Structural control of the Late-Hercynian Cevennes gold mineralizations (French Massif Central)

The auriferous mineralizations of the Cevennes area (French Massif Central) are space- and time-related to the granite emplacement during the Late-Hercynian extension (Mont-Lozere-Borne Massifs). At first, barren siliceous fluids percolate through the metamorphic basement using Hercynian thrust planes reworked as normal faults. Some of these NE-SW faults, changed into strike-slip faults by the rotation of regional stresses, are used as drains by the Au-As-Sb-rich fluids. During the Stephanian, erosion partly destroyed the lodes and created paleoplacers in the Ales coal basin. ((C) Academie des sciences / Elsevier, Paris.).