ice microstructure and fabric an up to date approach for measuring textures automatic c axes analyzers have been developed over the past few years leading to a large improvement in the data available for analysis of ice crystal texture such an increase in the quality and quantity of data allows for stricter statistical estimates the current textural parameters i e fabric crystallographic orientations and microstructure grain boundary networks are presented these parameters define the state of the polycrystal and give information about the deformation undergone by the ice to reflect the findings from automatic measurements some parameter definitions are updated and new parameters are proposed moreover a matlab toolbox has been developed to extract all the textural parameters this toolbox which can be downloaded online is briefly described

the sarcheshmeh porphyry copper deposit kerman iran a mineralogical analysis of the igneous rocks and alteration zones including halogen element systematics related to cu mineralization processes abstract the giant sarcheshmeh porphyry copper deposit is located 65 km southwest of kerman city southeastern iran numerous miocene porphyry stocks and dykes intruded thick sequences of upper cretaceous sedimentary and eocene volcanic rocks hypogene and supergene porphyry cu mineralization occurs within the granodioritic porphyry and host rock sequence which was extensively altered to a dominantly potassic phyllic and argillic assemblage with interstitial to distal propylitic types biotite bearing assemblages occur as both primary phenocrysts and secondary replacements showing variable size colour and shape fluorine contents 0 22 to 1 33 wt and x mg 0 54 to 0 71 in biotites from the potassic and phyllic zones are higher than those of non mineralized granitoids f 0 09 to 0 56 wt x mg 0 43 to 0 54 whereas their cl contents cl 0 05 to 0 24 wt are lower than those of the non mineralized granitoids cl 0 11 to 0 45 the biotites from the phyllic zone have higher log f h 2 o f hf and log f h 2 o f hcl values than those of the potassic zone as well as the granitoid and andesitic dykes the log f hf f hcl values determined for the granitoid potassic and phyllic zones are similar though more negative than those of the andesitic dykes the log f hf f hcl values have a similar range for biotite from the granitoid and potassic and phyllic zones the halogen fugacity ratios established for fluids associated with the sarcheshmeh deposit from their f and cl contents in biotite show that the granitoid potassic zone and phyllic zone are increasingly affected by meteoric waters the fluids that circulated in the phyllic zone are predominantly of meteoric origin possibly overprinting original phyllic zone halogen contents the cl intercept values of biotite in the granitoid and phyllic and potassic are similar to other ore forming systems and tend to be more cl rich than cl intercept values of biotites in common igneous rocks calculated f cl intercept values for biotite in the granitoid and potassic zone are also consistent with many other porphyry copper forming systems

gold speciation and transport in geological fluids insights from experiments and physical chemical modelling this contribution provides an overview of available experimental thermodynamic and molecular data on au aqueous speciation solubility and partitioning in major types of geological fluids in the earth s crust from low temperature aqueous solution to supercritical hydrothermal magmatic fluids vapours and silicate melts critical revisions of these data allow generation of a set of thermodynamic properties of the auoh aucl 2 auhs and au hs 2 complexes dominant in aqueous hydrothermal solutions however other complexes involving different sulphur forms chloride and alkali metals may operate in high temperature sulphur rich fluids vapours and melts the large affinity of au for reduced sulphur is responsible for au enrichment in s rich vapours and sulphide melts which are important gold sources for hydrothermal deposits thermo dynamic speciation and partitioning data and their comparison with au and s contents in natural fluid inclusions from magmatic hydrothermal gold deposits provide new constraints on the major physical chemical parameters temperature pressure salinity acidity redox and ubiquitous fluid components sulphur carbon dioxide arsenic affecting au concentration transport precipitation and fractionation from other metals in the crust the availability and speciation of sulphur and their changes with the fluid and melt evolution are the key factors controlling gold behaviour in most geological situations

textural control on gold distribution in as free pyrite from the dongping huangtuliang and hougou gold deposits north china craton hebei province china article i nfo pyrite from the dongping huangtuliang and hougou gold deposits hebei province china was investigated using a combination of ore microscopy including back scattered imaging and in situ laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy la icp ms a range of elements including au te ag pb bi cu co ni and as was analyzed with the aim to constrain the textural controls and influence of superimposed deformation on the distribution of invisible gold in as free pyrite thedatasetshowsexcellentcorrespondence betweenmeasuredhighgoldvaluesandthreekeytexturalcriteria i areasofclusteredtellurideinclusions especiallyindongping ii microshearingandfracturing brecciation dongping and huangtuliang and iii pyrite recrystallization huangtuliang invisible gold is only at trace levels in the hougou and gold bearing telluride minerals are not observed this is considered to result from larger scale remobilization of gold during advanced brecciation and recrystallization of pyrite pyrite grains containing clustered inclusions have by far the highest gold concentrations up to 1 wt with consistent values of thousands of ppm au interpretation of textures and la icp ms data infers that in these areas the distribution of telluride inclusions extends pervasively from micron to nanoscale i e as fields of nanoparticles local employment of coupled dissolution reprecipitation reaction between pyrite and fluids driving the k metasomatic alteration dated at 150 ma is invoked to explain such patterns syn deformational grain scale mobilization of gold and other elements took place leading to a portion of the gold being recrystallized within fractures and microshears the deformational event leads to gold enrichment in the huangtuliang pyrite where brittle fracturing brecciation has been followed by a resorption and recrystallization in the latter case foam textured pyrites again without as can contain up to hundreds of ppm gold theinterpreted sequenceof pyritepost depositional eventsis inaccordancewith the protracted magmaticevolution of the area starting with variscan alkaline intrusions 390 ma and reactivated during the yanshanian orogeny 150 ma thestudyshows i thatas freepyritecanreadilycontainsignificantamountsofinvisiblegold bothasnanoparticles

