Journal of Geochemical Exploration 71 (2000) 225240

www.elsevier.nl/locate/jgeoexp

Tertiary and Quaternary alluvial gold deposits of Northwest Spain

and Roman mining (NW of Duero and Bierzo Basins)
L.C. Perez-Garca a,*, F.J. Sanchez-Palencia b, J. Torres-Ruiz c
a
Luzenac-Sociedad Espanola de Talcos, Bonar (Leon), Spain
Department of Ancient History and Archaeology, Centro de Estudios Historicos, CSIC, Madrid, Spain
c
Department of Mineralogy and Petrology, University of Granada, Granada, Spain

Abstract
During the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, more than 500 gold mines were operating in the northwest (NW) of Spain. The region
was then a part of the Roman Empire and known as Iberia. Corresponding excavations totaled 600 million cubic meters ( Mm 3),
with about 300 Mm 3 coming from alluvial mines. Miocene sediments (mainly alluvial fans) derived from the Cantabrian
Mountain and Leon Mountain uplifts, and Quaternary deposits (principally regolith, fluvial terraces, moraines and fluvio-glacial
fans) were exploited by the Roman miners, using hydraulic mining methods.
The paper attempts to incorporate the following numerous themes. (a) The time-successive, global relationship of the
auriferous deposits. (b) A brief geological overview of the Miocene and Quaternary placers in the NW Spain. (c) A description
of the composition of the gold grains, both in the hardrock source and in the various alluvial placers. The latter is necessary to
determine possible source areas. Pre-Miocene age of gold precipitation helps to understand the possible recycling processes. (d)
The size, grade and gold grain size distribution of the studied deposits. (e) A brief description of Roman mining methods,
including new viewpoints on how the operations were conducted. Special reference will be made to the Las Medulas mine
(included in the World Heritage List in, the largest earth movement mining operation in Iberia up until the 20th century. (f) An
update on earth moving techniques and gold recovery in Roman times.
The present work draws heavily on data collected from some 6500 m 3 of alluvium washed from 300 trenches and drill holes
on Miocene and Quaternary deposits, and the Las Medulas Archaeological Zone project. 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All
rights reserved.
Keywords: gold; Northwest Spain; Miocene alluvial fans; Quaternary fluvial deposits; gold grades; gold provenance; Roman gold mines

1. Introduction
Gold in the NW part of the Iberian Peninsula has
been known since antiquity. Following the Cantabrian
War (19 BC) at the beginning of the Roman Period,
gold mining developed in this area with the reorganization of the Roman monetary system carried out by
Augustus, who established the gold standard known as
the Aureus (Perea and Sanchez-Palencia, 1996).
* Corresponding author. Fax: 34-987-741690.

The imprints left from Roman mining operations

are still recognizable in the landscape. More than
500 historical mining sites are presently known in
the NW portion of the Iberian Peninsula (PerezGarca and Sanchez-Palencia, 1985) (Fig. 1, Table
1). The total volume of alluvial material moved was
about 300 Mm 3 (Sanchez-Palencia, 1983, modified).
At the Las Medulas gold mine alone, about 90 Mm 3
was removed. This is more than at any time in Iberian
mining history until the end of the 19th century. The
older mines used hydraulic systems, either to remove

0375-6742/00/$ - see front matter 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
PII: S0375-674 2(00)00154-0

226

L.C. Perez-Garca et al. / Journal of Geochemical Exploration 71 (2000) 225240

Fig. 1. Gold occurrences in the NW of the Iberian Peninsula (modified from Sanchez-Palencia et al., 1996).

Table 1
Estimated earth movement and gold recovered in the NW Spain during roman time (modified from Sanchez-Palencia, 1983)
Deposits

Earth movement (m 3)

Gold recovery (kg)

Average gold grade (mg/m 3)

Alluvial fan (Miocene)

Fluvial deposits (Pliocene)
Fluvial deposits (Quaternary)
Moraines and residual placers (Quaternary)
Total placers (NeogeneQuaternary)
Quartz veins (late Hercynian)
Total gold

203,000,000
20,000,000
73,000,000
12,000,000
308,000,000
290,000,000

10,200
1800
7300
1200
20,000
170,000
190,000

50
90
100
100
67
600

L.C. Perez-Garca et al. / Journal of Geochemical Exploration 71 (2000) 225240

227

Fig. 2. Roman mining works in the NW of the Duero Basin and Bierzo Basin (modified from Perea and Sanchez-Palencia, 1996; Perez-Garca,
1977)

the barren overburden or to exploit the gold-bearing

gravel. Many kilometers of ditches that carried water
to the mine locations still flow through the surrounding mountains.
Although these impressive vestiges that mark Iberias NW landscape suggest substantial gold production, the amount of gold extracted was very modest,
perhaps 195 t through 23 centuries of operation. Of
this production, about 20 t came from the alluvial
deposits, suggesting an average gold grade of
67 mg/m 3. Some of the deposits contained gold grades
of 12 g/m 3, but these contained far greater amounts
of overburden that required removal as well. The
equivalent gold price during Augustus time was

quite possibly higher than at present. A legionnaire

earned as much as 70 g of gold per year in Aureus,
while the price of 8.8 l of wheat was the equivalent of
0.3 g Au (Perea and Sanchez-Palencia, 1996).
From the Roman time till present, the gold placers
in NW Iberia have remained inactive, except for small
operations in the late 19th and the first half of the 20th
centuries. However, due to the increase in the price of
gold seen in the 1970s, exhaustive prospections were
developed and as a result, the knowledge about the
origin, geometry, and potential of these areas has
continued to grow.
This paper is essentially dealing with the goldbearing alluvial deposits in the Duero (NW

