McArthur River Pb/Zn/Ag Deposit: Organic Geochemistry for Ore Genesis

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) data from the McArthur River ore deposit in northern Australia. The dataset includes PAH abundances and isomer distributions, which reflect a temperature gradient between mineralizing fluids and sediments. It was published by Geoscience Australia and last updated in March 2026.

Use Cases

• Modeling ore formation temperatures based on PAH distributions.
• Investigating the source depth of metal-bearing brines based on inferred temperature ranges.
• Studying the role of hydrothermal petroleum in ore genesis.
• Re-evaluating sulfur sources in ore systems based on high-temperature transport mechanisms.

Strengths

• Data provides evidence for ore formation in a marine diagenetic environment.
• PAH distributions suggest a specific temperature range of 250-400°C for fluid generation.
• Dataset is described as an 'exquisitely preserved example' of a sediment-hosted deposit.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Likely contains geochemical analysis of rock samples from the McArthur River deposit.

Time Range

Paleoproterozoic era.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-25 18:03:17.275607; freshness should be verified.

Geography

McArthur River ore deposit, Northern Australia.