40ar 39ar constraints on a temporal link between gold mineralization magmatism and continental margin transtension in the jiaodong gold province eastern china abstract the jiaodong gold province is the largest gold repository in china both mineralization and granitoid hosts are spatially related to the crustal scale tan lu strike slip fault system which developed along the mesozoic continental margin in eastern china a series of 40ar 39ar laser incremental heating analyses of hydrothermal sericite muscovite from three major gold deposits jiaojia xincheng and wangershan and igneous biotite from the granodiorite hosts were performed to establish a possible temporal link between gold mineralization magmatism and movement along the tan lu fault zone magmatic biotite crystals yield well defined and concordant plateau ages between documentclass aastex usepackage amsbsy usepackage amsfonts usepackage amssymb usepackage bm usepackage mathrsfs usepackage pifont usepackage stmaryrd usepackage textcomp usepackage portland xspace usepackage amsmath amsxtra usepackage ot2 ot1 fontenc newcommand cyr renewcommand rmdefault wncyr renewco

exsolution of magmatic volatile phases from cl enriched mineralizing granitic magmas and implications for ore metal transport abstract to understand cl dissolution in aluminosilicate liquids and the exsolution of cl rich magmatic volatile phases experiments were conducted to determine the solubility of nacl kcl and h2o in felsic liquids at 0 5 and 2 kbar the cl content of h2o poor nacl saturated and kcl saturated silicate liquids is low i e 1 3 wt to very low i e 0 2 wt and varies with changes in pressure and composition the cl concentration increases with the f concentration and the molar al na ca mg si ratio of the liquid and decreases with increasing activity of h2o in the system exsolution of a volatile phase depends on the partial pressures of all dissolved volatiles and low cl solubilities in nacl saturated and kcl saturated silicate liquids imply that exsolution of a cl bearing volatile phase will occur early in cl bearing granitic magmas i e prior to extensive melt crystallization and or at comparatively low water fugacities the solubility behavior of h2o and cl is very similar to that of co2 and h2o in felsic liquids small quantities of co2 are known to facilitate volatile phase exsolution holloway 1976 and in a similar manner volatile phases may exsolve early in cl enriched granite magmas whereas 5 to 6 wt dissolved h2o is necessary for volatile phase exsolution from a co2 free and cl free haplogranite liquid at 2 kbar and 800 c a cl rich brine will exsolve if the liquid contains only 1 wt h2o and 0 26 wt cl at the same conditions these new solubility data are interpreted in light of h2o f and cl concentrations in felsic liquids determined from silicate melt inclusions to constrain the exsolution of cl bearing magmatic volatile phases from mineralizing granitic magmas felsic magmas genetically associated with cu porphyry and mo porphyry mineralization contain sufficient h2o and cl to become saturated with respect to a hypersaline brine without strong pressure reduction boiling of the volatile phase i e exsolution of immiscible vapor and brine or strong volatile enrichment resulting from extensive crystal fractionation experiments were also conducted to investigate the solubility of mo in highly saline volatile phases coexisting with granitic liquids at 2 and 0 5 kbar the apparent partition coefficient for mo in the volatile phase s relative to silicate liquid d mo is defined as the computed concentration of mo in a volatile phase or phases the measured concentration of mo in granite glass d mo ranges from 8 to 80 as the nacl and kcl content of the volatile phase s increases from 15 to 90 wt because mo does not complex with cl in aqueous fluids it appears that mo solubility may be a strong function of the activity of na and k in alkali chloride rich volatile phases

boundary lines within petrologic diagrams which use oxides of major and minor elements use of some petrologic diagrams applied to analyses of volcanic rocks is unnecessarily difficult due to lack of data for construction of discriminant lines between rock series coordinates are provided for sufficient points to enable accurate plotting of the boundary lines within seven diagrams viz 1 tas total alkalies na2o k2o vs sio2 2 k2o vs sio2 3 afm 4 jensen 5 ktp k2o tio2 p2o5 6 fms feo mgo vs sio2 and 7 taktip k2o na2o k2o vs tio2p2o5 different versions of these boundaries are collated to indicate their variable position and it is demonstrated that inter laboratory analytical precision suffices to account for almost all of their spread on the tas and k2o vs sio2 diagrams

rb sr sm nd and pb isotope systematics of pyrite implications for the age and genesis of lode gold deposits lode gold deposits commonly consist of pyrite and lesser amounts of lead and zinc sulfides accompanied by quartz and calcite their exact origin remains controversial mainly because of the scarcity of reliable geochronological data here we present direct rb sr dating of pyrite from a lode gold deposit and propose the method as a useful geochronological technique for gold mineralization for which age data are poor a positive correlation between present day 87 sr 86 sr and 87 rb 86 sr ratios of pyrite fes 2 subsamples from the linglong gold mine of china corresponds to an age of 122 123 ma which dates the age of gold mineralization the sr nd and pb isotopic compositions of pyrites and the associated rocks suggest that the hydrothermal fluids responsible for the pyrite and gold mineralization were probably derived from a mixed source i e degassing of mafic magmas and meteoric water that had leached the country rocks

relative oxidation states of magmas inferred from ce iv ce iii in zircon application to porphyry copper deposits of northern chile major and trace element compositions of zircons and whole rocks from 14 barren and seven ore bearing calc alkaline intrusions from the chuquicamata el abra porphyry copper belt of northern chile have been measured in situ by excimer laser ablation ela icp ms these data permit the ce iv ce iii ratio within zircon to be calculated using a lattice strain model for mineral melt partitioning of ce iv and ce iii zircon ce iv ce iii and eun eun ratios and by inference magmatic oxidation states generally increase from older mafic to younger felsic units within this sequence porphyry copper mineralization is directly associated only with intrusions with zircon ce iv ce iii 300 and eun eun 0 4 such trends can be understood in terms of interdependent relations between oxygen fugacity sulfur speciation and solubility and chalcophile element partitioning in silicate magmas because zircon occurs in most calc alkaline intrusions and is resistant to subsolidus alteration zircon ce iv ce iii ratios provide a useful tool for evaluating the economic potential of such rocks for magmatic hydrothermal cu au mineralization the approach is general and may provide a means to infer relative oxidation state in a wide range of intermediate to felsic igneous rocks

