Structural analysis of the Dogan copper mine area, north Toroud fault zone (Central Iran).

Dogan area with surficial Copper-oxide mineralization located at the northeast of Iran, where the northeastern edge of Toroud-Chah Shirin volcano-magmatic belt hosts the numerous Copper-oxide deposits. The Dogan area lies at 18 Km north of the ENE-WSW striking active left-lateral and basement Toroud fault zone in which dominantly deformed by brittle structures. The original field-based structural measurements in the study area that characterized structural anatomy of the Dogan which show the main faults have E-W, NW-SE and NE-SW orientation. We also identified right- lateral E-W striking south Dogan fault zone with longer than 15 km length and NE-SW striking north Dogan reverse fault. Paleo-stress inversion analysis has performed on all the measured faults that yield horizontal NW-SE directed maximum compression direction (sigma 1) for faulting in Dogan area. Furthermore, integration of field-based data and remotely sensed data reveled that Copper-oxide mineralization and associated alterations are tightly aligned along the E-W and rather the N-S to NW-SE fault zones. To identify the role of the faults in Copper-oxide mineralization at Dogan area, our results suggest that major deep faults, dense fracture zones, and fault intersection zones provide weak and low-pressure zones for concentrating the Cu-containing fluids that are high potential places for copper-oxide mineralization.