A New Model for the Genesis of Carboniferous Mn Ores, Longtou Deposit, South China Block

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fangge Chen ◽  
Peir K. Pufahl ◽  
Qingfei Wang ◽  
Edward J. Matheson ◽  
Brandi M. Shabaga ◽  
...  

Abstract The lower Carboniferous Luzhai and Baping Formations (ca. 359 Ma) of the South China block, Guangxi Province, comprise an ca. 170-m-thick clastic-carbonate succession capped by Mn ore horizons near the town of Longtou. Excellent exposure of the stratigraphic succession provides an unparalleled opportunity to investigate the origin of carbonate-hosted Mn deposits, which are generally understudied. Lithofacies associations suggest inner and middle shelf clastic rocks accumulated with deposition of carbonates on a mesotrophic middle to outer shelf. In the Longtou region, carbonate deposition during marine transgression culminated with the precipitation of high-grade Mn deposits during maximum flooding. Mn ore horizons are composed of amalgamated alabandite-bearing rhodochrosite, Mn calcite, and braunite laminae. Mn carbonates have been largely interpreted as forming in oxic water columns via reduction of Mn oxides by organic matter. However, paragenetic relationships and δ13C values (similar to those of seawater) indicate the Mn carbonates of Longtou were formed during authigenesis by the emplacement of anoxic, Mn-rich water masses on the distal to middle shelf. Such anoxia is interpreted to have shut down the carbonate factory and diminished sedimentation, a prerequisite for the concentration and precipitation of Mn carbonates in pore water. This research supports the notion that areas of the Paleozoic deep ocean were persistently anoxic and periodically tapped by coastal upwelling to produce Mn- and Fe-rich deposits. Application of this emerging ore deposit model to other economically important carbonate-hosted Mn deposits may improve resource exploration.

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Farzaneh Shakerardakani ◽  
Franz Neubauer ◽  
Xiaoming Liu ◽  
Yunpeng Dong ◽  
Behzad Monfaredi ◽  
...  

Abstract New detrital U–Pb zircon ages from the Sanandaj–Sirjan metamorphic zone in the Zagros orogenic belt allow discussion of models of the late Neoproterozoic to early Palaeozoic plate tectonic evolution and position of the Iranian microcontinent within a global framework. A total of 194 valid age values from 362 zircon grains were obtained from three garnet-micaschist samples. The most abundant detrital zircon population included Ediacaran ages, with the main age peak at 0.60 Ga. Other significant age peaks are at c. 0.64–0.78 Ga, 0.80–0.91 Ga, 0.94–1.1 Ga, 1.8–2.0 Ga and 2.1–2.5 Ga. The various Palaeozoic zircon age peaks could be explained by sediment supply from sources within the Iranian microcontinent. However, Precambrian ages were found, implying a non-Iranian provenance or recycling of upper Ediacaran–Palaeozoic clastic rocks. Trace-element geochemical fingerprints show that most detrital zircons were sourced from continental magmatic settings. In this study, the late Grenvillian age population at c. 0.94–1.1 Ga is used to unravel the palaeogeographic origin of the Sanandaj–Sirjan metamorphic zone. This Grenvillian detrital age population relates to the ‘Gondwana superfan’ sediments, as found in many Gondwana-derived terranes within the European Variscides and Turkish terranes, but also to units further east, e.g. in the South China block. Biogeographic evidence proves that the Iranian microcontinent developed on the same North Gondwana margin extending from the South China block via Iran further to the west.


2018 ◽  
Vol 156 (07) ◽  
pp. 1141-1156 ◽  
Author(s):  
LIANG QIU ◽  
WEN-XIN YANG ◽  
DAN-PING YAN ◽  
MICHAEL L. WELLS ◽  
JUN-TING QIU ◽  
...  

AbstractTwo phases of diabase-sill-forming magmatism are recorded within the Badu anticline where magmas were emplaced into upper Palaeozoic carbonates and clastic rocks of the Youjiang fold-and-thrust belt in the SW South China Block, China. Zircons from these diabase units yield weighted mean U–Pb ages of 249.2±2.0 Ma and 187.1±3.3 Ma, and magmatic oxygen fugacity values from ‒20 to ‒6 (average of ‒12, equating to FMQ +5) and ‒20 to ‒10 (average of ‒15, equating to FMQ +2), respectively. These data indicate that the sills were emplaced during Early Triassic and Early Jurassic times. The discovery of c. 250 Ma mafic magmatism in this area was probably related to post-flood-basalt extension associated with the Emeishan mantle plume or rollback of the subducting Palaeo-Tethys slab. The c. 190 Ma diabase sills indicate that the southwestern South China Block records Early Jurassic mafic magmatism and lithospheric extension that was likely associated with a transition from post-collisional to within-plate tectonic regimes. The emplacement of diabase intrusions at depth may have driven hydrothermal systems, enabling the mobilization of elements from sedimentary rocks and causing the formation of a giant epigenetic metallogenic domain. The results indicate that high-oxygen-fugacity materials within basement rocks caused crustal contamination of the magmas, contributing to the wide range of oxygen fugacity conditions recorded by the Au-bearing Badu diabase. In addition, data from inherited xenocrystic zircons within the Badu diabase and detrital zircons from basement rocks suggest that the Neoproterozoic Jiangshao suture extends to the south of the Badu anticline.


2021 ◽  
Vol 217 ◽  
pp. 103605
Author(s):  
Xianzhi Cao ◽  
Nicolas Flament ◽  
Sanzhong Li ◽  
R. Dietmar Müller

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Fischer ◽  
G. Karakaş

Abstract. The flux of materials to the deep sea is dominated by larger, organic-rich particles with sinking rates varying between a few meters and several hundred meters per day. Mineral ballast may regulate the transfer of organic matter and other components by determining the sinking rates, e.g. via particle density. We calculated particle sinking rates from mass flux patterns and alkenone measurements applying the results of sediment trap experiments from the Atlantic Ocean. We have indication for higher particle sinking rates in carbonate-dominated production systems when considering both regional and seasonal data. During a summer coccolithophorid bloom in the Cape Blanc coastal upwelling off Mauritania, particle sinking rates reached almost 570 m per day, most probably due the fast sedimentation of densely packed zooplankton fecal pellets, which transport high amounts of organic carbon associated with coccoliths to the deep ocean despite rather low production. During the recurring winter-spring blooms off NW Africa and in opal-rich production systems of the Southern Ocean, sinking rates of larger particles, most probably diatom aggregates, showed a tendency to lower values. However, there is no straightforward relationship between carbonate content and particle sinking rates. This could be due to the unknown composition of carbonate and/or the influence of particle size and shape on sinking rates. It also remains noticeable that the highest sinking rates occurred in dust-rich ocean regions off NW Africa, but this issue deserves further detailed field and laboratory investigations. We obtained increasing sinking rates with depth. By using a seven-compartment biogeochemical model, it was shown that the deep ocean organic carbon flux at a mesotrophic sediment trap site off Cape Blanc can be captured fairly well using seasonal variable particle sinking rates. Our model provides a total organic carbon flux of 0.29 Tg per year down to 3000 m off the NW African upwelling region between 5 and 35° N. Simple parameterisations of remineralisation and sinking rates in such models, however, limit their capability in reproducing the flux variation in the water column.


2017 ◽  
Vol 90 ◽  
pp. 998-1017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xuefei Liu ◽  
Qingfei Wang ◽  
Qizuan Zhang ◽  
Shujuan Yang ◽  
Ying Zhang ◽  
...  

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