gold deposits of the northern margin of the north china craton multiple late paleozoic mesozoic mineralizing events the northern margin of the north china craton is well endowed with lode gold deposits hosting a resource of approximately 900 tonnes t of gold the 1 500 km long region is characterized by east trending blocks of metamorphosed archean and proterozoic strata that were episodically uplifted during variscan indosinian and yanshanian deformational and magmatic events at least 12 gold deposits from the daqinshan yan liao includes the zhangjiakou yanshan and chifeng gold districts and changbaishan gold provinces contain resources of 20 100 t au each most deposits are hosted in uplifted blocks of precambrian metamorphic rocks although felsic paleozoic and mesozoic plutons are typically proximal and host 30 of the deposits the lodes are characterized by sulfide poor quartz veins in brittle structures with low base metal values and high au ag ratios although phyllic alteration is most common intensive alkali feldspar metasomatism characterizes the wulashan dongping and zhongshangou deposits but is apparently coeval with variscan alkalic magmatism only at wulashan stepwise 40ar 39ar geochronology on 16 samples from gangue and alteration phases combined with unpublished shrimp u pb dates on associated granitoids suggest that gold mineralizing events occurred during variscan indosinian and yanshanian orogenies at circa 350 250 200 180 150 and 129 ma however widespread permo triassic 250 ma and early jurassic 180 ma thermal events caused variable resetting of most of the white mica and k feldspar argon spectra as well as previously reported k ar determinations compiled and new stable isotope and fluid inclusion data show that most 18o values for ore stage veins range from 8 to 14 indicating a fluid in equilibrium with the precambrian metamorphic basement rocks d values from fluid inclusions range widely from 64 to 154 which is indicative of a local meteoric component in some veins and highly variable 34s data 7 to 17 even within individual deposits indicate various local country rock sources for sulfur fluid inclusions from all districts show variable homogenization temperatures between 240 and 400 c and are consistently characterized by low salinity h2o co2 ch4 n2 solutions although the data are largely consistent with that from orogenic gold veins intrusion related veins and epithermal veins are also recognized the multiple episodes of mineralization are coincident with episodic tectonic reactivations and associated magmatism along the northern margin of the north china craton electronic supplementary material to this paper can be obtained by using the springer link server located at http dx doi org 10 1007 s00126 001 0239 2

chemical composition of rock forming minerals in gold related granitoid intrusions southwestern new brunswick canada implications for crystallization conditions volatile exsolution and fluorine chlorine activity chemical composition of rock forming miner als in appalachian siluro devonian granitoid intru sions southwestern new brunswick was systematically determined by electron microprobe the mineral chem ical data together with petrographic examination was used to test magmatic equilibration and to constrain crystallization conditions volatile exsolution and fluo rine chlorine activity of fluids associated with these intrusions mineralogical distinction between late silu rian to early devonian granodioritic to monzogranitic series gms and late devonian granitic series gs rocks is evident although both are subsolvus i type to evolved i type granitoids oxidized to reduced gms rocks consist of quartz plagioclase an 10 k feld spar biotite apatite titanite zircon monazite hornblende pyroxene magnetite ilmenite and sulfide gs rocks comprise quartz k feldspar pla gioclase an 10 mica group minerals zircon mon azite apatite sulfide ilmente magnetite topaz columbite and xenotime inter intrusion and intra intrusion variations in mineral chemistry are in terpreted to reflect petrogenetic processes e g assim ilation and fractional crystallization during granitoid evolution although magmatic equilibration among rock forming minerals are disturbed by subsolidus hy drothermal processes gms rocks appear to have higher magmatic temperatures variable levels of emplacement a range of fo2 i e reduced intrusions 10 16 7 10 13 4 and oxidized intrusions 10 14 0 10 10 5 bars and rela tively low fhf fhcl ratios 10 3 0 10 1 0 in exsolved fluids compared to gs rocks reduced gms intrusions bear higher gold potential and thus may be prospective targets for intrusion related gold systems

fractional crystallization of primitive hydrous arc magmas an experimental study at 0 7 gpa differentiation of mantle derived hydrous basaltic magmas is a fundamental process to produce evolved intermediate to sio2 rich magmas that form the bulk of the middle to shallow continental and island arc crust this study reports the results of fractional crystallization experiments conducted in a piston cylinder apparatus at 0 7 gpa for hydrous calc alkaline to arc tholeiitic magmas fractional crystallization was approached by synthesis of starting materials representing the liquid composition of the previous higher temperature experiment temperatures ranged from near liquidus at 1 170 c to near solidus conditions at 700 c h2o contents varied from 3 0 to more than 10 wt the liquid line of descent covers the entire compositional range from olivine tholeiite 1 170 c to high silica rhyolite 700 c and evolves from metaluminous to peraluminous compositions the following crystallization sequence has been established olivine clinopyroxene plagioclase spinel orthopyroxene amphibole titanomagnetite apatite quartz biotite anorthite rich plagioclase and spinel are responsible for a marked increase in sio2 content from 51 to 53 wt at 1 040 c at lower temperatures fractionation of amphibole plagioclase and fe ti oxide over a temperature interval of 280 c drives the sio2 content continuously from 53 to 78 wt largest crystallization steps were recorded around 1 040 c and at 700 c about 40 of ultramafic plutonic rocks have to crystallize to generate basaltic andesitic liquids and an additional 40 of amphibole gabbroic cumulate to produce granitic melts andesitic liquids with a liquidus temperature of 1 010 c only crystallize 50 over an 280 c wide range to 730 c implying that such liquids form mobile crystal mushes 50 crystals in long lived magmatic systems in the middle crust allowing for extensive fractionation assimilation and hybridization with periodic replenishment of more mafic magmas from deeper magma reservoirs

titanium substitution in biotite an empirical model with applications to thermometry o2 and h2o barometries and consequences for biotite stability abstract an empirical model for solution of ti in biotite is developed and calibrated on the basis of various equilibria among biotite and ti saturating assemblages sources of data used for the calibration include both experimental products and published analyses of natural assemblages ti solution in biotite can be satisfactorily modelled by means of the exchange component tife 2 whose non ideal behavior can be approximated empirically by means of a linear function of the relative concentrations of ti and octahedral al in biotite within assemblages which fix the chemical potential of the exchange component tife 2 the concentration of this component in biotite is very sensitive to temperature and oxygen fugacity making it possible to use biotite oxide assemblages to obtain reliable t and f o 2 estimates in igneous and metamorphic rocks in assemblages which also contain alkali feldspar it is possible to use breakdown equilibria of ti additive components in biotite to estimate h 2 o fugacity such uses are likely to find important applications in rocks in which other assemblages sensitive to temperature f o 2 and or f h 2 o are absent in general rocks containing a single oxide phase plus biotite as the only mafic silicate phase alkali feldspar the empirical model for solution of ti in biotite also allows to calculate the loci of various terminal reactions for the assemblage titanian biotite quartz which by comparison with equivalent equilibria in ti free systems provide insight into the effect of ti on the stability of biotite solubility of ti in biotite increases with temperature in a strongly non linear fashion as a consequence calculations predict that the effect of ti on the stability of biotite is very small up to conditions typical of the beginning of the granulite facies of metamorphism but beyond those conditions ti concentration increases markedly and biotite is rendered very refractory at mid to deep crustal pressures 10 kbar the vapor absent solidus of biotite quartz in rocks containing ti saturating phases is likely to exceed 900 c even in bulk compositions with subequal concentrations of fe and mg

