K-Ar Age Relations of Granodiorite Emplacement and Tungsten and Gold Mineralization near the Getchell Mine, Humboldt County, Nevada

Abstract

A granodiorite stock intrudes complexly folded and thrust-faulted Paleozoic sedimentary rocks in the Osgood Mountains of eastern Humboldt County, Nevada. Within the metamorphic aureole surrounding the pluton, the sedimentary rocks are converted to cordierite hornfels and marble; tungsten-bearing tactites developed along the contacts of the granodiorite. Cutting the granodiorite and sedimentary rocks is the Getchell fault, along which the disseminated gold ore bodies of the Getchell mine are localized. K-Ar ages of the granodiorite, andesite porphyry, tungsten-bearing tactites, and altered granodiorite from the Getchell mine indicate that emplacement, alteration, and mineralization are all part of a magmatic-thermal episode which took place approximately 90 m.y. ago.