• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.265-280
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• 2003

The Mugeuk mineralized area that associated with the pull-apart type Cretaceous Eumseong basin is composed of several gold-silver vein deposits that are emplaced in late Cretaceous biotite granite. The gold-silver deposits in the area show various hydrothermal alteration zones as well as Au/Ag ratios and ore mineralogy. The Geumbong mine showing relatively high gold fineness is composed of multiple veins and show alteration pattern; vein \longrightarrow phyllic \longrightarrow subphyllic \longrightarrow propylitic \longrightarrow subpropylitic zone. In contrast, The Taegeuk mines show the low fineness values, in far southern part are characterized by increasing tendency of simple and/or stockwork veins. The deposit displays alteration pattern; vein \longrightarrow propylitic \longrightarrow subpropylitic zone. Variations of alteration zone with depth show that phyllic zone are dominant in deeper level and propylitic zone sporadically overlapped by argillic zone are dominant in shallow level. The differences of alteration pattern between the gold-silver deposits are reflect the evolution of the hydrothermal fluids; the ore-forming fluids of the Geumbong mine are at relatively high temperature and salinity and highly-evolved meteoric water, developing phyllic zone, the Taegeuk mine containing greater amounts of less-evolved meteoric waters shows relatively low temperature and salinity in ore-forming fluids, developing propylitic zone. The various physicochemical environment for gold-silver mineralization in the Mugeuk mineralized area is due to proximity from heat source area (Mugeuk mine) to marginal area (Taegeuk mine) in a geothermal field. Therefore, it is suggested that the criteria for project exploration in the area are to focus on the area proximal to heat source and phyllic zone.

• Proceedings of the KSEEG Conference
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• 2000.04b
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• pp.253-254
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• 2000

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.265-277
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• 2015

Hydrothermal alteration patterns and environment are studied by mineral assemblages and chemical analyses of surface and core samples from Miryang pyrophyllite deposit. The alteration zones of this deposit can be divided into three zones on the basis of mineral assemblage; advanced argillic, phyllic, and propylitic zone. Advanced argillic zone mainly consists of pyrophyllite-dickite (-quartz) and corresponds to principal mining ore. The common mineral assemblage of phyllic zone and propylitic zone are sericite-quartz-dickite and chlorite-quartz, respectively. Horizontal and vertical alteration patterns and major element geochemistry indicate that pyrophyllite ores have been formed several times by hydrothermal alteration. And it also suggests that the huge ore bodies may be extended from the deeper part of recent quarries to the south-southeastern direction. The paragenesis of ore minerals and polytype (2M) suggest that ore deposit was formed at about $300-350^{\circ}C$.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.93-108
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• 1995

The Bobae sericite deposit occurs in rhyodacite of the Cretaceous volcanogenic sedimentary rocks, Upper Yucheon Group, in the western part of Pusan. The alteration zones are divided into the phyllie and prophylitic zone based on the mineral assemblages. The phyllic zone is subdivided into three subzones; Andalusite-Pyrophyllite, Sericite and Albite subzones. Oxides vs. $Al_2O_3$ contents show variations corresponding to mineral assemblage in each alteration zone. On the basis of bulk chemical compositions, it was found that $SiO_2$ increases in the Andalusite-Pyrophyllite subzone and $K_2O$ in the Sericite subzone. The oxygen, hydrogen and sulfur isotope analysis indicates that the fluids were originally derived from the residual magmatic solution. It has been mixed with abundant meteoric water later. The ore-forming temperatures obtained from sericite (illite) geothermometer are about $250{\sim}350^{\circ}C$. Considering the phase stability relation, PoT conditions of the andalusite-pyrophyllite subzone were estimated to be less than 0.5 kb and almost $400^{\circ}C$, respectively. The K-Ar ages of sericites indicate that the clay deposit is genetically related to the Cretaceous-Paleogene Masan Hornblende-Biotite Granite.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.205-220
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• 2002

