‐rich stages are typically followed by less sulfide rich, well‐laminated
chalcedonic to crystalline quartz‐adularia‐sphalerite‐pyrite‐sulfosalt ± Mn‐silicate ± adularia ± mixed layer
clays + chlorite bands that form the main stage of ore‐bearing mineralization (Figure 16B; John et al.,
2018). In some Mn‐rich vein systems, early sulfide‐poor vein stages accompanied by chalcedonic quartz
± Mn‐silicates are overprinted by Au‐Ag rich vein stages with higher sulfide content and more crystalline
quartz (e.g., Efemcukuru, Turkey: Figure 6C; Pongkor, Indonesia: Milesi et al., 1999; Warmada et al., 2003;
Shila‐Paula and Caylloma, Peru: Chauvet et al., 2006; Echavarria et al., 2006).

Post‐ore vein‐filling stages may include carbonate (calcite and/or Fe‐ or Mn‐carbonate) ± quartz often
associated with bands of amethyst ± fluorite (e.g., Ferguson, 1927; Simmons et al., 1988; Bobis et al.,
1995; Wurst, 2004; John et al., 2018; Paola et al., 2018), or less commonly white quartz (Camprubí and
Albinson, 2007). These stages occur as massive to banded vein fill, or as matrix to polymictic breccia
typically localized in central parts of veins (Figures 6A, 16E, 16F). Carbonate minerals commonly define
lattice textures but are not replaced by quartz as they are in earlier ore‐bearing stages. Late carbonate‐
rich stages can be volumetrically significant, comprising 20% to 60% of vein fill (John et al., 2018). They
are interpreted to form during collapse of the hydrothermal system in its waning phases, drawing down
CO2‐rich, cool groundwater which can boil to produce both massive and lattice calcite vein fill (Simmons
and Christenson, 1994; Simmons et al., 2000) possibly during late increments of movement on the hosting
fault system.

Breccia vein sequences

Crustiform vein phases in intermediate‐ and low‐sulfidation deposits are commonly associated with ore‐
bearing hydrothermal vein breccia occurring as bands cutting early crustiform vein phases or infilling vein
centres, forming during or directly after late crustiform stages (Figures 16E, 16F, 17). These hydrothermal
vein breccias include several varieties that have gradational styles between them, summarized below and
compared to other breccia types in Table 2:

a) Chaotic vein breccias are polymictic breccias with angular to subrounded fragments of earlier vein
stages and locally‐derived wallrock supported in a massive, quartz‐dominated matrix (Figures 16A,
right, 17D, 17E; Gülyüz et al., 2018; Clark and Gemmell, 2018) which may occur paragenetically at the
end of cycles of crustiform vein filling. Much of the precious metal contained in these breccias may
be in vein fragments or in disseminations and blebs of sulfide‐sulfosalt minerals in the breccia matrix.
The often subrounded nature of the fragments suggests fragment‐on‐fragment impact brecciation,
which together with the massive nature of the breccia matrix suggest formation through rapid
dilation as expansion‐related implosion brecciation (Jebrak, 1997). This is especially implied where
 25

ore‐bearing breccias have a chalcedonic quartz matrix intergrown with adularia, consistent with rapid
boiling and precious metal deposition.

b) Cockade breccias consist of polymictic to monomictic fragments mantled by overgrowths of

crustiform vein material with interstitial quartz ± sulfide or Mn‐silicate ± carbonate matrix (Figure
16F, 16G; Genna et al., 1996; Jebrak, 1997; Leroy et al., 2000; Gülyüz et al., 2018; Clark and Gemmell,
2018). They are generally matrix‐supported, although in some the crustiform overgrowths are in
contact with one another but core fragments remain separated (Figures 17F, 17G). These breccias
may contain stratified void‐filling sediments with varying abundances of fragments of chalcedonic or
fine‐grained quartz silt draping or infilling between cockade fragments (Figures 17G, 18A). Sulfides
and sulfosalts occur as disseminations and blebs within the breccia matrix and in crustiform‐
colloform overgrowths, contributing to high precious metal grades. Core fragments may include
wallrock, veins or vein breccias, and cataclasite, indicating reworking of hydrothermal and tectonic
breccias formed earlier in the evolution of the vein system (Figure 6B, 8G). Inclusion of cataclasite
fragments suggests the reworking of pre‐existing fault rock along the cavity margins (Figure 6B).
Cockade mantle textures have been interpreted to form in‐situ growths during seismic agitation of
settled fragments or rolling‐accretion mechanisms (Genna et al., 1996; Frenzel and Woodcock, 2014;
Woodcock et al., 2014). Cox and Munroe (2016) suggest that the occurrence of mantled fragments
with complete rims in contact with one another implies fluidized suspension of fragments in zones
of high fluid flux in dilational fluid cavities during precipitation of the overgrowths.

c) Layered vein breccias are characterized by internal stratification oblique to vein margins defined by
variations in fragment size and composition and alignment of elongate fragments. These breccias
commonly grade into other ore breccia types, and often occur within vein centers between earlier
stages of colloform‐crustiform vein fill. The breccias typically comprise blocky, tabular, and angular
fragments of earlier colloform‐crustiform vein fill, consistent with implosion, gravitational spalling
and/or collapse of material lining open voids, possibly in response to a fault slip episode (Figures 16E,
17C; Jebrak, 1997; Woodcock et al., 2006). Fragment size and matrix proportions are highly variable,
with fragments in larger voids commonly tens of centimeters in maximum dimension and some
breccias containing upward‐fining cycles. Fragments may be cemented by quartz‐adularia‐clay
matrix fill, sometimes with crustiform‐colloform overgrowths of similar composition to the fragments
themselves.

Vein sediments are a subclass of layered vein breccias consisting of shallowly‐dipping, laminated,
locally cross‐bedded sand, silt, or granule‐sized layered deposits infilling voids within veins and
dilational faults. Vein sediments may occupy voids between crustiform vein walls that vary from a
few centimetres to several meters wide (e.g., Bohemia Mining district, Oregon: Schieber and Katsura,
1986; Favona New Zealand: Figure 18B, C, D, Rhys and Keall, 2008; Cerro Blanco, Guatemala:
Mohaseb et al., 2019). They also may fill lenticular voids between hydrothermal breccia fragments
forming part of the breccia matrix and draping over or between fragments (Schieber and Katsura,
1986; Figure 18A, B). Grains in vein sediments comprise chalcedonic quartz probably after
recrystallization of colloidal silica deposited as gel, fine‐grained vein and wallrock detritus, and
locally, sulfide minerals (Platten and Dominy, 2007). Similar to layered vein breccias, vein sediments
record the gravitational filling of voids. In inclined veins, vein sediments may fill upward from the
vein footwall on top of earlier, coarser breccia types formed during initial void opening (Figure 18E).
Their well‐sorted nature and the local presence of cross bedding suggests winnowing and size sorting
in the presence of active fluid flow. Vein sediments that occupy larger voids, where lamination is
planar and not draped on void walls, can indicate paleo‐horizontal at the time of fault dilation and
 26

vein formation (Woodcock et al., 2014). While not always ore‐bearing, vein sediments are indicators
of high fluid flux hydrothermal conduits (Schieber and Katsura, 1986; Cox and Munroe, 2016).

d) Cataclasite and cataclastic‐hydrothermal breccia: Cataclastic fault rocks, as described previously in

section 4.2.1, are often present on vein margins overprinting earlier infill stages, or may be present
as breccia fragments in younger vein generations. Cataclasites commonly display gradational
contacts with hydrothermal breccias either through overprinting of vein breccia phases along slip
surfaces, or through intermingling of matrix. Matrix intermingling may be associated with dilation of
the fault planes that may result from fluid pulses along fault strands due to a change from more
steady state cataclastic flow to fault rupture and rapid fluid incursion (Caine et al., 2010; Woodcock
et al., 2007; Cox and Munroe, 2016).

5.0 STRUCTURAL CONTROLS ON ORE LOCALIZATION IN VEIN‐HOSTED EPITHERMAL DEPOSITS

The preceding sections discussed the physical processes and kinematic frameworks that form the fault
and fracture networks that host epithermal veins and influence the associated textures and paragenetic
patterns. In this section we review the structural localization of mineralization in epithermal systems on
the scale of mineral districts to individual orebodies.

5.1 District scale patterns and associations of ore distribution in vein‐hosted epithermal deposits

Epithermal vein districts typically are elliptical in shape, enclosing concentrated areas of veins and faults
which presumably reflect the areal dimension of associated paleo‐hydrothermal systems. In typical ore‐
producing districts, veins are concentrated within areas that range in plan view from 2 to 20 km in length
and 2 to 8 km in width (Figures 19, 20). Within these areas, multiple veins typically are hosted by, or occur
between, sets of parallel or obliquely intersecting faults (Figure 19A‐D, 20) although often only a small
number of these host the bulk of the contained ore. In some districts like Kupol (Russia, Figure 19E), Midas
(Nevada), Escobal (Guatemala), or Guanajuato (Mexico: Veta Madre), a single central fault‐hosted vein
dominates.

In epithermal districts localized along regional strike‐slip fault systems, terminations, stepovers, and
irregularities in the strike of the principal strike‐slip faults may control district locations. However, internal
to the districts extensional faults usually dominate the structural framework and localize oreshoots. In
extensional arc and rift settings, the normal and oblique‐normal faults hosting epithermal deposits often
form fault networks that terminate at district margins without obvious connections to regional faults. This
suggests that mineralized faults in such settings may, at least in some cases, form due to accommodation
of localized extension, potentially induced by magmatic intrusion (e.g. Acocella, 2014; Trippanera et al.,
2015). Alternatively, reactivation of older basement faults beneath the ore‐hosting stratigraphic
sequence may induce localised zones of high strain, particulary if at a high angle to the trend of the rift
and/or arc (Korme et al., 2004). Such basement structures may influence steps, terminations and
interactions of faults of different orientations at higher levels (Rowland and Sibson, 2004; Philippon et al.,
2015), as well as the positions and orientations of volcanic and magmatic centers that are genetically
related to the epithermal district (e.g., Bahiru et al., 2019).

Although epithermal vein systems overwhelmingly are controlled by or occur along fault systems, some
notable districts lack evidence for significant fault control, and vein systems within these districts are
dominantly extensional. For example, at the Hishikari deposit vein patterns and the kinematic framework
indicate formation of the deposit under extensional conditions (Faye et al., 2018), and displacement of
 27

lithological contacts across the veins at the levels of ore development are minor (Sekine et al., 2002).
Here, veins occur just below a major unconformity (Izawa et al., 1990; Sekine et al., 2002) where small
geometric irregularities in the unconformity surface suggest vein formation at tips of growth faults or
reactivated basement faults.

Fault displacement magnitude and ore distribution

In epithermal districts where ore is hosted mainly in syn‐mineralization normal fault networks, largest
veins typically occur along faults with greatest displacement (Figure 20). However, displacement is often
low relative to that of regional normal faults. Most known vein systems with >1 million ounces equivalent
Au occur along faults with vertical displacements ranging from 50 to 600 m (Figures 12B, 20; e.g.,
Ferguson, 1927; Geyne et al., 1963; Steven and Ratte, 1965; Bobis et al., 1995; Leavitt and Arehart, 2005;
Micklethwaite, 2009; Wallier, 2009; Rhys et al. 2017). Displacements of >600 m on faults hosting
mineralization are rare (e.g., Veta Madre fault, Guanajuato Mexico: Gross, 1975). Relative to poorly or
non‐mineralized faults in the same district, mineralized faults have greater structural continuity to depth
(Figure 3) and broader peripheral damage zones that accentuate them as corridors of high structural
permeability. Because there is a generally positive correlation between fault length and displacement
magnitude, larger displacement faults tend to have correspondingly greater strike lengths (Cowie and
Scholz, 1992), but they may be linked by subsidiary faults with lesser displacement (Micklethwaite, 2009).
Displacement magnitudes at epithermal levels may only represent the near‐surface manifestation of
larger underlying fault networks comprising multiple linked fault segments associated with reactivated
basement structures or growth faults (Figures 3, 5A).

Structural associations with volcanic and magmatic centers

Many epithermal districts where veins are controlled by normal faults occur within structural highs and
culminations that may be coincident with coeval volcanic centers. For example, the Bodie district in
California (Wisser, 1960; Vikre et al., 2015), Midas district in Nevada (Goldstrand and Schmidt, 2000;
Leavitt and Arehart, 2005) and Creede in Colorado (Steven and Ratte, 1965), are associated with felsic
domes, gabbroic laccoliths, and/or dike intrusions preceding or overlapping with the timing of
mineralization. Structural highs of basement and volcanic sequences also occur in southwest Japan at
Hishikari and Kushikino (Morishita and Nakano, 2008), and Tonopah, Nevada (Nolan, 1930; Bonham and
Garside, 1979), respectively. Minor dikes and flow domes in these volcanic settings precede
mineralization, but exploit the same controlling structures (e.g., Palmarejo‐Guazapares: Rhys et al., 2017;
Murray and Busby, 2015, and Pachuca: Geyne et al., 1963; Figure 20). In these volcanic environments,
faulting may be facilitated by magma inflation or gravitational collapse due to volumetric changes, and
thermal and hydraulic weakening (fluid injection and associated seismicity) of the rock mass under
regional extensional or transtensional conditions (e.g. Long Valley Caldera: Dreger et al., 2000).

Faults in some epithermal districts have radial forms reflecting local stress orientations related to magma
emplacement or volcanic collapse rather than regional tectonic stresses (e.g, Cripple Creek: Koschmann,
1949), however there are few unequivocal examples of concentric vein systems related to arcuate caldera
ring fractures. Calderas are cited in some studies as localizing epithermal vein districts (e.g., Ponce and
Clarke, 1988; Randall et al. 1994), but in general vein systems in these settings post‐date the main stages
of volcanism and occupy younger faults associated with late‐stage felsic domes and dikes, rather than the
larger fault systems that control the positions of major volcanic vents. Ore‐controlling structures occur
either on margins of calderas and volcanic edifices as planar and linked fault networks associated with
volcanic subsidence (Rytuba et al., 1990), or where sector collapse may have occurred (e.g., Round
 28

Mountain, Nevada: Henry et al., 1997; Tavua, Emperor Mine, Fiji: Eaton and Setterfield, 1993; Lihir Island:
Sykora et al., 2018). In these environments, thick sequences of ignimbrite and breccia caldera filling
deposits that have high primary porosity and low tensile strength may host disseminated mineralization.
In some intermediate‐sulfidation vein districts elliptical zones of concentrated veins may develop in low‐
displacement vein‐fault networks directly above, or be telescoped onto the upper parts of associated Au‐
Cu porphyry systems and diatreme breccia bodies (e.g., Brad and Sacaramb districts, Romania: Alderton
and Fallick, 2000; Baguio district, Philippines: Cooke et al., 1996).