228

L.C. Perez-Garca et al. / Journal of Geochemical Exploration 71 (2000) 225240

Fig. 3. Relation between gold mineralization and sedimentological-tectonic events.

border) and Bierzo Basins (Fig. 2) where the

largest placers are found. The age of these
deposits is Miocene to Holocene, and they correspond, sedimentologically, with proximal facies
of alluvial fans, fluvial terraces, elluvialcolluvial deposits, moraines, and fluvio-glacial deposits. Deposit thickness is variable, ranging from
46 m in fluvial terraces to more than 40 m,
and even 100 m, in the alluvial fans (PerezGarca, 1977). Over time, successive reworking
of some deposits led to both redistribution of gold
into other types of alluvial deposits and changes in
the size and geochemical composition of the grains
themselves.
In addition to the primary gold in the region, there
are beds of heavy minerals in CambrianOrdovician
quartzite (Western AsturianLeonese Zone; PerezEstaun, 1978) where detrital gold has also been
detected (Herail, 1984). Where these beds were
affected by brittle shearing processes, remobilized
quartz, gold and sulfides can be found in corresponding extensional zones. Some of these gold-bearing
quartz veins were mined during Roman times, resulting in the recovery of 170 t of Au from 290 m 3 of
mined material.

2. Gold deposits and their relationship throughout

geological time
The oldest rocks that are known to host gold in the
study area are Cambrian and Ordovician-aged sandstone and quartzite. They include millimeter-sized
beds of heavy minerals (paleo-placers) containing
detrital gold grains with an average size of 230 m
(Herail, 1984). Plotting of Roman alluvial mines on
geological maps demonstrates the proximal relationship of gold-bearing alluvial deposits to Cambrian
Ordovician source rocks (Perez-Garca, 1977).
During the Hercynian deformation, extensional
zones developed close to fold hinges. In the later
phases of the orogeny, extensive brittle shearing
took place, resulting in corresponding extensional
bands (Perez-Garca, 1977; Tornos et al., 1997).
Quartz with arsenopyrite, accompanied by pyrite
and minor galena, sphalerite, chalcopyrite and gold,
subsequently precipitated as lodes in these zones of
lower pressure. Tornos et al. (1997), using stable
isotope analysis, showed that the contained carbon
and sulfur came from the nearby metasediments, indicating that substantial volumes of rock were involved
in the shearing-leaching process. The average size of

L.C. Perez-Garca et al. / Journal of Geochemical Exploration 71 (2000) 225240

229

Table 2
Gold content and gold grain size in the different types of auriferous deposits
Gold deposits

Size deposits

Gold content

Average grain size (m)

Bed of heaving minerals in the

CambrianOrdovician quartzites
Quartz veins and associated wall-rocks

No determined

No determined

230

No well Known 1 Mt
(individual vein)
60 Mm 3b

No well Known 0,110 g/t a

150

150300 mg/m 3c (Detrital

Au 50m)
2040 mg/m 3c (colloidal Au
5m)
80100 mg/m 3c
70250 mg/m 3c

300

Proximal facies in the Miocene alluvial

fan deposits

Pliocene fluvial deposits (Rana)

Quaternary terraces
a
b
c

7 Mm 3
70 Mm 3

5
200
220

From small and isolated samples.

Auriferous gravel, no including overburden.
From big and systematic sampling.

the free gold particles, which result from the

weathering of arsenopyrite, is 150 m (Herail, 1984).
Au grades are variable. A systematic investigation
of the regions primary gold mineralization has
yet to be undertaken, this grade variation is poorly
understood.
In order to understand the geological history of the
gold-bearing surficial deposits in NW Iberia, it is
necessary to look to the Tertiary period. In preMiocene time, widespread development of soil laterite formation took place. Gold is thought to have
migrated from quartz veins, and even from
CambrianOrdovician paleo-placers, to the laterite
by a solutionprecipitation process that was in operation during the formation of the thick lateritic soil
(Perez-Garca, 1977). Tropical weathering and the
presence of complexing agents is thought to be
responsible for gold dissolution. Respecting to this,
it is worthwhile to mention that special ions (OH ,
Fe 3, Mn 2 and others) can be shown to precipitate
gold from solution (Boyle, 1979). This process could
explain the growing of gold grains found in the
alluvial deposits in relation to the typically smaller
sized gold particles found in the quartz veins.
The pre-Miocene lateritic soil, as well as the underlying bedrock, was deeply eroded during the Alpine
uplift. Free gold passed to alluvial fan deposits as
detrital particles and/or as colloidal solutions. The
latter, after precipitating in the sediments, gave rise
to a very fine gold particle population, which is not
amenable to recovery by gravimetric methods (Perez-