the history and economics of gold mining in china abstract as the largest producer of gold in the world china s gold reserves are spread across a number of orogenic belts that were constructed around ancient craton margins during various subduction collision cycles as well as within the cratonic interior along reactivated paleo sutures among the major gold deposits in china is the unique class of world s richest gold mines in the jiaodong peninsula in the eastern part of the north china craton with an overall endowment of 3000 tons following the dawn of metal in the third millennium bc in western china placer gold mining was soon in practice particularly during the xia shang and zhou dynasties during 1096 ad mining techniques were developed to dig underground tunnels and the earliest mineral processing technology was in place to pan gold from crushed rock ores however ancient china did not witness any major breakthrough in gold exploitation and production and the growth in the gold ownership was partly due to the silk road that enabled the sale of silk products and exquisite artifacts to the west in exchange of gold products in the modern times the proven reserves of gold resources in china have steadily increased from 4614 7 tons in 2005 up to 6864 79 tons in 2010 with a growth rate of 48 76 in the past ten years the rate of production increased by 70 launching china as the top producer of gold in the world in 2008 when the production reached 300 tons per year the gross industrial output of gold industry in china increased sharply from 20 82 billion yuan up to 229 29 billion yuan between 2000 and 2010 registering 9 times growth and breaking the world record a simultaneous hike in the proportion of gross value in gdp from 0 21 in 2003 up to 0 58 in 2010 is also recorded

mineral chemistry of hydrothermal biotite from the kahang porphyry copper deposit ne isfahan central province of iran abstract the kahang porphyry cu deposit located northeast of isfahan city in central of iran is associated with a composite miocene stock and ranges in composition from diorite through granodiorite to quartz monzonite field observations and petrographic studies show that the emplacement of the kahang stock occurred in several pulses each associated with its related hydrothermal activity early hydrothermal alteration started with a potassic style in the central part of the system and produced a secondary biotite k feldspar magnetite assemblage accompanied by chalcopyrite and pyrite mineralization propylitic alteration that took place at the same time as the potassic alteration occurred in the peripheral portions of the stock subsequent phyllic alteration overprinted earlier potassic and propylitic alterations biotite grains from the potassic and phyllic zones show distinct chemical compositions the feo tio2 mno k2o and na2o concentrations in biotite from the phyllic alteration zone are lower than those from the potassic alteration zone the f and cl contents of biotite from the potassic alteration zone display relatively high positive correlation with the xmg the fluorine intercept values iv f from the potassic and phyllic alteration zones are strongly correlated with the fluorine chlorine intercept values iv f cl biotite geothermometry for the potassic and phyllic alteration zones based on the biotite geothermometer of beane 1974 yields a temperature range of 422 to 437 c mean 430 c and 329 to 336 c mean 333 c respectively the position of data in log xf xoh ratio vs xmg and xfe diagram suggests that biotite formed under dissimilar composition and temperature conditions in the potassic and phyllic alteration zones calculated log fugacity ratios of fh2o fhf fh2o fhcl and fhf fhcl show that hydrothermal fluids associated with the potassic alteration were distinctively different from those fluids associated with the phyllic alteration zone at kahang porphyry cu deposit the results of this research indicate that the chemistry of biotite is related to the chemical composition of the magma and the prevailing physical conditions during crystallization

geochronology and magmatic oxygen fugacity of the tongcun molybdenum deposit northwest zhejiang se china the tongcun mo porphyry deposit in northwest zhejiang is hosted in three porphyry units huangbaikeng songjiazhuang and tongcun from southwest to northeast u pb zircon ages of 162 3 0 ma for the huangbaikeng porphyry 159 9 3 0 ma for the songjiazhuang porphyry and 167 6 155 6 ma for the tongcun porphyry indicate that these intrusions formed during the jurassic and are most likely associated with the northwestward subduction of the izanagi plate trace element compositions of zircons from the tongcun deposit constrain the oxygen fugacity fo2 of the magma using zircon ce anomalies and ti in zircon temperatures the average magmatic fo2 for the porphyries in the tongcun deposit is fayalite magnetite quartz fmq 2 7 which is similar to the shapinggou fmq 3 2 and dabaoshan fmq 3 5 mo porphyry deposits but much higher than that of the reduced cretaceous ore barren shangjieshou porphyry fmq 1 1 around 8 km away from the tongcun deposit the distinct difference in magmatic oxygen fugacity between the jurassic and cretaceous porphyries may help to explain the absence of mo porphyry mineralization in northwest zhejiang during the cretaceous

magmatic sulfides and au cu ratios in porphyry deposits an experimental study of copper and gold partitioning at 850 c 100 mpa in a haplogranitic melt pyrrhotite intermediate solid solution gold metal assemblage at gas saturation abstract the behavior of copper and gold in the phase assemblage pyrrhotite po intermediate solid solution iss haplogranitic melt gold metal capsule at 850 c 100 mpa and gas saturation ah2o 0 9 has been investigated the results are presented as nernst partition coefficients the partition coefficient dcupo melt 2 6 0 3 103 1 was determined for po and melt in equilibrium with an iss of composition cu 19 1 fe 30 1 s 51 1 2 for gold the partition coefficients are dauiss melt 5 7 2 2 103 1 between iss and melt and daupo melt 140 40 1 between po and melt these imply dauiss po 42 9 1 between iss and po the oxygen fugacity for the experiments log f o 2 13 2 0 3 1 was determined by using the hydrogen sensor technique the sulfur fugacity log f s 2 1 0 0 7 1 was calculated from the composition of po in our experiments melts at iss saturation have cu fe by weight of ca 1 100 the results indicate that crystallization of iss may deplete a melt in gold and crystallization of po may deplete a melt in copper however a melt saturated with iss at a given bulk composition temperature pressure oxygen and sulfur fugacity and feo concentration will have a fixed concentration of cu preventing strong depletion of the melt in cu until iss is fractionated from the melt or changes in environmental conditions destabilize iss a thermodynamic model for the partitioning of cu and au between po and melt in terms of oxygen and sulfur fugacity indicates that dcupo melt and daupo melt may increase greatly with increasing sulfur fugacity and decreasing oxygen fugacity within the po stability field the model also suggests that destabilization of both iss and po relative to magnetite due to changes in oxygen and sulfur fugacities can result in the release of cu and au from the sulfides to the melt