Abundance and interaction of veins and faults in mining districts

The spatial abundance of ore‐bearing veins and faults within epithermal districts varies from concentrated
systems with numerous closely‐spaced veins and mineralized faults of varied strike orientations, to
systems controlled by a small number of widely‐spaced, mineralized structures. Although overall metal
endowments of these end members may be similar, those with concentrated systems tend to be of lesser
areal extent. These systems may include multiple generations of faults and veins branching from, and
bounded by, a regional fault system (Figure 19C), or alternatively sets of closely‐spaced conjugate or
sheeted veins and faults independent of major controlling faults (e.g., Waihi, NZ; Acupan and Antomoc in
the Baguio district, Philippines; Cooke et al., 1996; Figures 19B, 19D). In the latter case, extensional faults
may be influenced by distal regional fault networks, or focused above reactivated basement structures.
The complex, varied orientations of veins and faults in these concentrated districts may result from factors
that include:
a) temporal variations in stress conditions during fault formation related to far‐field tectonics or local
magmatic influences which generate veins of different orientations (e.g. Pachuca, Figure 20A);
b) accommodation of strain between kinematically‐linked faults, such as the development of relays
between closely spaced normal faults that accommodate differential extension (e.g., Rowland and
Sibson, 2004; Acocella et al., 2005);
c) rotation of fault tip lines due to changes in far‐field stress conditions that generate new populations
of differently‐oriented fault segments which may link to form rhombic fault meshes (e.g., Sporli and
Cargill, 2011; Henstra et al., 2015; Duffy et al., 2017);
d) interaction of faults with obliquely oriented underlying basement irregularities such as reactivated
older faults or rheological contrasts (Deng et al., 2017; Bahiru et al., 2019); and/or
e) polymodal faulting associated with triaxial strain (Peacock, 2002; Healy et al., 2015).

The close spacing of internal faults within focused districts such as Waihi, Acupan, or Fruta del Norte (Leary
et al., 2016) likely promoted development of minor faults and extension vein sets within the narrow panels
between principal fault surfaces, aiding in concentration of fluid flow and ore focus. Epithermal districts
with lower fault densities and more widely distributed veins typically cover much larger areas than
concentrated districts, as is illustrated in Figures 19A and 19B for the Palmarejo and Pongkor districts. In
these districts, the greater separation of controlling faults limits their potential interaction, concentrating
mineralization along the largest faults or in the most structurally complex areas. Multiple orebodies may
be separated by several hundreds of meters to kilometers along principal faults and secondary splays, and
each could represent a localized upflow zone within the broader district.

5.2 Structural controls on ore distribution within epithermal vein systems

Orebodies within vein‐hosted epithermal districts may occur as continuous zones with many hundreds of
meters of continuity, or as multiple discrete smaller oreshoots that form elongate zones of economic or
high‐grade mineralization within individual veins or along controlling faults. The primary window of
 29

economic mineralization commonly occurs at a relatively consistent depth below the paleo‐water table
throughout a district, but present‐day elevation may reflect influences of paleotopography (e.g., Geyne
et al., 1963; Fernandez and Damasco, 1979) or post‐mineralization faulting or tilting. The base of
mineralization often marks the level at which mineral deposition is triggered through boiling (Albinson et
al., 2001), which is dictated by depth from the paleowater table, gas content, and the influence of cyclical
fluid pressure changes related to seismically‐induced dilation (Henley and Berger, 2000). In low‐
sulfidation epithermal districts, the vertical window for ore deposition in individual veins varies from as
small as 40 m up to approximately 300 m, although the lateral extent of orebodies may be considerably
greater. Intermediate‐sulfidation deposits or those with transitional character from low to intermediate‐
sulfidation may have significantly greater vertical extent‐ up to 600 m in some orebodies (e.g., Pachuca:
Figure 20; Guanajuato: Gross, 1975; Waihi and Karangahake, New Zealand: Braithwaite and Faure, 2002;
Escobal, Guatemala). This may be due to sealing and overpressuring processes occurring over significant
vertical intervals at the greater depths of formation of these deposits. The bases of orebodies often
coincide with changes in orientation or bifurcation of controlling structures, where increases in fracture
density and dilation may induce rapid fluid pressure gradients ("throttling points" of fluid pressure change:
cf. Buchanan, 1981). Below this level, controlling structures typically consist of foliated cataclasite and
gouge with limited vein development. Orebody bases also can be associated with mineralogical and
textural areas of crystalline quartz ± base metal sulfides or calcite that denote higher temperature roots
to the vein system, with or without changes in the morphology of hosting structure (e.g., Gross, 1975;
Buchanan, 1981; Bobis et al., 1995; Albinson et al., 2001; Simmons et al., 2005).

Orebodies may be continuous over many hundreds of metres strike length where their hosting structures
are favourably oriented for dilation at optimum levels in the hydrothermal system, especially in the central
parts of planar, high‐displacement faults. However, oreshoots defined by domains with greater thickness
and/or metal contents may be confined to particular dilational structural sites in the controlling fault
systems. Structural features such as bends, steps, intersections, and terminations in fault systems have
long been recognized as important locations for ore concentration (e.g., Penrose, 1910; Newhouse, 1940;
McKinstry, 1941, 1948). The high fluid flux in these zones facilitates hydraulic opening of fractures during
transient high fluid pressure episodes, which can result in a wider variety of structural sites and range of
orientations of faults and fractures undergoing dilation than occur in other parts of the fault system,
further focussing fluid upflow (e.g., Camus et al., 1991; Micklethwaite, 2009). Those sites which have steep
plunges, such as normal fault relays, intersections, and strike‐slip dilational jogs, may form conduits
promoting upward incursion of fluid flow into higher parts of the vein system (Fossen and Rotevatn, 2016;
Dimmen et al., 2017; Cox, this volume).

The following sections discuss the deformation processes and structural sites that control ore distribution
and oreshoot development in epithermal districts. Small, structurally simple epithermal deposits may
exhibit only a single type of oreshoot control, whilst a greater variety of structural controls are common
in larger districts with complex fault‐vein networks, or where kinematic conditions have evolved over the
lifetime of the hydrothermal system. We focus on normal, oblique‐normal, and strike‐slip fault settings,
which are the most common structural environments in epithermal deposits. Epithermal vein systems
formed in active reverse or reverse‐oblique fault systems are rare, but they include deposits where
changing paleostress conditions are interpreted to include a compressional phase (e.g., McLaughlin:
Tosdal et al., 1996; Rosario‐Bunawan: Kolb and Hagemann, 2009).

5.2.1 Near‐surface fault steepening and surface interaction in normal fault systems
 30

Normal and oblique‐slip faults that host epithermal vein systems commonly steepen to subvertical
orientations near the paleosurface (McKinstry, 1941; Sibson, 2000; Micklethwaite, 2009). This pattern
reflects decreasing lithostatic load and lower differential stress in the near surface environment, and the
resulting transition from fault‐controlled to extension‐dominated failure mode (Grant and Katternhorn,
2004; Schopfer et al., 2007; Holland et al., 2011). The local depth of this transition is dependent on rock
tensile strength and pore fluid pressure (Figure 3; von Hadke et al., 2019), and typically occurs between
250 m and 800 m (Gudmundsson, 1992; Acocella et al., 2000, 2003; von Hadke et al., 2019). The resulting
upward steepening, widening, and bifurcation of fault‐hosted veins close to the paleosurface is
particularly common in low‐sulfidation deposits (Figures 3; 5A; 18C; 21), but also may occur in some
intermediate‐sulfidation vein systems. Because the fault dip is relatively consistent below the transition
point, this geometry cannot be considered listric.

The upward steepening of vein‐hosting faults is often accompanied by branching into multiple parallel
extensional veins or mixed‐mode fault‐fill veins antithetic to the underlying controlling fault (Sibson, 2000;
Rykkelid and Fossen, 2002) forming horsetail fans (Figures 5A, top; 21D; 22A; 23). These splaying patterns
are enhanced by localized extension on the hangingwall wedge of the fault above the dip inflection point
(Holland et al., 2011). This occurs especially in the tip‐line of an upward propagating normal fault where
shear displacement is accommodated through an upward widening zone of distributed strain and
commonly folding ("trishear zone": Allmendinger, 1998; Jin and Groshong, 2006; Figure 5, top). Tilting of
hangingwall strata may accentuate fault dilatancy in these settings. Upward‐bifurcating horsetail patterns
are particularly common in shallowly‐emplaced low‐sulfidation systems and some intermediate‐
sulfidation deposits, such as Waihi, Favona, and Golden Cross in New Zealand (Braithwaite et al., 2001;
Begbie et al., 2007; Rhys and Keall, 2008), the Comstock Lode (Berger et al., 2003), deposits in the
Kamchatka metallogenic province (e.g., Takahashi et al., 2002; 2007), several deposits in the Deseado
Massif of Argentina (e.g., Wallier, 2009), Republic, Washington (Fifarek et al., 1996), and the Tolukuma
deposit in PNG (Corbett and Leach, 1998).

In ideal extensional environments, the dip inflection of the master fault and intersections with splay veins
and antithetic subsidiary faults are sub‐horizontal and parallel to the σ2 paleostress orientation (Sibson,
2000), forming an axis of maximum dilation and structural permeability that is perpendicular to the
steeply‐inclined slip vector on the controlling fault (Figure 23B; Sibson, 2001). The location of the
inflection axis and associated structural intersection zone may coincide with optimal depths of boiling,
favouring development of laterally‐extensive, gently‐plunging oreshoots (Figure 12A). In more complex
structural environments where extension is oblique to controlling faults or segments of controlling faults,
the inflections and associated structural intersections pitch in the plane of the controlling fault, resulting
in gently‐ to moderately‐plunging oreshoots (e.g., Kibaka, Russia; Mt Muro, Indonesia: Wurst, 2004).
Shallow capping clay alteration immediately surrounding the paleowater table may also inhibit vertical
permeability above this zone (Wallier, 2009).

5.2.2 Down‐dip variations in orientation and morphology of normal and normal‐oblique fault networks

Down‐dip irregularities in fault morphology arise as a consequence of fault segment linkage or refraction
across rheological interfaces in the host rock sequence (Peacock, 2002; Crider and Peacock, 2004).
Dilational or compressional jogs form where such irregularities are at a high angle to the slip vector. In
the case of normal and normal‐oblique faults, dilational jogs form where faults steepen down dip or,
depending on the stepping direction, where fault segments link vertically (Figures 21G‐J; 22C; 24). Such
dilational jogs control the formation of gently‐plunging oreshoots in fault‐hosted veins (Figures 21G‐21M;
Ferrill and Morris, 2003; Ferrill et al., 2005; Schopfer et al., 2006; Nortje et al., 2006; Roche et al., 2012).
 31

These oreshoots may have little or no surface expression apart from clay caps extending along the
controlling faults (Figure 7) or may occur below other styles of oreshoots in shallower parts of a deposit.
Conversely, contractional jogs in normal and normal‐oblique fault networks occur where fault dip
diminishes, or where fault segments link vertically, resulting in complex fault and fracture networks
(Figure 21M; Thornburg, 1945; Geyne et al., 1963; Rykkelid and Fossen, 2002; Marchal et al., 2003; Schultz
et al., 2010). Synthetic Riedel and antithetic subsidiary fault‐fill veins may extend off the controlling fault
system in such areas, further enhancing fracture permeability (Figures 21D, 21E; Thornburg, 1945;
Buchanan, 1980; Schultz et al., 2010) and resulting in thicker veins, increased densities of extension veins,
and enhanced Au‐Ag concentrations (Figures 23, 24A, 24B). Jogs formed through the connection of en
echelon fault segments develop parallel to the σ2 stress orientation (Figure 22C), whereas lithologically‐
controlled irregularities will be parallel to the intersection of the controlling fault with contacts between
rheologically distinct units. In the epithermal environment, the latter are often related to gently‐dipping
volcanic strata. Both types of controls may result in gently‐plunging zones of high fracture density,
dilation, and structural permeability contributing to oreshoot development (Camus et al., 1991: El Bronce;
Sibson, 2000; Blenkinsop, 2008; Schopfer et al., 2006). In fault‐vein systems with oblique‐normal
displacement, dilational jogs may form gently‐ to moderately plunging oreshoots within the plane of the
controlling fault system (e.g., Fernandez and Damasco, 1979; Paez et al., 2011).

The scale of these oreshoot controls varies, and can include zones of steepening of the ore‐hosting
structure that encompass the entire dip length of deposits (e.g., Pachuca, Figure 24: Geyne et al., 1963:
Pajingo: Pietrass, 2005; Cracow: Micklethwaite, 2009; Gold Crown Vein, Midas: Marma and Vance, 2010;
Guadalupe: Rhys et al., 2017; Figure 12B). Alternatively, vertically‐repeated jogs and inflections in the
fault‐vein system may form stacked oreshoots (e.g., Scott, 1958). In intermediate‐sulfidation deposits,
such stacked oreshoots may have different geochemical characteristics, varying from precious metal‐rich
in upper parts of the system to base metal‐dominant in deeper oreshoots formed under hotter conditions
with increasingly saline fluids (Albinson et al., 2001; Allen and Redak, 2015).

Several low‐ and intermediate‐sulfidation vein deposits are localized along gently‐ to moderate‐dipping
normal fault systems with moderate to high (>300 m) displacement magnitudes. Oreshoot controls in
these systems can also include local changes in dip (Figure 21R; e.g., La Preciosa, Mexico: Neff et al., 2014),
in some instances only slightly steeper than adjacent fault segments. These inflections may coincide with
areas where hangingwall splays branch upwards from the main fault (Figure 21P, S; e.g., Tonopah, Nevada:
Spurr, 1905; Ada Tepe/Krumovgrad, Bulgaria: Marchev et al., 2004), or where zones of steeply‐dipping
extensional vein sets and parallel veins are localized within competent rock units such as dikes (Figures
5B; 21N, 21O; e.g., Veta Madre, Guanajuato, Mexico: Rozália Mine, Slovakia: Kubac et al., 2018; Bullfrog,
Nevada: Eng et al., 1996). The gently‐dipping segments of the main fault adjacent to oreshoots may
contain quartz vein breccia filling (Figure 8A), but precious metal concentrations may be low relative to
the principal oreshoots (Marchev et al., 2004; Kubac et al., 2018).

Where variations in the dip of the controlling normal fault result in tilting of hangingwall strata,
rheologically‐weak units with low shear strength (e.g., fine‐grained sedimentary or altered tuff horizons)
may fail through formation of low‐angle extensional faults that can control the position of subsidiary veins
(Figure 21Q). These may occur as steeply‐dipping fault‐fill or extensional veins that form gently‐plunging
oreshoot linking the main underlying structure with the weaker unit above (e.g., hangingwall veins to the
Gosowong deposit: Oldberg et al., 1999).