Garca, 1977, 1988 and 1991). Successive erosion

deposition processes have been ongoing from the
Miocene to the present day. As a result, Quaternary
terraces can contain gold grains that have been
reworked several times, along with other grains that
come directly from quartz veins (Fig. 3, Table 2).
3. Miocene deposits
The Miocene deposits are the largest gold deposits
worked by the Romans in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Here, highest gold concentrations have
been encountered.
3.1. Geology and gold ore characteristics
The Alpine uplift which forms the NW border of
the Duero basin resulted in the deposition of alluvial
fans along the mountain front. Their proximal facies
are perhaps intra-montane. Here, canyons at least
20 km long (Duerna) are filled by coarse sediments
deposited by confined flows and containing clasts
which can be larger than 1 m in diameter. Close to
the canyon outlet, widths reach up to 3 km and sediment thicknesses range between 3060 m (Las Medulas, Duerna). In the open valleys, sediment flows were
unconfined. The resultant channels were braided and
have developed medium and distal facies (PerezGarca, 1977), that tend to be thicker than the
coarse-grained canyon deposits.
The positions of these canyons were controlled by

230

L.C. Perez-Garca et al. / Journal of Geochemical Exploration 71 (2000) 225240

Fig. 4. The Roman gold mines in relation to the reconstructed Miocene alluvial fans in the NW of the Duero Basin.

large scale tectonic structures. The mountain outlet

zone (Fig. 4) coincides with the present day river
courses along the NW border of the Duero Basin.
For gold exploration, only the proximal facies are
of economic interest. Placers produced during erosive
phases are autochthonous in the terminology of Boyle
(1979). The gold grains are deposited within the
canyons, while most of the other detrital material is
transported further downstream (Perez-Garca,
1992a). As in most placers, gold is enriched along
the contact with the bedrock. In the first 23 m
above this contact, Au grades can reach 0.52.0 g/
m 3 and this was locally exploited by Roman miners
by underground mining. The miners of antiquity
targeted the entire proximal facies, which averaged
100150 mg/m 3 gold.
Various mechanisms have been proposed to

account for the increase in gold grades near the

bedrock (Boyle, 1979). The proximal facies thickness
of the Miocene alluvial fans is in excess of 20 m and is
often represented by more than one sedimentary
cycle. Consequently, it is highly improbable that
gold accumulations close to the bedrock contact can
be totally explained by downward movement through
unconsolidated alluvium, the jigging effect.
The formation of these pay streaks assumes a sluicing effect of the whole sediment column during
important flows (Cheney and Patton, 1967; Tuck,
1968). In our case, this is unlikely owing to the
great thickness and composition made up of multiple
depositional cycles as indicated earlier. It has to be
borne in mind that in the alluvial fan deposits the first
phase of deposition corresponds to erosion of the lateritic soil, where gold particle size and concentration

L.C. Perez-Garca et al. / Journal of Geochemical Exploration 71 (2000) 225240

231

Fig. 5. Geochemical composition of the inner part of gold grains. The points represent average of values. MiO: Omanas (Miocene), QVA:
Andinuela (Quartz vein), MiL: Las Medulas (Miocene), MiD: Duerna (Miocene), T3D: Duerna (Terrace 3), T4D: Duerna (Terrace 4), T5D:
Duerna (Terrace 5), T3E: Eria (Terrace 3), PTE: Eria (Present terrace), T3J: Jamuz (Terrace 3), CoT: Teleno (Colluvial deposit)

were the highest. When this earlier material was

deposited, it may well have undergone a sluicing
effect, thus increasing the Au grades near the bedrock
contact. The sluicing effect, however, can only affect
the alluvium of a single sedimentary cycle and not that
of the entire sedimentary sequence.
With respect to the particle size of the gold grains,
the presence of two distinct populations is clear (Table
2): one with sizes up to 50 m, and another below 5 m
(Perez-Garca, 1977; Herail and Perez-Garca, 1989).
The latter is characteristic of the gold found in the
Duerna and Omanas alluvial fans where grain weights
seldom exceed 6 mg. At Omanas, the fine material
comprises 30% of the gold, and it is related to the
kaolin content of the clay fraction. Fine gold may
have traveled in colloidal solution, with the negatively
charged gold-bearing colloids being captured by H ,
Na and Ca 2 cations in the periphery of the clay
sheets as 30 g of kaolin is able to settle 12 mg of
gold from a colloidal solution (Goni et al., 1966).
Colloidal gold solutions may have resulted from
weathering processes attributed to the prevailing
tropical climate.
The fineness of the gold provides good information
on the transport mechanism from hard rock to alluvial
fans. However, one must take into account only the
values in the inner zone of the gold grains and disre-

gard the grain borders where silver (the other major

element) has been leached. Gold particles inside the
CambrianOrdovician quartz veins have a Au fineness between 800 (Herail, 1984) and 840, while in
the Miocene grains it is about 950990 (Figs. 5 and
6, Table 3). The values in the Medulas and Omanas
alluvial fans are even higher, above 995 fineness. This
loss of Ag can be accounted for if a solutionprecipitation process in the pre-Miocene lateritic soil is
assumed, where the greater part of Ag was removed
by acidic solutions while the gold precipitated.
Obviously, grains derived from such a soil are
bound to have a higher fineness and exhibit no zonation in chemical composition throughout the grain.
In the Duerna alluvial fan, the fineness fluctuates
between 810 and 966. The poorer gold values may
correspond to particles that came directly from the
hard rock (Fig. 5 and 6; Table 3). In this case, either
the pre-Miocene soil was already eroded or was never
formed in the corresponding source area.
3.2. Roman mining works
Miners of antiquity utilized water to remove the
waste alluvial overburden and to wash and concentrate the gold grains from the auriferous gravel.
Ditches (corrugi) collected water, supplied by

