CADILLAC GOLD ORE
Cadillac Gold Ore (3.8 cm across) - this is a hydrothermal quartz-gold
vein from the Precambrian of Cadillac in southwestern Quebec, Canada. In this sample, native gold is emplaced only
in fractures in the quartz. The
gold blebs you see at center & at right are lining a fracture that's been
split (you're facing the plane of the fracture). Published research on Cadillac auriferous
quartz veins indicates that most of the gold there is along late-stage
fracture faces. Quartz veins in this area intrude Archean rocks (Cadillac
Group & Pontiac Group turbiditic continental shelf type sediments &
Piche Group mafic and ultramafic volcanics)
Age of gold-quartz hydrothermal mineralization: late Neoarchean, ~2.7 billion years.
Gold occurrences in the Cadillac and adjacent areas of
southwestern Quebec are in proximity to the Larder Lake-Cadillac Fault Zone (a.k.a.
Cadillac Break, Larder Lake-Cadillac Deformation Zone, Cadillac Tectonic
Zone). This regional shear zone in the Superior Province has been
identified by geologists as the principal conduit for auriferous fluids during
the ancient Kenoran Orogeny (late Neoarchean).
Locality:
“Cadillac Mine”, at or near town of Cadillac, Cadillac Township, southwestern
Abitibi County, Bousquet-Cadillac District, southwestern Quebec, southeastern
Canada.