Electrum-sulfide mineralization of the Samgwang and Sobo mines of the Cheongyang Au-Ag area was deposited in two stages of quartz and calcite veins that fill fault zones in granite gneiss. Radiometric dating indicates that mineralization is Early Cret...
Electrum-sulfide mineralization of the Samgwang and Sobo mines of the Cheongyang Au-Ag area was deposited in two stages of quartz and calcite veins that fill fault zones in granite gneiss. Radiometric dating indicates that mineralization is Early Cretaceous age (127 Ma). Fluid inclusion and sulfur isotope data show that ore mineralization was deposited at temperatures between $340^{\circ}$ and $180^{\circ}C$ from fluids with salinities of 1 to 8 wt. % equiv. NaCl and a ${\delta}^{34}S_{{\sum}S}$ value of 2 to 5 per mil. Evidence of fluid boiling (and $CO_2$ effervescence) indicates a range of pressures from < 200 to $\approx$ 700 bars, corresponding to depths of ${\approx}1.5{\pm}0.3\;km$ in a hydrothermal system which alternated from lithostatic toward hydrostatic conditions. Au-Ag deposition was likely a result of boiling coupled with cooling. Meaured and calculated hydrogen and oxygen isotope values of ore-forming fluids indicate a significant meteoric water component, approaching unexchanged paleometeoric water values. Comparison of these values with those of other Korean Au-Ag deposits reveals a relationship among depth, Au/Ag ratio and degree of water-rock interaction. All investigated Korean Jurassic and Cretaceous gold-silver-bearing deposits have fluids which are dominantly evolved meteoric waters, but only deeper systems (${\geq}1.5\;km$) are exclusively gold-rich.