干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

Red clay type gold deposits, located in the south of China, are situated not only in orogenic belts, but also in inner cratons, where climate is tropical-subtropical with clear arid and humid. The lateritic weathering crust often can be divided into five zones, including topsoil, siliceous duricrust zone, multi-color zone (or red clay zone in some deposits), pallid zone and saprolite zone from surface to the base rock, several of which are absent in some deposits. The base rocks are composed mainly of carbonate rocks with minor clastic rocks, intermediate-basic volcanic rocks and intermediate-acid and alkalic intrusions. The orebodies are mainly located in the multi-color zone with part of them in the pallid and saprolite zones. The ore sources include orebodies of Carlin-type gold deposits and porphyry gold deposits, as well as gold-rich base rocks. The red clay type gold deposits experienced early-stage endogenic gold mineralization and laterization during the Tertiary and Quaternary. The areas with endogenic gold deposits, especially Carlin-type gold deposits and porphyry gold deposits in karst depressions on the plateau, structual erosional platforms in the middle-lower mountains, and intermountain basins in southern China are well worth studying to trace red clay type gold deposits.