Reconnaissance fluid inclusion study of silver and gold deposits in the Tonopah 1 degree by 2 degrees Quadrangle, Nevada

Geochemical signatures of silver and gold deposits, Tonopah 1° x 2° quadrangle, Nevada- Description and applications to exploration

“…Twenty-one samples yielded information on fluid temperatures and compositions (table 8). The laboratory studies were made by Lanier Rowan and James Saunders in the laboratory of David Leach of the U.S. Geological Survey (Saunders and Rowan, 1986). Also included in table 8 are data from nine samples studied in 1968-69 by me and partly described in a previous report (Nash, 1972).…”

“…The fluid-inclusion evidence for the region is mixed; boiling is indicated in some deposits but not in others. However, boiling may not be evident in fluid inclusions if the gas-rich fluid was not trapped (Saunders and Rowan, 1986), and Henley (1985) noted that boiling is virtually inevitable as geothermal water rises to shallow depths; thus boiling is likely on geologic grounds for Tertiary systems of the Tonopah quadrangle. The major effects of boiling on the chemistry of epithermal fluids (Buchanan, 1981;Reed and Spycher, 1985;Hedenquist, 1991) must be considered to have been important in the Tertiary systems of the Tonopah region.…”