hydrothermal alteration and fluid chemistry of the endako porphyry molybdenum deposit british columbia hydrothermal alteration and fluid chemistry data of the early cretaceous endako porphyry molybdenum deposit british columbia provide new information on the hydrothermal fluids associated with low fluorine molybdenite mineralization molybdenite mineralization and hydrothermal alteration occur as early quartz molydenite stockwork veins with k feldspar bearing selvages and paragenetically later quartz molybdenite ribbon veins with sericite bearing selvages late hydrothermal alteration is associated with the development of kaolinite and postore tertiary age calcite veins fluid inclusions in early formed quartz molybdenite stockwork veins with k feldspar bearing alteration assemblages are dominated by moderate salinity 5 to 15 wt nacl equiv liquid rich type 1 and rare high salinity 30 to 45 wt nacl equiv halite bearing type 3 fluid inclusions type 1 and type 3 fluid inclusions in early veins homogenize between 390 and 430 c and 375 and 420 c respectively secondary fluid inclusions type 2 of low salinity 1 to 5 wt nacl equiv in these early veins are minor and homogenize between 130 and 285 c fluid inclusions in quartz molybdenite ribbon veins with sericite bearing alteration assemblages are dominated by moderate salinity liquid rich type 1 inclusions with minor type 2 fluid inclusions type 1 fluid inclusions of ribbon veins homogenize between 360 and 400 c fluid inclusions in postore calcite veins are of only type 2 fluid inclusions which homogenize at 209 c hydrothermal fluids recorded by type 1 and type 3 fluid inclusions in early veins were trapped under lithostatic to hydrostatic conditions between 0 3 and less than or equal to 2 0 kbar and 360 and 560 c postore fluids recorded by type 2 fluid inclusions were trapped under conditions less than or equal to 0 5 kbar and between 190 and 300 c quartz stockwork and ribbon veins possess 18o values of 8 4 0 2 n 9 and 8 4 0 6 n 13 respectively hydrothermal k feldspar and biotite from k feldspar alteration assemblages possess 18o values of 6 8 0 4 n 7 and 3 5 0 8 n 8 respectively oxygen isotope geothermometry of quartz biotite and quartz k feldspar pairs from k feldspar alteration assemblages yield temperatures between 200 and 490 c which is similar to the trapping temperatures of hydrothermal fluids determined from fluid inclusion studies associated with molybdenite mineralization the development of kaolinite and calcite veins the oxygen isotope temperatures of the quartz biotite and quartz k feldspar pairs suggest that k feldspar and biotite either record the approximate 18o composition of hydrothermal fluids associated with k feldspar alteration or have undergone 18o exchange with late stage hydrothermal fluids hydrogen isotope composition of quartz stockwork and ribbon veins fluid inclusion waters range between 105 and 173 per mil solute chemistry studies of fluid inclusion waters indicate that ore forming fluids from endako have low br cl and br na ratios and high i cl and i br ratios in comparison to porgera epithermal babine lake porphyry cu and st austell capitan pluton vein deposits associated with magmatic processes na k ratios of fluid inclusion waters yield temperatures 308 to 429 c similar to those determined from type 1 and type 3 fluid inclusions and stable isotope thermometry results from fluid inclusion and solute chemistry studies indicate the involvement of hydrothermal fluids exsolved from a crystallizing melt in the formation of the endako molybdenum deposit however oxygen and hydrogen isotope values deviate from the generally accepted magmatic compositions which suggests the early involvement of meteoric water in the ore forming fluids and ore genesis

tectonic evolution of the qinling orogenic belt central china new evidence from geochemical zircon u pb geochronology and hf isotopes abstract the qinling orogenic belt qob located between the north china craton ncc and the yangtze craton yzc is composed of the northern qinling belt nqb and the southern qinling belt sqb this study presents new geochemical data zircon u pb ages and hf isotopes from a suite of metamorphic rocks from the kuanping qinling danfeng douling and wuguan groups in the nqb and the sqb our results suggest that the qinling group in the nqb formed in an active continental margin related to the subduction of the songshugou ocean under the southern ncc during grenvillian period the kuanping group in the northern nqb was deposited in the within plate extension basin during late neoproterozoic to early paleozoic the detritus of sedimentary rocks of the kuanping group were mainly sourced from the nqb and subordinately from the basement rocks of the ncc the danfeng group in the southern nqb formed later than 827 ma with the sediments derived mainly from the qinling terrane the nqb witnessed multiphase tectono thermal events from mesoproterozoic to early paleozoic including several magmatic events and the early paleozoic metamorphic event the original douling group in the sqb represents the basement complex of the sqb which is composed of rocks with different formation ages the oldest rock in the complex is represented by 3 0 ga granitic gneiss which underwent at least two periods of metamorphism at 2 5 ga and 0 97 0 91 ga in this study the douling group is redefined as a suite of neoproterozoic 860 750 ma rocks formed in an extensional setting after the subduction of the songshugou ocean the wuguan group in the sqb formed in the middle late neoproterozoic later than 740 ma and was subjected to early paleozoic metamorphism our data indicate that the sqb experienced early neoproterozoic 970 865 ma and early paleozoic 444 ma metamorphism and strong middle neoproterozoic 870 730 ma magmatism the age spectra of zircons from the nqb trace major tectono thermal events at 1462 ma 927 ma and 412 ma which are different from those recorded in the southern ncc and northern yzc suggesting that the nqb had a distinct evolution during mesoproterozoic to early neoproterozoic grenvillian the hf isotopic compositions of zircons from the various rocks suggest that the nqb probably developed on the basement of the southern ncc the rocks in the sqb show zircon age spectra and hf isotope compositions similar to those in the northern yzc suggesting a close affinity we therefore interpret the sqb to have developed on the basement of the northern yzc integrating the new data in this study with those from previous works we propose a new tectonic model for the formation and evolution of the qob during late mesoproterozoic to early paleozoic involving the following major events 1 late mesoproterozoic to early neoproterozoic grenvillian northward subduction of the songshugou ocean 2 early middle neoproterozoic 870 800 ma bidirectional subduction and collision 3 middle neoproterozoic 800 710 ma post collision extension 4 middle late neoproterozoic 710 600 ma within plate extension 5 late neoproterozoic early paleozoic 600 520 ma opening of the shangdan ocean and 6 early paleozoic 520 420 ma subduction collision we thus trace at least two distinct wilson cycles in the qob

tectonic evolution of a composite collision orogen an overview on the qinling tongbai hong an dabie sulu orogenic belt in central china abstract the formation of collisional orogens is a prominent feature in convergent plate margins it is generally a complex process involving multistage tectonism of compression and extension due to continental subduction and collision the paleozoic convergence between the south china block scb and the north china block ncb is associated with a series of tectonic processes such as oceanic subduction terrane accretion and continental collision resulting in the qinling tongbai hong an dabie sulu orogenic belt while the arc continent collision orogeny is significant during the paleozoic in the qinling tongbai hong an orogens of central china the continent continent collision orogeny is prominent during the early mesozoic in the dabie sulu orogens of east central china this article presents an overview of regional geology geochronology and geochemistry for the composite orogenic belt the qinling tongbai hong an orogens exhibit the early paleozoic hp uhp metamorphism the carboniferous hp metamorphism and the paleozoic arc type magmatism but the three tectonothermal events are absent in the dabie sulu orogens the triassic uhp metamorphism is prominent in the dabie sulu orogens but it is absent in the qinling tongbai orogens the hong an orogen records both the hp and uhp metamorphism of triassic age and collided continental margins contain both the juvenile and ancient crustal rocks so do in the qinling and tongbai orogens in contrast only ancient crustal rocks were involved in the uhp metamorphism in the dabie sulu orogenic belt without involvement of the juvenile arc crust on the other hand the deformed and low grade metamorphosed accretionary wedge was developed on the passive continental margin during subduction in the late permian to early triassic along the northern margin of the dabie sulu orogenic belt and it was developed on the passive oceanic margin during subduction in the early paleozoic along the northern margin of the qinling orogen three episodes of arc continent collision are suggested to occur during the paleozoic continental convergence between the scb and ncb the first episode of arc continent collision is caused by northward subduction of the north qinling unit beneath the erlangping unit resulting in uhp metamorphism at ca 480 490 ma and the accretion of the north qinling unit to the ncb the second episode of arc continent collision is caused by northward subduction of the prototethyan oceanic crust beneath an andes type continental arc leading to granulite facies metamorphism at ca 420 430 ma and the accretion of the shangdan arc terrane to the ncb and reworking of the north qinling erlangping and kuanping units the third episode of arc continent collision is caused by northward subduction of the paleotethyan oceanic crust resulting in the hp eclogite facies metamorphism at ca 310 ma in the hong an orogen and low p metamorphism in the qinling tongbai orogens as well as crustal accretion to the ncb the closure of backarc basins is also associated with the arc continent collision processes with the possible cause for granulite facies metamorphism the massive continental subduction of the scb beneath the ncb took place in the triassic with the final continent continent collision and uhp metamorphism at ca 225 240 ma therefore the qinling tongbai hong an dabie sulu orogenic belt records the development of plate tectonics from oceanic subduction and arc type magmatism to arc continent and continent continent collision

