Mineralization and Structural Controls of the AB-Bid Carbonate-Hosted Pb-Zn (±Cu) Deposit, Tabas-Posht e Badam Metallogenic Belt, Iran

The Ab-Bid deposit, located in the Tabas-Posht e Badam metallogenic belt (TPMB) in Central Iran, is the largest Pb-Zn (±Cu) deposit in the Behadad-Kuhbanan mining district. Sulfide mineralization in the Ab-Bid deposit formed in Middle Triassic carbonate rocks and contains galena and sphalerite with minor pyrite, chalcopyrite, chalcocite, and barite. Silicification and dolomitization are the main wall-rock alteration styles. Structural and textural observations indicate that the mineralization occurs as fault fills with coarse-textured, brecciated, and replacement sulfides deposited in a bookshelf structure. The Ab-Bid ore minerals precipitated from high temperature (≈180–200 °C) basinal brines within the dolomitized and silicified carbonates. The sulfur isotope values of ore sulfides suggest a predominant thermochemical sulfate reduction (TSR) process, and the sulfur source was probably Triassic-Jurassic seawater sulfate. Given the current evidence, mineralization at Ab-Bid resulted from focusing of heated, over-pressurized brines of modified basinal origin into an active fault system. The association of the sulfide mineralization with intensely altered wall rock represents a typical example of such features in the Mississippi Valley-type (MVT) metallogenic domain of the TPMB. According to the structural data, the critical ore control is a bookshelf structure having mineralized dextral strike-slip faults in the northern part of the Ab-Bid reverse fault, which seems to be part of a sinistral brittle shear zone. Structural relationships also indicate that the strata-bound, fault-controlled Ab-Bid deposit was formed after the Middle Jurassic, and its formation may be related to compressive and deformation stages of the Mid-Cimmerian in the Middle Jurassic to Laramide orogenic cycle in the Late Cretaceous-Tertiary.

Apatite and Zircon Geochemistry in Yao’an Alkali-Rich Porphyry Gold Deposit, Southwest China: Implications for Petrogenesis and Mineralization

The Yao’an gold deposit is located in the middle of the Jinshajiang-Ailaoshan alkali-rich metallogenic belt, and this belt hosts many porphyry-type Cu-Au-Mo deposits formed at 46–33 Ma. Yao’an porphyry gold-mineralization is intimately associated with biotite syenite porphyry, whereas the contemporaneous quartz syenite porphyry is barren. In this study, we compared the major and trace elements of apatite and zircon and isotopic compositions of zircon from the biotite syenite porphyry and quartz syenite porphyry, to explore their geochemical differences that may affect their mineralization potential. The results show that both porphyries were derived from the partial melting of the thickened lower crust, which has been modified by slab-derived fluids, but has different mineral crystallization sequences, magma fluid activities, and magma oxidation states, respectively. REE contents in apatite and zircon can be used to reveal the crystallization sequence of minerals. A rapid decrease of (La/Yb)N ratio in apatite from both porphyries may be caused by the crystallization of allanite. Large variation of Cl contents and negative correlation between F/Cl and (La/Yb)N in apatite from fertile porphyry indicate that it has experienced the exsolution of Cl-bearing hydrothermal fluid. Higher Y/Ho and lower Zr/Hf in zircon from fertile porphyry indicate a stronger fluid activity than barren porphyry. The high S, V, As contents, δEu, low δCe in apatite, as well as high Ce4+/Ce3+ and log(fO2) estimated from zircon geochemistry from fertile porphyry, indicate high a oxidation state of fertile porphyry, similar to other fertile porphyries in this metallogenic belt. High fluid activity and fluid exsolution are conducive to the migration and enrichment of metal elements, which are very important for mineralization. High oxygen fugacity inhibits the precipitation of metal in the form of sulfide, thereby enhancing the mineralization potential of rock. Therefore, the exsolution of Cl-bearing hydrothermal fluid and high oxygen fugacity are the key factors promoting mineralization in Yao’an area.