tectonics and distribution of gold deposits in china an overview gold exploration in china has expanded rapidly during the last two decades since a modern approach to economic development has become a national priority china currently produces 180 tonnes t of gold annually which is still significantly less than south africa usa and australia however china is now recognized as possessing significant gold resources in a wide range of mineral deposit types present estimates of gold resources in china exceed 4 500 t which comprise 60 in gold only deposits more than 25 in base metal rich skarn porphyry and vein deposits and more than 10 in placer accumulations the major gold provinces in china formed during the main episodes of phanerozoic tectonism such tectonism involved interaction of china s three major precambrian cratons north china tarim and yangtze or south china when combined with cathaysia block with the angara or siberian kazakhstan kyrgyzstan and indian cratons resulting collisions included deformation of accreted oceanic sequences between the cratonic blocks the most important ore forming orogenies were 1 the late paleozoic variscan 405 270 ma which led to amalgamation of the angara north china and yangtze cratons 2 the indosinian 270 208 ma which led to the collision of north china and south china cratons 3 the yanshanian 208 90 ma which was largely influenced by the subduction of the izanagi pacific plates beneath eastern china and 4 the himalayan 90 ma indentation of the indian continent into eurasia no important precambrian gold systems are recognized in china mainly because of reworking of exposed precambrian rocks by these younger orogenies but there are a few caledonian 600 405 ma gold bearing systems in northern xinjiang most of china s orogenic epithermal and carlin like gold deposits are in the reworked margins of major cratonic blocks and in metasedimentary rock dominated fold belts adjacent to these margins accordingly the major gold provinces are present along the northern southeastern and southern margins of the north china craton along the southwestern and northwestern margins of the yangtze craton in the tianshan and altayshan orogenic belts in northern xinjiang and throughout the southeastern china fold belt gold placer deposits derived from these primary deposits are concentrated in the northernmost part of northeastern china and along the northwestern margin of the yangtze craton the major provinces with significant gold in porphyry related copper systems and base metal skarns are present in the yangtze river area along the northeastern and southeastern margin of the yangtze craton in the fold belt in southwestern china and scattered through northern china three quarters of the chinese gold only deposits occur within the north china craton margins half are located in the uplifted precambrian metamorphic rocks and most of the remainder are hosted in the phanerozoic granitoids that intruded the reworked precambrian terranes the abundance of granite hosted gold contrasts the north china craton with other precambrian cratons such as those in western australia central canada and zimbabwe where gold is mainly hosted in the archean greenstone belts this difference may be explained by the multiple episodes of phanerozoic tectonism along the north china craton margins resulting from the collision of the angara north china and south china cratons and from subduction of the izanagi pacific oceanic plates underneath the eastern china continent

magmatic arc asymmetry and distribution of anomalous plutonic belts in the batholiths of california effects of assimilation crustal thickness and depth of crystallization in order to better understand geologic fac tors controlling pronounced regional variations in whole rock chemistry mineralogy and mineral chemistry in the batholiths of california we calculate the magmatic intensive variables f hf f h 2 o f hf f hcl and f o 2 regional scale west to east increases in f oh in mafic silicates corresponding to the systematic i wc to i mc and i sc progression reflect orders of magnitude increase in f hf f h 2 o attending pluton crystallization low f hf f h 2 o of formation of western i wc types is consistent with their derivation from low fluorine source rocks in subducted oceanic slabs or the upper mantle in contrast higher f hf f h 2 o of crystallization of i mc and i sc types to the east implies the involvement of 1 progressively greater amounts of continental crustal source material such as biotite bearing metamorphic rocks their unweathered sedimentary derivatives retaining f rich mafic minerals or their fusion products and or 2 source materials which become more f rich toward the continental interior the regional distribution of i mc and i sc types suggests that the precambrian craton of western north america or derivative sediments may extend farther north in california and be morphologically more complex than previously thought from seemingly out of place occurrences of i wc plutons on the eastern slopes of the sierra nevada batholith we infer the existence of regions where precambrian basement was thin or absent in mesozoic time which prevented extensive cratonal contamination of subducted slab or upper mantle derived magmas new methods for estimating t f o 2 relations in the magmas demonstrate that i scr granites crystallize at oxygen fugacities as much as five orders of magnitude lower than those of i wc i mc and i sc types under conditions at or below the maximum stability limit of graphite in equilibrium with a c o h s gas phase the local scale formation of i scr granites in plutonic belts within specific wall rock terranes containing highly reducing sediments or metasediments may occur by contamination of i types with graphitic pelite or in some cases by the direct fusion of this reducing pelitic wall rock the spatial distribution of i scr granite provinces therefore is controlled simply by wall rock lithology amphibole geobarometry demonstrates a general west to east decrease in crystallization pressure across the sierra nevada batholith in contrast the peninsular ranges batholith displays a west to east crystallization pressure increase the bulk of the california batholiths crystallized at pressures less than 4 5 kb and depths less than about 15 19 km in the southern sierra nevada batholith the san gabriels and the eastern peninsular ranges however plutons crystallized at pressures exceeding 6 kb at deep crustal levels 23 km reconstruction of the pre erosion top of the batholith shows that in an east west cross section the central sierra nevada batholith was a horizontal tabular body with an aspect ratio of at least five to one

archean blocks and their boundaries in the north china craton lithological geochemical structural and p t path constraints and tectonic evolution an examination of lithological geochemical geochronological structural and metamorphic p t path data suggests that the basement of the north china craton can be divided into eastern and western blocks separated by major crustal boundaries that roughly correspond with the limits of a 300 km wide zone called the trans north china orogen the eastern block consists predominantly of late archean domiform tonalitic trondhjemitic granodioritic ttg batholiths surrounded by anastomosing networks and linear belts of open to tight synforms of minor volcanic and sedimentary rocks metamorphosed from greenschist to granulite facies at 2 5 ga with anticlockwise p t paths some early to middle archean rocks are locally present in the eastern block but their tectonic history is unclear due to reworking by the 2 5 ga tectonothermal event the western block has a late archean assemblage structural style and metamorphic history similar to that of the eastern block but it differs in the absence of early to middle archean assemblages and in being overlain by and interleaved with paleoproterozoic khondalites which were affected by a 1 8 ga metamorphic event involving clockwise p t paths a mantle plume model is proposed for the formation and evolution of late archean basement rocks in the eastern and western blocks based on a combination of extensive exposure of ttg gneisses affinities of mafic rocks to continental tholeiitic basalts presence of voluminous komatiitic rocks dominant diaprism related domiform structures anticlockwise p t paths and a short time span from the primary emplacement of ttg and ultramafic to mafic rocks until the onset of regional metamorphism between the two blocks is the trans north china orogen which is bounded by two major fault systems and is composed of late archean to paleoproterozoic ttg gneisses and granitoids interleaved with abundant sedimentary and volcanic rocks that are geochemically interpreted as having developed in magmatic arc and intra arc basin environments these rocks underwent multiple phases of compressional deformation and peak high pressure metamorphism followed by rapid exhumation during the late paleoproterozoic at 1 8 ga as a result of collision between the eastern and western blocks resulting in the amalgamation of the north china craton