neoproterozoic paleozoic and mesozoic granitoid magmatism in the qinling orogen china constraints on orogenic process abstract the qinling orogen is one of the main orogenic belts in asia and is characterized by multi stage orogenic processes and the development of voluminous magmatic intrusions the results of zircon u pb dating indicate that granitoid magmatism in the qinling orogen mainly occurred in four distinct periods the neoproterozoic 979 711 ma paleozoic 507 400 ma and early 252 185 ma and late 158 100 ma mesozoic the neoproterozoic granitic magmatism in the qinling orogen is represented by strongly deformed s type granites emplaced at 979 911 ma weakly deformed i type granites at 894 815 ma and a type granites at 759 711 ma they can be interpreted as the products of respectively syn collisional post collisional and extensional setting in response to the assembly and breakup of the rodinia supercontinent the paleozoic magmatism can be temporally classified into three stages of 507 470 ma 460 422 ma and 415 400 ma they were genetically related to the subduction of the shangdan ocean and subsequent collision of the southern north china block and the south qinling belt the 507 470 ma magmatism is spatially and temporally related to ultrahigh pressure metamorphism in the studied area the 460 422 ma magmatism with an extensive development in the north qinling belt is characterized by i type granitoids and originated from the lower crust with the involvement of mantle derived magma in a collisional setting the magmatism with the formation age of 415 400 ma only occurred in the middle part of the north qinling belt and is dominated by i type granitoid intrusions and probably formed in the late stage of a collisional setting early mesozoic magmatism in the study area occurred between 252 and 185 ma with the cluster in 225 200 ma it took place predominantly in the western part of the south qinling belt the 250 240 ma i type granitoids are of small volume and show high sr y ratios and may have been formed in a continental arc setting related to subduction of the mianlue ocean between the south qinling belt and the south china block voluminous late stage 225 185 ma magmatism evolved from early i type to later i a type granitoids associated with contemporaneous lamprophyres representative of a transition from syn to post collisional setting in response to the collision between the north china and the south china blocks late mesozoic 158 100 ma granitoids located in the southern margin of the north china block and the eastern part of the north qinling belt are characterized by i type i to a type and a type granitoids that were emplaced in a post orogenic or intraplate setting the first three of the four periods of magmatism were associated with three important orogenic processes and the last one with intracontinental process these suggest that the tectonic evolution of the qinling orogen is very complicated

geochronology and geochemistry of the max porphyry mo deposit and its relationship to pb zn ag mineralization kootenay arc southeastern british columbia canada the max porphyry mo deposit is located at the northern end of the kootenay arc in southeastern british columbia canada molybdenum mineralization is genetically related to the variably altered trout lake granodiorite stock which has lithogeochemical affinities to the low fluorine calc alkaline granodiorite hosted porphyry mo deposit type three molybdenite samples from early and late mo bearing veins yield re os dates that overlap within analytical error with a weighted average age of 80 3 0 2 ma these dates are in close agreement with two 206pb 238u weighted average zircon ages for phases of the trout lake stock at 80 3 1 6 and 79 2 1 0 ma indicating that crystallization of the stock and hydrothermal molybdenite formation were coeval and likely cogenetic 40ar 39ar plateau ages for primary biotite in igneous dikes secondary biotite in early potassic alteration and muscovite in late phyllic alteration range from 80 to 76 ma the younger 40ar 39ar plateau ages may reflect unusually slow cooling of the magmatic hydrothermal system or a late thermal disturbance pb zn ag vein deposits are common throughout the kootenay arc and several such veins are located within and proximal to the max porphyry mo deposit the presence of rare molybdenite associated with sphalerite and argentiferous galena in some of these pb zn ag veins suggests that they represent a late stage event related to the max magmatic hydrothermal system fluid inclusions in quartz from mo and pb zn ag veins are similar and can be divided into two compositional groups type 1 aqueous liquid rich fluid inclusions and type 2 aqueous carbonic liquid rich fluid inclusions pressure corrected 1 4 1 7 kbar trapping temperatures of typical type 1 inclusions from mo bearing veins range from 430 to 460 c and for pb zn ag veins from 335 to 365 c the ranges of salinity 0 12 wt nacl equiv in fluid inclusions from both vein types are almost identical and type 2 inclusions from both vein types contain similar amounts of co2 avg xco2 0 08 with traces of ch4 the similarity of chemistry in the two vein types suggests a genetic link between porphyry mo mineralization and adjacent pb zn ag deposits however muscovite from the alteration halo around a pb zn ag vein within the max deposit yielded a 40ar 39ar plateau age of 72 2 0 5 ma this date is significantly younger than the 80 ma age of porphyry magmatism and mo mineralization suggesting either that this event is in fact unrelated to porphyry mo mineralization at 80 ma or that the k ar isotope system has been disturbed by a later thermal event

crustal structure and exhumation of the dabie shan ultrahigh pressure orogen eastern china from seismic reflection profiling crustal penetrating seismic reflection data across the ultrahigh pressure uhp dabie shan orogen show that the yangtze craton was subducted beneath the sino korean craton forming a bivergent orogenic fabric strikingly similar to normal non uhp collision belts hence preservation of uhp minerals coesite and diamond may be unrelated to differences between collisional histories but may be due to opportunities for subsequent intracrustal uplift of material that is routinely returned from mantle depths into the lower crust in most collisional orogens only a narrow channel 5 km now exists from the mantle into the crust through which uhp material was returned to lower crustal depths as thin slabs we image the dabie shan as a crustal scale dome formed during postcollisional intracrustal uplift by core complex type exhumation of the lower crust tectonically unrelated to the earlier exhumation from 100 km to 35 40 km

evidence of fluid inclusions for two stages of fluid boiling in the formation of the giant shapinggou porphyry mo deposit dabie orogen central china abstract the shapinggou porphyry mo deposit one of the largest mo deposits in asia is located in the dabie orogen central china hydrothermal alteration and mineralization at shapinggou can be divided into four stages i e stage 1 ore barren quartz veins with intense silicification followed by stage 2 quartz molybdenite veins associated with potassic alteration stage 3 quartz polymetallic sulfide veins related to phyllic alteration and stage 4 ore barren quartz calcite pyrite veins with weak propylitization hydrothermal quartz mainly contains three types of fluid inclusions namely two phase liquid rich type i two or three phase gas rich co 2 bearing type ii and halite bearing type iii inclusions the last two types of fluid inclusions are absent in stages 1 and 4 type i inclusions in the silicic zone stage 1 display homogenization temperatures of 340 to 550 c with salinities of 7 9 16 9 wt nacl equivalent type ii and coexisting type iii inclusions in the potassic zone stage 2 which hosts the main mo orebodies have homogenization temperatures of 240 440 c and 240 450 c with salinities of 34 1 50 9 and 0 1 7 4 wt nacl equivalent respectively type ii and coexisting type iii inclusions in the phyllic zone stage 3 display homogenization temperatures of 250 345 c and 220 315 c with salinities of 0 2 6 5 and 32 9 39 3 wt nacl equivalent respectively type i inclusions in the propylitization zone stage 4 display homogenization temperatures of 170 to 330 c with salinities lower than 6 5 wt nacl equivalent the abundant co 2 rich and coexisting halite bearing fluid inclusion assemblages in the potassic and phyllic zones highlight the significance of intensive fluid boiling of a nacl co 2 h 2 o system in deep environments up to 2 3 kbar for giant porphyry mo mineralization hydrogen and oxygen isotopic compositions indicate that ore fluids were gradually evolved from magmatic to meteoric in origin sulfur and lead isotopes suggest that the ore forming materials at shapinggou are magmatic in origin re os dating of molybdenite gives a well defined 187 re 187 os isochron with an age of 112 7 1 8 ma suggesting a post collisional setting

upb zircon age and geochemical constraints on tectonic evolution of the paleozoic accretionary orogenic system in the tongbai orogen central china abstract the tongbai orogen is located in a key tectonic position linking the qinling orogen to the west and the dabie sulu orogen to the east this orogen comprises a paleozoic accretionary orogenic system in the north and a permo triassic collisional orogenic system in the south hence it may serve as an ideal place to unravel the tectonic evolution from the initial oceanic subduction accretion to the final continental collision between the sino korean and yangtze cratons u pb zircon geochronology of metasedimentary and metaigneous rocks and geochemical characterization of metabasalts indicate a close genetic relationship between the individual tectonic units of the paleozoic accretionary orogenic system 1 the kuanping group as a neoproterozoic ordovician subduction accretion complex which received sediments from the qinling microcontinent 2 the erlangping group and huanggang diorite granodiorite complex as an ordovician silurian island arc evolving from backarc basin 3 the qinling group as a precambrian microcontinent converted into continental arc during the ordovician 4 the guishan complex as a mixture of the qinling continental arc and devonian forearc sediments and 5 the nanwan flysch as a devonian forearc sequence deposited on the newly accreted active margin of the sino korean craton consequently the northern and southern boundaries of the paleozoic accretionary orogenic system represent two sutures of the qinling microcontinent with the sino korean and yangtze cratons the new and previously published data reveal that the tectonic evolution of the tongbai orogen involved a series of events from ordovician early silurian ca 490 440 ma oceanic subduction and arc magmatism silurian early devonian ca 440 400 ma arc continent collision carboniferous ca 340 310 ma oceanic subduction and accretion late permian triassic ca 260 200 ma continental subduction and collision to cretaceous ca 140 90 ma extension and lateral eastward extrusion the entire accretionary orogenic processes until the final collision between the sino korean and yangtze cratons may have lasted more than 200 ma

the remarkable re os chronometer in molybdenite how and why it works the re os rhenium osmium chronometer applied to molybdenite mos2 is now demonstrated to be remarkably robust surviving intense deformation and high grade thermal metamorphism successful dating of molybdenite is dependent on proper preparation of the mineral separate and analysis of a critical quantity of molybdenite unique to each sample such that recognized spatial decoupling of 187re parent and 187os daughter within individual molybdenite crystals is overcome highly precise accurate and reproducible age results are derived through isotope dilution and negative thermal ion mass spectrometry id ntims spatial decoupling of parent daughter precludes use of the laser ablation icp ms microanalytical technique for re os dating of molybdenite the use of a reference or control sample is necessary to establish laboratory credibility and for interlaboratory comparisons the rb sr k ar and 40ar 39ar chronometers are susceptible to chemical and thermal disturbance particularly in terranes that have experienced subsequent episodes of hydrothermal magmatic activity and therefore should not be used as a basis for establishing accuracy in re os dating of molybdenite as has been done in the past re os ages for molybdenite are almost always in agreement with observed geological relationships and when available with zircon and titanite u pb ages for terranes experiencing multiple episodes of metamorphism and deformation molybdenite is not complicated by overgrowths as is common for some minerals used in u pb dating e g zircon monazite xenotime nor are re and os mobilized beyond the margins of individual crystals during solid state recrystallization moreover inheritance of older molybdenite cores incorporation of common os and radiogenic os loss are exceedingly rare whereas inheritance common pb and pb loss are common complications in u pb dating techniques therefore molybdenite ages may serve as point in time markers for age comparisons