5.2.3 Steeply‐plunging relays and along‐strike bends in normal fault systems

 32

Steeply‐plunging oreshoots in normal fault‐hosted epithermal vein systems are commonly associated with
thickened veins at strike deflections (bends and undulations) along the host structure (Figures 23D, 23F;
Penrose, 1910; Newhouse, 1940) many of which have historically been referred to as "cymoid loops" (e.g.,
McKinstry, 1948). These can include meter‐ to decameter‐scale pinch and swell patterns repeated at
minor deflections associated with a corrugated or sinuous geometry of the hosting fault (Figure 25, 26B,
C; e.g., McKinstry, 1941, 1948; Emmons, 1948; Scott, 1958), or as larger scale asymptotic lateral bends or
relays (“F” in Figure 23). Vein systems may also widen into sets of extensional veins inclined in strike to
the hosting fault, forming steps and linkage zones between segments in the hosting fault structure (“D”
in Figure 23). These can occur scales of a few meters up to hundreds of meters, the latter hosting entire
oreshoots or orebodies (Penrose, 1910; McKinstry, 1941).

The morphology of these steep oreshoots is consistent with localization within relays that link early‐
formed segments of the controlling normal fault system (Figure 26A; Peacock and Sanderson, 1991, 1994;
Fossen and Rotevatn, 2016). Relays can have a strong preferred orientation, particularly where the linked
segments are arranged en echelon. The high fracture permeability of such linkage zones are favourable
for high fluid flux, dilation, and vein formation, localizing ore shoots parallel to or at low angles to the slip
direction on the hosting faults (Figure 23D; Peacock and Sanderson, 1994; Nortje et al., 2006; von Hadke
et al., 2019). Dilation at these sites may be enhanced through overpressuring and fluid pressure cycling as
they may form arrest points during fault rupture events. Relays are geometrically similar to, and often
mistaken for, strike‐slip dilational jogs, so that fault kinematic analysis and an understanding of timing
relationships are critical in the interpretation of the oreshoot controls.

The linkage of relays to form a continuous fault occurs either through the lateral propagation and
connection of originally separate segments, and/or through the linkage of upward bifurcations and steps
of tip‐line splays above an underlying propagating normal fault (Figures 25, 26A; Willemse, 1997; Ferrill
et al., 1999; Walsh et al., 1999, 2003; Acocella et al., 2005; Grant and Kattenhorn, 2004; Xu et al., 2011;
Fossen and Rotevatn, 2016). Where formed through the linkage of extensional splays above a master
fault, relays may form en echelon geometry along the length of the vein system, especially where the fault
strike is oblique to the extensional direction (Figures 25; 26C; Walsh et al., 1999, 2003; von Hadke et al.,
2019). Domainal right‐ or left‐ stepping geometry of linked relays may reflect a variation in local near‐
field stress conditions that evolve as a fault network expands. At the propagating fault tips of a normal
fault, the slip vectors may deviate from that of the overall fault system due to locally perturbed stress
conditions (Figure 23; Roberts, 1996; Willemse et al., 1996; Roberts and Michetti, 2004; Philippon et al.,
2014). These variations in the slip vector can also promote the formation of left or right stepping en
echelon steps at fault tips (Figure 23; Wu and Bruhn, 1994; Roberts, 1996; Acocella et al., 2000; Willemse
et al., 1996; Fossen and Rotevatn, 2016). Ultimately when these segments link, slip vectors revert to dip
slip along the entire continuous fault, so that the expanded normal fault system inherits a local, early
formed oblique slip geometry defined by asymmetric corrugations and sinuousity of the linked relays (Wu
and Bruhn, 1994; Roberts and Michetti, 2004; Philippon et al., 2014; Fossen and Rotevatn, 2016). Such
collective patterns are common in epithermal districts, where larger, continuous veins occupy central
parts of faults where displacement is highest, while corrugations and relays are more common on the
lateral margins of veins (Figure 23). For example, relays localize minor but abundant oreshoots in the
Waihi district (Morgan, 1924), the Kupol deposit (Figure 25), and the El Bronce epithermal district (Camus
et al., 1991). They also are likely responsible for pinch and swell patterns described by Gemmell et al.
(1988) in the Santo Nino vein system of the Fresnillo district. Large steeply plunging extensional relays
that are developed over vertical intervals of >500 m are apparent in the Rayas and Cata mines of the giant
Guanajuato district, where the extensional Veta Madre vein system steps across dikes along the hosting
fault system, linking late normal fault strands that control the position of the vein system in major
 33

oreshoots (Rhys, unpublished report). At a larger scale, normal fault relays are an important control on
the position of geothermal systems, as illustrated in the Great Basin by Faulds et al. (2010) and Faulds and
Hinz (2015).

5.2.4 Branch lines, intersections and fault terminations

Oreshoots localized at fault intersections and fault terminations are common in epithermal districts,
especially where syn‐hydrothermal faults are closely spaced. Intersections can include those between
faults of different ages in the case of deposits with reactivated pre‐existing structures, or between
kinematically‐linked structures that formed synchronously, including branch lines where secondary splays
intersect principal faults (e.g., Duffy et al., 2017). The transfer of displacement at fault intersections
generates fracture damage zones that localize fluid flow, which is also observed in modern geothermal
systems (Faulds and Hinz, 2015). Similarly, fault terminations are characterized by damage zones
consisting of discontinuous secondary faults and fracture networks into which displacement dissipates.
Fault intersections and terminations can localize high‐grade oreshoots, anomalously wide vein segments,
and/or networks of extension and minor fault sets that form bulk mineable zones. Oreshoot plunges in
these settings vary in orientation and continuity based on the degree of fracture connectivity (Willemse,
1997) and the geometry of the intersecting faults (Fernandez and Damasco., 1979). High densities of
intersecting faults can focus fluid flow and oreshoot formation not only at intersection points, but also
along adjacent fault segments. For example, in the Pachuca district, oreshoots with the greatest plunge
length are localized in areas of fault intersections that comprise both a) bifurcations and acute
intersections within the principal northwest‐striking set of vein‐hosting normal faults, and b) the
intersections of the northwest‐striking fault set with north‐south striking faults of the earlier Purisima
fault system (Figure 20; Geyne et al., 1963). Major fault intersections also characterize some of the largest
and thickest oreshoots in the Waihi district, as occurs at the intersection of the Martha and Edward faults
(Figure 19D; Morgan, 1924).

Oreshoots at fault terminations often occur within horsetail fans of secondary physically connected (i.e.
hard linked) fault splays to the parent structure or forming en echelon extensional vein arrays not directly
connected (i.e. soft linked) to the main structure (Figure 23G). In these horsetail fans, oreshoots are
oriented at a high angle to fault displacement direction. Terminations in normal faults also can be
preferential locations for the formation of upward‐diverging extensional fault fans (e.g. Figure 21C, D)
which may preferentially develop as fault displacement laterally diminishes. This pattern is illustrated by
the the Golden Cross deposit (New Zealand), which occurs at north end of the Empire Fault (Begbie, 2007).

In extensional fault systems, discontinuous secondary splays or horsetail fans of subsidiary faults and
extensional fractures often emanate from, and may overlap in style with, normal fault relays (off fault tip
splays; Perrin et al., 2016). Branch lines in these settings are parallel or close to the slip direction
(Willemse, 1997; Marchal, et al., 2003; Perrin et al., 2016; Duffy et al., 2017) and can form moderately to
steeply‐plunging oreshoots that widen at fault intersections (Figure 26D). Subsidiary veins may extend
along the branch, or form extension vein arrays between the parent fault and branch splay.
Discontinuous splays can also form to accommodate strain at fault irregularities, or may represent
abandoned, inactive tips of initial en echelon segments in now linked faults (Peacock, 2002).

Interacting coeval faults are often curved due to complex patterns of strain accommodation between
intersecting structures, resulting in the propagation of tip lines of new fault segments towards pre‐existing
fault segments, as is described by Ferguson (1927) in the Mogollon District. These patterns are illustrated
in the Palmarejo District (Figure 13), where the steeply‐plunging Clavos 76 and Rosario oreshoots occur
 34

at the intersection of syn‐ore fault tips along west‐northwest‐striking vein segments, and faults
progressively become non‐dilational and impermeable in lower temperature clay alteration lateral to
oreshoots (Rhys et al., 2016).

In some instances, syn‐mineralization faults may terminate at and transfer displacement to pre‐existing
faults, provided the latter are oriented favorably for reactivation. Orientations of faults of different
generations in these settings may differ significantly (e.g. Figure 20: north‐south trending Purisima fault
system cut by younger northwest‐trending Vizcaina‐parallel veins). Alternatively, younger faults may
interact with older structures as a rheological interface, deflecting or branching as they approach the older
structures and localizing elevated fracture densities that enhance fluid flow and vein localization.

5.2.5 Dilational jogs and steps associated with strike‐slip fault settings

Dilational stepovers, jogs, and pull‐apart zones in regional strike‐slip and transtensional to transpressional
fault networks are important first‐order controls on the localization of some epithermal districts (Figure
1C; e.g., Walker Lane – San Andreas corridor of Nevada‐California: Berger, 2007; Willis and Tosdal, 1992;
Philippine Fault: Corbett and Leach, 1998; some Tethyan districts: Drew, 2005). However, ore‐controlling
faults in these districts at the deposit scale are dominantly extensional, occurring where regional strike‐
slip displacement is transferred into normal fault arrays and extensional veins (Figures 1C, 27; Fernandez
and Damasco, 1979; Camus et al., 1991; Micklethwaite et al., 2010). For example, the Bullfrog and
Comstock districts lie within the transtensional, Neogene Walker Lane Belt (Berger et al., 2003; Eng et al.,
1996; Berger, 2007), but oreshoots are controlled by extensional faults. Similarly, the Specogna deposit in
British Columbia occurs as sheeted extensional vein sets localized within an extensional jog in the regional
Sandspit transform fault zone (Rebagliati et al., 1998). In the Philippine epithermal region, the Masbate
deposit is dominated by extensional veins localized at the tip of, and extending between, oblique strike‐
slip faults (Garagan et al., 2007), similar to vein patterns within the sinistral Philippine fault corridor at the
Antamok deposit (Figure 18C). Oreshoots in these settings occur at steeply‐plunging intersections
between extensional faults and strike‐slip faults, and as moderately‐ to gently‐plunging oreshoots
between extensional faults and their hangingwall extensional and conjugate splays (Fernandez and
Damasco, 1979).

Strike‐slip fault systems can have complex geometries at regional and district scales, with irregularities in
strike of the fault as a relict of fault growth, refraction across lithological units of contrasting rheology and
interaction with inherited structures. Irregularities in strike are at high angle to the slip vector and, as
fault displacement accrues, may generate zones of dilation or contraction depending on sense of shear
relative to the change in strike. Strike‐slip fault systems often form through the progressive connection
and linkage of initially shorter en echelon fault segments that formed in synthetic Riedel orientations
inclined at acute angles to the evolving fault corridor (Crider and Peacock, 2004). This process results in
en echelon right‐stepping extensional steps in dextral (right lateral) fault networks, and left‐stepping
patterns in sinistral (left lateral) fault systems (Sibson, 1985; Walsh et al., 1999; de Paola et al., 2007).
These extensional steps have long axes that define steep zones of high fracture permeability and
enhanced dilatancy that form oreshoots close to the 2 orientation (Figure 27A, 27B). They are variably
referred to as dilational jogs, releasing bends or step‐overs, and cymoid loops, and can form at outcrop to
district scales (Emmons, 1948; McKinstry, 1948; Walsh et al., 1999; Connolly and Cosgrove, 1999; Sibson,
2001; Berger, 2007; Cox, this volume). Geometrically, these bends and jogs can resemble extensional
relays formed in normal fault settings (Figure 27).
 35

Within strike‐slip settings, individual oreshoots may range in scale from metres to hundreds of meters,
and form both along the controlling strike‐slip faults and as sets of extensional veins that link fault strands,
forming interconnected fault‐vein networks (Figures 27, 28). For example, the Mesquite deposit occurs
in broader corridors of strike‐slip faults with orebodies and individual ore shoots localized in jogs and
duplex features characterized by interconnected dextral fault‐fill and extensional vein sets (Willis and
Tosdal, 1992). These form complex orebodies that funnel downward into underlying controlling faults
(i.e. flower structures: Willis and Tosdal, 1992). At a stope scale, veins along strike‐slip faults may exhibit
a pinch and swell geometry, with width changing at strike deflections in the host structures (Figure 27B).
Strike‐slip fault‐hosted veins may be obliquely joined by and control adjacent normal fault‐fill veins (Figure
27B), as is also observed at the Gold Crown vein in the Midas deposit (Marma and Vance, 2010). Similar
features are present in the Goldfield high‐sulfidation deposit, where mineralization preferentially occurs
in normal faults between locally mineralized strike‐slip bounding faults (Figure 27C; Berger and Henley,
2011).

5.2.6 Extensional vein sets associated with fault‐vein systems

Extensional veins and veinlet arrays commonly form secondary sources of ore in epithermal deposits, but
are usually subordinate to fault‐fill veins. They may form bulk tonnage zones that expand the width of
economic ore outside of the principal veins, or isolated zones that form generally lower grade orebodies.
Ore distribution in such zones is dictated by the density of veins (e.g., Thornburg, 1945), and/or the
proportion of ore‐bearing vein generations in the extension vein set (Sherlock et al., 1995; Rebagliati et
al., 1998).

Extensional veins and veinlet sets typically form in the damage zones of faults, which have high structural
permeability and dilatancy during periods of high fluid flow (Blenkinsop, 2008; Kim et al., 2004; Peacock
et al. 2017; Gülyüz et al., 2018). Such sites include a) wallrocks peripheral to faults at or beside deflections,
jogs, and steps that may cause stress perturbations or act as sites of rupture arrest during fault
displacement (Figure 23), b) zones of extensional and mixed mode fractures between, and often linking,
closely spaced (meters to tens of meters apart) fault strands (Figure 22A, 22B), c) fault tips and
terminations of faults and fault‐fill veins, often forming wing crack style or horsetail geometries that
accommodate diminishing fault displacement lateral to or above principal fault segments (Figure 22C),
and d) areas where faults splay into broad fracture zones as they cut or bound competent rock units
(Figure 5B). As previously discussed, in these settings, extension veins can form sheeted or sub‐parallel
sets oriented at a high angle to the local σ3 paleostress orientation. However, vein orientations may vary
spatially and temporally due to local stress perturbations associated with fault irregularities, rheological
interfaces, or nearby magmatic activity (Figure 14; Wilson et al., 2003; Faulkner et al., 2003; Blenkinsop,
2008; Micklethwaite, 2009; Maerten et al., 2018).