ice age true polar wander in a compressible and non hydrostatic earth summary issues related to long timescale instability in the earth s rotation named true polar wander tpw have continuously been debated after the pioneering works of the sixties we show ice age tpw results from a newly developed compressible model based on the numerical integration in the radial variable of the momentum and poisson equations and on the contour integration in the laplace domain which allows us to deal with the non modal contribution from continuous radial rheological variations we thus fully exploit the long term behaviour of the earth s rotation and we quantify the effects of the compressible rheology compared to the widely used incompressible one we discuss the so called traditional approach to the earth s rotation developed during the eighties and nineties both for ice age and mantle convection tpw and we explain within this approach the sensitivity of twp predictions to the elastic and viscoelastic rheologies of the lithosphere we agree on the necessity to include the effects of the non hydrostatic bulge from mantle convection to obtain realistic ice age tpw rates in the lower mantle viscosity range 1021 1022 pa s as first indicated by mitrovica et al their analysis represents a first attempt to couple the effects on tpw from mantle convection and glacial forcing by including the non hydrostatic bulge due to mantle convection but not the other time dependent driving terms this partial coupling freezes in space the non hydrostatic contribution due to mantle convection thus damping the present day ice age tpw and forcing the axis of instantaneous rotation to come back to its initial position when ice ages started as discussed in mitrovica et al we also describe a peculiar behavior of the new ice age tpw predictions exhibiting a dampened pendulum motion with the axis of instantaneous rotation overcrossing the position it had before ice ages started we argue that a viscoelastic rather than elastic lithosphere should be adopted in the modelling of tpw although on the time of ice ages it is difficult to disentangle the effects of lithospheric rheology and of mantle convection we discuss the implication of self consistent convection calculations of the non hydrostatic contribution and its impact on the long term earth s rotation stability during ice ages the ice age tpw cannot account for more than 70 per cent of the observed one at least for lower mantle viscosities lower than 1022 pa s mantle convection must therefore contribute to the observed tpw

mineral chemistry of ore and hydrothermal alteration at the sossego iron oxide copper gold deposit carajas mineral province brazil abstract the sossego iron oxide copper gold deposit in the carajas mineral province comprises two major orebodies sequeirinho and sossego sodic alteration albite hematite and sodic calcic alteration zones represented by albite ferro edenite hastingsite up to 3 8 wt cl actinolite magnesiohornblende magnetite titanite epidote and calcite are predominant at sequeirinho magnetite bodies with envelopes of apatite rich actinolitite were formed with the sodic calcic event at high temperatures 500 c at 1 4 kbar in the sossego orebody potassic alteration with orthoclase and cl rich biotite up to 3 1 wt and chloritization are the main alteration types mineralized breccias in both orebodies have coarse grained zoned actinolite ferro actinolite cl apatite and magnetite within the matrix sulfides occur in equilibrium with a paragenetically late calcite quartz chlorite epidote allanite assemblage the al iv contents of the chlorite indicate crystallization at temperatures below 300 c chalcopyrite occurs associated with pyrite up to 2 3 wt co and 0 2 wt ni native gold up to 14 9 wt ag siegenite millerite vaesite pd melonite and hessite dilution and cooling of the hot metalliferous fluid 500 c by mixing with meteoric fluids may have been the main mechanisms responsible for the deposition of metals transported as metal chloride complexes in both orebodies of the sossego deposit

experimental constraints on pre eruptive conditions of phonolitic magma from the caldera forming el abrigo eruption tenerife canary islands abstract we have performed phase equilibrium experiments to determine the pre eruptive conditions of the largest caldera forming eruption 20 km 3 of dre that has occurred on tenerife canary islands the abrigo ignimbrite is phonolitic and was erupted during the last caldera forming episode ca 190 ka prior to the construction of the teide pico viejo active central complex the abrigo phonolite contains low amounts of phenocrysts ca 7 vol mainly sanidine biotite clinopyroxene and magnetite with minor amounts of titanite apatite and hauyne we have investigated pressures from 50 to 250 mpa temperatures of 700 900 c water contents in the melt from 1 5 to ca 10 wt and oxygen fugacity f o 2 from 1 log unit above the ni nio solid buffer to quartz magnetite fayalite comparison of the natural and experimental phase proportions and compositions indicates that the phonolite at the roof of the abrigo magma reservoir was at 130 50 mpa corresponding to ca 4 5 km below the surface 825 25 c with 3 1 wt dissolved h 2 o and f o 2 at the ni nio buffer 1 log unit this shows that the magma that produced the largest ignimbrite on tenerife was stored at relatively shallow depths but was water undersaturated and its eruption was probably triggered by input of fresh mafic magma comparison of the abrigo phase equilibrium results with those obtained in other phonolitic magmas e g eifel kerguelen somma vesuvius shows that the major element and probably fluid composition h 2 o cl and s may have a strong effect on the presence or absence of phases and their compositions extrapolating phase equilibria results obtained on a specific phonolite to constrain the pre eruptive conditions of other phonolites should be done with care