la icp ms zircon u pb dating trace element and hf isotope geochemistry of the heyu granite batholith eastern qinling central china implications for mesozoic tectono magmatic evolution article i nfo mesozoic granitoids are widespread in the southern margin of the north china craton and of particular geo logical interests because of their indication for lithospheric evolution and close association with porphyry mo mineralization in this contribution in situ la icp ms u pb hf isotope and trace element analyses of zircon crystals have been combined to constrain the emplacement time and petrogenesis of the heyu granitic bath olith which hosts the yuchiling porphyry mo system henan province china as inferred from field investiga tions the concentrically zoned heyu batholith mainly consists of four texturally distinguishable phases and displays a pattern of monotonically decreasing u pb age from 143 0 1 6 ma for phase 1 through 138 4 1 5 ma for phase 2 through to ca 135 ma for phase 3 and to 133 6 1 3 ma for the mo mineralized yuchiling granite porphyry phase 4 the ehf t values 27 7 to 3 4 and the two stage hf model ages 1403 to 2924 ma of zircon grains together with the ages of local strata suggest that the magmas forming the heyu batholith were dominantly sourced from the crust with input of a mantle component the higher ce ce ratios of the zircon crystals in the mineralized yuchiling porphyry compared to those in the mo barren phases suggests that fluids exsolved from oxidic magmas might be more favorable for mo enrichment a regional synthesis suggests that intensive lithospheric thinning in the southern margin of the north china craton should not be earlier than 130 ma

multidisciplinary thermal maturity studies using vitrinite reflectance and fluid inclusion microthermometry a new calibration of old techniques a critical component of petroleum exploration risk assessment involves quantifying the risks associated with the presence of a viable hydrocarbon system this requires an accurate estimate of thermal maturity and thermal history however in some sedimentary basins traditional organic based maturity tools such as vitrinite reflectance cannot be used because of various geologic and sampling limitations this article establishes fluid inclusion microthermometry as a new inorganic thermal maturity tool that can be used to help fill the void in these situations this tool uses an empirical calibration of fluid inclusion data and vitrinite reflectance data to estimate thermal maturity our empirical approach uses rigorous sample selection criteria that improve the statistical chance of analyzing aqueous fluid inclusions that have been thermally reequilibrated stretched this empirical calibration is based on a worldwide set of data that yield a logarithmic correlation having r2 0 96 for an ideal sample set and r2 0 81 for a nonideal sample set the amount of data scatter absolute deviation of measured vitrinite reflectance in ro from the logarithmic correlation line is minimal 0 12 ro for the ideal data set this new calibration along with the sample selection and data analysis procedures described in this study forms the basis for a new thermal maturity technique

age and nature of eclogites in the huwan shear zone and the multi stage evolution of the qinling dabie sulu orogen central china abstract in situ la icpms u pb trace element and hf isotope data in zircon demonstrate a carboniferous age for eclogite facies metamorphism in siluro devonian protoliths in the huwan shear zone dabie mountains central china this age contrasts with the more prevailing triassic age for high to ultrahigh pressure hp to uhp metamorphism in the qinling dabie sulu orogen metamorphic zircon in two eclogite samples from sujiahe is characterized by low th u ratios small negative eu anomalies flat hree patterns and low 176 lu 177 hf ratios these geochemical signatures suggest that the zircon crystallized in the presence of garnet and in the absence of plagioclase feldspar furthermore temperatures of 655 and 638 c calculated using the ti content of zircon are consistent with their formation during eclogite facies metamorphism the weighted mean 206 pb 238 u age of 309 4 ma 2 for this zircon improves previous age estimates for eclogite facies metamorphism in the huwan shear zone ranging from 420 to 220 ma metamorphic zircon from one eclogite sample from hujiawan most likely formed during prograde metamorphism yields an equivalent age estimate of 312 11 ma magmatic zircon cores in the three samples yield ages for the magmatic protoliths of the eclogites ranging from 420 7 to 406 5 ma and post dating the middle paleozoic collision of the north china and the qinling terrain the zircon crystals in the three eclogite samples display a large variation of e hf t values of 4 9 to 21 3 the metamorphic zircon overgrowths show the same range of e hf t values as those of the inherited magmatic crystal interiors this suggests that the metamorphic zircon overgrowths may have formed by dissolution reprecipitation of pre existing magmatic zircon thereby preserving their original hf isotopic composition the high e hf t values suggest that the protoliths were derived from depleted mantle sources most likely paleotethyan oceanic crust while the low e hf t values are attributed to crustal contamination some eclogites in the huwan shear zone have a distinctive signature of continental crust most probably derived from the yangtze craton the coexistence of paleozoic oceanic crust and neoproterozoic continental crust with similar metamorphic ages in the huwan shear zone implies that paleozoic paleotethyan oceanic crust was produced within a marginal basin of the northern yangtze craton the opening of the paleo tethyan ocean was slightly younger than the collision of the north china craton and the qinling terrain during the late paleozoic in the qinling dabie sulu orogen subduction of the paleo tethyan oceanic crust and associated continental basement resulted in the 309 2 ma 2 eclogite facies metamorphism in the huwan shear zone the subsequent triassic continent continent collision led to the final coalescence of the yangtze and sino korean cratons amalgamation of the yangtze and north china cratons was therefore a multistage process extending over at least 200 ma

preliminary model of regional mesozoic groundwater flow and uranium deposition in the colorado plateau qualitative and numerical simulation of regional groundwater flow in the colorado plateau during late jurassic and early cretaceous time has led to a model of uranium deposition in areas of upwelling solutions paleogeographic reconstruction shows that surface drainage and therefore groundwater flow was generally toward the northeast and east croundwater flowing in these directions principally through triassic jurassic and permian sandstones encountered sediments of variable thickness due to buried uplifted or downdropped precambrian blocks the buried uplifted blocks caused upward movement of groundwater around them these inferred zones of upwelling are closely associated with concentrations of jurassic and cretaceous age uranium deposits the results are consistent with hypotheses of an upwelling brine mixing and reacting with descending meteoric water and causing uranium precipitation at the fluid interface whether the uranium came from above or below the interface is an unsolved problem but this model helps to identify better the sources of the waters and also suggests target areas for exploration

compositional polarity of triassic granitoids in the qinling orogen china implication for termination of the northernmost paleo tethys abstract the qinling orogen was formed from the closure of the northernmost paleo tethys sea and the tectonic suturing of the yangtze and north china cratons the timing of this collision and the tectonic framework are debated the widely developed triassic granitoids in the western qinling orogen offer a key to understand the tectonic evolution of this region here we compile the geological geochemical and geochronological data of the triassic granitoids from the qingling orogen and conclude that the granitoids north of the mian lue suture were emplaced in an active continental margin related to the northward subduction of the mian lue oceanic plate during 248 200 ma the granitoids can be classified into i and s types with the former constituting the major variety northward from the mian lue fault an s type granite belt appears followed by and locally overlapping with an i type granite belt the i type granite belt can be subdivided into four sub belts from south to north with increasing contents of k2o k2o na2o sio2 th and u and the ratios of k2o na2o rb sr and 87sr 86sr i but decreasing contents of na2o al2o3 mg and ehf t except for the northernmost belt which occurs in the huaxiong block of the north china craton this geochemical polarity of i type granitoids and the zoned distribution of s and i types granitoids cannot be explained through continental collision orogeny including syn to post collision but can be well interpreted by considering the progressive subduction of the northernmost branch of the paleo tethys as represented by the mian lue ocean thus the termination of the northernmost paleo tethys and the onset of the continental collision between the yangtze and the north china plates are considered to have occurred at about 200 ma during the transition from triassic to jurassic our model is also supported by the available data from other studies and provides a revised framework for the timing and tectonics of assembly of the yangtze and the north china cratons

crustal evolution of the north qinling terrain of the qinling orogen china evidence from detrital zircon u pb ages and hf isotopic composition abstract the north qinling terrain reveals a different geological history from the north china block to the north and the south qinling micro continental block to the south the timing of events and geochemical features of the north qinling terrain are essential for understanding the evolution of the qinling orogenic belt that joins the north and south china blocks this study presents detrital zircon ages and hf isotopic compositions from the guandaokou group a cover sequence of the north china block and from the kuanping group an upper basement sequence of the north qinling terrain the youngest detrital zircon u pb ages constrain the initiation of sedimentation in the guandaokou group to 1 85 ga and the maximum depositional age of the kuanping group to 640 ma zircon u pb ages and hf data testify to a major phase of magmatism in the north qinling terrain at 1000 900 ma the magmatic rocks were largely produced from reworking of early paleoproterozoic 2 5 2 0 ga crust with minor contribution of late paleoproterozoic 1 7 ga juvenile material this age record differs in time from the two important thermal events of 1 85 ga and 2 5 ga widely manifested in the north china block the north qinling terrain can thus be regarded as a separate micro continent with a pre neoproterozoic evolution different from that of the north china block the final assembly of the north qinling terrain to the north china block took place after about 640 ma

