Numerical modelling of fluid infiltration constrained by fault and bedding relationships in the Fosterville goldfield, Victoria, Australia

The Fosterville gold deposit hosted by a folded Ordovician turbidite sequence, in Victoria, Australia, contains major gold mineralisation. This is related to the reactivation of low-displacement faults and a network of hydrofractures adjacent to the faults. The location of the hydrofractures was controlled by the angular relationship between the fault and bedding within both the hangingwall and footwall of the fault. Numerical models are used to investigate how the orientations of faults and bedding influence dilation (positive volumetric strain) and fluid infiltration. The initial velocity boundary conditions applied to the models, as a compression direction and strike-slip to compression ratio, are constrained by the orientation of quartz-carbonate slickenline lineations associated with the reactivated mineralised faults.