GEOTHERMAL SYSTEMS IN THE NORTHERN APENNINES, ITALY: MODERN ANALOGUES OF CARLIN-STYLE GOLD DEPOSITS

Carlin-type gold deposits in northern Nevada are inferred to overlie concealed late Eocene plutons, which are increasingly thought to have provided magmatic input to the meteoric water-dominated fluids from which the gold was precipitated. The Larderello, Monte Amiata, and Latera geothermal systems in the Northern Apennines of southern Tuscany and northern Latium, central Italy, may represent Pliocene to present-day analogues because of their demonstrated association with subsurface plutons and jasperoid-hosted antimony-gold mineralization. The plutons, which at depths of >5–7 km remain at least partially molten, continue to supply heat and magmatic fluids to the meteoric water-dominated geothermal systems. Formerly mined antimony deposits of Pliocene or younger age are exposed on the peripheries of the CO2 ± H2S-emitting geothermal systems, and antimony sulfides are still actively precipitating. Stibnite and submicroscopic gold in disseminated pyrite, along with Au/Ag of