Abstract - The carbonate-hosted Zn-Pb deposit of Lisheen is bounded by two normal faults arrays, the Barnalisheen and the Rathdowney Fault Systems. During their development from the late Courceyan, these arrays influenced sedimentation, including the local deposition of sedimentary breccias. Numerous minor normal faults mapped throughout the deposit are interpreted to have formed in a major fault relay system between the two bounding fault arrays. Detailed mapping indicates that these minor faults acted both as conduits and traps for the mineralizing fluids. Zones of structural complexity and intense fracturing associated with segmentation and relay breaching along the Rathdowney, and, possibly, the Barnalisheen Fault Systems, are thought to have provided the primary vertical conduits for the mineralising fluids. Mineralisation took place by replacement of the host dolomite, apparently late- or post-normal faulting but pre-tectonic inversion. It is thus interpreted to be pre-Variscan in age, and mid-Chadian or younger.
In: Proceedings of the 7th Biennial SGA Meeting - Mineral Exploration and Sustainable Development, Athens, Greece, 24-28 August 2003. Millpress Science Publishers, Rotterdam, Netherlands.