primary magmatic biotite in granitoid intrusions associated with late mesozoic jinchanggouliang erdaogou lode gold deposits north china craton linkage to gold mineralization abstract the late mesozoic jinchanggouliang and erdaogou lode gold deposits in the central segment of the northern north china craton are mainly hosted in late archaean metamorphic rocks of the jianping formation and jurassic volcanic sedimentary rocks these deposits are spatially and temporally associated with a series of i type granitoid intrusions i e the 128 136 ma duimiangou granodiorite complex with a massive margin and a porphyritic center at jinchanggouliang the 161 4 1 1 ma loushang quartz diorite intrusion and numerous syenite porphyry dykes 160 9 1 0 ma at erdaogou and the 227 217 ma xitaizi monzogranite batholith compositions of primary magmatic biotite in these granitoid intrusions have been used to investigate the nature of granitoid magmas and the evolution of magmatic processes and to identify possible linkages between gold mineralization and granitoid magmatism all primary magmatic biotite grains are mg rich in composition xmg mg mg fe 0 41 0 69 the cl contents of biotite 0 09 0 42 wt in the loushang quartz diorite and the duimiangou massive granodiorite correlate negatively with xmg and are consistent with the mg cl avoidance rule the cl contents of biotite 0 01 0 14 wt in the duimiangou porphyritic granodiorite syenite porphyry and xitaizi monzogranite on the other hand remain relatively constant and may be affected by multiple variables such as cl rich fluids and subtle changes in temperature halogen fugacity of the parental magma calculated from biotite shows that the duimiangou granodiorite complex at jinchanggouliang and syenite porphyry dykes at erdaogou have the log fhf fhcl ranges of 0 71 to 0 27 and 2 16 to 1 08 respectively and have similar log fh2o fhcl values from 3 53 to 4 23 oxygen fugacities logfo2 calculated from biotite equilibria for the duimiangou granodiorite complex and syenite porphyry dykes are 13 7 to 7 2 straddling on the nickel nickel oxide and hematite magnetite buffers the xitaizi monzogranite and the loushang quartz diorite have lower log fo2 values from 14 9 to 12 4 between the nickel nickel oxide and hematite magnetite buffers the duimiangou granodiorite complex and syenite porphyry dykes with high oxygen fugacities are similar to oxidized magmas associated with porphyry cu mo au deposits these results suggest that multiple episodes of i type granitoid magmas in the study area were rich in cl and high in oxygen fugacity especially those associated with the duimiangou granodiorite complex and syenite porphyry dykes the i type melts represented by the duimiangou granodiorite complex and syenite porphyry dykes as well as their related cl rich oxidizing fluids were likely efficient in dissolving transporting and precipitating gold for the formation of the jinchanggouliang and erdaogou lode gold deposits

late paleozoic to early mesozoic mafic ultramafic complexes from the northern north china block constraints on the composition and evolution of the lithospheric mantle abstract the late paleozoic to early mesozoic mafic ultramafic complexes from the northern north china block ncb are used to constrain the isotopic composition and evolution of mantle reservoirs during different tectonic stages prior to the initiation of lithosphere destruction in the late mesozoic zircon u pb ages show that emplacement of the mafic ultramafic complexes occurred in at least three stages middle devonian ca 395 ma late carboniferous early permian 308 276 ma and triassic 250 220 ma most of the middle devonian complexes display low initial 87sr 86sr ratios of 0 70467 0 70492 weak to moderate negative end t values from 6 3 to 1 5 and weakly negative to weakly positive zircon ehf t values from 11 5 to 5 5 indicating that the parent magma was derived from slightly enriched lithospheric mantle the late carboniferous early permian complexes are characterized by low initial 87sr 86sr ratios of 0 70521 0 70604 significant negative end t values from 14 1 to 9 3 and zircon ehf t values from 17 0 to 10 5 and were probably derived from metasomatized lithospheric mantle the early triassic complexes exhibit initial 87sr 86sr ratios of 0 70656 0 70825 and significant negative end t values from 17 1 to 8 2 indicating their derivation from enriched lithospheric mantle however the late triassic mafic ultramafic complexes display weakly negative to weakly positive end t values of 4 4 to 0 5 and zircon ehf t values from 2 9 to 1 7 indicating that magma sources likely resulted from mixing of depleted asthenospheric mantle and enriched lithospheric mantle zircon ages geochemistry and sr nd hf isotopic studies suggest that the lithospheric mantle beneath the northern ncb had a slightly enriched signature during the middle devonian but it became significantly enriched during the late carboniferous to early permian due to metasomatism of lithospheric mantle during the southward subduction of the paleo asian oceanic plate after final closure of the paleo asian ocean and amalgamation of the mongolian arc terranes with the northern ncb in the latest permian to earliest triassic enriched lithospheric mantle still existed beneath the northern ncb during the early triassic however in the late triassic involvement of asthenospheric mantle became significant owing to strong upwelling of asthenospheric mantle and post collisional lithospheric delamination in the early late triassic these results suggest that the cratonic lithospheric mantle beneath the northern ncb underwent multiple stages of modification prior to its destruction and thinning initiation of lithospheric destruction and thinning in the northern ncb likely occurred during the early late triassic which is much earlier than in other parts of the ncb where it occurred in the late mesozoic it appears likely that lithospheric destruction and thinning of the ncb initially started at the northern and eastern margins of the craton as a result of post collisional lithospheric delamination and then spread to the interior of the craton

mineral chemistry and isotopic composition of magmatic re equilibrated and hydrothermal biotites from darreh zar porphyry copper deposit kerman southeast of iran abstract the darreh zar porphyry copper in the southeastern part of the urumieh dokhtar magmatic belt developed as a consequence of hydrothermal alteration related to the darreh zar granodioritc porphyry stock intruded into mafic volcanic rocks hydrothermal alteration and cu mo mineralization are focused on the darreh zar porphyry pluton belonging to miocene time and the neighboring basaltic country rocks a core zone of potassic alteration is enclosed by a peripheral zone of chlorite sericite sericitic argillic and propylitic alteration judging by petrographic features as well as chemical composition the biotites studied display variable size color and shape and occur as magmatic m re equilibrated r and hydrothermal h types the m and r type biotites are found in the darreh zar porphyry and the h type formed during potassic alteration within the darreh zar porphyry and the volcanic host rocks as well the hydrothermal biotites are characterized by the highest amounts of al 2 o 3 and k 2 o whereas the magmatic types are hosted by high level of tio 2 up to 4 38 wt x mg values vary between 0 31 and 0 61 which is increased from m to r biotites then decreased toward low temperature potassic alteration zone fluorine and chlorine contents from biotite types also vary between 0 07 to 0 56 wt and 0 14 to 0 38 wt respectively these values change to 2 94 to 2 15 wt and 3 6 to 4 4 wt for iv f and iv cl respectively in all types of biotites positive correlation is observed between x mg al 2 o 3 na 2 o k 2 o bao and f but with feo and cl it is negative the tio 2 content clearly decreases from the m to r and h type average 3 98 2 9 and 2 4 wt respectively a direct relation may be noted between mg and oxygen fugacity log f h 2 o f hf and log f h 2 o f hcl values range from 6 24 to 5 46 and 4 49 to 4 12 wt respectively oxygen fugacity increases during formation of re equilibrated biotites but it decreases in the course of potassic alteration crystallization temperatures range from 600 to 650 c 550 to 600 c and 450 to 550 c for magmatic re equilibrated and hydrothermal biotites respectively the m biotites from darreh zar have the d values of 89 to 101 and the calculated d values of the aqueous fluids 66 to 78 in equilibrium with the biotites are consistent with a large component of magmatic fluid which shows similarities with the biotite originated from the primary mantle source the 18 o also varies between 7 4 to 8 2 for fluids in equilibrium with biotites the obtained m biotite data from darreh zar porphyry indicates that there is no clear correlation between d values fe and mg contents but for d values al and fe 3 fe 2 some affinities were observed the isotopic data indicate that m biotites are formed at high temperature 620 20 c from fluids with the highest 18 o h 2 o 7 8 0 4 in comparison with the biotites from some other copper porphyries