Orebodies consisting of zones of extensional veins will vary in morphology and geometry depending on
the type of structural or lithological control and the size of the veins contained within them. Steeply‐
plunging zones of high vein density may form in normal fault relays and strike‐slip dilational jogs. In
contrast, gently‐plunging zones may characterize vein sets occurring proximal to irregularities in the dip
or vertical connectivity of normal faults, in association with bifurcations, or may be preferentially
developed within rheologically competent or impermeable stratigraphic units. Extension vein sets
localized adjacent to inflections in faults may be separated from the controlling fault by non‐mineralized
wallrocks (Figure 24B).

6.0 STRUCTURAL CONTROLS ON ORE LOCALIZATION IN DISSEMINATED EPITHERMAL DEPOSITS

 36

Disseminated mineralization comprises much of the ore in most high‐sulfidation deposits, and is a large
component of bulk mineable zones in several large, low grade intermediate‐ and low‐sulfidation deposits
(e.g., Round Mountain, Lihir, Certej, Kelian). These deposits typically exhibit higher degrees of lithological
and hydrothermal control and a lower degree of structural control than vein‐hosted deposits (Figure 4),
in large part reflecting the dispersion of mineralizing fluids through permeable volcano‐sedimentary host
rock sequences (John et al., 2018). In high‐sulfidation systems, this permeability is often generated
through leaching by early acidic hydrothermal fluids (Arribas, 1995; Hedenquist and Taran, 2013).
Disseminated deposits are commonly affected by supergene oxidation which may allow liberation of Au
from pyrite, increasing the economic viability of low‐grade deposits. As this review focuses on primary
ore controls, only hypogene mineral assemblages and textures are considered below.

6.1 Disseminated high‐sulfidation epithermal deposits

Disseminated high‐sulfidation deposits generally form within a kilometre of the paleosurface, commonly
overlying areas of phyllic alteration associated with shallow degassing intrusions that may contain Au‐Cu
porphyry systems (Figure 2; Arribas, 1995; Hedenquist et al., 1998, 2000; Chang et al., 2011; Hedenquist
and Taran, 2013). These deposits typically form in high‐relief volcanic environments associated with flow
dome complexes, summit domes, central vents to volcanoes, and diatreme bodies. In such environments,
paleotopography influences the position of the paleowater table and hence the morphology of alteration
and mineralization (Gray and Coolbaugh, 1994; Hedenquist et al., 1998, 2000; Harlan et al., 2005; Longo,
2010; John et al., 2018). The combination of high relief and hydrothermal alteration makes these
environments susceptible to rapid erosional denudation and telescoping of epithermal systems onto
deeper porphyry‐related mineralization or as a consequence of later alteration (Arribas, 1995; Sillitoe,
1999; Bissig et al., 2015; John et al., 2018).

Within high sulfidation epithermal districts individual deposits are commonly aligned within arc‐parallel
and/or arc oblique (Figure 1B) structural corridors that are commonly defined by strike‐slip and oblique‐
slip faults. The distribution of porphyry magmatic centers, domes and associated high sulfidation deposits
within such corridors demonstrates that the controlling faults focus crustal‐scale heat and mass transfer,
particularly where they intersect subsidiary faults (e.g., Lepanto: Chang et al., 2011; Goldfield: Berger and
Henley, 2011; Martabe: Harlan et al., 2005). Structural control is reflected at the deposit scale by elongate
or linear patterns of mineralization within elliptical alteration zones (Figures 1B, 1C; e.g., Yanacocha:
Longo et al., 2010; Martabe: Harlan et al., 2005; Borealis: Steninger and Ranta, 2005; Mount Carlton,
Australia: Sahlstorm et al., 2018; Cerro Quema: Corral et al., 2017). Intermediate‐sulfidation vein systems
may occur peripheral to or may overprint high‐sulfidation disseminated systems (e.g., Victoria veins,
Lepanto: Hedenquist et al., 1998; Wafi veins, Rinne et al., 2018).

6.1.1 Mineralization styles and sequences in disseminated high‐sulfidation deposits

High‐sulfidation deposits form through multiple paragenetic stages which can have spatially overlapping
but morphologically differing manifestations due to evolving structural and hydrothermal conditions.
Hydrothermal alteration in the high‐sulfidation environment results in juxtaposition of zones with sharply
contrasting mechanical properties, although structural control on alteration distribution is generally less
pronounced than in low‐ and intermediate‐sulfidation vein systems.

In many districts, pre‐ore alteration is associated with the development of laterally‐continuous lithocaps
of often lithologically‐controlled blankets or ledges of advanced argillic alteration, representing the upper
 37

expressions of magmatic‐hydrothermal systems (Figure 2; Sillitoe, 1995, 2010; Hedenquist et al., 2000;
Cooke et al., 2017; John et al., 2018). Extensive lithocaps, with their surrounding argillic alteration, can
obscure areas of underlying blind mineralization (Cooke et al., 2017; Teal and Benavides, 2010; Figure
29A). Lithocap silicification may contain central areas of residual quartz ("vuggy silica") alteration, and
taper into areas of low temperature silicification laterally down topographically‐controlled hydraulic
gradients along the paleowater table, following permeable stratigraphic units (Figure 29A).

Lithocaps are not associated with all high‐sulfidation deposits, but in districts without them, and in and
around feeder zones central to and beneath lithocaps, early advanced argillic, sulfate‐bearing alteration
is associated with development of residual quartz ‐ alunite ± pyrophyllite alteration (Figure 30D; Arribas
et al., 1995; Chang et al., 2011; Hedenquist and Taran, 2013). These siliceous alteration zones form
important hosts to later stages of mineralization since they can be susceptible to fracturing during later
pulses of hydrothermal activity, enhancing their structural permeability and contribute to permeability
generated through acid leaching (Sillitoe, 1999; Arribas, 1995; Berger and Henley, 2011).

The main stages of mineralization in high‐sulfidation deposits typically comprise disseminated Au‐bearing
(± Ag, Cu, As, Te, Bi, S) pyrite ± enargite accompanied by varying quantities of alunite ± pyrophyllite ±
dickite (Gray and Coolbaugh, 1994; Sillitoe, 1999; Arribas, 1995; Hedenquist et al., 2000; Vikre and Henry,
2010; Berger and Henley, 2011; Voudouris et al., 2011; Corral et al., 2017). This mineralization‐alteration
style is often superimposed on and may preferentially exploit early vuggy quartz and quartz‐alunite‐
dickite/kaolinite alteration, filling vugs and pore spaces, especially in volcaniclastic units, tuff horizons,
and breccia bodies that had high primary porosity and permeability. Sets of pyrite veinlets and diffuse
areas of pyrite‐quartz matrix, and in‐situ monomictic breccia occur in stratabound and locally crosscutting
zones in some deposits along the base of the lithocap (Figure 30E). These zones often occur near faults,
in a position consistent with fluid impedement, hydraulic fracturing, and fluid‐assisted brecciation forming
stratabound areas of mineralization at the lithocap base (Figure 30F; Sillitoe and Lorson, 1994).

Main stage pyrite‐quartz‐enargite mineralization is overprinted in several districts (e.g., Rodalquilar,

Spain; Yanacocha, Peru; Mulatos, Mexico; Akaiwa, Japan; Salares Norte and El Indio, Chile: Arribas, 1995;
J. Hedenquist, pers. comm, 2018) by Au‐bearing intermediate‐ and low‐sulfidation veinlets, replacement
zones and breccia void fillings of pale grey to white chalcedonic quartz. These form in zones of secondary
permeability generated or enhanced through corrosive, early acid sulfate alteration and vary from
volumetrically minor, to forming much of the ore in some zones. Breccia voids infilled by this material
may contain fragments of earlier altered material that appear as layered chalcedonic geopetal quartz fill
formed through settling ( e.g., Masonic, California: Vikre et al., 2015; Tapado Deposit, Yanacocha district
"creamy silica": Teal and Benavides, 2010) and pyrite‐rich interlayers (e.g., Mt. Carlton, Australia:
Sahlstorm et al., 2018). Geopetal void filling zones have a steeply‐dipping tabular geometry where the
host breccia bodies are controlled by faults or extensional fractures (Figure 30G; e.g., Goldfield, Nevada:
Vikre, 1989; Rodalquilar, Spain: Arribas et al., 1995; Golden Wonder, Colorado: Kalliokoski and Rehn, 1987;
Akaiwa, Japan: A. Arribas, pers. Comm. 2019; Martabe, Indonesia: Sutopo, 2013), and are often associated
with high gold grades (Figure 30H; Arribas et al., 1995).

Youngest stages of gold mineralization in high‐sulfidation deposits comprise hydrothermally retrograde

quartz, alunite, barite, pyrite veins and veinlets (Figure 31C, 31D; Corral et al., 2017), or breccia void
fillings. These are often associated with a late, high grade, and volumetrically minor but economically
important phase of gold mineralization related to lower sulfidation state mineral assemblages (tennantite,
base metal sulfides; Stoffregen, 1987; Arribas, 1995; Hedenquist et al., 2000). These late mineralization
styles may also form discrete, high‐grade, locally banded and crustiform vein systems or fault‐fill ore styles
 38

in areas of rheologically competent silicification within lower grade disseminated mineralization (e.g.
Goldfield: Berger and Henley, 2011).

6.1.2 Lithologic Associations

The location and morphology of orebodies in most disseminated high‐sulfidation epithermal deposits is
primarily controlled by lithological and hydrothermal influences to which structural control is secondary.
Orebodies commonly occur within or peripheral to vent‐related volcanic features, and within the margins,
or beneath the flanks of flow domes (Harlan et al., 2005; Gray and Coolbaugh, 2004; Rainbow et al., 2005).
In these settings orebodies form manto‐like stratabound bodies that tend to be hosted by permeable
volcanic (e.g., pumiceous ignimbrites) or sedimentary strata which infill local basins, or by vent‐proximal
breccia bodies (Longo et al., 2010; Bissig et al., 2015; Sahlstorm et al., 2018).

Phreatic and phreatomagmatic breccia bodies are commonly host to, or are proximally associated with,
mineralization in high‐sulfidation environments (Table 2; Figures 30A to 30C; Chouinard et al., 2005;
Harlan et al., 2005; Sutopo, 2013; Cerpa et al., 2013). Such features provide hydraulic connectivity
between the ore forming environment and underlying magmatic‐hydrothermal fluid sources and are
often prefentially mineralized, with orebody shapes mimicking the breccia outlines (John et al., 1989; Gray
and Coolbaugh, 1994). These breccias vary in form and size from large, pipe‐like or upward flaring
diatreme bodies of polymictic phreatic breccia that have low degrees of structural control (e.g., La Coipa,
Chile: Gamonal, 2015; Aği Daği, Turkey: Cunningham‐Dunlop and Lee, 2007), to elongate forms influenced
by basement geology or by coeval fault activity (Martabe, Indonesia: Harlan et al., 2005; Sutopo, 2013;
Cerpa et al., 2013). Smaller pebble dikes and tabular breccia bodies are common in many districts and
can be preferentially mineralized (Figures 30A, 30B), especially where they are exploited by or emplaced
along syn‐mineralization faults. Violent fragmentation in these breccias may be facilitated by magma
interaction with hydrothermal fluids, groundwater, volatile release, or by fluid overpressuring along
sealed faults and beneath impermeable altered zones (Sillitoe, 1985). The latter may occur especially
beneath self‐sealed zones in the lithocap environment which rupture when the fluid overpressure
condition is met or vapour pressure bulds up, potentially where intrusions perturb the shallow hydrologic
regime and trigger phase separation (Sillitoe and Lorson, 1994; Sillitoe, 2019). Successive phreatic and/or
phreatomagmatic brecciation and rupture episodes may rejuvenate permeability, producing successive
breccia pulses that overprint earlier phases, and may incorporate fragments with preceding lithocap
alteration‐mineralization (Figure 30C) or underlying porphyry‐associated K‐silicate alteration (Sillitoe,
1985). Late phreatic breccia stages may also overprint earlier‐formed high‐sulfidation mineralization,
forming low‐grade gaps within orebodies (e.g., Yanacocha: Loazya‐Tam, 2002; Sillitoe, 2019).

6.1.3 Deposit‐scale structural controls in disseminated high‐sulfidation deposits

Deposit‐scale structural controls in disseminated high‐sulfidation systems include zones of secondary

permeability along faults, fracture zones, and structurally‐controlled breccia bodies and dikes (Figures
29B, 29C; Chang et al., 2011; Berger and Henley, 2011). In contrast to vein‐hosted epithermal deposits,
generation of dilational sites along faults is a not a significant control on ore distribution.

Ore‐controlling faults may include normal, reverse, strike‐slip, or oblique slip faults distributed within arc‐
parallel or arc‐normal regional‐scale fault systems, the geometry of which may reflect lithological and
structural trends in the basement (e.g., Yanacocha district: Teal and Benavides, 2010). Syn‐mineralization
fault offsets within deposits seldom exceed tens of meters (Figure 31G; e.g., Sahlstorm et al., 2018; Chen
et al., 2019), although offset may be much greater on adjacent regional‐scale faults (Harlan et al., 2005).
 39

Ore‐controlling faults may comprise growth faults that influence facies changes within the volcanic and
volcaniclastic infill proximal to the fault (e.g., Sahlstorm et al., 2018; Figure 31G; Muntean et al., 1990).
Tilting of bedding as a consequence of growth faulting may produce open monoclinal folds that locally are
associated with thickening of silicified mineralized zones, and variations in morphology of stratabound
mineralization (Figure 30F).

Large, disseminated high‐sulfidation epithermal deposits often occur in lithocap environments, as

exemplified by Pascua, Veladero, Tambo (Chile), Yanacocha, Lagunas Norte/Alto Chicama (Peru), Mulatos
‐ La India (Mexico), Paradise Peak (Nevada), and several deposits on the Biga Peninsula of Turkey (Sillitoe,
1999; Bissig et al., 2015; Sanchez et al., 2016). Paleo‐upflow zones within the lithocap can be inferred
from the distribution of zones of strong silicification and residual quartz alteration, which often are
preserved as topographic highs due to preferential erosion of surrounding clay‐rich steam‐heated
alteration (Figures 29D, 29E; Vikre, 1989; Cooke et al., 2017). Fault‐controlled paleo‐upflow zones may
be indicated by thickening of silicified zones within the lithocap (Figure 29B), forming resistant, linear
anomalies and ore zones (Figure 29C) (Harlan et al., 2005; Teal and Benavides, 2010). Such features
generally narrow downward as steeply‐dipping tabular zones of silicification frequently accompanied by
alunite‐ and at greater depth, pyrophyllite‐bearing alteration assemblages (Arribas, 1995; Chouinard et
al., 2005; Figure 29B). When exposed by erosion, this morphology is preserved as silicified resistant ridges
(Figure 29E) that are generally termed "quartz (or silica) ribs" (Sillitoe, 2015), and which were historically
termed "ledges" (Ransome, 1909). Phreatic breccia bodies with lenticular or dike‐like forms may be
preferentially altered and form high‐grade areas of mineralization (e.g. Paradise Peak: John et al., 1989;
Sillitoe and Lorson, 1994; Jinxi‐Yelmand, China: Long et al., 2005), and may also coincide with quartz ribs.