melting of enriched archean subcontinental lithospheric mantle evidence from the ca 1760ma volcanic rocks of the xiong er group southern margin of the north china craton abstract the xiong er group is an important geologic unit in the southern margin of the north china craton it is dominated by the volcanic rocks dated at 1763 15 ma that have sio2 contents ranging from 52 10 wt to 73 51 wt these volcanic rocks are sub alkaline and can be classified into three subgroups basaltic andesites andesites and rhyolites they unexceptionally show enrichment of light rare earth elements lree and share similar trace element patterns depletions in nb ta sr p and ti relative to the adjacent elements are evident for all the samples the volcanic rocks are evolved with low mgo contents 0 29 5 88 wt and accordingly low mg values of 11 53 the nd isotopes are enriched and show a weak variation with nd t 7 12 to 9 63 zircon hf isotopes are also enriched with hf t 12 02 0 45 the volcanic rocks of the xiong er group are interpreted to represent fractional crystallization of a common mantle source the volcanic rocks might have been generated by high degree partial melting of a lithospheric mantle that was originally modified by the oceanic subduction in the late archean this brings a correlation with the subduction modified lithospheric mantle in an extensional setting during breakup of the columbia supercontinent in the late paleoproterozoic rather than in an arc setting the elevated sio2 contents and evolved radiogenic isotope features indicate the possible incorporation into their source of lower crustal materials that have similar nd isotopic characteristics to the subcontinental lithospheric mantle the existence of extensive xiong er volcanic rocks 60 000 km2 indicates an early large scale subduction related metasomatism in the area and probably suggest a flat subduction model for the plate margin magmatism in the late archean

evolution of ore fluids in the donggou giant porphyry mo system east qinling china a new type of porphyry mo deposit evidence from fluid inclusion and h o isotope systematics abstract the donggou mo deposit in the eastern qinling area china is a giant porphyry system discovered based on a targeting concept by using the tectonic model for collisional orogeny metallogeny and fluid flow cmf model mo mineralization is associated with the donggou aluminous a type granite porphyry and was formed during the early cretaceous in a tectonic regime of continental extension the orebodies mainly occur as numerous veinlets in the host rocks hydrothermal ore forming processes include at least three stages characterized by veinlets of 1 quartz k feldspar minor molybdenite 2 quartz molybdenite beryl and 3 quartz carbonate fluorite three types of fluid inclusions fis are distinguished in quartz and beryl in stages 1 and 2 i e aqueous w type carbonic aqueous c type and solid bearing s type with only aqueous fis observed in stage 3 minerals s type fis contain variable daughter minerals including halite chalcopyrite calcite and an unidentified transparent crystal but only halite can dissolve during heating halite bearing s type fis are mainly homogenized by halite dissolution at 182 416 c corresponding to salinities of 30 9 49 2 wt nacl equiv minor halite bearing s type fis are homogenized to liquid at 190 360 c via vapor disappearance with salinities of 29 1 36 2 wt nacl equiv other fis in minerals of stages 1 2 and 3 are homogenized at temperatures of 341 550 c 220 440 c and 125 225 c with salinities of 8 0 18 3 5 3 16 8 and 0 5 7 3 wt nacl equiv respectively the estimated minimum trapping pressures are up to 141 mpa in stage 1 and up to 81 mpa in stage 2 respectively corresponding to an initial mineralization depth of no less than 5 km the quartz in veinlets yields 18 o values of 8 5 10 0 corresponding to 18 o h 2 o values of 2 9 to 5 9 while the d h 2 o values of fluid inclusions range from 59 to 82 these data suggest that the ore fluids forming the donggou deposit changed from high temperature high salinity co 2 rich magmatic to low temperature low salinity and co 2 poor meteoritic fluids via boiling and mixing resembling those of other magmatic hydrothermal systems in qinling orogen and dabie shan this supports the notion that the porphyry systems generated in a post collisional tectonic setting were initially co 2 rich as indicated by abundant c type and co 2 bearing s type fluid inclusions

petrogenesis of early cretaceous post collisional granitoids at shapinggou dabie orogen implications for crustal architecture and porphyry mo mineralization abstract the shapinggou molybdenum deposit is located in the qinling tongbai hong an dabie orogen which accommodates the largest molybdenum ore belt in the world new laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry la icp ms zircon u pb dating geochemical and sr nd hf isotope data for the granitoids at shapinggou are presented in this paper two stages of early cretaceous magmatism 138 128 ma and 116 114 ma took place at shapinggou in a post collisional setting these granitoids can be divided into four groups including the early stage granites 134 129 ma sio2 62 33 to 76 27 and intermediate rocks 129 128 ma sio2 52 41 to 60 72 and the late stage quartz syenite 116 ma sio2 64 09 to 65 12 and mo bearing granite porphyry 114 ma sio2 74 95 to 77 26 the early stage granites have high sr contents sr y and lan ybn ratios but low y yb and mgo contents showing low mg adakitic chemical features they were possibly generated by partial melting of the thickened mafic lower continental crust the early stage intermediate rocks have relatively high mgo contents 2 71 to 4 84 and mg values 46 to 60 but low sr y and lan ybn ratios which were likely derived from a hybrid mantle metasomatized by melts from foundered eclogitic lower continental crust and subsequent fractional crystallization the late stage quartz syenite shows chemical features of metaluminous a type granites including high abundances of alkalis hfse zr nb and trivalent ree the late stage mo bearing granite porphyry displays high sio2 alkalis zr ce contents and a cnk ratios but low ba sr p and ti showing affinity to highly fractionated i type granites the late stage quartz syenite and granite porphyry were possibly produced by partial melting of intermediate compositions of middle crust our results support the conclusion that there were three layer continental crusts in the dabie orogen prior to early cretaceous magmatism and suggest that post collisional granitoids in the dabie orogen were derived from not only lower crust but also middle crust the giant shapinggou porphyry mo deposit was most likely formed by effective transport of volatiles and mo in a convecting granitic magma column rather than by direct melting of mo enriched sources the mo bearing rocks at shapinggou are characterized by a high degree of magma differentiation close associations with a type granite and formation at the end of regional magmatism

high pressure metamorphic rocks from tongbaishan central china u pb and 40ar 39ar age constraints on the provenance of protoliths and timing of metamorphism abstract the tongbaishan area is situated at the junction between the paleozoic north qinling orogen and the mesozoic south qinling dabie sulu orogen the area contains an important geological section for understanding the assembly of the sino korean and yangtze cratons two eclogite zones were recently recognized in this area the peak metamorphic conditions are estimated to be 530 610 c and 17 20 kbar for the northern eclogite zone and 460 560 c and 13 19 kbar for the southern eclogite zone shrimp u pb analyses on zircons of eclogite metagabbro and orthogneiss indicate that their protoliths were formed during the neoproterozoic and experienced high pressure hp recrystallization during the permian triassic period therefore the tongbaishan area belongs to the western extension of the dabieshan hp uhp terrane in addition u pb ages of detrital zircons from quartzite paragneiss and schist show three age populations of 2 49 ga 1 93 ga and 1 85 1 82 ga suggesting that extensive paleoproterozoic orogeny or tectonothermal events took place in the northern margin of the yangtze craton the shrimp dating and complementary 40ar 39ar dating of muscovite from quartzofeldspathic gneiss and quartzite reveal that the crustal rocks were subducted to great depths and underwent hp eclogite facies metamorphism at ca 255 ma slightly earlier than the timing of deep subduction of the uhp slice the hp rocks were later exhumed to mid to upper crustal levels and suffered from retrograde recrystallization at ca 238 ma the dating also discloses a still later phase of deformation and recrystallization at ca 215 ma the available age data throughout the tongbai dabie sulu orogen reflect diachronous exhumation from ca 238 ma for the hp slice to ca 213 ma for the uhp slice such a phenomenon could be explained by successive subduction and exhumation of the broken slices of the subducting yangtze slab

metallogeny during continental outgrowth in the columbia supercontinent isotopic characterization of the zhaiwa mo cu system in the north china craton abstract the eastern qinling molybdenum belt eqmb in central china represents the largest mo province in the world located at the southern margin of the north china craton this mo province is largely associated with mesozoic granitoids here we report re os isochron age of 1761 33 ma 2 mswd 2 9 from molybdenite in the recently discovered zhaiwa porphyry mo cu system within the eqmb this age coincides with the peak eruption period 1 78 1 75 ga of the xiong er group volcanic rocks which unconformably overlie the taihua supergroup and are interpreted to have developed on a continental arc the re concentrations 1 to 43 ppm of the zhaiwa molybdenites are similar to those of typical porphyry cu mo au systems developed on continental arcs the 34 s values of the zhaiwa ores 2 7 7 3 average 5 2 suggest that the sulfur was mainly sourced from a magmatic system the sulfides from the ores yield sr i average of 0 70533 similar to that of the xiong er group 0 70547 albeit higher than that of the kuanping group 0 70334 and lower than the taihua supergroup 0 70763 suggesting a mixed source the average e nd 1 76 ga of the sulfides from the ores 0 9 falls between the averages of the taihua supergroup ca 6 8 and the kuanping group ca 7 4 the pb isotope ratios of the ores are similar to but slightly higher than those of the taihua supergroup reflecting preferential leaching of radiogenic pb from the taihua supergroup by magmatic fluids integrated data and interpretations constrain the zhaiwa mo cu deposit to be a porphyry mineral system developed within a ca 1 76 ga continental arc related to oceanic plate subduction beneath the southern margin of the north china craton a correlation between tectonic settings and metallogenic types clearly indicate that the xiong er group was formed in a volcanic arc confirming paleo mesoproterozoic continental outgrowth along the margins of the columbia supercontinent the isotopic characterization of the zhaiwa deposit provides new insights into the enigma of the widespread distribution of large and super large mo deposits of eqmb along the southern margin of the north china craton

