an outline of the plate tectonics of china china is principally a part of the eurasian plate but the margins of the indian and philippine sea plates are involved in the himalayas and in the coastal range of taiwan respectively within the eurasian plate the cathaysian paleoplate is separated from the angaraian paleoplate by the junggar hegen suture which contains paleozoic ophiolites and rare blueschists the three microplates of the cathaysian paleoplate consist of precambrian cratons and or phanerozoic accretionary fold belts these coalesced precambrian cratons record at least six stages of intense orogeny before cratonization the paleozoic to cenozoic accretionary fold belts of china can be correlated with similar events now found in west pacific andean and atlantic type active continental margins ophiolites occupying many of these tectonic zones provide evidence for the age and igneous history of oceanic crust formed during the paleozoic to cenozoic the presence of blueschist in some of these chinese sutures reveals evidence of large scale subduction and tectonic exhumation during consolidation of the eurasian plate cenozoic collision of the eurasian and indian plates produced deformation and uplift of the himalayas strongly influencing the tectonics of western china in contrast mesozoic tertiary evolution of eastern china is typical basin range geology similar to that of the western united states which included development of deep sedimentary basins along with calc alkaline plutonic and volcanic activity associated with crustal thinning and high heat flow the complicated tectonic evolution of china is greatly illuminated by the presence of ophiolites and blueschists in proterozoic to tertiary convergent boundaries these petrotectonic assemblages provide evidence of an extremely mobile history of plate movement in china

p t t paths of collisional orogens pressure temperature time p t t paths summarize the changes in pressure and temperature imposed on a metamorphic rock during orogenesis they provide a convenient framework for the interpretation of complex metamorphic histories and also offer insight into the thermal and tectonic factors controlling metamorphism in collisional orogens p t t data are acquired through a combination of textural observations thermobarometry and thermochronometry and assembled into a p t t path using geological constraints one dimensional p t t models assuming instantaneous deformation and thermal relaxation by conduction are flexible and useful for testing tectonic models particularly where geochronological constraints are available two dimensional models allow more sophisticated deformation geometries and allow the effects of advection to be incorporated analysis of collisional orogens in terms of critical wedge theory can yield p t t paths that reflect coupling between thickening uplift exhumation erosion and convergence where rates of erosion approach rates of tectonic uplift as is currently happening in the southern alps of new zealand high grade metamorphic rocks can be exhumed rapidly from considerable depth alternatively rapid exhumation may reflect gravity driven extension in an over steepened or thermally weakened orogen

granulites in the tongbai area qinling belt china geochemistry petrology single zircon geochronology and implications for the tectonic evolution of eastern asia the tongbai area of the eastern qinling belt in china includes granulite grade metamorphic assemblages qinling complex which were previously regarded as archean to early proterozoic in age and belonging to the southern margin of the north china plate craton our petrological and geochemical data characterize these rocks as two pyroxene granulites and garnet granulites which formed at temperatures of 757 840 c and pressures of about 9 5 kbar and are now found as xenoliths in granodioritic gneisses the protoliths of these rocks were granodiorites and tholeiitic basalt or gabbro the 207pb 206pb ratios derived from evaporation of single zircons yield ages of 470 20 and 470 14 ma respectively for the basic granulites which we interpret to reflect the time of protolith emplacement these are intruded by a 435 14 ma granodioritic gneiss post dating granulite formation a metaquartzite sample contains detrital zircons as old as 2555 8 ma two samples of granitoid gneiss from the tongbai complex s of the qinling granulites have single zircon 207pb 206pb evaporation ages of 776 8 and 746 10 ma respectively and document late proterozoic igneous activity we suggest that the qinling granulites document an important and hitherto unknown phase of early silurian crustal thickening following subduction and continental collision and that both the qinling and tongbai complexes were part of the southern margin of the north china craton prior to this event and record late proterozoic igneous activity

evolution of the turfan basin chinese central asia the turfan basin extends approximately 550 km east west by 100 km north south within northwest china and is located between branches of the intracontinental tien shan orogenic belt at present it is an intermontane foreland basin loaded by southward transported thrust sheets at its northern margin this deformation is a long distance manifestation of the india asia collision but the orientation and location of cenozoic structures is strongly influenced by the pre cenozoic history of the region the exposed basement marginal to the turfan basin consists of volcanics granitoids volcaniclastics and deepwater sedimentary rocks associated with the north tien shan island arc and subduction accretion complexes north of the north tien shan fault this arc had accreted to the central tien shan by late carboniferous to early permian times the north tien shan fault represents a major boundary between paleozoic arcs and accretionary complexes to the north and proterozoic basement of the central tien shan and tarim block to the south postcollisional thrusting appears to have provided a tectonic load for lower permian subsidence and sedimentation early postcollisional strata are turbidites but there was a shoaling of facies until the deposition of permo triassic conglomerates no marine sediments have been deposited in the region since the paleozoic at least two mesozoic episodes of compressional deformation are recorded at the northern margin of the basin which was an intermontane foreland basin during this era lower jurassic fluvial and lacustrine clastic rocks lie above a regional unconformity an oligocene unconformity marks the onset of coarse clastic sedimentation in the cenozoic and probably indicates the start of major compressional deformation related to the india asia collision sedimentation rates have increased through the cenozoic the neotectonics of the turfan basin are dominated by a southward directed thrust system emergent within the basin at the fire mountains range southward directed thrusting appears to have been a feature of mesozoic age tectonics and possibly the late paleozoic tectonics of the basin the most important neotectonic structures in the turfan basin follow older structural trends