Silicification and residual quartz alteration along ore‐controlling faults and surrounding damage zones can
be sufficiently intense that fault rock is overprinted and original deformation textures are obscured. Faults
active later in the hydrothermal history can be preserved as cataclasite with hydrothermal minerals in the
fault rock matrix, or as variably lithified gouge. Exploitation of faults by phreatic breccia dikes and igneous
dikes can overprint early fault rock, although such dikes also occur along extensional fissures with
negligible displacement that are later overprinted by faulting.

In zones of advanced argillic alteration, structural control on ore distribution often manifests as higher‐
grade zones concentrated within steeply‐dipping tabular fault zones and fault networks (Figures 31A, B,
G). These fault networks may be centimeters to tens of meters wide, and can occur within broader zones
of disseminated stratabound mineralization. In the Mankayan district in the Philippines, broad zones of
disseminated mineralization with a >300 m vertical extent surround the intersection of the Lepanto and
West faults where networks of minor extensional faults provided high fracture density, and fluids were
focused beneath an unconformity (Hedenquist et al., 1998; Chang et al., 2011).

Adjacent to fault‐controlled upflow zones, disseminated mineralization may extend as lithologically‐

controlled zones within permeable units, such as sandstone and other epiclastic units (Perama Hill
deposit, Greece: Voudouris et al., 2011; Jinxi‐Yelmand, China: Long et al., 2005), or volcanic and phreatic
breccia bodies (Martabe district, Indonesia: Harlan et al., 2005). Multiple ore horizons may form in
sequences with pronounced interlayer variations in permeability and/or rheology (Pueblo Viejo,
Dominican Republic: Muntean et al., 1990; Chinkuashih, Taiwan: Tan, 1991; Berger and Henley, 2011;
Quimsacocha, Ecuador: MacDonald et al., 2011). Sheeted pyrite veins may form through hydraulic
fracturing in these deposits where fluid flow is restricted by low‐permeability units (Figures 31E, F;
Muntean et al., 1990; Chen et al., 2019). Stratabound areas of disseminated pyritic mineralization that
form the bulk of the ore in most high‐sulfidation deposits may thicken proximal to controlling faults or
 40

breccia bodies, forming gently‐plunging linear ore trends (Figure 29C). Thickest, highest grade zones of
disseminated orebodies typically occur in central areas where fluid flow is focused by the greatest density
of intersecting minor faults and extensional fractures (Gray and Coolbaugh, 1994; Chouinard et al., 2005).

Faults may also localize residual quartz and pervasively silicified pyritic zones without significant
associated strataform mineralization or lithocap development, usually in massive units such as domes or
intrusions (e.g., Summitville: Gray and Coolbaugh, 1994). These tabular fault‐controlled alteration zones
may represent controlling structures beneath or lateral to larger stratabound disseminated orebodies,
and often widen upward into highest parts of the hydrothermal system (Long et al., 2005). Where such
zones extend below principal stratabound orebodies as lenticular keels, they may control linear higher
grade concentrations they intersect and pass into the stratabound zones (Figures 29B, 29D, and 29F;
Stoffregen, 1987; Chouinard et al., 2005; Vikre and Henry, 2011).

The positions and structural style of syn‐mineralization faults in high sulfidation deposits may evolve over
the lifetime of the hydrothermal system in response to synvolcanic magmatic and volcanic activity,
rheological changes in host rocks associated with alteration, or changes in paleostress conditions (e.g.,
Chelopech: Chambefort and Moritz, 2006; El Indio: Giambiagi et al., 2017; SW Pacific: Berger and Henley,
2011). Early silicified faults are remobilized, crosscut, or exploited on their margins by younger syn‐
hydrothermal structures. The mineralogy associated with successive stages of faulting varies with
paragenesis, with pyrite‐rich syn‐hydrothermal faults overprinting early pre‐ore silicified faults, and later
fault surfaces often localizing barite‐alunite‐pyrite‐base metal‐quartz veins or creamy silica alteration with
local void filling. Late‐ or post‐ore fault displacement associated with unconsolidated clay gouge is
commonly present, but can be difficult to distinguish from syn‐mineralization structures where oxidation
results in Fe‐oxide concentrations along faults of all ages; therefore, selective sampling is often needed to
separate ore‐bearing structures from younger structures that may offset ore.

6.2 Disseminated styles of intermediate‐ and low‐sulfidation systems

Deposits with dominantly disseminated styles represent a minority of the total number of intermediate‐
and low‐sulfidation deposits globally, but include important large deposits for which bulk mineable ore
comprises both disseminated mineralization and associated networks of veinlets. As with disseminated
high‐sulfidation deposits, many of these deposits display close timing with respect to volcanism, and are
hosted by porous, permeable volcaniclastic and sedimentary units and phreatic and phreatomagmatic
breccias bodies. These include diatreme and phreatic breccia hosted or associated deposits, such as Kelian
(Borneo: Davies et al., 2008), parts of the Baguio system (Philippines: Balatoc diatreme at Acupan: Waters
et al., 2011), Penasquito (Mexico: Rocha Rocha, 2016), and Rosia Montana (Romania: Wallier et al., 2006),
as well as disseminated flow dome and dike related mineralization (Pitarilla, Mexico: Boychuk et al., 2012).
Structural control in most disseminated intermediate‐ and low‐sulfidation deposits largely consists of the
localizing effect of faults on the distribution and morphology of ore and alteration patterns within zones
otherwise dominated by hydrothermal or lithologic controls.

Breccia‐hosted systems typically exhibit low degrees of structural control, and many show a transition
from early disseminated pyritic mineralization to later base metal‐carbonate veinlets (Corbett and Leach,
1998). These veinlet zones may be localized along minor faults which formed after adularia‐quartz
alteration and cementation of breccia matrix. At Acupan, sheeted intermediate‐sulfidation extensional
veins overprint the early breccia‐hosted mineralization (Waters et al., 2011). Higher degrees of structural
control occur where syn‐volcanic faults control emplacement of phreatomagmatic breccia and form
conduits to early disseminated pyrite‐quartz‐adularia mineralization (e.g., Certej, Romania, Figure 32A).
 41

Here, this phase of mineralization is followed by sets of extensional quartz‐base metal veinlets aligned
parallel to the fault system.

Disseminated low‐sulfidation deposits with higher degrees of structural control are present in the
northern and central Great Basin of Nevada. These include the Pliocene Hycroft (Lewis‐Crowfoot: Ebert
and Rye, 1997), Florida Canyon, and Wind Mountain (Wood, 1990) deposits, all of which formed adjacent
to extensional growth faults that localized the respective hydrothermal systems. In these deposits,
orebodies occur in disseminated adularia‐quartz altered zones within permeable lacustrine and alluvial
fan deposits in the fault hangingwall, and locally as veins along the controlling faults. At the Round
Mountain deposit, which is hosted mainly by Oligocene ignimbrite on a caldera margin, ore is controlled
by conjugate low angle faults (Figure 32C) and steeply‐dipping extensional vein sets (Figure 32D) that
record extensional above a high of underlying Paleozoic metasedimentary rocks (Rhys et al., 2020, in
prep.). Where fault networks cut permeable tuff units, disseminated pyrite mineralization occurs within
zones of adularia alteration (Tingley and Berger, 1985; Sander and Einaudi, 1990; Henry et al., 1997).
Similarly, at the Ohakuri deposit in New Zealand, mineralization is disseminated throughout a strongly
quartz‐adularia altered but originally porous horizon with late‐stage development of structural controlled
veinlet networks (Rowland and Simmons, 2012; Heap et al., 2020).

7.0 CONCLUSIONS AND EXPLORATION IMPLICATIONS

Epithermal gold deposits are the products of focused hydrothermal fluid flow above, or lateral to,
magmatic heat and fluid sources in active arc, rift and post‐subduction settings. The tectonic evolution of
these settings controls the development and kinematics of fault networks and the style of magmatic
activity, which in turn dictate the structural position, geometry, and mineralization style of epithermal
gold deposits (Table 1; Figure 1.; Sillitoe and Perello, 2005; Tosdal and Richards, 2001; Richards, 2015;
Menant et al., 2018; Holm et al., 2019). Where associated with regional faults, vein‐hosted epithermal
deposits may be largely controlled by pre‐existing fault systems, making establishment of the fault‐vein
evolutionary history fundamental to district‐scale targeting and the prediction of dilational upflow sites
that localize oreshoots. At a district scale, veins may be localized along or adjacent to regional fault sets,
or be focused within elliptical zones that are not obviously connected to regional fault sets. Such zones
may be influenced by thermal, hydrothermal, and topographic effects associated with volcanic and
magmatic centers, and/or volumetric changes related to underlying genetically‐associated magmatism.
Internal to districts, vein systems hosted by faults with highest displacement and greatest lateral and
vertical continuity also contain the highest precious metal endowment. Veins typically exhibit evidence
for syn‐kinematic formation and brecciation, where cyclic fluid flow is linked to episodic fault
displacement. In most preserved systems, epithermal vein formation is relatively late in the evolution of
the host fault systems, with vein infill material overprinting precursor fault rock. The positions and
morphology of epithermal veins hosted by fault systems are largely controlled by the geometry and
kinematics of the hosting fault system, which in turn are linked to the interaction between pre‐existing
structural architecture, rheological properties of the host rock, fluid pressure (cf. Cox, this volume), and
the dynamics of fault propagation during evolution of the fault system.

The sequence and common symmetry of mineralogically banded epithermal veins are the product of
episodic fluid injection related to fault rupture events. Unmineralized pre‐ore vein stages may represent
initial fluid exploitation of an evolving and expanding fault system after it has achieved sufficient hydraulic
connectivity to permit fluid transport (Jebrak, 1997). Later deposition of metal‐rich, more passively
emplaced colloform‐crustiform vein stages occur during initial periods of peak dilation, and may alternate
with or be overprinted by episodes of breccia formation.
 42

Epithermal vein systems display geometrical patterns that can be applied to district scale exploration.
Upward steepening, branching, and dilation of extensional fault‐hosted vein systems are common in near‐
surface environments, reflecting decreasing lithostatic load and lower differential stress. The inflection
line and vein/fault intersections at these shallow levels typically intersect in the 2 paleostress orientation,
forming a gently‐plunging linear zone of dilation and permeability facilitating formation of similarly
oriented oreshoots. Irregularities, deflections, and bifurcations in fault systems generated during early
stages of fault propagation through the linkage of isolated fault segments become important permeable
fluid conduits and dilational sites during subsequent vein formation. Two end‐member geometrical
contexts are important, which are also recognized as settings which host or control modern geothermal
systems (e.g., Faulds and Hinz, 2015; Siler et al., 2018):
1) Fault deflections or steps that are at a high angle to the slip vector generate either dilational or
contractional jogs depending on the shear sense and stepping/deflection direction. Such features
are parallel to the 2 paleostress orientation and, at deposit scale, can host ore‐shoots if dilational.
In strike‐slip settings, dilational jogs form sub‐perpendicular pipes that may be sites of enhanced
vertical permeability and fluid flow (Sibson, 1987). Where such features are of sufficient scale to
transect the crust, they may localise a hydrothermal system (Rowland and Sibson, 2004). In
normal fault settings, dilational jogs form shallow plunging pipes. Such features often are a
consequence of fault refraction across sub‐horizontal or gently‐dipping lithologic contacts
whereby normal faults steepen and dilate in more competent rock units.
2) Linkage of fault segments as a consequence of fault growth generates brittle and distributed
damage in pipe‐like zones (relays) parallel to the direction of slip. Such features are particularly
important in normal‐ and oblique‐slip faults, where they may enhance vertical fluid flow (Rowland
and Sibson, 2004).

In disseminated high‐sulfidation deposits, faults may form conduits controlling the geometry and position
of zones of advanced argillic alteration primary controls, as well as syn‐hydrothermal dikes and phreatic
breccia bodies. The volcaniclastic rock sequences common to these settings typically possess high primary
permeability, conducive to distributed fluid flow and the formation of disseminated mineralization styles.
Lithocap environments in high‐sulfidation districts may include zones of secondary structural permeability
that flank or extend laterally from ore controlling faults. Syn‐ore faults in such settings may be overprinted
and obscured by alteration.

Implications for the exploration of epithermal deposits

As outcropping deposits become more difficult to discover, successful exploration for epithermal deposits
will increasingly rely on a mineral systems approach that integrates lithostratigraphic architecture,
alteration patterns, and the evolution and kinematic history of controlling fault systems. Most or all of
these critical elements can be established through systematic field data collection and analysis that
include the following factors:

Lithologic Framework: Establishing a 3D lithologic model allows tracking of the position of faults through
identifying stratigraphic discontinuities and offsets. This also facilitates identification of potential
dilational sites, rheologically‐controlled locations of fault refraction, and the locations of stepover zones
and terminations along ore‐controlling faults. Mapping and modeling of lithological marker units is
fundamental to interpreting the displacement history of ore‐controlling faults, particularly where
thickness and facies variations imply synvolcanic movement. Stratigraphic rheological and permeability
contrasts may control emplacement of vein systems, especially in low‐displacement, dominantly
 43

extensional environments. Small sedimentary basins localized in grabens, half grabens, or areas of low
paleotopography between domes record the positions of fault‐controlled depressions and fissures that
may provide important trap sites of mineralization. Facies changes or bedding dip changes in these
settings, particularly those coinciding with of linear alteration zones, may indicate blind faults that host
or control orebodies at deeper levels.

Fault System Architecture: Accurate documentation of fault system architecture, particularly where
directly controlling alteration and mineralization, is the foundation of structurally‐based exploration
targeting in epithermal systems. Whenever possible, faults should be constrained by conclusive field
evidence such as displacement of geological markers, direct observation of faults in outcrops or
drillholes, or abrupt contact or bedding orientation changes. Over‐interpretation of fault abundances
and kinematic history through lineament analysis of geophysical and remote sensing data is of limited
reliability in structural targeting exercises without accompanying ground‐truthing. Linear topographic
features and geophysical discontinuities can reflect joint sets, primary stratigraphic fabric, dikes,
foliations, or artefacts of grid orientation and data treatment parameters, none of which are related to
faulting. Inaccurate fault models can obscure the position and morphology of ore‐controlling structures,
understate the continuity of ore during exploration and resource estimation, and provide misleading
constraints on the geotechnical analysis of deposits for mine design. Interpretation of faults as straight,
continuous features often oversimplifies their distribution, and over‐estimates their length and
continuity, especially for low‐displacement structures. Conversely, accurate depiction of the three‐
dimensional geometry of fault systems can identify the important structural irregularities such as bends,
terminations, and interaction between non‐planar faults that control epithermal oreshoots.