triassic mineralization with cretaceous overprint in the dahu au mo deposit xiaoqinling gold province constraints from shrimp monazite u th pb geochronology abstract the xiaoqinling terrane in central china is the second largest gold producing area in china previous application of age constraints has yielded ages for the gold mineralization ranging from paleoproterozoic through triassic indosinian to jurassic and cretaceous yanshanian shrimp u th pb dating of hydrothermal monazite in a mo mineralized quartz vein from the dahu au mo deposit in the northern xiaoqinling terrane identifies two mineralization episodes hydrothermal monazite intergrown with molybdenite yields an initial precipitation age of 216 5 ma which is identical to but more precise than the molybdenite re os isochron age of 218 41 ma a younger generation of monazite is distinguished by data falling on a mixing array it is inferred that the younger monazite was formed at the expense of the older ones during the yanshanian probably during a single event that occurred at 125 ma combining these results with available geochronological data and geological evidence we conclude that molybdenum mineralization accompanied by monazite deposition took place in the indosinian followed by a yanshanian tectono hydrothermal event that resulted in large scale gold mineralization in the xiaoqinling terrane our observation demonstrates that monazite is sensitive to hydrothermal overprint and thus is useful for dating fluid infiltration event

the evolution of a porphyry cu au deposit based on la icp ms analysis of fluid inclusions bajo de la alumbrera argentina the chemical and physical evolution of magmatic to hydrothermal processes in the porphyry cu au deposit of bajo de la alumbrera northwestern argentina has been reconstructed with a quantitative fluid inclusion study fluid inclusion petrography microthermometry and single inclusion microanalysis by excimer laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry la icp ms are combined to determine the evolution of pressure temperature and ore metal concentrations including cu and au in the fluids complementary hydrogen and oxygen isotope analyses are used to further constrain the water sources in the evolving system the combined data provide a new level of insight into the mechanisms of metal sourcing and ore mineral precipitation in a porphyry style magmatic hydrothermal system based on previously reported observations of the igneous geology alteration geochemistry and veining history of the subvolcanic porphyries at alumbrera the distribution of fluid inclusion types in space and time is documented six major inclusion types are distinguished the highest temperature brine inclusions up to 750 c p 1 kbar are mainly recorded in barren quartz magnetite veins in the core of the alteration system these polyphase brine inclusions halite sylvite multiple opaque and transparent daughter crystals are interpreted as the most primitive magmatic fluid recorded at the level of the deposit they are of moderately high salinity 50 60 wt nacl equiv dominated by nacl kcl and fecl 2 and contain on average 0 33 wt percent cu and 0 55 ppm au upon cooling and decompression these saline liquids exsolve a vapor phase which is preferentially enriched in cu relative to its main salt components but probably plays a minor role in the formation of this particular deposit because of the inferred small mass fraction of vapor cooling and decompression from the highest initial p t conditions down to about 450 c causes magnetite k silicate alteration but no saturation in au or cu sulfides as recorded by continually high ore metal concentrations in the fluid inclusions coprecipitation of cu and au as chalcopyrite and native gold some early bornite occurs over a narrow range of decreasing fluid temperature with cooling from 400 to 305 c the cu concentration in the brine drops by about one order of magnitude to less than 0 07 wt percent without a proportional decrease in major salt components ore mineral precipitation extracts 85 percent of the cu and au from the fluid it is associated with potassic alteration as shown by a concomitant decrease in the k na ratio of the cooling magmatic brine and by an increase in its ba and sr concentrations elements which are probably liberated in the destruction of calcic igneous minerals the fluid chemical data demonstrate that the metal ratios in this and probably many other porphyry style ore deposits are primarily controlled by the magmatic source of the ore brines on the other hand the final hypogene ore grade of the deposit is controlled by the efficiency of ore mineral precipitation at alumbrera metal extraction is governed by the efficiency of cooling a high flux of magmatic fluid within a small rock volume dilution of residual magmatic fluids as recorded by aqueous fluid inclusions of decreasing salinities and temperatures below 295 c follows after the main stage of copper introduction and is associated with feldspar destructive phyllic alteration geometric relationships fluid analyses and stable isotope data together indicate that phyllic alteration results from postmineralization hydrothermal activity involving minor mixing between meteoric water residual brine and a waning input of magmatic vapor

u pb ages and lu hf isotopes of detrital zircons from the southern qinling orogen implications for precambrian to phanerozoic tectonics in central china abstract the qinling orogen central china was constructed during the mesozoic collision between the north china and yangtze continental plates the orogen includes four tectonic units from north to south the huaxiong block reactivated southern margin of the north china craton north qinling accretion belt south qinling fold belt or block and songpan fold belt evolved from the northernmost paleo tethys ocean separating the gondwana and laurentia supercontinents here we employ detrital zircons from the early cretaceous alluvial sediments within the qinling orogen to trace the tectonic evolution of the orogen the u pb ages of the detrital zircon grains from the early cretaceous donghe group sediments in the south qinling fold belt cluster around 2600 2300 ma 2050 1800 ma 1200 700 ma 650 400 ma and 350 200 ma corresponding to the global kenorland columbia rodinia gondwana and pangaea supercontinent events respectively the distributions of ages and ehf t values of zircon grains show that the donghe group sediments have a complex source comprising components mainly recycled from the north qinling accretion belt and the north china craton suggesting that the south qinling fold belt was a part of the united qinling north china continental plate rather than an isolated microcontinent during the devonian triassic the youngest age peak of 350 200 ma reflects the magmatic event related to subduction and termination of the mian lue oceanic plate followed by the collision between the yangtze craton and the united qinling north china continent that came into existence at the triassic jurassic transition the interval of 208 145 ma between the sedimentation of the early cretaceous donghe group and the youngest age of detrital zircons was coeval with the post subduction collision between the yangtze and the north china continental plates in jurassic

fluid inclusion and h o c isotope geochemistry of the yaochong porphyry mo deposit in dabie shan china a case study of porphyry systems in continental collision orogens the yaochong porphyry mo deposit in xinxian county henan province china is located in the hong an terrane that is the western part of the dabie orogen the dabie orogen is part of a 1 500 km long triassic continental collision belt between the north china block and the south china block four types of vein are present paragenetically from early to late they are as follows stage 1 quartz k feldspar pyrite magnetite vein stage 2 quartz k feldspar molybdenite pyrite vein stage 3 quartz polymetallic sulfides k feldspar vein and stage 4 quartz carbonate fluorite vein four compositional types of fluid inclusion pure co2 co2 bearing aqueous and solid bearing are present in quartz from the first three stages only low salinity aqueous fluid inclusions occur in quartz from the last stage all the estimated salinities are 13 1 wt nacl eq and no halite crystals were identified homogenization temperatures for the fluid inclusions from stages 1 to 4 are in the ranges of 262 501 202 380 168 345 and 128 286 c respectively and estimated depths decrease from 6 9 to 8 9 km through 6 2 7 2 to 4 7 km quartz separates from the veins yielded a 18o value of 7 7 11 2 corresponding to 18oh2o values of 1 3 to 6 9 using temperature estimates from fluid inclusion data dh2o values of fluid inclusion vary from 80 to 55 and 13cco2 from 2 3 to 2 7 suggesting that the ore fluids evolved from magmatic to meteoric sources we conclude that the ore forming fluid system at yaochong was initially high temperature high salinity and co2 rich and then progressively evolved to co2 poor lower salinity and lower temperature by mixing with meteoric water which results in ore precipitation

fluid evolution of the yuchiling porphyry mo deposit east qinling china the yuchiling mo deposit east qinling china belongs to a typical porphyry mo system associated with high k calc alkaline intrusions the pure co2 pc co2 bearing c aqueous h2o naci w and

geochemical and sr nd pb isotopic compositions of cretaceous granitoids constraints on tectonic framework and crustal structure of the dabieshan ultrahigh pressure metamorphic belt china abstract the dabie orogenic belt can be divided into four tectonic and lithological units they are from north to south the north huaiyang nhy unit the northern dabie complex ndc unit the ultrahigh pressure uhp metamorphic unit and high pressure hp metamorphic unit cretaceous granitoids from the four tectonic units irrespective of tectonic unit and lithology show surprisingly similar major and trace element and particularly sr nd pb isotopic compositions indicating a similar crustal source for their magma genesis they have initial 87 sr 86 sr t values of 0 7068 0 7091 and nd depleted mantle model ages of 1 6 2 4 ga and e nd t values at the time of their emplacement 120 ma ranging from 13 to 26 their present day pb isotopic compositions are 206 pb 204 pb 15 62 17 06 207 pb 204 pb 15 21 15 44 and 208 pb 204 pb 36 59 37 81 with comparison to the sr nd pb isotopic compositions of the basement rocks in the dabie orogenic belt the isotopic compositions of the cretaceous granitoids indicate a source that is similar to the northern dabie complex but distinct from the ultrahigh pressure metamorphic unit this strongly suggests that the exposed northern dabie complex extends in the deep crust southward beneath the uhp hp metamorphic units and northward beneath the north huaiyang unit the northern dabie complex is best interpreted as the core of a dome within the dabie orogenic belt the uhp hp metamorphic unit is only a thin skinned slab confined in shallower crustal levels over the northern dabie complex present tectonic framework for the uhp hp terrain was formed by extensional tectonics and post the uhp hp metamorphism the northern dabie complex has an affinity to the yangtze craton the similar source for the cretaceous granitoids also suggests that the suture between the north china and the yangtze cratons is marked by the xiaotian mozitang fault separating the north huaiyang unit and the northern dabie complex rather than the previously thought wuhe shuiko fault which separates the northern dabie complex and the uhp unit

