Description

Location: Western Folklife Center, 501 Railroad St., Elko, NV

Contact: Sergey606@gmail.com

The GSN Elko Chapter invites you to their January meeting!

Thursday, January 15, 2026

Western Folklife Center, 501 Railroad St., Elko, NV

Food and Drinks @ 6 p.m., Talk @ 7 p.m.

FOOD & BEER SPONSOR: TONATEC

Speaker: Lauren Terry

Title: “Microtextural characteristics of adularia in banded quartz veins from the Midas low-sulfidation epithermal deposit, Nevada”

Abstract: High-grade ores at the Miocene Midas low-sulfidation epithermal deposit in northern Nevada are confined to crustiform quartz veins containing abundant adularia. Micro-X-ray fluorescence elemental mapping reveals that adularia is a common gangue mineral occurring in colloform bands, bands showing bladed textures, and bands with dendritic terminations. The adularia aggregates have delicate shapes and are comprised of stacked, submillimeter crystals hosted by fine-grained quartz. The textural evidence suggests that the adularia aggregates originally formed within a gel-like noncrystalline silica matrix that subsequently transformed into quartz. This indicates that the adularia did not precipitate in open space along the vein walls. Correlative microscopy, involving scanning electron microscopy-based automated mineralogy and optical petrography, demonstrates that bands containing abundant adularia are not the primary host to ore minerals. The ore minerals occur within different bands in the crustiform veins, implying that adularia and ore mineral precipitation did not always occur at the same time. It is hypothesized here that fluid flow at Midas involved intermittent short-lived events of fluid flashing, causing rapid solute supersaturation in the liquid. During each flashing event, different amounts of vapor were produced along a given vein. Compositional differences between adjacent bands in the crustiform quartz veins may, therefore, be linked to variations in the amount of vapor formed during each flash event.

Bio: Lauren obtained her M.Sc. in Economic Geology in 2018. She earned her PhD from the Colorado School of Mines in 2025. She has consulted on projects in Japan, the Western US, and British Columbia for juniors, mid-tiers, and majors. She is involved in numerous professional organizations, including the Society of Economic Geologists (SEG) and the Society for Geology Applied to Mineral Deposits (SGA). Lauren has also worked for the Association of American State Geologists (AASG) and the American Institute of Professional Geologists (AIPG). She is currently the Conference Chair of the Denver Mineral Exploration Symposium (DMES), an event she helped build from the ground up. Lauren is continuing her research pursuits as a postdoc while mentoring students at Mines as the incoming manager of the Center to Advance the Science of Exploration to Reclamation in Mining (CASERM). This year, Lauren started her own non-profit dedicated to solving the workforce crisis in mining.

Please contact Elko Chapter President, Sergey Konyshev if you have any questions. Sergey606@gmail.com

Details

01/15/2026 18:00:0001/15/2026 21:00:00America/Los_AngelesGSN Elko Chapter Meeting – Thursday, January 15thThe GSN Elko Chapter invites you to their January meeting! Thursday, January 15, 2026 Western Folklife Center, 501 Railroad St., Elko, NV Food and Drinks @ 6 p.m., Talk @ 7 p.m. FOOD & BEER SPONSOR: TONATEC Speaker: Lauren Terry Title: “Microtextural characteristics of adularia in banded quartz veins from the Midas low-sulfidation epithermal deposit, Nevada” Abstract: High-grade ores at the Miocene Midas low-sulfidation epithermal deposit in northern Nevada are confined to crustiform quartz veins containing abundant adularia. Micro-X-ray fluorescence elemental mapping reveals that adularia is a common gangue mineral occurring in colloform bands, bands showing bladed textures, and bands with dendritic terminations. The adularia aggregates have delicate shapes and are comprised of stacked, submillimeter crystals hosted by fine-grained quartz. The textural evidence suggests that the adularia aggregates originally formed within a gel-like noncrystalline silica matrix that subsequently transformed into quartz. This indicates that the adularia did not precipitate in open space along the vein walls. Correlative microscopy, involving scanning electron microscopy-based automated mineralogy and optical petrography, demonstrates that bands containing abundant adularia are not the primary host to ore minerals. The ore minerals occur within different bands in the crustiform veins, implying that adularia and ore mineral precipitation did not always occur at the same time. It is hypothesized here that fluid flow at Midas involved intermittent short-lived events of fluid flashing, causing rapid solute supersaturation in the liquid. During each flashing event, different amounts of vapor were produced along a given vein. Compositional differences between adjacent bands in the crustiform quartz veins may, therefore, be linked to variations in the amount of vapor formed during each flash event. Bio: Lauren obtained her M.Sc. in Economic Geology in 2018. She earned her PhD from the Colorado School of Mines in 2025. She has consulted on projects in Japan, the Western US, and British Columbia for juniors, mid-tiers, and majors. She is involved in numerous professional organizations, including the Society of Economic Geologists (SEG) and the Society for Geology Applied to Mineral Deposits (SGA). Lauren has also worked for the Association of American State Geologists (AASG) and the American Institute of Professional Geologists (AIPG). She is currently the Conference Chair of the Denver Mineral Exploration Symposium (DMES), an event she helped build from the ground up. Lauren is continuing her research pursuits as a postdoc while mentoring students at Mines as the incoming manager of the Center to Advance the Science of Exploration to Reclamation in Mining (CASERM). This year, Lauren started her own non-profit dedicated to solving the workforce crisis in mining. Please contact Elko Chapter President, Sergey Konyshev if you have any questions. Sergey606@gmail.comReno, NV

Event Starts	Event Ends
01/15/2026	01/15/2026
All Day Event
6:00pm	9:00pm