geology of skarn and high grade gold in the carr fork mine utah high grade gold mineralization occurs as an overprint to copper gold skarns in the carr fork mine geological and geochemical studies and geostatistical comparison of the distribution of gold in the copper gold skarns and in the high grade gold mineralization show that gold was deposited in two separate and distinguishable events deposition with copper in skarn ores under multiple controls and high grade gold mineralization which formed a shoot in skarns hosted by the parnell limestone the gold content of material produced at this stage is much higher than that of the skarn ores high grade gold accompanies distinct alteration characterized by clay pyrite and quartz pyrite tennantite anomalous au as sb hg si s and tl and depletion of pd ca and se the high grade gold mineralization comprises at least three episodes determined from petrographic and microprobe studies it preceded the quartz molybdenum veins the statistical characteristics of the high grade gold are separable from the copper gold mineralization in histograms scattergrams and variograms the mean of the high grade gold composites is 0 3 troy oz short ton directional variograms of skarn ore show that a pervasive n 20 degrees e fault set and the distance to the bingham stock contact controlled the copper and gold grades elevation seems to have been an additional control on gold grades in skarn the shoot of high grade gold mineralization in the parnell limestone comprises a diluted drilled resource of 1 2 million tons evidence suggests that it continues some distance beyond present drilling

geochemistry and evolution of ore forming fluids of the yueshan cu au skarn and vein type deposits anhui province south china abstract the yueshan mineral belt is geotectonically located at the centre of the changjiang deep fracture zone or depression of the lower yangtze platform two main types of ore deposits occur in the yueshan orefield cu au fe skarn deposits and cu mo au pb zn hydrothermal vein type deposits almost all deposits of economic interest are concentrated within and around the eastern and northern branches of the yueshan dioritic intrusion in the vicinity of the zongpu and wuhen intrusions there are many cu pb zn au s vein type and a few cu fe au skarn type occurrences fluid inclusion studies show that the ore forming fluids are characterised by a cl s na k chemical association hydrothermal activity associated with the above two deposit types was related to the yueshan intrusion the fluid salinity was high during the mineralisation processes and the fluid also underwent boiling and mixed with meteoric water in comparison the hydrothermal activity related to the zongpu and wuhen intrusions was characterised by low salinity fluids chlorine and sulphur species played an important role in the transport of ore forming components hydrogen and oxygen isotope data also suggest that the ore forming fluids in the yueshan mineral belt consisted of magmatic water mixed in various proportions with meteoric water the enrichment of ore forming components in the magmatic waters resulted from fluid melt partitioning the ore fluids of magmatic origin formed large cu au deposits whereas ore fluids of mixed magmatic meteoric origin formed small to medium sized deposits the sulphur isotopic composition of the skarn and vein type deposits varies from 11 3 to 19 2 and from 4 2 to 10 0 respectively these variations do not appear to have been resulted from changes of physicochemical conditions rather due to compositional variation of sulphur at the source s and by water rock interaction complex water rock interaction between the ore bearing magmatic fluids and sedimentary wall rocks was responsible for sulphur mixing lead and silicon isotopic compositions of the two deposit types and host rocks provide similar indications for the sources and evolution of the ore forming fluids hydrodynamic calculations show that magmatic ore forming fluids were channelled upwards into faults fractures and porous media with velocities of 1 4 m s 9 8 10 1 to 9 8 10 7 m s and 3 6 10 7 to 4 6 10 7 m s respectively a decrease of fluid migration velocity in porous media or tiny fractures in the contact zones between the intrusive rocks and the triassic sedimentary rocks led to the deposition of the ore forming components the major species responsible for cu transport are deduced to have been cucl cucl2 cucl32 and cucloh whereas au was transported as au2 hs 2s2 au hs 2 auhs and auh3sio4 complexes cooling and a decrease in chloride ion concentration caused by fluid boiling and mixing were the principal causes of cu deposition gold deposition was related to decrease of ph total sulphur concentration and fo2 which resulted from fluid boiling and mixing geological and geochemical characteristics of the two deposit types in the yueshan mineral belt suggest that there is a close genetic relationship with the dioritic magmatism geochronological data show that the magmatic activity and the mineralisation took place between 130 and 136 ma and represent a continuous process during the yanshanian time the cooling of the intrusions and the mineralisation event might have lasted about 6 ma the cooling rate of the magmatic intrusions was 80 to 120 c my 1 which permitted sufficient heat supply by magma to the ore forming system

