Fault lines

Gday.
My first post after joining the forum.
Really good info on here and a great site.
I wanted to ask, how much importance is put on fault lines when researching spots??
I have googled this same subject with minimal answers.
Does gold exist away from these "linear structures" or should I make it a compulsory requirement
when researching patches of interest??
Thank you in advance.
G

Welcome aboard mate. Interesting topic I hope many contribute.

I did a lot of research on the geo maps and found a sizable fault line on greenstone. The importance of this fault line is yet to be determined. I bit the bullet and this is what I found. A quartz fault line running north east'sih. adjacent to very large hill with a lot of different kind of other rocks. Unfortunately I only spent an hour there was I just wanted to see it. I will be going back in the next couple of weeks to spend more time investigation.

This fault line runs for over 250 meters and I saw broken continuations many meters either side. I am kind of hoping it is worth spending time on it.

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Hi G & Mada

When it comes to fault lines they are quite important in the prospecting world.
Put simply they are the seed that bears the tree that bears the Golden fruit.
Anywhere a fault occurs it creates enormous pressure and heat, by its action of shifting and grinding,  this can release the gold that is minutely disseminated throughout the whole area and concentrate it into ore channels, but keep in mind that the Associated country rocks must first be gold bearing rock types.
If you look at a 1:250.000 geomap of any known goldfield you will see that most mining is contained within or close to the known fault lines.
Those mineral rich zones can span out many kilometers from the actual fault, but are very rarely right on the fault itself.
Think of a large pine tree,  and it's structure,
You want to be searching not on the actual trunk of the tree but on the branches leading out from it.
And especially where those branches meet the trunk, they are usually where some of the highest gold concentrations occur.

There are lots of good geology videos on YouTube,  some of them dealing with what I have said here.
I think I have posted some up on the forum a while ago.

G ~ your photo shows a quartz blow or reef not a true fault line, but it does show all the caricaturistics of possibly bearing gold.
I would be walking out from it say 100-300 metres and detecting along the same bearing as the reef,  searching those branches of the tree not the trunk.
Thousands of ounces have been found doing just that,  don't rush it.

Pete

Thanks for your reply Pete, and very well explained. By this time next week I am hoping to spend a lot of time on it. Hope I find what I am looking for lol.

Yeh thanks for the replies guys.
A very good explanation.
I've noticed on the 250000 layer that there are much more fault lines drawn in, compared to the official Geoview linear structures. I'll assume that the map has some age to it.
Time to head back to that Pine tree.
G

mada wrote:Welcome aboard mate. Interesting topic I hope many contribute.

I did a lot of research on the geo maps and found a sizable fault line on greenstone. The importance of this fault line is yet to be determined. I bit the bullet and this is what I found. A quartz fault line running north east'sih. adjacent to very large hill with a lot of different kind of other rocks. Unfortunately I only spent an hour there was I just wanted to see it. I will be going back in the next couple of weeks to spend more time investigation.

This fault line runs for over 250 meters and I saw broken continuations many meters either side. I am kind of hoping it is worth spending time on it.

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That quartz ridge wouldn't be near Kirkalocka station would it ?? it looks familiar.

Cliff, are you thinking of the big one you can see from the road mate?

CrazyPete wrote:Cliff,  are you thinking of the big one you can see from the road mate?

Yep, that's the one.

Yep not much further north there are a few, its funny after awhile they all start looking the same. lol