scholarly journals Zircon U-Pb and Pyrite Re-Os Isotope Geochemistry of ‘Skarn-Type’ Fe-Cu Mineralization at the Shuikoushan Polymetallic Deposit, South China: Implications for an Early Cretaceous Mineralization Event in the Nanling Range

Minerals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 480
Author(s):  
Shengbin Li ◽  
Yonghua Cao ◽  
Zeyou Song ◽  
Dan Xiao

The Shuikoushan deposit is an economic ‘skarn-type’ polymetallic Pb-Zn deposit in South China. The deposit is located at the southern margin of the Hengyang basin in the northern part of the Nanling Range. Recently, economic Fe-Cu mineralization that occurs spatially connected to skarns along the contact zone between the granodiorite and limestones was discovered in the lower part of this deposit. Detailed zircon U-Pb geochronological data indicate that the granodiorite was emplaced at 153.7 ± 0.58 Ma (Mean Square of Weighted Deviates (MSWD) = 2.4). However, the pyrite Re-Os isochron age reveals that Fe-Cu mineralization formed at 140 ± 11 Ma (MSWD) = 8.1), which post-dates the emplacement of the granodiorite, as well as the previously determined timing of Pb-Zn mineralization (157.8 ± 1.4 Ma) in this deposit. Considering that Fe-Cu mineralization was connected with the contact zone and also faults, and that sulfide minerals commonly occur together with quartz and calcite veins that crosscut skarns, we interpret this mineralization type as being related to injection of post-magmatic hydrothermal fluids. The timing of Fe-Cu mineralization (140 ± 11 Ma) is inconsistent with a long-held viewpoint that the time interval of 145 to 130 Ma (e.g., Early Cretaceous) in the Nanling Range is a period of magmatic quiescence with insignificant mineralization, the age of 140 Ma may represent a new mineralization event in the Nanling Range.

2020 ◽  
Vol 115 (2) ◽  
pp. 385-413 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi-Qu Xiong ◽  
Yong-Jun Shao ◽  
Yanbo Cheng ◽  
Shao-Yong Jiang

Abstract The Xiangdong W(-Sn) deposit is hosted in the Dengfuxian multiphase granites (biotite, two-mica, and muscovite granites) within the Nanling Range metallogenic belt in south China. Previous studies suggested that the W(-Sn) mineralization in the Xiangdong deposit is related to the Late Jurassic two-mica granite, whereas recently W-Sn–bearing quartz veins have also been identified in muscovite granite. We present new cassiterite and zircon U-Pb ages to constrain the timing of W-Sn mineralization and related granitic magmatism. Our laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry U-Pb dating of zircon grains, combined with previous zircon ages, in addition to the trace element composition of the muscovite granite, suggest the muscovite granite in the Dengfuxian pluton was emplaced at 145 to 142 Ma and shows highly evolved features. Cassiterite grains from the ore-bearing veins in two-mica granite yielded U-Pb ages of 151.6 ± 3.7 and 141 to 138 Ma, whereas cassiterite grains from quartz veins occurring in muscovite granite yielded a U-Pb age of 136.8 ± 3.3 Ma. The new ages and detailed geologic evidence indicate that the Early Cretaceous muscovite granite is also genetically related to W-Sn mineralization. Combining this with previously published data from the Late Jurassic two-mica granites and related mineralization, we suggest that there were two stages of W-Sn mineralization at Xiangdong. Arsenopyrite geothermometry from the two stages suggests temperatures of 300° to 491° and 308° to 450°C in stage I and stage II, respectively. Wolframite grains from the two stages also show different characteristics and patterns for their major and trace elements. The enrichment in Sc in wolframite suggests low-pH and low-Eh conditions for a fluid containing F– and/or PO43− complexes during stage I, whereas higher contents of Nb and Ta and lower contents of Sc in wolframite from stage II indicate relatively lower pH and higher Eh conditions. In combination with data from other recent studies, we propose that the 145 to 130 Ma interval represents a newly recognized W-Sn metallogenic period linked with highly evolved granites in the Nanling Range metallogenic belt. The Early Cretaceous muscovite granite is an important new target for W and Sn resources in south China.


Minerals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 116
Author(s):  
Yue Sun ◽  
Barry P. Kohn ◽  
Samuel C. Boone ◽  
Dongsheng Wang ◽  
Kaixing Wang