232

L.C. Perez-Garca et al. / Journal of Geochemical Exploration 71 (2000) 225240

Fig. 6. EDX images of Au in different grains from quartz veins and miocene deposits. (A) Quartz veins (Andinuela). (B) Miocene (Las Medulas
Roman mine). (C) Miocene (Omanas roman mine). (D) Miocene (Duerna). (E) Miocene (Duerna). (F) Miocene (Duerna). See Table 3.

L.C. Perez-Garca et al. / Journal of Geochemical Exploration 71 (2000) 225240

seasonal snowmelt, streams, and incidental flooding.

No dams were utilized. The ditch bottoms and upslope sides were typically constructed on bedrock
surfaces. Wood plates or slabs of shale were
commonly used to construct the down-slope sides of
the ditches. Ditch widths ranged between 15 Roman
feet (0.31.5 m) and had an average gradient of 0.5%
(Fernandez-Posse and Sanchez-Palencia, 1988).
Ditches ranged in length from hundreds to thousands
of meters in order to supply water to the tops of alluvial sections chosen for exploitation (Sanchez-Palencia et al., 1992). Water was collected here in small
reservoirs for storage, distribution and for use in later
booming operations (described later) and for washing
and concentration of auriferous gravel.
As waste overburden, consisting primarily of alluvial fan deposits, overlies some of the Miocene gold
bearing gravel, it was necessary to remove these
deposits in order to access the underlying auriferous
gravel. This was accomplished by means of hydraulic
power to remove the waste overburden. Where the
overburden was thicker (30100 m), Roman miners
used a complex booming method, the Ruina
Montium (mountain collapse). This technique is
partially described by Pliny in his Naturalis Historia
(Pliny, H.N., 33, in Sanchez-Palencia, 1983) which
makes reference to the gold mines in the NW of
Iberia.
The booming system utilizes a hydraulic network to
collapse the talus pile. It consists of a water reservoir
(piscina or stagnum) built on top on the talus, a
ditch (emissarium) to carry the water from the reservoir to a vertical pit that extends down to the base of
the talus, and several galleries which extend outward
toward the talus surface from the bottom of the vertical pit. There is no outlet, however, as the horizontal
galleries do not breach the talus pile. After the necessary infrastructure has been built, the contents of the
water reservoir are discharged. The liberated water
runs along the ditch, falls into the vertical pit and
spreads into the lower galleries. The effect is to saturate the base of the talus which ultimately leads to
collapse and the flushing of the talus pile.
We must bear in mind two questions when attempting to reconstruct the booming method utilized by the
Roman miners. As the resulting collapse destroys
most of the hydraulic infrastructure, it is difficult to
reconstruct the mining pattern. Another problem is the

233

relatively low availability of water in the region at the

time. This is supported by the present day climate, as
many of the streams, from which the ancient miners
collected the water, are ephemeral in nature and dry
up in summer. The fact that no upstream reservoirs
were constructed, that supply ditches show erosion of
only a few centimeters and that the reservoirs built on
top of the slopes to be collapsed are small, all suggest
that large amounts of water were not necessary to
achieve the required collapse.
Placer miners in the gold rush of California used a
water/gravel ratio of 10 m 3/1 m 3 in the softest alluvial
deposits, as recorded by monitors (Sauvage, 1876).
Here, the water collapsed and carried the gravel to
sluices. In the Ruina Montium system, the maximum
water/gravel ratio was believed to be the reverse:
1 m 3/10 m 3.
Water saturation of the talus base is proposed to
explain the booming collapse with restricted use of
water. As the base of the talus represents essentially
an impermeable bed, the water filling the galleries,
which run from the vertical pit in the direction of
the slope, would fill the pores of the alluvial overburden near the slope as the galleries have no outlet.
Water saturation would greatly decrease the failure
resistance of the talus pile, which would result in
subsequent collapse.
Auriferous gravel of lesser thickness was
exploited using a ground sluicing method, an in
situ washing and concentrating system performed
in trenches having a 5% gradient. The lighter
material was removed by means of water, leaving
the heavier material behind to be collected and
worked by panning. The biggest stones were
heaped up at the trench sides and are one of the
most characteristic aspects of old Roman mining
sites. Where it was not possible to wash the gold
bearing gravel directly in place, a drifting method
was utilized instead. Auriferous gravel was mined
by means of tunnels and moved to the portals
where it was washed in sluices (Bowie, 1910).
3.3. Las Medulas Mine
The Las Medulas Mine is perhaps the most typical
of the NW Iberian alluvial gold deposits hosted in
Miocene alluvial fans. The site was deservedly
included in the World Heritage List in 1997. The

