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Alteration and geochemical zoning in Bodie Bluff, Bodie mining district, eastern California

January 1, 1993

Banded, epithermal quartz-adularia veins have produced about 1.5 million ounces of gold and 7 million ounces of silver from the Bodie mining district, eastern California. The veins cut dacitic lava flows, pyroclastic rocks and intrusions. Sinter boulders occur in a graben structure at the top of Bodie Bluff and fragments of sinter and mineralized quartz veins occur in hydrothermal breccias nearby. Explosive venting evidently was part of the evolution of the ore-forming geothermal systems which, at one time, must had reached the paleosurface. Previous reconnaissance studies at Bodie Bluff suggested that the geometry of alteration mineral assemblages and distribution of some of the major and trace elements throughout the system correspond to those predicted by models of hot-spring, volcanic rock hosted precious metal deposits (Silberman, 1982; Silberman and Berger, 1985). The current study was undertaken to evaluate these sugestions further.

Publication Year 1993
Title Alteration and geochemical zoning in Bodie Bluff, Bodie mining district, eastern California
DOI 10.1016/0375-6742(93)90007-9
Authors P.A. Herrera, L.G. Closs, M.L. Silberman
Publication Type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Series Title Journal of Geochemical Exploration
Index ID 70017428
Record Source USGS Publications Warehouse