Structural study of a semiductile strike-slip system in the Central Iberian Zone (Variscan Fold Belt, Spain): structural controls on gold deposits
The Villalcampo shear system is a regional dextral strike-slip fault zone that affects Late Variscan granites and their metamorphic country rocks over an area of about 150 km2. The detailed geometry of this subvertical north-west—south-east shear zone is outlined. The system forms an extensional fan to the northwest and extends to the south-east as a broad extensional duplex. Particular attention is focused on the distribution of fault rocks and associated veins in its north-west splay. A structural study of the shear bands (encompassing both geometric and kinematic criteria) and a microscopic study of the fault rocks has led to the interpretation of the system as a brittle—ductile shear zone. Calculations give a shear strain value of γ = 1.5 and a minimum displacement of s = 3700 m. The localization of gold mineralization in mylonite-filled subvertical extensional veins is a product of the formation of the Villalcampo shear system. The subvertical faults and veins underwent a process of cyclical sealing and reopening. As such they acted as valves controlled by fluid pressure regulating fluid—rock interactions and gold deposition. Conditions favouring these processes occur near the base of the seismogenic zone in the vicinity of the frictional—quasi-plastic transition at mid-greenschist metamorphic conditions (T = 350°C and 10–15 km depth).