Fault Kinematic Interpretation: Accurate kinematic interpretation of controlling faults is the basis for
predicting oreshoot positions and geometry in epithermal systems, and can also aid in the targeting of
oreshoots related to the post‐mineralization dismemberment, re‐orientation, and displacement of ore
bodies. Slickenlines are the most commonly used kinematic indicators of fault displacement direction,
but emphasize latest increments of fault slip or form multiple sets related to different slip episodes.
Where possible, displacement directions implied by slickenlines should be verified using other indicators
and compared to the offsets implied by displaced lithological markers. Accurate kinematic
interpretation ensures that appropriate fault models are employed in targeting exercises, rather than
models assumed on the basis of geometrical similarities to other epithermal systems or regional tectonic
settings. Scale is important: although many epithermal districts are formed within regional strike‐slip
settings, kinematic analysis often demonstrates that the most significant faults controlling ore
distribution are second order extensional faults between or spatially separated from the first order
strike‐slip faults. Misinterpretation of fault styles is particularly common in greenfields and data‐poor
brownfields settings, where exploration strategies often invoke map (plan) view interpretation of strike‐
slip faults and related vein and alteration patterns to identify exploration targets, even in settings where
regional studies indicate that no strike‐slip faulting was active at the time of mineralization. This can
result in the failure to interpret 3D controls on ore distribution correctly, thereby potentially missing
blind gently‐plunging targets along normal, extensional faults.

Post‐mineral Fault Disruption: Determining the relative timing of faulting and mineralization is essential
to identifying those structures that may overprint and offset veins and disseminated orebodies, rather
than host them. Post‐mineralization regional faulting may result in widespread tilting of volcanic strata
and original metal and alteration zonation patterns, or inclination of stratified vein sediment breccias
and geopetal fill sequences. Recognition of post‐mineralization tilting can aid in the interpretation of
relative depth of the favorable window for mineralization across the district, and the reconstruction of
 44

lithologically‐ and topographically‐controlled paleohydrology. This allows target vectoring, especially in

environments where shallow alteration is preserved above blind, unexposed veins, and across major
faults that offset mineralization. Post‐mineralization contractional deformation is relatively common in
Mesozoic and older epithermal districts, and can result in overprinting and remobilization of ore‐
controlling structures, and the dismemberment, imbrication, and folding of both mineralized zones and
host rocks (e.g., Balkan arcs: Chambefort and Moritz, 2006). Post‐mineralization faults and topographic
features often dominate remote sensing images and hence their interpretations, obscuring the more
economically important ore‐controlling features.

Deposit‐Scale Zoning: At a deposit scale, the character of syn‐mineralization fault zones varies from
cataclasite or gouge dominant distal to ore zones, through progressively more hydrothermally cemented
fault rocks proximal to and within ore zones. In low‐ and intermediate‐sulphidation systems, this
transition is often accompanied by increased adularia‐quartz‐illite alteration and/or silicification and
vein abundance along the fault trace. Adularia‐quartz dominant alteration and silicification embrittle
the host rocks, allowing repeated dilation of ore‐hosting veins and faults and maintaining fluid flow in
areas of upflow. Late, low temperature clays associated with retrograde collapse of the hydrothermal
system may overprint the adularia‐quartz‐illite dominant assemblages along late faults and fracture
systems, highlighting the importance of establishing their timing in the assessment of prospective
structural sites and positions in fluid conduits. Zoning considerations should also include lithologic,
alteration, and structural indicators of depth of erosion, which may indicate the potential for deeper
blind systems. Useful indicators may include preserved surface discharge deposits (sinters, eruptive
hydrothermal breccia layers), as well as paleohydrological‐alteration patterns (paleowater table
indicators). Exclusive usage of fluid inclusion data for depth determination can be misleading, as the
common assumption of hydrostatic fluid pressures in epithermal vein systems is not always valid.

As has been demonstrated by recent discoveries of epithermal vein systems (e.g., Fruta del Norte,
Ecuador; Palmarejo and La Cienega, Mexico; Correnso and WKP in New Zealand; Esquel in Argentina;
Shovelnose in British Columbia), there remains high potential globally for new discoveries of structurally
controlled, blind deposits. This is particularly the case where mineralization is obscured by near‐surface
alteration and/or post‐ore rock units, as well as in situations where orebodies are displaced by post‐
mineralization faults. Underground or deeper discoveries in high‐sulfidation districts (e.g., Bor district,
Serbia; Chaquicocha, Peru; Escondida, Mulatos district, Mexico) also demonstrate the potential for
structurally‐controlled sites within broader advanced argillic and lithocap alteration zones. With mineral
exploration continuing to target deeper levels as near‐surface opportunities are depleted or become
restricted due to political or societal factors, the application of structural geology within a mineral‐systems
approach will play a pivotal role in future discoveries. This begins with earliest stages of belt selection
and regional targeting, and continues through all stages of exploration, discovery, and mining.

Acknowledgements

The senior author gratefully thanks Coeur Mining, Great Panther Silver, OceanaGold Corp., Kinross Gold
Corp., Barrick Gold Corp., Newmont Mining Corp, Alamos Gold Corp., Agnico Eagle Mines, B2 Gold, and
Eldorado Gold for permission to utilize information, images, and maps from their respective mine sites in
this paper. The numerous discussions and fieldwork that were completed with the company geology staff
contributed to the understanding of epithermal deposits that is conveyed here. The manuscript
significantly benefited from formal reviews by Stephen Cox and David John, and from informal reviews by
Antonio Arribas, John Thompson, and Stuart Simmons. We thank Katherina Ross for drafting many of the
 45

diagrams and providing editorial support. Ryan Taylor's (USGS) assistance in obtaining papers which were
referenced in this study is also thankfully acknowledged.

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Figure 1: Schematic illustrations of various arc stress states and tectonomagmatic settings of
convergent margins (left diagrams), and associated positions and geometry of different styles of
epithermal deposits that may form in these environments (inset diagrams on right). IS = Intermediate
sulfidation; LS = Low‐sulfidation; HS = High‐sulfidation; SCLM = sub‐crustal lithospheric mantle. Individual
deposits will may deviate from the idealized patterns shown here due to temporal changes in intra‐arc
stress conditions, local volumetric changes in underlying magmatic bodies and volcanic features,
paleotopography, fault interaction, fault inheritance, local configuration of volcanic and basement host
rocks, and other factors. A: Arc‐normal extension characterized by arc‐parallel normal faults and
voluminous volcanism. Epithermal IS and LS vein systems occur in arc‐parallel veins and faults, locally
linked to or controlled by arc‐transverse oblique slip veins and faults. B: Contractional arc (orthogonal
convergence), shown here with slab flattening and crustal thickening. Reverse faults are arc‐parallel. Arc‐
transverse oblique slip and arc‐orthogonal extensional faults cross the arc and localize volcanism. IS veins
are arc‐perpendicular and locally superimposed on porphyry systems. HS mineralization and associated
lithocaps follow arc‐parallel lithological and fault trends, or occur in arc‐normal and oblique extensional
corridors. C: Oblique subduction with transtensional or transpressional regional strain and faulting
partitioned into arc‐parallel strike‐slip faults, and arc‐transverse faults. Volcanism and IS and HS deposits
are associated with flexures, pull apart basins, and jogs or stepovers in strike‐slip faults. Veins and
mineralized normal faults occur in arc‐oblique to orthogonal orientations, extending locally along
bounding strike‐slip faults. Extensional grabens in the back‐arc may be aligned oblique to the arc.
 71

Figure 1
 72

Figure 2: Schematic illustration of hydrothermal circulation and the position of various deposits types
in an andesitic to dacitic arc‐related, calc‐alkaline stratovolcano and porphyry‐centered magmatic
hydrothermal system associated with high and intermediate sulfidation epithermal deposits, modified
from figures by Hedenquist and Lowenstern (1994) and Hedenquist et al. (2000). CRD = carbonate
replacement deposit. The image depicts features typical of a porphyry to epithermal environment formed
in a contractional or oblique‐subduction setting. Near‐surface fluid circulation is controlled by both
structural and primary permeability, with topographically‐controlled outflow away from the upflow
underlying the volcanic center. Asymmetric zones of high‐sulfidation mineralization occur on the flanks
of the volcanic center associated with summit dome and phreatomagmatic breccia bodies fed by
magmatic vapor ascending along synvolcanic faults. These zone are hosted by lithocaps parallel to the
paleowater table and permeable pyroclastic units. Deeply‐circulating meteoric fluids mix with and
neutralize advecting magmatic fluid, forming a chloride‐dominant, neutral pH hydrothermal plume that
rises along faults peripheral to the volcanic edifice. Intermediate‐sulfidation mineralization forms where
decompressional boiling occurs within 300‐600 m of surface in dilational structural sites. Near‐surface
steam‐heated alteration forms above the vein system and the outflow zone, with hotspring discharge
down‐gradient. Other deeper mineralization styles peripheral to the porphyry system include skarn and
Cu‐Au vein systems, zoning outward to Zn‐Pb base metal‐rich veins and polymetallic replacement/manto
deposits. When volatile release from the cooling intrusion induces sufficiently high fluid pressure, brittle
failure and vein formation may occur in the otherwise aseismic thermal igneous carapace.
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Figure 3: Schematic illustration of intermediate‐ and low‐sulfidation fault‐hosted epithermal vein

systems showing patterns in fluid flow and conceptual vertical variations in fluid pressure, stress state,
and structural architecture, after Rowland and Simmons (2012) and Davatzes and Hickman (2010). A
ductile zone surrounds cooling magma bodies that thermally drive fluid convection, by a feed zone that is
largely under hydrostatic conditions where mineral deposition is minimal along controlling faults. At
epithermal levels, fluid flow is structurally focused in fault‐fracture networks which steepen and branch
upward under lower lithostatic load and decreased differential stress (see Mohr diagrams at right).
Venting systems are most common in low‐sulfidation settings, whereas non‐venting systems are typical
of intermediate‐sulfidation systems which may be overlain by a clay cap below water table levels.
 74

Figure 4: Schematic cross sections illustrating influences of structural, hydrothermal, and lithological
controls on deposit morphology and style in the epithermal environment (Modified after Sillitoe, 1993).
Structural control dominates intermediate‐ and low‐sulfidation, and more rarely high‐sulfidation vein and
fault‐hosted systems. Hydrothermal and lithological controls on mineralization are most common in
disseminated high‐sulfidation deposits, as well as breccia‐hosted intermediate‐sulfidation deposits.
Combinations of these different types of controls occur in many deposits.
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A B

Figure 5: Geometric characteristics of epithermal vein systems controlled by normal faults. A:

Schematic section of a fault‐controlled low‐sulfidation vein system showing upward dissipation of
displacement on a syn‐volcanic fault into an open monoclinal fold, with lacustrine sedimentary and sinter
deposits on the hangingwall side, and sinter locally at the paleo‐lakeshore interface. Tilting (folding) at
the level of exposure defines the position of the blind underlying fault. The fault‐vein system forms an
upward widening horsetail fan that distributes fault displacement into steeper extensional veins as
differential stress and lithostatic load diminish. Thicker units on the hangingwall indicating formation as a
growth fault which has been progressively buried by younger units. Veins are concentrated in areas of
competent adularia‐quartz alteration. B: Cross section through the Veta Madre fault‐vein system in the
Cata (Los Pozos) mine area, Guanajuato, Mexico, illustrating the timing of mineralization relative to fault
evolution, and vein patterns and implied kinematics. The diorite dyke intruded along a pre‐mineral fault
with >1 km normal displacement juxtaposing gently‐dipping Eocene Guanajuato conglomerate against
folded Cretaceous phyllite. The vein system exploits the older fault corridor, occurring mainly as fault‐fill
breccia veins in the footwall of the dyke in late fault strands, and more steeply dipping, polygenerational
extension veins in the dyke that are host to much of the higher Ag‐Au grades.
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Figure 6: Fault‐fill veins in low‐ and intermediate‐sulfidation deposits with textures indicative of vein
formation late in the faulting history. A and B: High‐grade banded low‐sulfidation Colorado Grande vein,
Midas deposit, Nevada (B is an enlargement of the upper right area of A). Pre‐ore monomictic wallrock
breccia (wb) with quartz matrix is preserved as thin remnants mainly on the right wall and overgrown on
both walls by crustiform‐banded quartz‐adularia‐pyrite‐selenide (naumannite), with high Au and Ag
grades (qa). The central breccia fill is calcite‐dominant and contains fragments of wallrock and crustiform
vein quartz (cb). A band of silicified grey‐brown matrix cataclastic breccia containing crustiform fragments
(ct) lies between the crustiform banded vein and calcite breccia fill and is consumed upward (in image B)
by the later calcite‐matrix breccia, showing that the fault rock formed between the crustiform and late
calcite vein stages. C and D: Vein filling faults which have 50‐200 m of normal offset, but for which the
vein fill has overprinted fault rock. C illustrates banded fault‐fill vein from the Efemcukuru deposit, Turkey
composed of bands of dark base metal sulfides, grey quartz‐sulfide, and orange‐pink rhodonite breccia
(rqb), the latter forming a breccia band. Each band is a different vein generation, illustrating repeated
dilatancy and sealing. At left, irregular, steeply‐dipping rhodonite‐quartz breccia extensional veins extend
off the hangingwall of the main vein. D is from the Kupol North Extension vein (Russia), showing a well‐
banded vein with and early, pre‐ore quartz matrix hydrothermal breccia stage at left (bx), and at center
and on right, the principal vein stages with colloform‐crustiform high‐grade fill (cc). Late massive quartz
and calcite (qca) fill the vein core.
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Figure 7: Anderson’s predictive fault model based on principal stress orientation. (A) If the maximum
compressive stress is vertical, normal faults dipping about 60 are favored; (B) for vertical intermediate
principal stresses, vertical strike‐slip faults form; and (C) if the minimum compressive stress direction is
vertical, thrust faults form. Fault slip direction and associated extension vein orientations are shown for
each stress state. Extension veins are vertical in both normal and strike‐slip fault settings, but vary from
parallel to oblique to the strike of associated faults. In reverse (thrust) fault settings, atypical of
epithermal settings but common in deeper environments associated with orogenic gold deposits,
extension veins are gently dipping and form due to hydraulic fracturing at fluid pressures exceeding the
lithostatic load. In each of the three stress states, stress‐controlled extension veins and conjugate faults
intersect parallel to the intermediate stress direction and perpendicular to slip direction on the faults,
promoting structural permeability in this orientation.
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Figure 8: Examples of mineralized foliated cataclasite fault rocks in epithermal deposits. A: Layered cataclasite from
gently‐dipping segment of the Veta Madre fault zone, Guanajuatito mine, Guanajuato district, Mexico (Oligocene). The view
shows the full width of the structure, which accommodates several hundred metres of normal displacement at this location.
Layering is defined by grain size and composition, with dark layers containing a higher proportion of rock flour (comminuted
wallrock), and paler layers having partial quartz fill in the matrix with disseminated and blebby sulfides and Ag‐sulfosalts. The
lack of continuous vein material at this location is consistent with the gently dipping, non‐dilational orientation of the host
fault. B: Silicified grey matrix cataclasite layers forming slip surfaces superimposed on vein quartz, northern Kupol deposit,
Russia. C: Silicified cataclasite with grey rock flour + pyrite matrix cemented by quartz in dacite with residual quartz alteration,
Mulatos high‐sulfidation district, Mexico. D: Layered cataclasite with (upper) brown‐grey quartz‐carbonate (qca) cemented
rock flour matrix containing quartz vein fragments and (lower) foliated cataclasite (fc) layer of deformed quartz‐carbonate
breccia with well‐developed pressure solution foliation, northern Kupol deposit, Russia. E: Strongly‐foliated cataclasite with
well‐developed pressure solution fabric and fine‐grained ultracataclasite bands (cab) overprinted by late vein generations,
footwall of the Correnso vein system Waihi district, New Zealand. F: Mineralized hydrothermal breccia with quartz and sulfide
fragments in quartz matrix overprinted by thin cataclastic slip surfaces (cs) with intervening areas of shallow‐dipping pressure
solution foliation which has flattened fragments into lenticular forms, Palmarejo deposit, Mexico. G: Fragment of dark grey
silicified cataclasite in younger stages of vein quartz from vein wall, and partially coated in sulfides in weak cockade
overgrowths, indicating overprinting of earlier fault rock by the vein system, Trio vein system, Waihi district, New Zealand.
 79