sanjiang tethyan metallogenesis in s w china tectonic setting metallogenic epochs and deposit types abstract tectonically the sanjiang tethyan metallogenic domain stmd is located within the eastern himalayan tibetan orogen in the sanjiang tethys southwestern china although this metallogenic domain was initiated in the early palaeozoic extensive metallogenesis occurred in the late palaeozoic late triassic and himalayan tertiary epochs corresponding tectonic settings and environments in the domain are an arc basin system related to the subduction of the palaeo tethyan oceanic slabs a post collision crustal extension setting caused by the lithospheric delamination or slab breakoff underneath the sanjiang tethys during the late triassic large scale strike slip faulting and thrusting systems due to the indo asian continent collision since the palaeocene in this metallogenic domain important gold copper base metals rare metals and tin ore belts incorporating a large number of giant deposits were developed the main types of deposits include 1 porphyry copper deposits controlled by a large scale strike slip fault system 2 vhms deposits mainly occurring in intra arc rift basins and post collision crustal extensional basins 3 shear zone type gold deposits in the ophiolitic melange zone along the thrusting shearing system 4 hydrothermal silver polymetallic deposits in the triassic intra continental rift basins and tertiary strike slip pull apart basins and 5 himalayan granite related greisen type tin and rare metallic deposits within the metallogenic epochs of the late palaeozoic to cenozoic the styles and types of the ore deposits changed from vhms types in the late palaeozoic through exhalative sedimentary type deposits in the late triassic to porphyry type copper deposits shear zone type gold deposits hydrothermal vein type silver polymetallic deposits greisen type tin and rare metal deposits in the cenozoic correspondingly ore forming metals also changed from a pb zn cu ag association through ag cu pb zn fe ag pb and ag au hg associations to ag cu pb zn cu mo au sn and li rb cs nb zr hf y ce sc associations

palaeozoic collisional tectonics and magmatism of the chinese tien shan central asia abstract the chinese tien shan range is a palaeozoic orogenic belt which contains two collision zones the older southern collision accreted a north facing passive continental margin on the north side of the tarim block to an active continental margin on the south side of an elongate continental tract the central tien shan collision occurred along the qinbulak qawabulak fault southern tien shan suture the time of the collision is poorly constrained but was probably in in the late devonian early carboniferous we propose this age because of a major disconformity at this time along the north side of the tarim block and because the youshugou ophiolite is imbricated with middle devonian sediments a younger probably late carboniferous early permian collision along the north tien shan fault northern tien shan suture accreted the northern side of the central tien shan to an island arc which lay to its north the north tien shan arc this collision is bracketed by the middle carboniferous termination of arc magmatism and the appearance of late carboniferous or early permian elastics in a foreland basin developed over the extinct arc thrust sheets generated by the collision are proposed as the tectonic load responsible for the subsidence of this basin post collisional but palaeozoic dextral shear occurred along the northern suture zone this was accompanied by the intrusion of basic and acidic magmas in the central tien shan late palaeozoic basic igneous rocks from all three lithospheric blocks represented in the tien shan possess chemical characteristics associated with generation in supra subduction zone environments even though many post date one or both collisions rocks from each block also possess distinctive trace element chemistries which supports the three fold structural division of the orogenic belt it is unclear whether the chemical differences represent different source characteristics or are due to different episodes of magmatism being juxtaposed by later dextral strike slip fault motions because the southern collision zone in the tien shan is the older of the two the tarim block sensu stricto collided not with the eurasian landmass but with a continental block which was itself separated from eurasia by at least one ocean the destruction of this ocean in late carboniferous early permian times represented the final elimination of all oceanic basins from this part of central asia

mesozoic overthrust tectonics in south china whether south china was a platform or a para platform after the mid paleozoic deformation or whether the mountains of huanan south china form a mesozoic collision type orogen depends upon whether the ophiolite melange in the yangtze region is precambrian basement or was overthrust onto a foreland thrust belt during the mesozoic this paper presents evidence of tectonic windows under the melange and basement klippes above the melange in the yangtze region