The gold-silver deposits in the Casado district were formed in the sheeted and stockwork quartz veins which fill the fault fractures in volcanic rocks. K-Ar dating of alteration sericite (about 70 Ma) indicates a Late Cretaceous age for ore mineralization. These veins are composed of quartz, adularia, carbonate, and minor of pyrite, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, galena, Ag-sulfosalts (argentite, pearceite, Ag-As-Sb-S system), and electrum. These veins are characterized by chalcedonic, comb, crustiform and feathery textures. Based on the hydrothermally altered mineral assemblages, regional alteration zoning associated with mineralization in the Gasado district is defined as four zones; advanced argillic (kaolin mineral-alunite-quartz), argillic (kaolin mineral-quartz), phyllic (quartz-sericite-pyrite) and propylitic (chlorite-carbonate-quartz-feldspar-pyroxene) zone. Phyllic and propylitic zones is distributed over the study area. However, advanced argillic zone is restricted to the shallow surface of the Lighthouse vein. Compositions of electrum ranges from 14.6 to 53.7 atomic % Au, and the depositional condition for mineralization are estimated in terms of both temperature and sulfur fugacity: T=245。$~285^{\circ}C$, logf $s_2$=$10^{-10}$ ~ $10^{-12}$ Fluid inclusion and stable isotope data show that the auriferous fluids were mixed with cool and dilute (158。~253$^{\circ}C$ and 0.9~3.4 equiv. wt. % NaCl) meteoric water ($\delta^{18}$ $O_{water}$=-10.1~8.0$\textperthousand$, $\delta$D=-68~64$\textperthousand$). These results harmonize with the hot-spring type of the low-sulfidation epithermal deposit model, and strongly suggest that Au-Ag mineralization in the Gasado district was formed in low-sulfidation alteration type environment at near paleo-surface.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.1-14
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• 2017

The analytical conditions including surface state, moisture effect, and device condition were investigated for applying Short Wave Infrared(SWIR) spectroscopy to the field survey. Among the three surface state of samples (exposed surface, cutting face and powder), both spectra from the exposed surface and cutting face are almost identical whereas spectral variation was detected in powder sample. Over 24-hours-dryring of the wet sample at room temperature, the samples show a similar spectrum with that of dry condition. The result suggests that outcrop samples mighty be dried for 24 ~ 48 hours depending on the wetness of outcrop. The bright minerals could produce stable spectra with 10 times measurements as default value of the device under SWIR spectroscopy but the dark minerals would require about 10 seconds, which corresponds to 100 times measurements to get the reliable spectra. The position and shape 2,160 ~ 2,330 nm and/or other spectral features of hydrothermal alteration minerals by SWIR spectroscopy could be used for a classification of hydrothermal alteration zone in the field. Absorption peaks in 2,160 ~ 2180 nm are useful for identifying (advanced) argillic zone by spectral characteristics of kaoline, dickite, pyrophyllite, and alunite. Absorption peaks in 2,180 ~ 2,230 nm are able to define muscovite, sericite, and smectite, which are key alteration minerals in phyllic zone. Absorption peaks in 2,230 ~ 2,270 nm can be used to recognize prophylitic zone where chlorite and epidote occur. Absorption peaks of other principle minerals such as talc, serpentine, amphibole, and carbonate group are mainly detected within the wave length of 2,270 ~ 2,330 nm. This result indicates that the spectra of these minerals need to be carefully interpreted.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.325-335
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• 2015

This study examined the possibility to extract potential alteration zones and lithologic information based on ASTER band ratio techniques for mineralized area located in ${\ddot{O}}v{\ddot{o}}rkhangai$ province, Mongolia, and the effectiveness of remote sensing as a preliminary exploration tool for mineral exploration was tested. The results of ABRLO, PBRLO, and PrBRLO models indicated that the detection of argillic zone requires the verification of the samples to verify hydrothermal alteration minerals as clay minerals can formed by weathering process, whereas phyllic-propylitic zones were considerably related to the spatial distribution of the intrusive bodies, geological structures, and ore distribution. QI and MI results showed that QI is more useful for sedimentary rocks such as conglomerate and sandstone than meta-sedimentary like quartzite, and MI faced relatively uncertain in detection of felsic or mafic silicate rocks. QI and MI may require additional geologic information such as the characteristics of samples and geological survey data to improve extraction of lithologic information, and, if so, it is expected that remote sensing technique would contribute significantly as a preliminary geological survey method.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.15-26
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• 2017

Advanced argillic, argillic, and phyllic zones are the most important alteration patterns to predict the hidden ore body during exploration of hydrothermal deposits. We examined the quantitative relationship between the spectral absorption characteristics and the mineral content of the synthetic mixtures such as alunite-kaolinite and illite-kaolinite using short wavelength infrared (SWIR) spectroscopy. In the alunite-kaolinite mixtures, the spectral absorption characteristics of the alunite was highly correlated with the Hull quotient reflectance(0.99) and the kaolinite had the highest correlation with the Gaussian peak(0.92). Illite-kaolinite mixtures are essential for Gaussian deconvolution because of the overlap of absorption region. Illite and kaolinite mixtures indicate the high correlation of 0.93 and 0.98, respectively. The error ranges in the alunite-kaolinite(8%) and illite-kaolinite mixtures(5%) derived from SWIR were smaller than the ones(29% and 26%) obtained from X-ray diffraction(Rietveld) analysis. These results show that SWIR spectroscopic analysis is more reliable than XRD Rietveld analysis in terms of quantification of allowed minerals.