The Zhuguangshan complex hosts the main uranium production area in South China. We report (U-Th)/He and fission track thermochronological data from Triassic–Jurassic mineralized and non-mineralized granites and overlying Cambrian and Cretaceous sandstone units from the Lujing uranium ore field (LUOF) to constrain the upper crustal tectono-thermal evolution of the central Zhuguangshan complex. Two Cambrian sandstones yield reproducible zircon (U-Th)/He (ZHe) ages of 133–106 Ma and low effective uranium (eU) content (270–776 ppm). One Upper Cretaceous sandstone and seven Mesozoic granites are characterized by significant variability in ZHe ages (154–83 Ma and 167–36 Ma, respectively), which show a negative relationship with eU content (244–1098 ppm and 402–4615 ppm), suggesting that the observed age dispersion can be attributed to the effect of radiation damage accumulation on 4He diffusion. Correspondence between ZHe ages from sandstones and granites indicates that surrounding sedimentary rocks and igneous intrusions supplied sediment to the Cretaceous–Paleogene Fengzhou Basin lying adjacent to the LUOF. The concordance of apatite fission track (AFT) central ages (61–54 Ma) and unimodal distributions of confined track lengths of five samples from different rock units suggest that both sandstone and granite samples experienced a similar cooling history throughout the entire apatite partial annealing zone (~110–60 °C). Apatite (U-Th-Sm)/He (AHe) ages from six non-mineralized samples range from 67 to 19 Ma, with no apparent correlation to eU content (2–78 ppm). Thermal history modeling of data suggests that the LUOF experienced relatively rapid Early Cretaceous cooling. In most samples, this was followed by the latest Early Cretaceous–Late Cretaceous reheating and subsequent latest Late Cretaceous–Recent cooling to surface temperatures. This history is considered as a response to the transmission of far-field stresses, involving alternating periods of regional compression and extension, related to paleo-Pacific plate subduction and subsequent rollback followed by Late Paleogene–Recent India–Asia collision and associated uplift and eastward extrusion of the Tibetan Plateau. Thermal history models are consistent with the Fengzhou Basin having been significantly more extensive in the Late Cretaceous–Early Paleogene, covering much of the LUOF. Uranium ore bodies which may have formed prior to the Late Cretaceous may have been eroded by as much as ~1.2 to 4.8 km during the latest Late Cretaceous–Recent denudation.


2014 ◽  
Vol 88 (s2) ◽  
pp. 64-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rongqing ZHANG ◽  
Jianjun LU ◽  
Rucheng WANG ◽  
Jiabin HU ◽  
Huaifeng ZHANG

2010 ◽  
Vol 80 (5) ◽  
pp. 670-683 ◽  
Author(s):  
GUO Qingjun ◽  
LIU Congqiang ◽  
Harald STRAUSS ◽  
Tatiana GOLDBERG ◽  
ZHU Maoyan ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 116 (6) ◽  
pp. 1253-1265
Author(s):  
Xiao-Ye Jin ◽  
Jian-Xin Zhao ◽  
Yue-Xing Feng ◽  
Albert H. Hofstra ◽  
Xiao-Dong Deng ◽  
...  

Abstract The ages of Carlin-type gold deposits in the Golden Triangle of South China have long been questioned due to the general lack of minerals unequivocally linked to gold deposition that can be precisely dated using conventional radiogenic isotope techniques. Recent advances in U-Pb methods show that calcite can be used to constrain the ages of hydrothermal processes, but few studies have been applied to ore deposits. Herein, we show that this approach can be used to constrain the timing of hydrothermal activity that generated and overprinted the giant Shuiyindong Carlin-type gold deposit in the Golden Triangle. Three stages of calcite (Cal-1, Cal-2, and Cal-3) have been recognized in this deposit based on crosscutting relationships, cathodoluminescence colors, and chemical (U, Pb, and rare earth element [REE]) and isotope (C, O, Sr) compositions. Cal-1 is texturally associated with ore-stage jasperoid and disseminated Au-bearing arsenian pyrite in hydrothermally altered carbonate rocks, which suggests it is synmineralization. Cal-2 fills open spaces and has a distinct orange cathodoluminescence, suggesting that it precipitated during a second fluid pulse. Cal-1 and Cal-2 have similar carbonate rock-buffered chemical and isotopic compositions. Cal-3 occurs in veins that often contain realgar and/or orpiment and are chemically (low U, Pb, and REE) and isotopically (higher δ13C, lower δ18O and Sri values) distinct from Cal-1 and Cal-2, suggesting that it formed from a third fluid. U-Pb isotope analyses, by laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) for U-rich Cal-1 and Cal-2 and by LA-multicollector (MC)-ICP-MS for U-poor Cal-3, yield well-defined age constraints of 204.3 to 202.6, 191.9, and 139.3 to 137.1 Ma for Cal-1, Cal-2, and Cal-3, respectively. These new ages suggest that the Shuiyindong gold deposit formed in the late Triassic and was overprinted by hydrothermal events in the early Jurassic and early Cretaceous. Given the association of Cal-3 with orpiment and realgar, and previous geochronologic studies of several other major gold deposits in the Golden Triangle, we infer that the latest stage of calcite may be associated with an early Cretaceous regional gold metallogenic event. Combined with existing isotopic ages in the region, these new ages lead us to propose that Carlin-type gold deposits in the Golden Triangle formed during two metallogenic episodes in extensional settings, associated with the late Triassic Indochina orogeny and early Cretaceous paleo-Pacific plate subduction. This study shows that the calcite U-Pb method can be used to constrain the timing of Carlin-type gold deposits and successive hydrothermal events.


2018 ◽  
Vol 54 (6) ◽  
pp. 3755-3785 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huan Li ◽  
Hua‐Shan Sun ◽  
Thomas J. Algeo ◽  
Jing‐Hua Wu ◽  
Jing‐Ya Cao ◽  
...  

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