Geology and Geochemistry of Selected Gold Deposits in the Ailaoshan Metallogenic Belt, China: Origin of Ore-Forming Fluids

The formation of the Ailaoshan metallogenic belt was the result of: the Neoproterozoic super mantle plume, the Indosinian and South China blocks in the Late Triassic after the Paleo-Tethys Ocean closure, and Oligocene-Eocene continental-scale shearing related to the India-Eurasia collision. It is one of the most important Cenozoic gold ore province in the world. In this paper, the geological characteristics, isotopic geochemistry, and geochemical data of ore-forming fluids of four large-scale gold deposits in the Ailaoshan metallogenic belt (Mojiang Jinchang, Zhenyuan Laowangzhai, Yuanyang Daping, and Jinping Chang’an) are comprehensively compared. The features of host-rock alteration, metallogenetic periods and stages, geochronology, fluid inclusion, and C-H-O-S-Pb isotopes of gold deposits are summarized and analyzed. The gold mineralization in the Ailaoshan metallogenic belt occurred mostly in 50–30 Ma, belonging to the Himalayan period. The gold mineralization is closely related to silicification, argillation, carbonation, and pyritization due to the strong mineralization of hydrothermal fluid, the development of alteration products, and the inconspicuous spatial zonation of alteration types. The ore-forming fluid is mainly composed of mantle fluid (magmatic water) and metamorphic fluid (metamorphic water). The ore-forming materials of the Jinchang, Chang’an, and Laowangzhai gold deposits mainly originate the host-rock strata of the mining area, and the carbon is more likely to from marine carbonate. The carbon in the Daping gold deposit from the original magma formed by the partial melting of the mantle. Pb isotopes have characteristics of crustal origin, accompanied by mixing of mantle-derived materials and multisource sulfur mixing, and are strongly homogenized.

Multistages mineralization and transformation of terrigenous rocks in the Vyun ore field, Yana-Kolyma metallogenic belt, Northeast Asia: insight from the sedimentary, diagenetic and hydrothermal sulfides and geochemistry of ore-hosting rocks

The article presents the results of studying the sulfidization zone of the Charky-Indigirka thrust fault within the Vyun ore field in the Upper Adycha sector of the Yana-Kolyma metallogenic belt. The purpose of the research is to study the composition and distribution of basic and trace elements in terrigenous rocks of the Upper Triassic and Middle Jurassic, as well as in distal metasomatites on the territory of the Vyun ore field. The petrochemical features of weakly altered terrigenous rocks, conditions of their formation and changes of composition during epigenetic processes were analyzed. Three generations of pyrite were identified: diagenetic Py1, metamorphogenic Py2 and metasomatic Py3. Typomorphic trace elements and variations of their distribution in pyrites were determined. Composition analyses of weakly altered sedimentary rocks of the Upper Triassic (V/(V+Ni)=0.5-0.8, V/Cr=0.1-2.9 and Ni/Co=2.5-10.3) and Middle Jurassic (V/(V+Ni)=0.7-0.9, V/Cr=0.2-2.0 and Ni/Co=1.3-8.8) yielded the conclusion that changes in oxygen conditions to disoxic and anoxic, as well as the enrichment of terrigenous material with ore elements, lead to the formation of authigenic sulfide mineralization at the early stages of the sedimentary strata formation. The subsequent multistage development of the territory was accompanied by an active migration of chemical elements, their input and redistribution.

Structural Evolution of Ore-Controlling Trans-Crustal Faults of the Olchan-Nera Zone: Constraints from the Khangalas Ore Cluster, Yana-Kolyma Metallogenic Belt, NE Russia

The article studies the structural evolution of ore-controlling trans-crustal faults of orogenic deposits and occurrences of the Khangalas ore cluster located in the southeastern part of the Olchan–Nera metallogenic zone, in the Upper Indigirka sector of the Yana–Kolyma metallogenic belt, North–East of Russia. Studies have shown that the formation of tectonic structures occurred during four Mesozoic deformation stages. Accretionary thrust stage D1 resulted in formation of the main pattern of the Mesozoic tectonic structures of the region. Further tectonic evolution occurred in a strike–slip setting of the accretionary D2 and post-accretionary D3–D4 stages. Post-ore strike-slip faults activate and complicate the earlier formed structures of the reverse and thrust paragenesis. Mineralization associated with the strike-slip faults has not been established, whereas formation of the gold-antimony mineralization is associated with sinistral strike–slip faults in the Adycha–Taryn metallogenic zone located to the southwest. The new data obtained are consistent with the previously proposed model of the evolution of the deformation structures of the Khangalas deposit.