gold and silver metallogeny of the south china fold belt a consequence of multiple mineralizing events abstract the south china fold belt is part of the south china block that is interpreted to be the result of multiple tectonic and magmatic events that formed a collage of accreted proterozoic and phanerozoic terranes the jurassic to early cretaceous yanshanian period 180 90 ma a time of major tectono thermal events that affected much of eastern and southeastern china is of great metallogenic importance in the fold belt this period is linked to subduction of the pacific plate beneath the eurasian continent and is manifested by voluminous volcano plutonic activity of predominantly calc alkaline affinity the distribution of gold and silver deposits in the south china fold belt indicates the presence of two distinct metallogenic provinces a region of basement uplifts which are controlled by shear zones and form neoproterozoic inliers of metamorphosed iron rich rock types defines the first province in this province orogenic lodes and volcanic related epithermal deposits represent the more significant precious metal mineralization the second province is essentially confined to a belt of yanshanian felsic intermediate volcanic and subvolcanic rocks that extends along most of the southeastern china coast in an area known as the coastal volcanic belt deposits in the coastal volcanic belt are silver and or copper rich volcanic hosted and epithermal in character the precious metal metallogeny of the south china fold belt is interpreted to have developed in at least three stages one as a result of collision events during the caledonian orogeny ca 400 ma the second during the indosinian orogeny ca 200 ma and the third during or soon after the formation of the yanshanian magmatic belt yanshanian orogeny 180 90 ma the latter was responsible for a hydrothermal event that affected large sections of the belt and its proterozoic substrate this may have resulted in the redistribution and enrichment of precious metals from preexisting orogenic gold lodes in neoproterozoic basement rocks which are now exposed as windows in zones of tectonic uplift the yanshanian hydrothermal activity was particularly widespread in the coastal volcanic belt and resulted in the formation of both low and high sulfidation epithermal gold and silver and locally copper and other base metal mineralization it is suggested that the coastal volcanic belt has greater potential for world class epithermal and porphyry deposits than previously realised

plate tectonics and orogenic research after 25 years a tethyan perspective abstract orogeny the process by which the earth s prominent mountain ranges are constructed has been a central topic of interest in the earth sciences since at least the end of the 18th century the recognition that strains and displacements of very considerable magnitude occur along all of the three dimensions within an orogenic belt during its evolution has grown gradually during the last two centuries emphasis on primary vertical movements dominated the ideas on the nature of orogeny during the first half of the 19th century whereas compression and consequent uplift across mountain belts were believed to be the main cause for their origin during the subsequent one hundred years or so that were spent under the dominance of the fixist contraction theory mobilist tectonicians realised that continental drift in places also required motion along the trend of orogenic belts but this view did not gain general acceptance recognition of significant strike slip motion parallel or subparallel with mountain ranges evolved independently and mostly within the fixist camp by the 1960 s presence of important motions both along and across mountain belts had become common knowledge but no theoretical basis existed to account for them all

the xinqiao cu s fe au deposit in the tongling mineral district china synorogenic remobilization of a stratiform sulfide deposit abstract the cu s fe au deposit at xinqiao is located in the tongling mineral district anhui province people s republic of china it is a large scale polymetallic deposit with drilling indicated reserves of 0 5 million tonnes of cu averaging 0 71 75 5 million tonnes of s averaging 29 3 and 24 9 million tonnes of fe averaging 46 as well as 11 2 tonnes of au averaging at 4 7 g tonne plus 248 4 tonnes of ag averaging at 248 4 g tonne there are two major mineralization types in the xinqiao deposit one is the economically significant stratiform orebody hosted in the lower carboniferous gaolishan siltstone c1g and overlying middle carboniferous huanglong limestone c2h while the other is the less important skarn type mineralization restricted to the contact between the yanshanian diorite 110 168 ma and the lower permian qixia marble p1q the ore in the xinqiao deposit is dominated by massive pyrite with minor amount of chalcopyrite magnetite pyrrhotite galena sphalerite quartz and dolomite four stages of deformation have been recognized to affect the sedimentary rocks in the xinqiao area the first two d1 and d2 produced mainly ne sw and nne ssw trending open folds whereas d3 is characterized by normal faults striking nne ssw and d4 is dominated by post mineralization strike slip faults segmenting the orebody the structural information obtained by this study not only revealed the transgressive nature of the stratiform orebody but also identified a strong structural control on the formation of the deposit it is concluded that the xinqiao polymetallic deposit was formed through remobilization of a carboniferous sulfide source bed by hydrothermal solutions related to late yanshanian plutonism 110 ma during which d3 normal faulting played an important role in localization of the mineralization such a two stage ore forming model is consistent with the most recent genetic interpretations of the deposit

where is the north china south china block boundary in eastern china the qinling dabieshan belt results from the collision of the north china and south china blocks the eastern extension of the belt the sulu area consists of several stacked units from top to bottom these are 1 a weakly metamorphosed slate sandstone unit of neoproterozoic paleozoic age 2 a gneiss quartzite unit metamorphosed under high pressure p conditions 3 a marble amphibolite unit 4 an ultrahigh p unit that was very deeply subducted and then exhumed and 5 a migmatitic dome resulting from the melting of ultrahigh p rocks all these units underwent the same deformation which was characterized by a top to the northwest extensional ductile shearing during their exhumation granulite facies restites in the migmatite are not significantly different from granulitized eclogites derived from the ultrahigh p rocks the migmatite exhibits the same structural and petrologic evolution as that determined for the other units the resemblance of petrologic and structural features and the lack of ocean basin rock shows that the boundary between the north china block and south china block must be placed north of the sulu area