234

L.C. Perez-Garca et al. / Journal of Geochemical Exploration 71 (2000) 225240

Fig. 7. Stratigraphic sequence, Au grade and average weight of Au grains in the Las Medulas Roman gold mine (Leon).

basic stratigraphic sequence at Las Medulas (Fig. 7),

from bottom to top, consists of red elluvialcolluvial
deposits (Orellan Fm.) which are equivalent to the
pre-Miocene weathering surface. As it overlies non-

auriferous bedrock, no gold is found in this deposit. Its

thickness ranges from 0 to 20 m.
The next stratigraphic horizon is comprised of
proximal alluvial fan facies (Santalla Fm.) that

L.C. Perez-Garca et al. / Journal of Geochemical Exploration 71 (2000) 225240

corresponds to the coarsest gravel sediments in the

series. It contains blocks that reach 1 m in diameter
and it rests directly on the bedrock from which the
Orellan Fm. has been eroded. The Santalla Fm. is the
principal gold-bearing deposit containing Au grades
that range between 1 g/m 3 near its base, to 20
100 mg/m 3 in its upper part. The average weight of
contained gold is 0.5 mg near the lower contact, with
the balance averaging 0.32 mg. Formation thickness
ranges from 0 to 30 m.
Overlying the Santalla Fm. is a widespread deposit
representing medium alluvial fan facies (unconfined
flow) comprised of alternating beds of gravel, fine
sand and silt (Medulas Fm.). The Au grade in the
Medulas Fm. is much lower: 1020 mg/m 3, ranging
to a maximum of 100 mg/m 3 in intercalated gravel
beds. The average gold grain weight is 0.21 mg; the
formation thickness is about 100 m. The Roman
miners considered this to be barren overburden
(Herail, 1984; Perez-Garca, 1992a; Perez-Garca
and Sanchez-Palencia, 1992; Sanchez-Palencia et
al., 1996).
Following deposition of the Miocene sediments,
subsequent tectonism resulted in the uplift of certain
structural blocks. Owing to the greater competence of
the Miocene gravel in relation to the Paleozoic shale
country rocks, a reverse relief resulted with Tertiary
gravel occupying the highest topography. Consequently, the entire auriferous deposit was exposed,
making hydraulic mining relatively easy.
There are 16 ditches that carried water to the mine
in successive times. The ditches average 80 km in
length and have an aggregate length in excess of
1000 km. Along their route, no tunnels and bridges
were built, yet all arrived at the mine leveled to the
required elevation. As good maintenance of the
ditches was essential, several hill forts were built to
take care of them. Near the mine sites the ditches
flowed into reservoirs where the water was stored
for later use in the overburden collapsing, or for washing the gold bearing gravel. Studies show that in the
last Ruina Montium operation a water reservoir of
16,000 m 3 was utilized to collapse about 1 Mm 3 of
overburden.
Owing to the great thickness of the overburden (Las
Medulas Fm) at the Las Medulas mine, the Ruina
Montium system was employed extensively. To
wash the auriferous gravel (Santalla Fm.), the

235

Roman miners used the above-mentioned ground

sluice method, but when the overburden thickness
was greater than 810 m, they were forced to remove
the gravel and haul it to the sluices. To remove overburden with wide-frontal exposures, deep trenches
were excavated parallel and close to the slope and
charged with water. The combination of the hydrostatic thrust of the water filling the trench and the
resultant saturation of the talus base lead to collapse
of the talus edges. After failure, additional water was
added to guide the gravel to the sluices. Small underground mining operations were also developed in the
lower part of the Santalla Fm., close to the contact
with the barren Orellan Fm.
Waste accumulations are an important aspect of
past mining operations at Las Medulas. There are
six valleys coming from the mine and each is filled
with waste material. The largest valley contains an
impressive accumulation of debris measuring more
than 2 km long and 0.31.5 km wide. The debris
has blocked the valley, producing a small lake. This
waste fan was evaluated by means an electrical survey
taking into account the swell effect which results from
the loss of fine material. Pliny wrote that Hispania
grows at the expense of its gold mines, and when the
more than 15 Mm 3 of fines that were washed to sea are
taken into account, the total alluvium (overburden and
auriferous gravel) moved by the Roman miners
approximate 90 Mm 3.
4. Quaternary deposits
Quaternary deposits in NW Iberia typically consist
of elluvialcolluvial to fluvial sediments, but also
include glacial and fluvio-glacial sediments. Gold
contents are directly related to their respective
distance from the CambrianOrdovician auriferous
quartz veins or the gold-bearing Miocene alluvial
fan deposits.
4.1. Geology
The most important gold deposits are hosted in
fluvial terraces along the base of the mountains.
Fluvial deposits with higher gold grades also occur
in intra-montane areas, but their volumes are not
significant.
From a genetic point of view, these are autochthonous

236

L.C. Perez-Garca et al. / Journal of Geochemical Exploration 71 (2000) 225240

Fig. 8. EDX images for Au in different grains from Quaternary deposits. (G) Terrace 3 (Duerna river). (H) Terrace 4 (Duerna river). (I) Terrace
3 (Eria river). (J) Terrace 3 (Eria river). (K) Present terrace (Eria river). (L) Colluvial deposit (Teleno). See Table 4.