single grain pyrite rb sr dating of the linglong gold deposit eastern china abstract this study employs the single grain pyrite rb sr technique to date mineralization using the example of the linglong lode gold deposit jiaodong peninsula eastern china the gold deposits in this area are interpreted to have a consistent spatial temporal relationship with widespread late jurassic early cretaceous magmatism in eastern china likely related to lithospheric thinning around 120 ma pyrite of the linglong gold mine contains different types of mineral inclusions such as sericite and feldspar that cause distinguishable variations in rb and sr contents and rb sr ratios four pyrite samples from veins of different mineralization stages give an average isochron age of 120 6 0 9 ma analyses of one quartz and two sericite samples yield isochron ages between 122 ma and 120 ma dating of mineralization is often hampered by disequilibrium of isotopic systems and or the lack of suitable minerals for dating purposes hence the successful attempt of the single grain rb sr technique of pyrite which occurs as a common mineral phase in orebodies and is genetically related to the mineralization has great potential for precise geochronology of hydrothermal mineral deposits

a review of the geodynamic setting of large scale late mesozoic gold mineralization in the north china craton an association with lithospheric thinning abstract abundant gold deposits are distributed along the margins of the north china craton ncc occurring throughout the precambrian basement and located in or proximal to mesozoic granitoids these deposits show a consistent spatial temporal association with late jurassic early cretaceous magmatism and are characterized by quartz lode or disseminated styles of mineralization with extensive alteration of wall rock their ages are mainly early cretaceous 130 110 ma and constrain a very short period of metallogenesis sr nd pb isotopic tracers of ores minerals and associated rocks indicate that gold and associated metals mainly were derived from multi sources i e the wall rocks precambrian basement and mesozoic granites and associated mafic rocks previous studies including high surface heat flow uplift and later basin development slow seismic wave speeds in the upper mantle and a change in the character of mantle xenoliths sampled by paleozoic to cenozoic magmas have been used to suggest that ancient cratonic mantle lithosphere was removed from the base of the ncc some time after the ordovician and replaced by younger less refractory lithospheric mantle the geochemistry and isotopic compositions of the mafic rocks associated with gold mineralization 130 110 ma indicate that they were derived from an ancient enriched lithospheric mantle source whereas the mafic dikes and volcanic rocks younger than 110 ma were derived from a relatively depleted mantle source i e asthenospheric mantle according to their age and sources relation to magmatism and geodynamic framework the gold deposits were formed during lithospheric thinning the removal of lithospheric mantle and the upwelling of new asthenospheric mantle induced partial melting and dehydration of the lithospheric mantle and lower crust due to an increase of temperature the fluids derived from the lower crust were mixed with magmatic and meteoric waters and resulted in the deposition of gold and associated metals

charnockite magmatism during a transitional phase implications for late paleoproterozoic ridge subduction in the north china craton abstract the trans north china orogen tnco is a major paleoproterozoic collisional belt along which the western and eastern blocks of the north china craton were amalgamated the luliang complex occurs along the western margin of this belt and incorporates several arc magmatic suites supracrustal sequences granitoids and charnockites here we investigate the luyashan charnockite suite as well as the surrounding granitoids from this complex we present results from petrology fluid inclusions mineral chemistry whole rock geochemistry and zircon u pb and lu hf isotopic studies the charnockites are dominantly anhydrous with the typical presence of orthopyroxene microthermometric and laser raman spectroscopic data on fluid inclusions in the charnockite characterize the trapped fluids as dominantly co2 with traces of n2 and ch4 geochemically the charnockite suite shows compositional variation from monzogabbro through gabbroic diorite and diorite to monzodiorite they are dominantly calc alkaline and ferroan type and display distinct enrichment in large ion lithophile elements with depletion in hree they also show prominent negative anomalies of nb ta sr and ti and positive anomalies of rb pb zr and hf indicating crustal components in the magma source the majority of the granitoid suite shows 207pb 206pb mean ages in the range of 2172 2032 ma correlating with similar ages reported from various groups in the luliang complex the formation of which is correlated with subduction along an active convergent margin however the charnockites which intrude the granitoids and their dioritic enclaves are clearly younger and show tightly constrained emplacement ages in the range of 1853 1872 ma the recrystallized zircons in the older granitoids also show similar ages suggesting a prominent thermal event at this time these ages are close to the timing of final collision between the western and eastern blocks of the north china craton and associated high grade metamorphism at ca 1 85 ga the zircon lu hf isotope data reveal dominantly negative hf t values 8 7 to 0 1 and their tdmc 2477 3042 ma suggest that the magma sources mainly involved meso to neoarchean reworked crustal components with limited input of paleoproterozoic juvenile components our study reveals that charnockite magmatism and regional metamorphism in the western margin of the tnco broadly overlap in space and time the geochemical features mineral assemblages and fluid inclusion characteristics of the charnockites suggest that the rocks were derived from high temperature 900 1000 c co2 enriched and anhydrous less than 3 h2o magmas the magma evolved into more hydrous conditions during cooling marked by the crystallization of amphiboles at 800 850 c the geochemical features of the charnockite suite also suggest that these rocks were formed during a transitional phase from syn subduction to collision such a scenario is compatible with a tectonic setting involving the subduction of an oceanic ridge when flushing of heat and co2 rich fluids from asthenosphere into the overriding plate might have occurred through the slab window generating hot and anhydrous magmas through melting of the basement rocks the slab window mechanism would also account for broadly coeval high temperature and high pressure granulites reported from the tnco we therefore speculate that the formation of the luyashan charnockite suite might have been associated with ridge subduction at the terminal stage of the convergence