Abstract:

Volcanogenic gold deposit is an important type of gold deposits. The geological characteristics of volcanogenic gold deposits are summarized by analysing some typically large gold deposits: the tectonic settings are active continental margin and island arc; the mineralization period are mostly Mesozoic-Cenozolc；the host rocks are mainly calc-alkali extrusive rock and hypabyssal intrusive；the host structures are volcanic center，caldera，neck，breccia pipe，zone of fractures, etc．；gold and silver minerals occur in same deposit，and some gold deposits contain telluride；the depth of mineralization is shallow；the wall-rock alterations are sericitization，silication，carbonation，argillation，pyritization and potash-alteration；the zones
of primary halo are Hg-Sb-As-Ag-Au(Mo，Pb，W)；the deposit is related to geotherm and thermal spring．The authors put forward exploration criterions of volcanogenic gold deposit, and suggest that the volcano-fault basin with Pre-Cambrian source bed and mantle-derived igneous rock province above deep-fracture zones in east of China，especially in western China，Zhunger，Tianshan，Songpan-Ganzi and the east margin of—"Three Rivers”tectono-metallogenic belt are the most potential gold exploration regions．

Key words: volcanogenic gold deposit, geoIogical characteristic, exploration criterion