Figure 9: Common shear sense indicators in epithermal vein and fault hosted deposits. A: Slickenlines
on the footwall fault surface to the Rosario vein system, Palmarejo district, Mexico. These slickenlines
plunge steeply on the fault surface (parallel to arrow) and are consistent with other syn‐ore kinematic
indicators at this locality. B: Corrugated fault surface with pronounced down‐dip ridge‐in groove
lineations in cataclasites (parallel to arrow) on the surface of a vein‐hosting normal fault, Pinos Altos
district, Mexico. C: Cross sectional view of a fault‐hosted vein (fv) with branching extensional veins (ev)
in its footwall, indicating normal displacement, Gold Crown vein system, Midas deposit, Nevada. D: Cut
sample shown oriented parallel to slip direction showing silicified foliated cataclasite with intensely
developed foliation, Rosario Fault, Palmarejo deposit, Mexico. Riedel shear fractures and oblique
foliations, including pressure solution fabrics that dip more shallowly than the fault slip surfaces, indicate
a normal shear sense. E: Photo (top) and sketch (bottom) of ultracataclasite slip surface (dark planar zone
at top) with Riedel shear fractures cutting pressure solution foliation, adularia‐quartz altered rhyolite tuff,
Colorado Grande vein system from the Midas Deposit, Nevada. Oriented sample shown in plan view
indicates a sinistral shear sense.
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Figure 10: Block diagram illustrating the geometry and position of kinematic indicators common in
fault‐fill veins in epithermal deposits. This diagram illustrates a normal, extensional fault setting, with
the principal slip surfaces developed on the footwall to the vein system. The cut away at center and right
is drawn to reveal the footwall fault surface. Rotating the diagram 90 degrees would illustrate the
patterns of kinematic indicators in a strike‐slip fault system, since the kinematic indicators retain the same
internal geometrical relationships. Note that a late set of slickenlines is shown in purple which are
unrelated to the other kinematic indicators, to show the common occurrence of more than one set of
slickensides on a fault surface, and underscore the need to assess kinematics on the basis of multiple
shear sense indicators.
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Figure 11: Examples of extensional vein sets in intermediate (A, B, C, F) and low (D) and high (E) sulfidation deposits
formed through extensional dilation of stress‐controlled, moderately‐ to steeply‐dipping hydraulic fractures. All
examples shown are hosted by competent, adularia‐quartz‐illite altered volcanic rocks, or in the case of E, silicified
sedimentary rocks, and occur within 50 metres of coeval, ore controlling faults. A: Sheeted set of chalcedonic to
prismatic quartz‐filled extensional veins, Bravo target area, Pinos Altos district, Mexico. B: Massive to crustiform and
drusy quartz‐filled extensional vein array formed in lateral termination of a fault‐fill vein showing variations in
orientation and locally branching nature that are typical of extensional vein sets, Julietta Mine, Russia. C: Sheeted
extensional veins with syntaxial prismatic quartz fill perpendicular to vein walls and drusy centerlines, Ocampo
district, Mexico. D: Multiple generations of anastomosing and branching, but generally sub‐parallel extensional
veins, which include crustiform and breccia fill veins, and at right veins with late black cherty fill. These cut an earlier
fault‐fill vein (fv) at far right. Favona vein system, Waihi district, New Zealand. E: Sheeted steeply‐dipping pyrite
extensional veins in gently‐dipping sandstone‐siltstone sequence with stratabound disseminated pyrite
mineralization, Moore pit, Pueblo Viejo deposit, Dominican Republic. F: Lenticular and branching breccia veins form
a generally steeply dipping, sub‐parallel set in a bulk orebody immediately above, and branching off, the hangingwall
of the quartz‐sulfide bearing Veta Madre fault‐vein system, Guanajuato district, Mexico.
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Figure 12: Relationship between alteration, structural style, and ore distribution in the fault‐hosted Guadalupe deposit,
Palmarejo district, Mexico (Rhys et al., 2017). A: Vertical longitudinal section of contoured Ag grade (ppm Ag) X true
thickness (m) from drilling data (Coeur Mining, internal data). The shallow oreshoot plunge, typical of many epithermal
deposits, is here parallel to the line of intersection of the vein system with stratigraphic layering and hangingwall veins.
The top of the ore zone coincides approximately with the base of clay alteration. Locations of images C to F are shown,
highlighting variations in vein and fault texture in different levels of the system. B: Cross section through the Guadalupe
vein system (location shown in A) showing where the controlling fault splays and steepens with depth below the near‐
surface clay alteration zone. C: High‐grade quartz vein with crustiform black ginguro base metal sulfide‐sulfosalt bands
in adularia‐quartz‐illite altered wallrock. The vein overprints the fault rocks and is structurally late. D: Outcrop of the
Guadalupe Fault at location D in the long section, showing illite‐kaolinite‐smectite altered cap lacking quartz veins
approximately 200 metres above the location of image C. E: Cataclasite in clay alteration zone with minor silicification
and minor quartz veinlets along the Guadalupe Fault approximately 150 metres above the ore zone. F: Erosionally‐
resistant quartz‐adularia‐illite alteration along the Guadalupe Fault immediately above ore.
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Figure 13: Oreshoot localization and variation in structural and alteration style within a vein system
that is hosted by intersecting normal faults, 76 Clavos and Rosario orebodies, Palmarejo Mine. A: Map
of the Palmarejo Mine on 880 m level. Orebodies occur at fault intersections of interacting normal faults,
preferentially extending along west‐northwest‐striking fault segments in areas surrounded by adularia‐
quartz alteration. B to D: Images illustrate lateral variations in mineralization and structural style within
and adjacent to the 76 Clavos oreshoot at the intersection between the La Blanca and Rosario faults. In
B, note that the vein system widens as it approaches the junction of the La Blanca and Rosario faults.
North of 676 Clavos, the Rosario Fault comprises clay gouge and lacks significant alteration, as shown in
C, but closer to the orebody in D, vein filling becomes more abundant, although clay gouge and cataclasite
are also present. Within the core of the 76 Clavos (image E) the vein is entirely dilational and lacks fault
rock, despite >200 metres of normal displacement on the host fault system. Alteration within the
dilational segment is adularia‐dominant, whereas impermeable clay is dominant within fault gouge
segments (From Rhys et al., 2017).
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Figure 15: Schematic diagrams illustrating coupled fluid pressure and shear stress cycling on normal
faults (modified from Sibson, 2000). EQ = seismic slip increment (earthquake); Pf = fluid pressure; Ph =
hydrostatic fluid pressure; Pl = lithostatic fluid pressure. A) Fluid pressure rises at failure due to fracture
closure linked to increased horizontal and mean stress. B) Coseismic reduction of fluid pressure within a
dilational fault jog, resulting in rapid ingress of hydrothermal fluid and formation of implosion breccia. C)
Fault valve activity from fluid overpressuring beneath a sealing boundary, which could include self‐sealing
by hydrothermal fill along a fault system. At failure, over‐pressured fluid rapidly ascends along the fault
network dropping fluid pressure.
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Figure 16: Crustiform dilational vein fill in low and intermediate sulfidation vein systems showing void‐ filling textures
and paragenetic mineralogical and textural sequences. A: Colloform quartz‐adularia‐sulfosalt layered fill at center (qa)
between early pre‐ore quartz (q) at left, and central vein breccia fill at right (bx), implying sequence of passive filling and
then rapid dilation; Kupol North, Russia. B: Paragenesis from sulfide‐rich margins (at top: s), main Au‐Ag stages in
crustiform banded intermediate stage (center: cbq), and late central fill of low grade (bottom: qz); late vein stages cut
sulfide‐rich upper parts; Portovelo, Ecuador, Minas Nuevas Jane vein. C: Rhodonite‐quartz‐sulfide vein system showing
crustiform dilational filling and late sulfide layers in central parts of vein; Efemcukuru, Turkey. D: Dendritic electrum (el)
with radial, crustiform prismatic white adularia (ad) in pale grey quartz (qz), indicating Au deposition in association with
boiling stages (cf. Simmons et al., 2005); Dvoinoye, Russia. E: Symmetrical grey‐green vein fill with crustiform corrensite‐
quartz‐sulfide (cqs) margins and central collapse breccia (bx) with draped, semi‐tabular crustiform fragments in a later
less sulfide‐rich quartz matrix; late stage of post‐ore calcite at (ca) upper right; Waihi, New Zealand. F: Vein fill with
marginal pyrite‐sphalerite (ps) in layers and re‐brecciated in crustiform quartz‐sulfide (qs) main ore stage, and then re‐
brecciated in central late Fe‐carbonate fill (upper left, extending to center right: fec); Julietta Mine, Russia.
 87

Figure 17: Vein breccia textures in epithermal deposits. A: Breccia textures grading from cataclasite
(right: cc) to hydrothermal quartz vein‐fill breccia (qbx) and crustiform fill (left: cr). This may record a fault
rupture sequence in the cataclasite followed by rapid brecciation and dilational filling with intermingling
of cataclasite and quartz vein breccia matrix; Fresnillo, Mexico. B: Sulfide‐poor, pre‐mineralization
chaotic quartz matrix breccia with monomictic wallrock fragments; Midas, Nevada. C: Gravity‐fill collapse
breccia with fragmentation of crustiform veins; grey matrix contains disseminated pyrite and Ag‐selenide
minerals; Midas, Nevada. D: Polymictic breccia layers (right and center: bx) adjacent to earlier more
coherent, and at left crustiform banded quartz (qz); Kupol North, Russia. E: Multi‐stage vein filling
alternating between crustiform quartz‐sulfide and grey matrix chalcedonic breccia stages, with at least
four vein filling episodes evident; Portovelo, Ecuador. F: Polyphase cockade breccias from Efemcukuru,
Turkey (top) and Palmarejo, Mexico (bottom), both with fragments of chaotic clast‐supported quartz
matrix breccia and cataclasite with cockade crustiform sulfide‐quartz‐sulfosalt rims. G: Cockade‐textured
high‐grade breccia, with pale grey to white chalcedonic quartz vein sediments (vs) draping on and filling
between fragments as partial matrix; fragments are composed of earlier breccia generations; Palmarejo
(Guadalupe), Mexico.
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Figure 18: Vein sediments and layered breccias in epithermal veins formed through geopetal filling of
open voids. A: Cockade texture with mantling of layered chalcedonic quartz after probable silica gel;
Hycroft, Nevada. B: Well‐laminated chalcedonic white to grey quartz (cq) with inter‐layered fine‐grained
breccia (bx) infilling perpendicular to crustiform‐colloform vein walls (left), and “oatmeal” breccia (ob)
with tabular grey quartz‐sulfide vein chips aligned at high angle to vein wall (right); Waihi, New Zealand.
C: Model for formation of stratified void‐filling breccias: dilation in the upper, steep part of the fault
system induces boiling and spalling of vein walls, with deposition of silica gel in void. D: Silty fill (sil),
derived from possible settling of overlying lacustrine sediments or rock flour forming gently‐dipping void
fill between crustiform, steeply dipping crustiform banded vein walls (qz); note downward sagging,
draping of sediments in void; Favona, New Zealand. E: Vein sediments draped on an inclined vein surface,
showing horizontal lamina of breccia layers and slumping; Veta Madre, Guanajuato district, Mexico.
 90

Figure 19: Plan maps of low‐ and intermediate‐sulfidation epithermal districts illustrating the distribution
of veins and ore‐controlling structures. Thicker veins are areas of highest productivity ore zones. Total
contained Au and Ag metal in tonnes (production + reserves‐resources) is shown. Arrows show
approximate principal extension direction at the time of mineralization. With the exception of Kupol,
veins occur over broadly elliptical areas, outlining hydrothermal cells that may be related to an underlying
intrusive thermal and metal source. Apart from Antamok, which lies along strands of the Philippine Fault
corridor, no major regional controlling structures occur in association with the districts, and principal
structures terminate laterally on the margins of the district.
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Figure 20: Map and cross section of the Pachuca epithermal district, Mexico, compiled from Geyne et
al. (1963). Production from Pachuca is over 40,000T Ag, 187 T Au, and 1 MT Zn + Pb + Cu (Dreier, 2005),
making it one of the largest producing epithermal districts globally by metal value. The plan map
illustrates an intersecting network of normal fault‐hosted veins that include curved, linked geometries,
with dominant west‐northwest to east‐west strikes, and an orthogonal north‐striking set, suggesting
formation under variations in paleostress conditions. Contoured vertical extents of oreshoots are shown,
and are greatest (locally >600 metres) where vein‐fault intersections define areas of probable
hydrothermal upflow. In cross section, veins occur along normal faults with up to 500 metres of offset.
Pre‐mineralization dacite and rhyolite dykes and domes have similar orientations to the veins and faults.
 92