timing of collision of the north and south china blocks controversy and reconciliation the qinling orogen was formed by the joining of the north and south china blocks but the timing of their integration has been debated for more than a decade the controversies obviously stem from different approaches to reconstruction of the integration history two contrasting lines of evidence yield two different ages for collision of the north and south china blocks middle paleozoic and late triassic the shangdan suture within the qinling was regarded in previous studies as the trace along which the north and south china blocks collided our studies however demonstrate that there are two sutures within the qinling the well documented shangdan suture and the newly discovered mianlue suture we show in this paper that the late proterozoic to early mesozoic evolution of the qinling involved interactions between the north china block the north and south qinling orogens and the south china block the middle paleozoic collision along the shangdan suture as constrained by some evidence accreted only the south qinling orogen to the southern part i e the north qinling of the north china block contemporaneous rifting of the south china block and subsequent drifting separated the south qinling from the south china block during the middle to late paleozoic the separation of the south from the north china blocks is supported by other evidence in particular geomagnetic data evidently it was the late triassic collision of the south china block with the south qinling orogen along the mianlue suture that led to final integration of the north and south china blocks

numerical modelling of deformation and fluid flow in the shuikoushan district hunan province south china the shuikoushan district in hunan province south china contains major pb zn au ag polymetallic mineralisation two groups of numerical models have been constructed to study the interactions between deformation and fluid flow in the district during the yanshanian compression event 180 to 90 ma the first group includes district scale conceptual models of coupled deformation and fluid flow during folding the models show that fluid flow patterns are controlled by deformation within the fold system inferred for the district during regional shortening and folding fluids are generally focused towards the fold hinge core areas along higher permeability layers in particular permian limestone units in preference to flowing across the low permeability seal units permian and jurassic terrestrial sequences the efficiency of this fluid focusing can only be significantly increased if these folded seal units are allowed to undergo permeability increase as a result of tensile failure the modelling results show that permeability enhancement localises mostly at fold hinges dominantly within the silicified zone on the top of the permian limestone unit this process results in increased flow velocities and facilitates fluid focusing towards fold hinge core locations at this silicified rock horizon the second group includes deposit scale models for the kangjiawan deposit which is one of the two major deposits in the shuikoushan district the models show patterns of tensile failure permeability creation fluid focusing and mixing and fracture development along a selected exploration cross section through the deposit these results are consistent with the observed brecciation and mineralisation features regions of maximum brecciation in the district are associated with 1 a combination of fold hinge and fault intersection locations structural and 2 the silicified zone and permian limestone unit lithological such brecciation zones are associated with extensive fluid focusing and mixing and therefore represent the most favourable locations for mineralisation in the district on the basis of this work ideas for future research work and mineral exploration in the district are proposed

geology of gold bearing skarn deposits in the middle and lower yangtze river valley and adjacent regions abstract the middle and lower yangtze river valley and adjacent regions are the most important metallogenic belt of gold and copper bearing skarn deposits in china the total gold reserves in this belt have been estimated at more than 600 t the gold bearing skarns are mainly distributed in the southeastern hubei tongling and northern anhui regions favorable tectonic settings are depressions and fold zones of the platforms i e mobile belts these skarns are hosted by platformal limestone dolomitic limestone and dolomite of the triassic carboniferous permian and middle to lower cambrian formations the related intrusions are yenshanian 180 to 113 ma calc alkaline quartz monzodiorite granodiorite quartz monzonite monzogabbro and their hybabyssal facies the intrusions have high fe2o3 feo 0 5 and intermediate initial 87 sr 86 sr ratios 0 7046 to 0 7087 their ree distribution patterns are lree enriched and exhibit smooth right dipping curves these suggest that the source materials mainly came from upper mantle with contamination by sialic crustal components the auriferous skarns are both calcic and magnesian but calcic skarns are most common the constituent minerals of the calcic skarns are diopside garnet wollastonite vesuvianite and scapolite whereas magnesian skarns are dominated by forsterite spinel diopside phlogopite chondrodite and clinohumite with abundant superimposed serpentine clinochlore and brucite the compositions of coexisting pyroxenes and garnets are diopside and andradite indicating the high oxygen fugacity and low acidity conditions gold is closely associated with cu pb zn sulfides and exists mainly in the form of native gold and electrum arsenides tellurides bismuthides and selenides are present in many ore deposits therefore cu as bi te ag pb zn se and co are the major metals present in the deposits and are important geochemical ore searching indicators in some au fe cu magnesian skarns magnesiomagnetite magnesioferrite and ludwigite are locally abundant the metasomatic zoning in many gold skarn deposits is very distinct consisting of an outward sequence of fe cu cu mo cu au au cu au pb zn the geologic characteristics of au cu skarn deposits that formed in the mobile platformal setting of china have distinct differences compared to au skarns formed in orogenic belts at convergent plate margins in british columbia and the western usa

