Reconstruction of the Red Dog Zn–Pb–Ba orebody, Alaska: implications for the vent environment during the mineralizing event
The Red Dog orebody (western Brooks Range, Alaska) contains reserves of approximately 150 Mt at an average grade of 16.2% Zn, 4.4% Pb, and 110 g/t Ag. Three mineralization facies can be identified within the orebody on the basis of mineralogical, textural, and paragenetic variations. The mineralization facies are termed breccia, transitional, and stratiform, representing a variation from a predominantly early epigenetic style of mineralization (breccia and transitional facies) to features that are more characteristic of syngenetic mineralization (stratiform facies). The primary relationship between the orebody and host rocks has been obscured by postmineralization deformation events that occurred during the Cretaceous Brooks Range orogeny. Therefore, reconstruction of the orebody was established using the mineralization facies model, determining local fault strain kinematics, drawing sections, and contouring the orebody's footwall, which is also a structural horizon. The reconstructed vent field is approx...