Geology, alteration and geochemistry of Kavakliduz district (Sindirgi-Balikesir) gold mineralization

Kavakliduz epithermal gold deposit is located 22km northeast of the Sindirgi county in Balikesir. Four main rock units crop out at Kavaklidüz prospect. These are the pre-Cenozoic basement, Lower ignimbrite unit, Upper ignimbrite unit and rhyolite unite. The Pre-Cenozoic basement which is unconformably overlain by the Miocene Lower ingnimbrite unit, is mainly composed of ophiolitic rock. The crystal-rich ingnimbrite facies with abundant rock fragments in fine ash matrix characterizes the Lower ignimbrite unit. The uppermost part of the Lower ignimbrite unit is dominated by the ignimbrite breccias which consist of altered, crystal-rich ignimbrite breccias in a finer matrix of the same facies. The lower ignimbrite unit overlain by the upper ignimbrite unit along an irregular boundary. The pyroclastic sequence is cut by rhyolitic to dacitic subvolcanic bodies with high angle periphery.The gang mineral consist mainly of occasional chalcedonic and cyrstaline quartz including colloform and crustiform texture. Vuggy quartz and locally brecciated quartz textures were observed in Karaduz district. However chalcedonic quartz charaterises the Kavakliduz district. Therefore, Kavakliduz prospect represent to higher level of the system in comparison with Karaduz prospect.According to XRD analysis within altered volcanic rocs, illite, kaolinite, chlorite along with chalcedonic kuvars, mica and Na-feldspar were identified. Kaolinit is most common clay mineral in epithermal system and if you don?t know the exact kind of clay there is no relation to system temperature. Illite may indicate the temperature of an epithermal system > 220 C°Keywords: Kavakliduz, ignimbrite, colloform, illite, system temperature.