some metallogenic features of gold and copper deposits related to alkaline rocks and consequences for exploration porphyry copper gold skarn copper gold sediment hosted carlin style gold breccia pipe low sulphidation epithermal gold pluton related mesothermal or orogenic gold vein and volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits associated with alkaline rocks are commonly broadly similar to those hosted by their calc alkaline counterparts in contrast porphyry molybdenum gold deposits are confined to alkaline igneous centres alkaline suites are notably deficient in high sulphidation epithermal gold deposits and even in the advanced argillic lithocaps which host them this is surprising given that the required oxidised sulphur species are seemingly more abundant than in calc alkaline igneous centres highly efficient buffering of acidic fluid by metasomatised alkaline rocks may offer a viable explanation all types of intrusion related zinc deposits also appear to be poorly developed in alkaline provinces the characteristics of several gold and copper deposits associated with alkaline rocks including the giant porgera cripple creek ladolam olympic dam and phalaborwa examples are judged to diverge appreciably from their most closely related deposit types rendering them arguably unique most of these aberrant mineralisation styles may be due to variations in magmatic fluid compositional and liberation characteristics consequent upon the extreme diversity of ore related alkaline magmas most types of gold and copper deposits developed in calc alkaline provinces also constitute exploration targets in and around alkaline igneous centres although porphyry copper gold and low sulphidation epithermal gold deposits are considered to possess the greatest potential perhaps of even greater interest however is the possibility of encountering unconventional giant gold and copper deposits which lack closely analogous examples if already defined aberrant deposits are truly unique then exploration designed specifically to detect additional examples is pointless furthermore exploration for new unique deposits is difficult because their defining geological parameters are unknown alkaline rocks within or behind calc alkaline arcs at convergent plate boundaries probably offer the greatest exploration potential although anorogenic intracontinental extensional settings should not be ignored

a review of the relationships between granitoid types their origins and their geodynamic environments abstract granitoids are divided into several types according to their mineral assemblages their field and petrographical features and their chemical and isotopic characteristics this typology complements most of the recent classifications because it is not based solely on chemical and isotopic criteria but also on the field petrographical and mineralogical criteria it thus has the advantage of distinguishing the various granitoid types in the field in most cases the proposed classification shares many similarities with the twenty most used genetic classifications of granitoids both types of peraluminous granitoids are of crustal origin the tholeiitic alkaline and peralkaline granitoids are of mantle origin and both types of calc alkaline granitoids are of mixed origin and involve both crustal and mantle materials each granitoid type is generated and emplaced in a very specific tectonic setting each stage of the wilson cycle is characterised by typical associations of granitoids well typed and precisely dated granitoids can then complement structural approaches and indicate on the geodynamic environment with reference to some case studies the use of granitoids as tracers of the geodynamic evolution is also proposed and discussed

junggar turfan and alakol basins as late permian to early triassic extensional structures in a sinistral shear zone in the altaid orogenic collage central asia the junggar turfan and alakol basins in northwestern china and kazakhstan formed as late permian to early triassic extensional structures in a broad sinistral shear zone between large strike slip faults that separate two main domains of the altaid orogenic collage this extension was in response to an inferred large l000 km sinistral motion of the east european craton with respect to the angaran craton during this time deformation associated with the formation of the basins was taken up in part by counter clockwise rotations of crustal blocks with respect to the altaid orogenic collage and to the angaran craton this event is the only important phase of extension in a region otherwise dominated by compressional tectonics throughout the phanerozoic the basement rocks of these basins formed by altaid subduction accretion through the latter half of the palaeozoic and the region was subsequently thrown into compression again during the mesozoic cimmeride and cenozoic alpide evolution

distinctive features of late palaeozoic massive sulphide deposits in south china abstract more than 20 sediment hosted massive sulphide deposits occur in late palaeozoic basins in south china these deposits are accompanied by a certain amount of volcanic rocks in the host sequence and are economically important for their cu pb zn au and ag reserves the deposits and their host strata were commonly intruded by mesozoic granitoids remobilisation of sedimentary ores and magmatic hydrothermal overprinting processes resulted in the coexistence of massive sulphides with vein skarn and porphyry type orebodies in the same region or within a single deposit the ore containing basins occur in different tectonic settings the lower yangtze basin occurs on a passive continental margin where the deposits are high in cu and au with minor pb and zn and recoverable ag co and mo the ores have a lower concentration of radiogenic lead and 34s values close to zero fluid inclusions are highly saline and na rich fluids and metals of the lower yangtze region are interpreted to have been derived essentially from deep sources including the precambrian basement by contrast basins of the nanling region formed in an intracontinental setting developed on a folded caledonian basement these deposits are higher in pb zn sn and w as well as cu with recoverable ag sb hg u bi tl and mo the ores are characterised by a higher concentration of radiogenic lead and a wide variation of 34s composition fluid inclusions have lower salinities and higher k na ratios fluids are considered to have been sourced substantially from seawater by convection metals for the nanling deposits were essentially derived from the caledonian basement by leaching the contrast in ore composition between these two regions appears to have been controlled by differences in basement composition of the ore forming basins