Figure 21: Cross‐sectional illustrations of common oreshoot controls in normal and normal‐oblique fault‐vein systems.
Asymmetric arrows illustrate shear sense, whereas symmetrical arrows illustrate opening direction of associated extensional
veins. Veins are in red, fault‐dominated segments of structures in blue; grey are schematic marker rock units. A to F: At shallow
levels, steepening of faults commonly occurs within 200 to 500 metres of the surface where the fault splits into extensional faults
and veins or forms a widening fissure. Extensional vein arrays (horsetail fans, pinnate and wing‐crack type extensional vein sets)
or sheeted larger veins may emanate from or link master fault structures. G to M: Blind oreshoots at inflections, steps, and
jogs formed through refraction, linkage, and fault strand interaction are common in many intermediate sulfidation systems and
contribute to the formation of gently‐plunging ore zones. These include flexures and extensional jogs when continuous or hard‐
linked (G. H), or as soft‐linked jogs and linkages of overlapping en echelon or stacked fault strands (I, J). Extensional flexures may
be stacked in layered rocks units that have contrasting rheology and permeability (K), and peripheral conjugate extensional fault
and vein arrays may develop lateral to extensional flexures (L) or contractional normal jogs (restraining bends; M) in areas of
complex local strain. N to Q: Moderately‐ to gently‐dipping faults may contain disseminated or breccia‐hosted mineralization
in thicker cataclastic gouge zones associated with peripheral extension veins (N), particularly in more competent host units (O).
Mineralization may also occur in extensional hangingwall spays (P) or inflections (Q). R and S: Districts with gently‐dipping, listric
master faults may contain oreshoots within more steeply dipping inflections, jogs, and near‐surface dilational splays, or along
gently‐dipping basal detachment faults beneath overlying more steeply‐dipping veins. Back‐rotation of hangingwall blocks may
produce folds which have a vergence opposite to the monoclinal folds that accommodate near‐surface displacement above
steeply‐dipping faults in A to F.
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Figure 22: Oreshoot controls related to vein arrays associated with interacting fault‐fill veins, and
dilational steps and terminations. A and B: Steep extensional and fault‐fill veins collectively form a bulk
orebody. Bridging veins include extensional and mixed‐mode fault‐fill veins that are conjugate to the
bounding fault‐fill veins. Gently‐plunging opening vectors implied for the moderate extensional veins
probably related to stress perturbation between the larger fault‐fill veins. Martha vein, Waihi district,
New Zealand. C: Dilational bend and splaying of a fault‐fill vein into a steeply‐dipping jog; Palmarejo,
Mexico. D: Upward‐branching fault‐vein network forming a horsetail fan off the controlling fault; La
Libertad, Nicaragua, as illustrated in the inset diagram. Photo supplied by La Libertad mine exploration
group.
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Figure 23: Schematic block diagram illustrating oreshoot controls and fault‐vein geometry in a normal‐fault
hosted epithermal vein deposit. Thicker and higher grade oreshoots are localized within zones which have high
dilatancy and high structural permeability, including the following: A: Upward steepening and dilation of the
fault system towards the paleosurface; B: Linear gently‐plunging oreshoot formed by intersections of
hangingwall veins parallel to the intermediate paleostress orientation; C: Gently‐plunging dilational jog at
steepening inflection of controlling structure; D: Along‐strike relay/linkage zone, forming steeply‐plunging
oreshoot; E: Hangingwall antithetic veins and extension veins form separate oreshoots in a horsetail zone in
fault hangingwall; F: Pinch and swell geometry forming local steep oreshoots at small scale relay‐linkage zones.
G: Right‐stepping en echelon veins at propagating fault tip/termination. Local perturbation of the stress field
occurs at the fault tip at upper left, which rotates the local extensional orientation anticlockwise in the direction
of fault propagation, resulting in en echelon, right stepping fault segments and slip vectors that are oblique to
the on the central part of the structure at lower right. Extensional relays and pinch and swell bends with sinistral
geometry reflect linkage of earlier formed segments at the fault tip line, formed originally oblique to the overall
bulk extensional direction.
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Figure 24: Cross sections through parts of the Pachuca epithermal district (redrawn from Geyne et al.,
1963) illustrating fault linkage and extensional vein patterns controlling the positions of blind oreshoots.
Economic ore, identified by stope outlines, occurs at inflections and splays in the fault‐vein system, and
encompasses both central veins and surrounding extensional vein arrays. A: Dilational jog at the
steepening in the main fault‐vein results in multiple vein segments linking originally separate faults. B:
The main fault‐vein steepens into a broad dilational zone >25 metres wide, with soft‐linked veins in the
hangingwall adjacent to the inflection. C: rotation of the main fault‐vein to opposing steep dip results in
broad zones of splaying extensional veins where it interacts with pre‐mineralization quartz porphyry
dykes.
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Figure 25: Formation of a corrugated fault‐fill vein system at Kupol, northeast Russia, comprising a
curved vein system (Figure 18E) with thicker ore shoots at internal steps and strike deflections. A: View
looking south from the area of the Big Bend Zone, where the vein is 12 m wide in a north‐striking segment.
B: Aerial view looking to the north, showing thicker segments at northerly strike deflections,
corresponding to zones of maximum dilatancy during syn‐mineral east‐west extension (Photo from H.
Mackinnon). C: Footwall contact at the location of the image A, showing layers of high‐grade ginguro‐
textured quartz‐sulfosalts (>200 ppm Au: qzs) on the vein margin between adularia‐altered andesitic
wallrock (w) and later quartz‐carbonate (qc) fill in the center of the vein. Fault rock is absent, despite 150
metres of normal displacement of stratigraphic markers across the vein. D: Cross section through the
Kupol vein system (vein in red) in the Big Bend zone, showing local vein widening at a surface‐steepening
inflection, consistent with dilation in response to normal displacement on the more gently‐dipping fault
below. E: Schematic diagrams illustrating development of curved, convex normal faults via linkage of
oppositely stepping extensional fractures, consistent with structural geometry of the Kupol vein system.
Each end of the curved fault segments has opposing components of minor oblique slip displacement (From
Fossen and Rotevatn, 2016). F: Block diagrams illustrating the development of an upward‐propagating
extensional fault system (modified after Grant and Kattenhorn, 2004) producing comparable geometry to
that observed in B and D at Kupol. The steep extensional tip to the upward propagating fault underlies a
monoclinal fold which accommodates initial near‐surface displacement. The fold is breached by right‐
stepping extensional fractures which form open voids, and which widen with further extension. Finally, a
corrugated dilational gaping fissure is developed, which may be infilled by extensional vein material
lacking associated fault rock even across structures with significant displacement.
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Figure 26: Along‐strike patterns influencing oreshoot positions in extensional fault‐vein systems. A:
Block model illustrating the progressive formation of an extensional relay linking initially separate en
echelon fault segments during accumulation of displacement (modified from Peacock, 2002). Faults are
initially separate, but with progressive displacement the segments overlap and tips curve towards one
another. Hard linkage results when original segments connect through the relay zone, forming a highly‐
fractured linkage zone that is elongate parallel to the fault slip direction. B: Field example of pinch and
swell geometry in an extensional fault‐hosted vein system showing thinning of the vein in the fault‐
dominated segment (left), which thickens into a wider banded extensional breccia vein at left bend in the
hosting structure (right); Julietta Mine, Russia. C: Pinch and swell geometry showing thicker vein
segments at right hand bends; northerly strike of extensional veinlets extending off the vein system imply
approximately east‐west extension and oblique slip with a minor dextral component on the vein system;
OH vein, Creede District, Colorado, from Steven and Ratte (1965). D: Oreshoot developed at a branch
line with a hangingwall splay (two mine levels shown; vein dips east‐northeast); South Oreshoot,
Efemcukuru Mine, Turkey.
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Figure 27: Oreshoot and orebody localization in strike‐slip / transtensional settings. A: Strike‐slip
dilational jog in a right‐lateral strike‐slip fault system, which can localize fault‐fill veins in the extensional
pull‐apart zone linking the principal strike‐slip fault strands, and can occur at the oreshoot to district scale.
B: Types of oreshoots controls common at a deposit scale, either in association with regional bounding
strike‐slip faults, or as strike‐slip transfer faults linking normal faults in a dominantly extensional district.
Oreshoots occur at branch lines dilational jogs along the main fault strand, and in extensional
ramps/relays and upward bifurcating dilational fans in normal faults which accommodate extensional
strain between or adjacent to strike‐slip faults. C: Dilational bend in association with linked extensional
and strike‐slip fault segments, showing thicker ore localization in northerly‐striking extensional segments
at a horsetail fault termination; Goldfield high‐sulfidation deposit, Nevada, redrawn from Ransome, 1909.
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Figure 28: Plan maps from the Midas deposit, Nevada, showing oreshoot controls along the Colorado
Grande vein system. The vein system was emplaced within a pre‐existing normal fault zone during a late
increment of oblique‐sinistral displacement. A: Stope maps and schematic interpretation showing north‐
northwest striking fault‐fill veins linked at en echelon step‐overs by northwest‐striking extensional vein
sets. B and C: Views of the stope back (inverted to plan view) showing extensional veins branching from
and linking fault‐fill veins in jogs along the vein system.
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Figure 29: Morphology and structure of high‐sulfidation deposits. A: View looking northwest of the high wall of
the Maqui north pit, Yanacocha district, Peru. At far right are Fe‐oxide bearing areas of massive silicification to
residual quartz ("vuggy silica": rqo) along probable syn‐mineralization faults within advanced argillic alteration. The
orebody occurs beneath a paleotopographic high where bedding in the host andesite dips away from the
mineralized zone. Silicified lithocap (lith), which dips gently to the left (southwest) and thins away from the upflow
zone, is parallel to bedding in the host andesite sequence at a probable paleowater table level. B: Cross section of
Lepanto, Philippines showing the upward widening styles of silicic alteration into a stratabound zone at the base of
the lithocap that is localized along an unconformity surface (From Hedenquist et al., 1998). C: Plan map of the
central Mulatos district, Mexico, showing distribution of alteration types. The main orebodies occur in stratabound,
gently‐dipping linear zones of silicification and residual quartz alteration that follow faults along dykes and linear
chains of flow domes, converging to the southwest in the Estrella Pit. Compiled from diagrams in Keane et al. (2012).
D: Cerro Pelon deposit, Mulatos district, showing residual quartz rib at center localized along a minor fault and
splaying into stratabound silicification within advanced argillic‐altered dacite. E: View looking to the southwest of
the El Victor area from the San Carlos Zone at Mulatos (see diagram C, above), showing steeply‐dipping silicified
ribs (sr) which are internally mineralized with disseminated and breccia ore, extending upwards to join an area of
gently‐dipping paleowater table silicification in an overlying lithocap (lith).
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Figure 30: High‐sulfidation ore styles. A: Fe‐oxide bearing residual quartz alteration along a polymictic
phreatic breccia dyke (bx); La India pit, Mulatos District, Mexico. B: Drill core showing residual quartz‐
altered Au‐bearing phreatic breccia dyke containing 1‐3 ppm Au; El Realito; Mulatos District. C: Silicified
phreatic breccia with disseminated auriferous pyrite in matrix and fragments having early pyrite veins (pv)
truncated on clast margins, illustrating overlap of timing of mineralization and brecciation; Estrella Pit,
Mulatos Deposit. D: Mineralized residual quartz‐altered volcaniclastic unit with native sulfur and alunite
in vugs (top) and pyritic residual quartz altered andesite (below), Yanacocha district. E: Pyrite‐silica matrix
mosaic to crackle breccia in stratabound zone of brecciation at the base of lithocap silicification
representing possible hydraulic fracture zone; La India, Mulatos District. F: Underground working
exploiting stratabound residual quartz‐sulfide breccia at the base of overlying silicified lithocap. Stope
inclination reflects the tilting of bedding over a monoclinal fold parallel to the ore zone, marking the
probable position of an underlying normal fault; El Realito, Mulatos District G and H: Stratified void‐filling
(geopetal) chalcedonic creamy silica style of mineralization from the Rodalquilar high‐sulfidation deposit,
Spain, provided by A. Arribas. G shows stratified chalcedonic laminated quartz with Fe‐oxides + pyrite (lq)
filling a tabular cavity or minor fault within vuggy residual quartz (vq) altered wallrock; grade is 31 ppm
Au. H is of creamy chalcedonic banded quartz breccia geopetal fill with native Au rimming fragments in a
quartz‐alunite matrix.
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Figure 31: Mineralization styles and late veins in high‐sulfidation deposits. A: Fe‐oxide after pyrite fault breccia
with central altered pyrite vein; La Virgen, Peru. B: Mineralized pyritic fault (pf) with cataclasite layer and oblique
fabrics (of) indicating reverse (left/west side up) shear sense; La Escondida zone, Mulatos District. C: Late high‐
grade, steeply‐dipping alunite‐quartz‐sulfide crustiform vein in silicified wallrock; Famatina Deposit, Argentina. D:
High‐grade Au‐quartz‐barite‐pyrite (qb) vein cutting pyritic residual quartz alteration (vq), illustrating late
overprint of disseminated pyritic mineralization; TV Tower project, Turkey. E and F: Pyrite‐enargite (pe) veins
cutting across bedding‐parallel disseminated mineralization, and intersecting and terminating in a bedding‐
parallel pyrite replacement zone (bp); Pueblo Viejo Deposit, Dominican Republic. G: Major ore‐bearing controlling
fault (ft) with syntectonic volcaniclastic fragmental rocks (vc) deposited against the fault hangingwall (left, center)
that thin away from the fault, suggesting a growth fault geometry. Fault has >50 meters of vertical offset at
position of photograph; Pueblo Viejo Deposit, Dominican Republic.
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Figure 32: Examples of structural control on mineralization in dominantly disseminated intermediate

and low‐sulfidation epithermal deposits. A: Cross section through the Certej Deposit, Romania. showing
ore body at the top of, and straddling a fault along, the east side of an andesitic intrusion. Both the fault
and the broad fold shown in Cretaceous sedimentary rocks and Tertiary conglomerate formed to
accommodate emplacement of the intrusion. Phreatomagmatic breccia occurs along the fault, which
exhibits >100 m of localized displacement. B: Image of the fault shown in (A), comprising central
cataclasite (ca) layer between polymictic phreatic breccia (bx) and Cretaceous sedimentary rocks (sed)
which dip to the right, tilted against the fault. Mineralization is disseminated in the breccias and altered
sedimentary rocks, as well as occurring in later quartz‐base metal sulfide veinlets. C: Pale grey, pervasively
adularia‐pyrite altered rhyolite ignimbrite cut by gently‐dipping mineralized faults (ft) associated with
steeply‐dipping northwest‐striking veins and veinlets (vn) in zones of high‐grade disseminated and fault‐
controlled mineralization; Round Mountain Deposit, Nevada. D: Detail of the sheeted drusy quartz veins
(vn) in adularia‐altered ignimbrite at Round Mountain, which are consistent with normal shear sense
indicators present on the faults at the time of ore formation.