L.C. Perez-Garca et al. / Journal of Geochemical Exploration 71 (2000) 225240

placers that were formed during erosive phases. The

gold particles present in them have not traveled far, as
more than 90% of the Au grains are found within the
first 56 km from the mountain borders. Over this
distance, only 45 hanging and semi-hanging terraces
are developed in the NW corner of the Duero Basin.
Included are the Rana deposits (fluvial deposit) that
may well be Pliocene equivalents of the Quaternary
terraces. Both were formed in similar sedimentary
environments typified by braided channels and have
a similar thickness of 46 m. In the smaller Bierzo
Basin, graben subsidence gave rise to superimposed
terraces with more than 15 m of total thickness.
Gold enrichment within the terrace deposits occurs
in paleo-channels in close proximity to the bedrock
contact have been prospected three deposits on the
Omanas, Duerna, and Eria Rivers within the Duero
Basin. For the most part, the layouts of these channels
are straighter than the actual stream flow, representing
periods of higher energy than what is observed today
(Perez-Garca, 1991, 1992b). The present terrace of
the Omanas River hosts a very low sinuosity goldbearing channel of 150200 m width and 3500 m of
prospected length. A secondary channel of 100 m
width bifurcates at a small oblique angle. In the
Duerna River Terraces 345, the channels have
widths of 400700 m. They are straight for over
3500 m, but beyond that distance exhibit a braided
low-sinuosity structure. The overall gradient of the
channels is 0.81.0%.
Gold grade significantly increases with depth as
8590% of the total gold is found in the lower
half of the deposit. This is important to know
when planning a mining operation, as the top
half must be considered barren overburden
(Perez-Garca, 1991, 1992b). Gold enrichment at
the bottom of a terrace deposit is generated by the
sluicing effect. High-energy channels that have
eroded the former gravel carrying alluvial sediments further downstream. This action concentrates the Au grains that lag behind. As a result
of episodic flooding, gold accumulates in the
deepest parts of the channels.
Definition of overburden makes it difficult to quantify gold grades as it has a significant effect on the
stripping ratio (m 3 overburden/ m 3 gold-bearing
gravel). However, utilizing a reasonable stripping
ratio of between 0.3 and 1.0, Au grades range between

237

150 and 220 mg/m with associated mining volumes

of 1.55.5 Mm 3 (Perez-Garca, 1991).
The average gold grain-size in the Duerna River
area is 0.22 mm (Table 2), with a corresponding
weight of 0.19 mg. Although only 17.5% of the total
grains were found to be above 0.25 mm, they represented 76.7% of the total gold weight.
The gold grain composition, as measured in the
inner part of the particles, clearly shows two possible
Au sources. These are thought to be CambrianOrdovician auriferous quartz veins and reworked Miocene
grains (Fig. 8, Table 4). Lower gold fineness indicates
a quartz vein source; a higher gold fineness is indicative of a Miocene sediment source.
In the Duerna Terrace 3, the gold fineness is higher
than 900, while in Terrace 4 it is lower than 870 (Fig.
5 and Table 4). This may indicate that a major portion
of the upstream gold bearing Miocene strata were
already eroded when Terrace 4 was deposited, and
the gold came directly from quartz veins in the country rock. A high fineness value in Terrace 5, for example, may represent a grain reworked from Terrace 3.
Upstream from the Eria deposit, the Miocene outcrops
are limited and, as a result, the Quaternary gold grains
have a lower fineness. This is most likely due to the
predominance of hard rock quartz veins as a gold
source. In the Eria Terrace 3 a gold grain was found
that would appear to have traveled inside a piece of
quartz (particle I in Table 4, and Fig. 8). It was apparently liberated relatively near the place where it was
deposited, because it does not exhibit any zonation,
nor does it have a silver-leached rind. Neither characteristic is known to form during transport.

4.2. Roman mining works

Roman miners exclusively used the ground sluicing
method, which is suitable for thinner deposits with a
thickness of 46 m. On the dry terraces, several
groups of 68 convergent trenches (ground sluicing)
having a 5% gradient, were dug. A single ditch,
running at the head of the ground sluicing trenches,
supplied water for the entire operation. The miners
pushed the alluvium from the trench sides to the
bottom and into the running water. Big stones were
washed and placed outside the trenches while sand
and clay were swept to the outlet. This left the

238

L.C. Perez-Garca et al. / Journal of Geochemical Exploration 71 (2000) 225240

Table 3
Geochemical composition of the gold grains from quartz veins and
Miocene deposits (wt.%). See Fig. 6

Table 4
Geochemical composition of the gold grains from Quaternary
deposits (wt%). See Fig. 8