characteristics and genesis of kanggur gold deposit in the eastern tianshan mountains nw china evidence from geology isotope distribution and chronology abstract the kanggur gold deposit lies in east tianshan mountains eastern section of central asia orogenic belt the gold mineralization occurs on the northern margin of the aqishan yamansu island arc in the tarim plate it is mainly hosted in lower carboniferous volcanic rocks and controlled by syn tectonic intrusions and the ductile shear zone the host rock is a calc alkaline volcanic rock series consisting of andesite dacite tuff and subvolcanic rocks the gold ore bodies were distributed in transition zone from strong ductile deformation to weak deformation ore controlling structure is ew trending normal brittle ductile shear zone the gold ore bodies are composed of au bearing altered rocks and a few au bearing sulfide quartz veins the mineralization shows vertical zonation in which au was enriched in the upper orebodies au pb zn were enriched in the middle and au cu were enriched in the lower orebodies according to mineral assemblages and alteration intensity hydrothermal alteration could be divided into three zones silicification chloritization pyritization and magnetization zone major ore body pyrite phyllic rock and or sericite alteration zone and sericite chlorite alteration zone five mineralization stages are identified on the basis of mineral assemblage and crosscutting relationship of veins the 34 s values of sulfide in the ores range from 0 9 to 3 3 similar to those of the volcanic and subvolcanic rocks 3 21 1 3 indicating that the sulfur isotope composition is characterized by unfractionated mantle sulfur the lead isotope compositions of ores are between those of the volcanic rocks and subvolcanic rocks the initial 87 sr 86 sr ratios of the ores vary between 0 7077 and 0 7106 similar to those of the host rocks 0 7079 0 7125 according to the sr s and pb isotopic data it is indicated that the ore forming materials were derived from the surrounding volcanic rocks and feature deep source the 18 o values of the ore fluids vary from 3 83 to 1 77 and the d values from 46 to 66 the 18 o vs d and 18 o vs 87 sr 86 sr diagrams indicate that ore fluids were derived from dynamic metamorphic water magmatic water and meteoric water the ore forming ages of kanggur gold deposit are determined by rb sr and sm nd isochron methods the results show that the main ore forming stages of kanggur gold deposit are 290 282 ma secondary mineralization stages are 275 254 ma studies on regional geology ore geology isotope geochemistry and ore forming ages have proved that the kanggur gold deposit was formed in the compression extension transition stage during the latest paleozoic continental collision and is characterized by orogenic gold deposits

basin scale patterns of subglacial sediment mobility implications for glaciological inversion modelling abstract patterns of glacial bedforms and their internal sediments are described from the omagh basin north central ireland here drumlins and ribbed moraines were variously formed preserved and remoulded during several late devensian ice flow stages and their patterns can be used as input into glaciological inversion models more detailed examination of the morphology and internal sediments of these bedforms shows a complex pattern of reworking driven by local scale basal thermal and hydrological regime sediment lithofacies associations and patterns of erratic carriage can be used to better evaluate ice bed conditions and basal processes than bedforms alone the sedimentary evidence suggests that bedforms were unlikely to have been formed during a single glacial episode as is implicit in glaciological inversion models and more likely formed during several episodes that cannot be resolved by crosscutting or superimposed bedform relationships alone

the jinshajiang ailaoshan suture zone china tectonostratigraphy age and evolution abstract the jinshajiang suture zone is important for enhancing our understanding of the evolution of the paleo tethys and its age tectonic setting and relationship to the ailaoshan suture zone have long been controversial based on integrated tectonic biostratigraphic chemostratigraphic and isotope geochronological studies four tectono stratigraphic units can be recognized in the jinshajiang suture zone the eaqing complex the jinshajiang ophiolitic melange the gajinxueshan group and the zhongxinrong group isotope geochronology indicates that the redefined eaqing complex composed of high grade metamorphic rocks might represent the metamorphic basement of the jinshajiang area or a remnant micro continental fragment eaqing complex protolith rocks are pre devonian and probably of early middle proterozoic age and are correlated with those of the ailaoshan complex two zircon u pb ages of 340 3 and 294 3 ma separately dated from the shusong and xuitui plagiogranites within the ophiolitic assemblage indicate that the jinshajiang oceanic lithosphere formed in latest devonian to earliest carboniferous times the oceanic lithosphere was formed in association with the opening and spreading of the jinshajiang oceanic basin and was contiguous and equivalent to the ailaoshan oceanic lithosphere preserved in the shuanggou ophiolitic melange in the ailaoshan suture zone the latter yielded a u pb age of 362 41 ma from plagiogranite the re defined gajinxueshan and zhongxinrong groups are dated as carboniferous to permian and latest permian to middle triassic respectively on the basis of fossils and u pb dating of basic volcanic interbeds the gajinxueshan group formed in bathyal slope to neritic shelf environments and the zhongxinrong group as bathyal to abyssal turbidites in the jinshajiang ailaoshan back arc basin latest permian earliest middle triassic synorogenic granitoids with ages of 238 18 and 227 5 255 8 ma respectively and an upper triassic overlap molasse sequence indicate a middle triassic age for the jinshajiang ailaoshan suture formed by collision of the changdu simao block with south china