formation and tectonic evolution of the khondalite series at the southern margin of the north china craton geochronological constraints from a 1 85 ga mo deposit in the xiong ershan area abstract the taihua complex is an important metamorphic rock suite at the southern margin of the trans north china orogen and hosts important mineral deposits its protolith and metamorphic ages are still controversial the 1 85 ga longmendian mo deposit in the xiong ershan is hosted by the khondalite series of the duangou formation taihua complex three kinds of rocks are collected for shrimp cameca u pb dating including the meta sedimentary rock that occurred as wallrock the mo mineralized meta gabbro that intruded the meta sedimentary rock and the leucosome that cut both the meta sedimentary rock and the meta gabbro zircon u pb analyses reveal that the precursor of the meta sedimentary rock was crystallized between 2200 4 and 2742 18 ma with most before 2500 ma whereas the protolith of the meta gabbro was formed at 2178 6 ma anatexis zircons in the leucosome yield a weighted mean age of 1943 8 ma that is indistinguishable with the metamorphic age of the meta gabbro 1952 4 ma in the intensively altered meta gabbro hydrothermal titanites were formed by at least two pulses of crystallization at 1940 7 ma and 1916 9 ma respectively the new data reveal that the khondalite series of the duangou formation were formed between 2200 ma and 2178 ma the results are inconsistent with previous subdivision of the taihua complex into the upper taihua and lower taihua subgroup instead they fit well with the tripartitite divison into the beizi group 3 0 2 55 ga the dangzehe group 2 55 2 3 ga and the shuidigou group 2 3 2 1 ga compiling zircon u pb ages indicate that in the trans north china orogen the 1 95 ga and 1 85 ga metamorphic events are widespread and prominent

the collision type porphyry mo deposits in dabie shan china abstract the dabie shan in central east china is a collisional orogenic belt suturing the north china and yangtze blocks it was formed by jurassic early cretaceous continental collision following the triassic closure of the northernmost paleo tethyan ocean in the area at least ten porphyry mo systems have been discovered including two giant ones with a total reserve of 3 mt mo metal the porphyry type mo mineralization mainly occurred during 156 110 ma in the post collisional extension setting the location of mo deposit is controlled by nw and nne trending faults mostly in the south of the gui mei fault suturing the north china and yangtze blocks mo mineralization is generally associated with the yanshanian high k calc alkaline metaluminous peraluminous granitic intrusions with orebodies being located in the intrusions and or host rocks the hydrothermal ore forming process generally includes four stages with the initial ore forming fluids being featured by high temperature high salinity and co 2 rich geochemical signatures indicate that the ore causative magmatism in the dabie shan mainly originated from either the northern or southern dabie complex but mixed with the precambrian rocks of the north china block except for the tianmugou porphyry system which shares more similar geological and geochemical characteristics with the porphyry mo deposits in eastern qinling orogen we also develop a scissor style intracontinental subduction model to interpret the differences in spatial distribution geneses and geochemical and geological characteristics between the mo deposits in dabie shan and qinling orogen in our model the basement of the north china block southwardly underthrusted beneath the dabie shan possibly along the gui mei fault whilst the basement of the yangtze block northwardly underthrusted beneath the qinling orogen and the inferred minggang xinyang fault zone served as a dextral strike slip fault zone in the north china block but acted as a sinistral transpressional fault zone within the orogenic area compared to the subduction or endako and rift or climax types of porphyry mo deposits the porphyry mo deposits in the dabie shan are unique because of their crustal source for the magma and ore forming materials and as such are assigned to the dabie or collision type hence we develop a new global tectonic model for porphyry mo deposits of three types showing their genetic tectonic settings

hydrothermal evolution of the el teniente deposit chile porphyry cu mo ore deposition from low salinity magmatic fluids the magmatic hydrothermal evolution of the el teniente porphyry cu mo deposit in the central andes in chile is reconstructed based on field relationships scanning electron microscopy cathodoluminescence petrography and fluid inclusion analysis by microthermometry and laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry la icpms three major stages of cu mo mineralization are observed following the barren hydrothermal stage 1 the stage 2 mineralization is characterized by quartz anhydrite stockwork veins and breccias with chalcopyrite bornite and molybdenite both stages 1 and 2 are associated with pervasive potassic alteration quartz anhydrite veins with chalcopyrite bornite and molybdenite associated with phyllic alteration represent stage 3 mineralization stage 4 mineralization linked to the formation of the large braden diatreme is characterized by breccias and rare veins containing a lower temperature assemblage with tourmaline sericite and lesser tennantite bornite and chalcopyrite with late gypsum in local vugs ten fluid types are distinguished in this study based on petrographic and microthermometric criteria such as phase proportions daughter minerals homogenization behavior and salinity the hydrothermal evolution across the stages of cu deposition is characterized by the contraction of a vapor phase originating by phase separation during stage 2 overall cooling of the system at pressures fluctuating around the two phase fluid surface led to a transition from a two phase fluid state dominated by vapor at 410 c and 300 bars in stage 2 to a single phase low salinity fluid derived from cooling and contraction of magmatic vapor to a liquid which dominates during stage 3 mineralization at 350 c and 200 bars copper mineralization mainly formed from the vapor phase and its low salinity liquid derivatives representing a large volume of fluid with an initially high cu content 1 2 0 4 wt cu copper sulfides precipitated upon cooling between 410 and 320 c indicated by a drop of cu na k mn fe ratios of over four orders of magnitude through the evolution of the deposit from stage 2 to stage 4 the highest mo concentrations occur in residual brines resulting from extreme boiling as indicated by concurrent halite saturation recent geochronology cannell 2005 maksaev et al 2004 suggests a relatively long lived magmatic hydrothermal system at el teniente our fluid chemical data show no evidence for major crystal fractionation in a large fluid generating upper crustal magma chamber because cs na k mn fe is constant from pre ore to all syn ore fluids however the initiation of copper mineralization was associated with a 4 to 10 fold increase in the concentration of cu mo li and fe in the inferred main ore forming input fluid compared with pre ore fluids of intermediate salinity and otherwise very similar major and trace element ratios these data indicate that injection from depth of an exceptionally cu mo li and probably also s rich volatile phase into an already actively evolving upper crustal magmatic hydrothermal system triggered the formation of this unusually large and rich copper deposit

fluid inclusion study of the nannihu giant porphyry mo w deposit henan province china implications for the nature of porphyry ore fluid systems formed in a continental collision setting abstract the nannihu mo w deposit located in the henan province of china is a giant porphyry deposit formed in the qinling orogen during the jurassic continental collision between the north china and yangtze cratons mo w mineralization is associated with the nannihu porphyritic monzogranite occurring as numerous stockwork veinlets in the altered wallrocks and the causative porphyry both the porphyry stock and wallrocks underwent intense hydrothermal alteration ranging outwardly from potassic to phyllic alteration and to carbonation zones with increasing distance from the intrusion the hydrothermal ore forming process can be divided into four stages characterized by veinlets from early to late 1 quartz potassic feldspar molybdenite pyrite 2 quartz molybdenite veins containing minor pyrite and chalcopyrite 3 quartz polymetal sulfide and 4 quartz carbonate fluorite most of the ores are formed during stages 2 and 3 four types of fluid inclusions fis are distinguished in this study based on petrographic and microthermometric criteria i e pure co 2 nacl h 2 o co 2 h 2 o and daughter mineral bearing fluid inclusions all of the four types of fis can be observed in the hydrothermal quartz formed in stages 1 2 and 3 while the stage 4 minerals contain only nacl h 2 o fluid inclusions fluid inclusions of stage 1 are mainly homogenized between 350 and 460 c with salinities ranging from 5 7 to 17 9 wt nacl equiv the stage 2 fis yield homogeneous temperatures of 300 380 c and salinities of 3 5 16 9 wt nacl equiv fis of stage 3 are homogenized between 250 and 370 c with salinities of 1 8 14 3 and 28 6 39 1 wt nacl equiv fis of stage 4 are homogenized at temperatures of 115 to 265 c yielding salinities of 0 5 to 1 2 wt nacl equiv daughter minerals such as halite chalcopyrite and some unknown minerals are frequently present in stage 3 fis which probably represent a reducing and oversaturated fluid system resulting from fluid boiling the daughter mineral bearing fis coexist with vapor and liquid rich nacl h 2 o fis that have contrasting salinities these fis are homogenized in divergent ways at similar temperatures suggesting that fluid boiling took place in stages 2 and 3 the estimated pressures range from 70 to 270 mpa in stage 1 through 30 150 mpa in stage 2 to 30 85 mpa in stage 3 corresponding to a depth of no less than 3 km in other words the ore forming fluids are characterized by high temperature high salinity high f o 2 and high co 2 content and fluid boiling resulted in co 2 release f o 2 decrease and ore mineral precipitation we suggest that the co 2 rich fluid is a distinctive feature of porphyry systems developed in continental collision setting in transitional compressional to extensional regime contrasting to the co 2 poor nacl h 2 o fluids observed in volcanic arcs

u pb zircon ages constrain the architecture of the ultrahigh pressure qinling dabie orogen china new shrimp and tims zircon ages 40ar 39ar ages and eclogite locations contribute significantly to our understanding of the ultrahigh pressure dabie shan 1 the geographic extent of the yangtze craton that was subducted to ultrahigh pressure extends to the northern edge of the dabie shan 2 the northern half of the dabie shan is a magmatic complex intruded over a 10 myr interval between 137 and 126 ma that accommodated 100 n s stretching of the pre existing collisional architecture 3 granitic orthogneisses and enclosing ultrahigh pressure paragneisses have indistinguishable zircon populations the population of triassic zircon ages ranges from 219 to 245 ma leading us to question the prevailing assumption that 219 ma zircons formed at ultrahigh pressure and to propose instead that they reflect late retrogression at crustal pressures following the bulk of exhumation