Location

Analysis Au

Ag

Hg

Location

Analysis

G. Terrace 3 (Duerna)

p.1
p.2
p.3
p.4
p.5
p.6
p.7

99.16
95.53
94.95
98.73
95.36
95.84
98.26

0.83
3.38
3.25
1.12
3.18
3.26
0.91

0.22
1.02
1.00
0.07
0.74
0.73
0.10

H. Terrace 4 (Duerna)

p.1
p.2
p.3
p.4
p.5

97.90
85.95
99.45
99.17
85.59

1.51
13.26
0.57
0.58
13.38

0.12
0.10
0.18
0.13
0.11

I. Terrace 3 (Eria)

p.1
p.2
p.3
p.4
p.5

72.57
72.59
72.26
72.43
72.34

27.02
27.02
26.77
26.81
26.97

0.11
0.00
0.13
0.01
0.00

J. Terrace 3 (Eria)

p.1
p.2
p.3
p.4
p.5

99.06
100.13
87.51
87.71
99.58

0.21
0.24
11.24
11.15
0.50

0.17
0.12
0.87
0.96
0.11

K. Present terrace (Eria)

p.1
p.2
p.3
p.4
p.5
p.6
p.7
p.8
p.9

99.10
98.76
98.45
81.44
81.37
99.51
82.10
96.94
98.96

0.59
0.55
1.39
17.60
17.81
0.16
17.72
2.55
0.22

0.06
0.00
0.08
0.10
0.23
0.00
0.07
0.12
0.16

L. Colluvial deposits
(Teleno)

p.1

98.15

1.83

0.12

p.2
p.3
p.4
p.5
p.6
p.7
p.8

98.46
83.96
84.41
83.96
82.97
97.03
82.75

0.80
14.83
14.95
15.03
14.72
3.27
14.57

0.00
0.22
0.20
0.07
0.24
0.05
0.22

A. Quartz vein (Andinuela) p.1

p.2
p.3
p.4
p.5

82.69
82.39
82.54
82.64
98.56

16.95
17.00
16.70
16.77
0.67

0.21
0.09
0.00
0.12
0.00

B. Miocene (Las Medulas)

p.1
p.2
p.3
p.4
p.5
p.6
p.7

99.58
98.10
99.56
99.74
98.62
98.34
98.95

0.56
0.80
0.57
0.22
0.69
0.62
0.26

0.14
0.19
0.19
0.00
0.10
0.06
0.09

p.1
p.2
p.3
p.4
p.5
p.6
p.7

100.39
99.19
99.02
99.21
99.24
99.06
99.48

0.00
0.08
0.19
0.21
0.15
0.14
0.02

0.13
0.04
0.00
0.19
0.20
0.10
0.09

p.1
p.2
p.3
p.4
p.5
p.6
p.7

99.01
97.03
97.08
96.39
97.02
95.79
98.52

0.64
3.37
3.47
3.38
3.48
3.39
0.65

0.00
0.15
0.05
0.04
0.09
0.03
0.00

p.1
p.2
p.3
p.4
p.5
p.6
p.7

97.43 2.17 0.00

97.54 1.74 0.09
81.87 16.39 2.06
81.35 16.12 1.94
98.04 1.42 0.09
98.36 1.57 0.00
81.11 16.09 2.03

p.1
p.2
p.3
p.4
p.5
p.6

98.91
95.01
95.12
99.92
99.37
94.93

C. Miocene (Omanas)

D. Miocene (Duerna)

E. Miocene (Duerna)

F. Miocene
(Duerna)

0.08
4.38
4.13
0.37
0.56
4.29

0.09
0.31
0.28
0.08
0.05
0.25

heavy fraction in the trench bottom where panning

was employed to recover the gold.
On terraces that had shallow ground water, the
Romans only worked the deposits above the water
table, employing single ground sluicing. Water was
sourced from the nearest fluvial stream by means of a

Au

Ag

Hg

ditch. With the single ground sluicing method, alluvium was pushed from only one side of the trench
with larger stones being piled on the opposing side.
In this manner the mining operation migrated sideways leaving the somewhat chaotic mine pattern
that is characteristic of the method.

L.C. Perez-Garca et al. / Journal of Geochemical Exploration 71 (2000) 225240

5. Conclusion
Thin beds enriched in heavy minerals and detrital gold are present in CambrianOrdovician
quartzite in NW Iberia. Shearing and leaching
processes mobilized this gold which was subsequently reprecipitated as free gold, together with
AsFesulfides and quartz, in lower pressure
extensional zones. In pre-Miocene tertiary times,
lateritic processes leached gold from bedrock and
deposited it in deep tropical soils, losing a majority of its Ag in the course of the leaching process.
The Alpine tectonic movements that uplifted the
Cantabrian and Montes de Leon ranges, gave rise
to the stripping of the soil and to the transporting
of the gold, either as detrital grains or as colloidal
solutions. The resulting debris formed large alluvial fans along the mountain fronts. The fineness
of this gold, with some exception, is greater than
998.
During the Quaternary, alluvial deposits were
derived both from basement rock and existing
Miocene alluvial fans, resulting in the reworking of
the Au grains and the formation of new placers. The
source material is indicated by the gold fineness. A
low fineness (850) indicates a quartz vein source; a
raised fineness (850) indicates a Miocene terrace
deposit, or an older Quaternary terrace deposit itself
derived from the Miocene, as the area of origin.
The gold derived from the CambrianOrdovician
quartzites has been distributed in alluvial sediments
ranging in age from Miocene to the present. This has
resulted in the formation of deposits characterized by
large volume and low Au grade.
The Roman miners exploited the alluvial deposits
by hydraulic mining. As large amounts of water were
not available, and they made no attempt to store
upstream sources, it is believed that the miners of
antiquity did not employ modern hydraulic mining
techniques to remove thicker sections of overburden
or auriferous gravel. Evidence suggests instead that a
booming method was employed to saturate the base of
a prospective talus pile by way of flooding the underground infrastructure which consisted of a vertical pit
and a network of galleries built along the base of the
pile. The galleries radiated outward from the base of
the vertical pit but did not communicate with the
outside surface. When the galleries were filled with

