Ralph P. Christian
Bruce M. Walker
Rashid M. Samater
1990
<p>A reconnaissance wadi-sediment geochemical survey for gold was conducted in the Bi'r Jarbuah Area (lat 20° 45' 00"-21 ° 00' 00" N., long 43° 30' 00"- 43° 41' 00" K). The area is located in the northern part of a regional concentration of gold occurrences, the Jabal Ishmas-Wadi Tathlith gold belt. Panned concentrates and minus-80-mesh fractions were obtained from 300 samples collected from a 320 km<sup>2</sup> area and analysed by atomic-absorption spectroscopy. Analyses of the pannedconcentrate samples proved to be more definitive than sieved samples in delineating areas of mineralization. Most of the anomalous gold-and arsenic-bearing wadi-sediment samples are located along an irregular contact between gneissic and dioritic rocks in the center of an area characterized by the presence of subparallel dacitic dike swarms.</p>
<p>Most of the ancient gold mines are also located along this contact. Gold is associated with arsenic but not with silver. Five areas containing gold-anomalies areas and 6 areas containing tellurium anomalies and the contact zone between the diorite and the paragneiss are recommended for further investigation of precious-metals resources.</p>
application/pdf
10.3133/ofr90286
en
U.S. Geological Survey
Reconnaissance wadi-sediment geochemical survey of the Bi'r Jarbuah area, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
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