the origin and response of zircon in eclogite to metamorphism during the multi stage evolution of the huwan shear zone china insights from lu hf and u pb isotopic and trace element geochemistry abstract the huwan shear zone hsz is an eclogite bearing transpressive wrench zone located along the shangdan suture that juxtaposes the paleozoic qinling and mesozoic hong an dabie orogenic terrains the region preserves a complex history that bridges the gap between adjacent orogenic terrains simultaneous in situ trace element u th pb and lu hf isotope analysis of zircon grains from samples of the xiongdian and sujiahe eclogite identify a late carboniferous to early permian period of high pressure metamorphism ca 283 to 306 ma zircon grains are observed to respond to metamorphic overprint via a two stage process 1 an initial prograde stage of fluid catalyzed interface coupled dissolution reprecipitation involving exsolution of a non ideal solid solution thorite thsio 4 end member and loss of highly incompatible components lree and pb 2 a second stage of coupled zircon dissolution coarsening and new rim growth in equilibrium with garnet at high pressure conditions we identify proterozoic whole rock sm nd and zircon grain lu hf isotopic evidence which challenges the traditional interpretation that the xiongdian and sujiahe eclogite formed in response to early paleozoic mantle melting and oceanic crust generation we argue the huwan shear zone contains no conclusive evidence of early middle paleozoic oceanic crust but rather proterozoic crustal components analogous to those found in the northern qinling terrain and associated with formation of the shangdan suture we present a simpler geodynamic model involving continuous convergence and accretion of terrains onto the southern margin of the north china block during the paleozoic qinling and mesozoic dabie orogenies

genesis of the 1 76 ga zhaiwa mo cu and its link with the xiong er volcanics in the north china craton implications for accretionary growth along the margin of the columbia supercontinent abstract the east qinling molybdenum belt hosting numerous mesozoic magmatic hydrothermal mo deposits is one of the largest molybdenum provinces in the world the recently discovered zhaiwa mo cu deposit luoning county henan province occurs within the xiong er terrane of the east qinling orogenic belt the mo cu mineralization is associated with widespread stockworks or veinlets occurring within altered amphibolite here we investigate the characteristics of the ore mineralization through systematic fluid inclusion petrography microthermometry and laser raman spectroscopy the typical inclusions in the veins and stockworks are aqueous daughter mineral bearing and a subordinate co2 rich type the homogenization temperatures of the aqueous inclusions in quartz molybdenite veins are up to 370 c which together with some daughter mineral bearing inclusions homogenized by dissolution of halite at 500 c indicates that the ore forming fluids were derived from a hypothermal fluid system the daughter mineral bearing inclusions assign high salinities for the ore forming fluids correlating the ore deposit to a magmatic hydrothermal system we also present h o isotope systematics which support this interpretation the recently reported re os molybdenite age of 1 76 0 03 ga from this deposit is coeval to the xiong er group andesite dominated volcanic sequence 1 8 1 45 ga based on which we propose that the zhaiwa deposit represents the upper domain of a porphyry system developed within a subduction related setting with accretion to the southern margin of the north china craton our study provides new constraints on the outgrowth of the columbia supercontinent during paleoproterozoic

the xiong er volcanic belt at the southern margin of the north china craton petrographic and geochemical evidence for its outboard position in the paleo mesoproterozoic columbia supercontinent abstract the xiong er volcanic belt covering an area of more than 60 000 km 2 along the southern margin of the north china craton has long been considered an intra continental rift zone and recently interpreted as part of a large igneous province formed by a mantle plume that led to the breakup of the paleo mesoproterozoic supercontinent columbia however such interpretations cannot be accommodated by lithology mineralogy geochemistry and geochronology of the volcanic rocks in the belt lithologically the xiong er volcanic belt is dominated by basaltic andesite and andesite with minor dacite and rhyolite different from rock associations related to continental rifts or mantle plumes which are generally bimodal and dominated by mafic components however they are remarkably similar to those rock associations in modern continental margin arcs in some of the basaltic andesites and andesites amphibole is a common phenocryst phase suggesting the involvement of h 2 o rich fluids in the petrogenesis of the xiong er volcanic rocks geochemically the xiong er volcanic rocks fall in the calc alkaline series and in most tectono magmatic discrimination diagrams the majority of the xiong er volcanic rocks show affinities to magmatic arcs in the primitive mantle normalized trace element diagrams the xiong er volcanic rocks show enrichments in the lile and lree and negative nb ta ti anomalies similar to arc related volcanic rocks produced by the hydrous melting of metasomatized mantle wedge nd isotope compositions of the xiong er volcanic rocks suggest that 5 15 older crust has been transferred into the upper lithospheric mantle by subduction related recycling during archean to paleoproterozoic time available shrimp and la icp ms u pb zircon age data indicate that the xiong er volcanic rocks erupted intermittently over a protracted interval from 1 78 ga through 1 76 1 75 ga and 1 65 ga to 1 45 ga though the major phase of the volcanism occurred at 1 78 1 75 ga such multiple and intermittent volcanism is inconsistent with a mantle plume driven rifting event but is not uncommon in ancient and existing continental margin arcs taken together the xiong er volcanic belt was most likely a paleo mesoproterozoic continental magmatic arc that formed at the southern margin of the north china craton similar paleo mesoproterozoic continental magmatic arcs were also present at the southern and southeastern margins of laurentia the southern margin of baltica the northwestern margin of amonzonia and the southern and eastern margins of the north australia craton which are considered to represent subduction related episodic outbuilding on the continental margins of the paleo mesoproterozoic supercontinent columbia therefore in any configuration of the supercontinent columbia the southern margin of the north china craton could not have been connected to any other continental block as proposed in a recent configuration but must have faced an open ocean whose lithosphere was subducted beneath the southern margin of the north china craton

intracontinental porphyry and porphyry skarn mineral systems in eastern china scrutiny of a special case made in china in this contribution we discuss a series of porphyry and porphyry skarn mineral systems which constitute important metallogenic belts along major lithospheric breaks and or collision zones that form the margins of the north china craton and the yangtze craton we describe a selection of porphyry and porphyry skarn deposits in the great xing an range in northeast china the yanshan liaoning xilamulum belts along the northern margin of the north china craton the qinling orogen and the middle lower yangtze river valley along the bonudaries between the north china and the yangtze cratons the occurrence of platform carbonate successions may have played some role in the evolution of ore fluids that resulted in the formation of porphyry skarn deposits the porphyry deposits of eastern china although sharing some common features with classic porphyry systems that are related to convergent margins do exhibit unusual features particularly in terms of ore fluid compositions the common presence of fluorite hydrothermal alteration assemblages which tend to be less hydrous than the porphyry at convergent margins on the other hand the porphyry mineral systems of eastern china have some similarities with the climax type porphyry a major tectonothermal event yanshanian which took place in the jurassic cretaceous affected eastern china and most of the eastern margin of asia this yanshanian event was responsible for the magmatism and associated mineral systems in the region the granitoid intrusions and accompanying porphyry and porphyry skarn deposits were developed along orogenic belts and major structural discontinuities mostly along the tectonic boundaries between the north china and yangtze cratons and between the northern margin of the north china craton and the mongolia siberia plate the porphyry and porphyry skarn deposits herein described include chalukou in the great xing an range orogen jiguanshan in the xilamulun metallogenic belt xiaojiayingzi lanjiagou chehugou yuanbaoshan in the yanshan liaoning belt nanninhu yuchiling jinduicheng lemeingou in the east qinling orogen tongchakoou shaxi from the middle lower yangtze river valley the role of mantle lithosphere dynamics in eastern china which led to the formation of these porphyry and porphyry skarn mineral systems is discussed and reviewed

ore geology fluid inclusions and four stage hydrothermal mineralization of the shangfanggou giant mo fe deposit in eastern qinling central china article i nfo the eastern qinling central china containing more than 20 mesozoic porphyry skarn systems is the most important mo province in the world the shangfanggou giant mo deposit luanchuan county henan province is a porphyry skarn system hosted in a lithologic association comprising carbonaceous sandstone shale carbon ate and chert within the neoproterozoic luanchuan group mo ores are mainly altered porphyry skarn and hornfels with minor altered gabbro the mineralization process includes four stages potassic alteration of the porphyry and skarnization of dolomite marble in stage 1 stockworks of quartz molybdenite sulfide stage 2 pyrite quartz sulfides stage 3 and carbonate quartz fluorite stage 4 respectively mo mineralization was generally associated with strong silicification and or phyllic alteration the fluid inclusions in minerals include three compositional types i e co2 bearing c type aqueous w type and daughter mineral bearing s type minerals formed in stages 1 to 3 contain all the three types of fis but the stage 4 minerals only contain the w type fis oxides and cu phosphate are recognized as daughter minerals in s type inclusions in minerals of stage 1 whereas the daughter sulfide and reducing gases such as co ch4 h 2 sa nd c2h6 can be observed in quartz of stages 2 and 3 suggesting that the ore forming fluids were initially oxidizing and then evolved to reducing boiling fluid inclusion assemblages can be observed in minerals formed in stage 2 or earlier but not in stage 3 or later fluid boiling caused co2 escape oxygen fugacity decrease and rapid precip itation of ore minerals and was a key factor causing mo mineralization at shangfanggou data and interpreta tions presented in this contribution show that the fluids forming the shangfanggou mo deposit evolved from co2 rich high salinity hypothermal to co2 poor low salinity epithermal low t the mo mineralization at theshangfanggoudepositmainlyoccurredatdepthof6 6 7 0 km deeperthanthemajorityofporphyrysystems in volcanic arcs which resulted from a co2 rich magma fluid system originating from partial melting of thick ened lower crust the shangfanggou mineral system developed during 158 134 ma when the yangtze north china continental collision began to evolve from compression to extension magmatic hydrothermal deposits developed in a continental collision regime are generally formed by co2 rich high salinity fluids

