Hybrid Carlin gold and core complex exhumation sulphide mineralization: the Asimotrypes deposit of submicroscopic gold, Rhodope Massif, N. Greece

The Asimotrypes deposit of submicroscopic Au, NE Greece, is hosted by marbles of the Rhodope Metamorphic Core Complex in the vicinity of the regional Neogene SW dipping low- angle Strymon Valley Detachm ent system. Based on geological and geochemical characteristics, the Asimotrypes Au deposit may be interpreted as an orogenic collapse-related hybrid system, bearing similarities to both Carlin-type Au deposits and base-metal sulphide deposits associated with metamorphic core complex exhumation and detachment faults. Extensional structures like the Strymon Valley Detachment fault system may have played a critical role for Au mineralization by providing feeder structures that concentrated ore fluids, driven by uplift, high heat flow and in- creased fracture permeability resulting from crustal extension, at the intersections with permeable and chemically favourable carbonate strata (i.e. marbles).