239

water, the base of the talus pile became saturated,

leading to collapse. In this manner overburden was
removed by hydraulic flushing.
Another method was utilized to remove alluvium
with wide frontal exposures. Deep trenches were
excavated parallel and close to the slope and charged
with water. The combination of the hydrostatic thrust
of the water filling the trench and the resultant saturation of the talus base lead to the collapse of the talus
edges.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to Robert Kellie (US BORAX Inc)
for reviewing the manuscript and for his valuable
comments.
References
Bowie, A.J., 1910. A Practical Treatise on Hydraulic Mining in
California. Van Nostrand, New York.
Boyle, R.W., 1979. The geochemistry of gold and its deposits. Geol.
Surv. Canada Bull. 280, 584.
Cheney, E.S., Patton, T.C., 1967. Origin of the bedrock values of
placer deposits. Econ. Geol. 62, 852853.
Fernandez-Posse, M.D., Sanchez-Palencia, F.J., 1988. La Corona de
Corporales y el Castro de Corporales II, Excavaciones Arqueologicas en Espana, 153, Madrid, 262p.
Goni, J., Guillemin, C., Sarcia, 1966. Geochimie de lor exoge`ne.
Etude experimentale des depots colloidalux dor et de leur stabilite. Min. Dep. 14, 259268.
Herail, G., 1984. Geomorphologie et gtologie de lor detritique.
Piemonts et bassins intramontagneux du Nord-Ouest de
lEspagne, CNRS, Paris, p. 456.
Herail, G., Perez-Garca L.C., 1989. Interet archeologique dune
etude geomorpho-gtologique: les gisement dor alluvial du
N.O. de lEspagne. Minera y Metalurgia en las Antiguas
Civilizaciones Mediterraneas y Europeas, CNRS, CSIC,
Madrid, pp. 2131.
Perea, A., Sanchez-Palencia, F.J., 1996. Arqueologa del oro Astur.
Caja de Asturias. Oviedo, 116pp.
Perez-Estaun, A., 1978. Estratigrafa y Estructura de la rama S. de la
Zona Asturoccidental-Leonesa. Mem. Inst. Geol. Min. Esp. 92,
149.
Perez-Garca, L.C., 1977. Los sedimentos aurferos del NO de la
Cuenca del Duero(Provincia de Leon) y su prospeccion, PhD
Thesis, Univ. de Oviedo, Oviedo.
Perez-Garca, L.C., 1991. Metodos de prospeccion de oro en diferentes depositos aluvionares en Espana, Gisements alluviaux
dor, Col. Colloques et seminaires, ORSTOM, La Paz, pp.
325355.
Perez-Garca, L.C., 1992a. Las Medulas de Carucedo (Leon),

240

L.C. Perez-Garca et al. / Journal of Geochemical Exploration 71 (2000) 225240

contribucion a su conocimiento geologico, Actas III Congreso

Geologico de Espana, Salamanca, vol. 3, pp. 273279.
Perez-Garca, L.C., 1992b. Sedimentologa de algunos placeres de
oro en terrazas fluviales de la Pennsula Iberica (Leon y
Caceres-Beira Baixa), Actas III Congreso Geologico de Espana,
Salamanca, vol. 3, pp. 280284.
Perez-Garca, L.C., Sanchez-Palencia, F.J., 1985. Yacimientos aurferos ibericos en la Antiguedad. Investigacion y Ciencia 104,
6475.
Perez-Garca, L.C., Sanchez-Palencia, F.J., 1992. Los yacimientos de oro de Las Medulas de Carucedo (Leon). In: GarcaGuinea, J., Martnez-Fras, J. (Eds), Yacimientos Minerales
espanoles, Col. Textos Universitarios, C.S.I.C., Madrid, pp.
861874.
Sanchez-Palencia, F.J., 1983. La explotacion del oro de Asturia y
Gallaecia en La Antiguedad, PhD Thesis, Univ. Complutense,
Madrid.

Sanchez-Palencia, F.J., Fernandez-Posse, M.D., Orejas, A., PerezGarca, L.C., 1992. Las Medulas de Carucedo (Leon); sistemas
de explotacion en La Antiguedad, Actas III Congreso Geologico
de Espana, Salamanca, vol. 3, pp. 861873.
Sanchez-Palencia, F.J., Fernandez-Posse, M.D., FernandezManzano, J., Orejas, A., 1996. La Zona Arqueologica de Las
Medulas. Leon. Guia Arqueologica, Junta de Castilla y Leon,
Salamanca, 147p.
Sauvage, M.E., 1876. Notice sur lexploitation hydraulique de lor
en Californie, Dunod, Paris, p. 79.
Tornos, F., Spiro, B.F., Shepherd, T.J., Ribera, F., 1997. Sandstonehosted gold lodes of the Southern West Asturian Leonese Zone
(NW Spain). Chron. Rech. Min. 528, 7186.
Tuck, R., 1968. Origin of the bedrock values of placer deposits.
Econ. Geol. 63, 191193.