re os isotopic dating of molybdenites in the xiaoliugou w mo deposit in the northern qilian mountains and its geological significance abstract the xiaoliugou is a large scale w mo deposit newly explored in the northern qilian mountains caledonian fold belt northwestern china it is a vein and skarn type deposit genetically associated with the xiaoliugou caledonian granodiorite stock re os isotopic dating for the molybdenite in the deposit yields an isochron age of 462 13 ma 2 and model ages of 436 to 496 ma these results suggest that w mo mineralization occurred before the collision of plates and mineralized substances mainly originated from the crust

geodynamic settings and tectonic model of skarn gold deposits in china an overview seventy skarn type gold deposits including 1 super large 19 large and 24 medium sized are known from different geotectonic units of china they contain a total resource of approximately 1000 t of gold 625 t in south china and account for 20 of china s gold reserves these skarn deposits are sited in collisional orogenic belts fault controlled magmatic belts and reactivated cratonic margins all of the chinese skarn gold provinces were affected by phanerozoic collisional orogenesis the timing of the metallogenic events and the spatial temporal distribution of the chinese skarn gold deposits indicates that they were formed during ore forming processes linked to the transition from shortening to extension in the geodynamic evolution of a collision orogen and not to subduction systems as is commonly advocated for porphyry copper systems around the pacific rim

geochronology and tectonic setting of pb zn mo deposits and related igneous rocks in the yinshan region jinzhai anhui province china abstract the gaijing pb zn mo deposit and shapinggou mo deposit in the yinshan region jinzhai anhui province china are hosted in various granitic intrusions with 40ar 39ar ages obtained for biotite and hornblende of 136 8 1 6 ma medium grained monzogranite 130 4 1 2 ma fine grained granite and 125 4 1 0 ma fine grained diorite the modes of occurrence and cross cutting relationships among the igneous intrusions indicate that alkali quartz syenite and quartz syenite porphyry cryptoexplosive breccia formed later than the calc alkali monzogranite granite and diorite molybdenum mineralization occurs in pipe like bodies hosted in cryptoexplosive breccia pipe quartz syenite porphyry monzogranite and granite whereas pb zn mineralization occurs in veins distally from the mo mineralization the re os isotopic model ages of molybdenite from the gaijing pb zn mo deposit are 112 6 1 3 and 113 5 1 3 ma consistent with the ages of other molybdenum deposits throughout the east qinling dabie metallogenic belt the geological characteristics and isotopic ages of the gaijing pb zn mo and shapinggou mo deposits indicate a genetic relationship to the emplacement of the quartz syenite porphyry and to shallow seated porphyry cryptoexplosive breccia intrusions the present results combined with existing data suggest that the pb zn mo deposits and related igneous rocks were formed in a geodynamic setting of regional lithospheric thinning delamination and thermal erosion in east china the deposits are part of the east qinling dabie molybdenum belt which in turn is part of a large scale e w trending metallogenic belt in east china

mesozoic molybdenum deposits in the east qinling dabie orogenic belt characteristics and tectonic settings abstract the east qinling dabie orogenic belt accommodates the largest mo ore district in the world it contains 8 43 mt of proven mo metal reserves which accounts for 66 of the total proven chinese mo reserves the mo ore district includes 24 deposits and 12 occurrences with four major types of mo mineral systems i e porphyry porphyry skarn skarn and hydrothermal veins the latter can be further subdivided into quartz vein and carbonatite vein types although mo mineralization in the belt began in the paleoproterozoic 1680 24 to 2044 14 ma all economically significant deposits were formed during the mesozoic re os dating of molybdenite has shown that there are three episodes of mo mineralization i e late triassic 233 221 ma late jurassic to early cretaceous 148 138 ma and early to middle cretaceous 131 112 ma late triassic mo deposits developed as molybdenite quartz veins and carbonatite vein types stable isotope systematics c o s and high contents of re and sr indicate that the carbonatite mo veins are mantle derived porphyry and porphyry skarn mo mineral deposits were formed in the late jurassic to early cretaceous and early to middle cretaceous the late jurassic to early cretaceous granite porphyries that are associated with the mo deposits usually occupy less than 1 5 km2 at the surface and are situated in the east qinling area far west of china s continental margin on the other hand the early to middle cretaceous batholiths and granite porphyries with associated mo deposits are located in the dabieshan area and eastern part of the east qinling area the late jurassic to early creataceous granitoids and related mo deposits possibly formed in a back arc extensional setting of the eurasian continental margin which was probably triggered by the oblique subduction of the izanagi plate the early to middle cretaceous batholiths and granite porphyries are linked to the tectonic regime of lithospheric thinning asthenospheric upwelling and partial melting of the crust induced by a change in izanagi plate motion parallel to the continent margin in the east qinling dabie belt there are vein type pb zn ag deposits surrounding porphyry and or porphyry skarn mo w deposits forming well defined ore clusters the same spatial arrangement i e porphyry mo stockworks and outlying pb zn ag ore veins is also observed at the deposit scale thus mo porphyry stockworks and distal polymetallic veins belong to the same ore system and may reflect an outward temperature decrease from the highly fractionated granite plutons both porphyry stockworks and polymetallic veins can be used as vectors for further prospecting

postsubduction porphyry cu au and epithermal au deposits products of remelting of subduction modified lithosphere porphyry cu mo au and some epithermal au deposits are formed from hydrothermal fluids exsolved from cooling water rich calc alkaline magmas emplaced in volcanoplutonic arcs above subduction zones these magmas originate by partial melting of the metasomatized asthenospheric mantle wedge however there is increasing evidence for the existence of a suite of porphyry cu au and epithermal au deposits related to magmas generated after subduction beneath the arc has ceased associated magmas tend to be mildly alkaline relatively sulfur poor and emplaced as isolated complexes rather than in voluminous volcanoplutonic arcs they are likely formed by remelting of previously subduction modified arc lithosphere triggered by postsubduction lithospheric thickening lithospheric extension or mantle lithosphere delamination metasomatized mantle lithosphere or hydrous lower crustal cumulates residual from first stage arc magmatism contain small amounts of chalcophile and siderophile element rich sulfides and constitute a fertile source for hydrous au rich but relatively sulfur poor magmas during later remelting the recognition that porphyry cu au and related epithermal au systems can also form in postsubduction and collisional tectonic settings expands the range of geological environments and geographical terranes that are prospective for such deposits

geology c h o s pb isotope systematics and geochronology of the yindongpo gold deposit tongbai mountains central china implication for ore genesis abstract the yindongpo gold deposit is located in the weishancheng au ag dominated polymetallic ore belt in tongbai mountains central china the ore bodies are stratabound within carbonaceous quartz sericite schists of the neoproterozoic waitoushan group the ore forming process can be divided into three stages represented by early barren quartz veins middle polymetallic sulfide veinlets and late quartz carbonate stockworks with most ore minerals such as pyrite galena native gold and electrum being formed in the middle stage the average 18owater values changed from 9 7 in the early stage through 4 9 in the middle stage to 5 9 in the late stage with the d values ranging between 65 and 84 the 13cco2 values of ore fluids are between 3 7 and 6 7 with an average of 1 1 the h o c isotope systematics indicate that the ore fluids forming the yindongpo gold deposit were probably initially sourced from a process of metamorphic devolatilization and with time gradually mixed with meteoric water the 34s values range from 0 3 to 5 2 with peaks ranging from 1 to 4 fourteen sulfide samples yield 206pb 204pb values of 16 990 17 216 207pb 204pb of 15 419 15 612 and208pb 204pb of 38 251 38 861 both s and pb isotope ratios are similar to those of the main lithologies of the waitoushan group but differ from other lithologic units and granitic batholiths in the tongbai area which suggest that the ore metals and fluids originated from the waitoushan group the available k ar and 40ar 39ar ages indicate that the ore forming process mainly took place in the period of 176 140 ma during the transition from collisional compression to extension and after the closure of the oceanic seaway in the qinling orogen the yindongpo gold deposit is interpreted as a stratabound orogenic style gold system formed during the transition phase from collisional compression to extension the ore metals in the waitoushan group were extracted transported and then accumulated in the carbonaceous sericite schist layer the carbonaceous sericite schist layer especially at the junction of collapsed anticline axis and fault structures became the most favorable locus for the ore bodies

can economic porphyry copper mineralization be generated by a typical calc alkaline melt numerical simulation of chlorine and copper partitioning between a crystallizing melt and exsolving aqueous fluids indicates that typical calc alkaline magmas contain sufficient copper chlorine and water to produce economic porphyry copper mineralization neither an elevated copper content in the magma nor an additional large volume of magma are required to provide metals or volatiles the most important variables that determine the volume of melt necessary to produce sufficient copper are the degree of compatible behavior displayed by copper the ratio of initial water in the melt to the water saturation level and the initial chlorine water ratio of the melt the absolute values for initial water in the melt and water content at saturation are relatively unimportant in determining the required melt volume the bulk salinity of the exsolved fluid may vary from 2 0 wt nacl to saturation levels 84 wt nacl at 700 c indicating that boiling is not necessary to produce high salinity brines at appropriate p t xnacl conditions the magmatic aqueous fluid separates into a saline liquid which transports most of the copper and a low salinity vapor the salinities of the two immiscible phases are governed by the p t conditions while the bulk fluid salinity determines the mass fractions of liquid and vapor formed pressure quenching causes rapid crystallization of the aplitic groundmass in porphyritic rocks associated with copper mineralization and significantly reduces the amount of chlorine and copper partitioning to the aqueous fluid this results in abrupt and possibly large reductions in fluid salinity and causes copper to become concentrated in the melt as copper is transported from the melt by the earliest exsolving fluids in deep 2 0 kbar systems and by late exsolving fluids in shallow 0 5 kbar systems the relative timing of pressure quenching aplite formation and fluid transport of copper from the melt can vary significantly in systems produced under different confining pressures model results incorporating petrologic constraints determined for yerington nevada are in good agreement with observed mineralization