paleozoic early mesozoic gold deposits of the xinjiang autonomous region northwestern china the late paleozoic early mesozoic tectonic evolution of xinjiang autonomous region northwestern china provided a favorable geological setting for the formation of lode gold deposits along the sutures between a number of the major eastern asia cratonic blocks these sutures are now represented by the altay shan tian shan and kunlun shan ranges with the former two separated by the junggar basin and the latter two by the immense tarim basin in northernmost xinjiang final growth of the altaid orogen southward from the angara craton is now recorded in the remote mid to late paleozoic altay shan accreted early to middle devonian oceanic rock sequences contain typically small precious metal bearing fe cu zn vms deposits e g ashele orogenic gold deposits are widespread along the major irtysh e g duyolanasayi saidi taerde kabenbulake akexike shaerbulake and tuergen hongshanzui e g hongshanzui fault systems as well as in structurally displaced terrane slivers of the western junggar e g hatu and eastern junggar areas geological and geochronological constraints indicate a generally late carboniferous to early permian episode of gold deposition which was coeval with the final stages of altaid magmatism and large scale right lateral translation along older terrane bounding faults the tian shan an exceptionally gold rich mountain range to the west in the central asian republics is only beginning to be recognized for its gold potential in xinjiang in this easternmost part to the range northerly and southerly directed subduction accretion of early to mid paleozoic and mid to late paleozoic oceanic terranes respectively to the precambrian yili block central tian shan was associated with 400 to 250 ma arc magmatism and carboniferous through early permian gold forming hydrothermal events the more significant resulting deposits in the terranes of the southern tian shan include the sawayaerdun orogenic deposit along the kyrgyzstan border and the epithermal and replacement deposits of the kanggurtag belt to the east in the chol tagh range gold deposits of approximately the same age in the yili block include the axi hot springs epithermal deposit near the kazakhstan border and a series of small orogenic gold deposits south of urumqi e g wangfeng gold rich porphyry copper deposits e g tuwu define important new exploration targets in the northern tian shan of xinjiang the northern foothills of the kunlun shan of southern xinjiang host scattered small placer gold deposits sources for the gold have not been identified but are hypothesized to be orogenic gold veins beneath the icefields to the south they are predicted to have formed in the tianshuihai terrane during its early mesozoic accretion to the amalgamated tarim qaidam kunlun cratonic block

the lower changjiang yangzi yangtze river metallogenic belt east central china intrusion and wall rock hosted cu fe au mo zn pb ag deposits abstract the lower valley of changjiang from wuhan of the hubei province in the west to zhenjiang of the jiangsu province in the east contains more than 200 polymetallic cu fe au mo zn pb ag deposits and is one of the most important metallogenic belts in china this metallogenic belt situated at the northern margin of the yangzi craton and bordered by the dabieshan ultrahigh pressure metamorphic belt to the north consists mainly of cambrian triassic marine clastic sedimentary rocks and carbonate and evaporite rocks which overlay a precambrian basement and are intruded by yanshanian 205 to 64 ma granitoid intrusions and subvolcanic complexes repeated tectonism from late proterozoic to triassic resulted in extensively developed networks of faults and folds involving the cambrian triassic sedimentary strata and the precambrian basement the yanshanian granitoid intrusions and subvolcanic complexes in the lower changjiang metallogenic belt are characterized by whole rock 18 o of 8 to 10 initial 87 sr 86 sr of 0 704 to 0 708 and ndt from 10 to 17 and have been interpreted to have originated from mixing between juvenile mantle and old crustal materials also the yanshanian granitoids exhibit eastward younging and increase in alkalinity i e from older calc alkaline in the west to younger subalkaline alkaline in the east which are related to oblique collision between the yangzi and sino korean cratons and tectonic evolution from early compressional to late extensional or rifting regimes most polymetallic deposits in the lower changjiang metallogenic belt are clustered in seven districts where the yanshanian magmatism is particularly extensive from west to east edong jiurui anqing guichi luzhong tongling ningwu and ningzhen mineralization is characterized by the occurrence of three distinct types of orebodies in individual deposits orebodies in yanshanian granitoid intrusions skarn orebodies at the contact zones between the yanshanian intrusions and late paleozoic early mesozoic sedimentary rocks and stratabound massive sulfide orebodies in the late paleozoic early mesozoic sedimentary strata the most important host sedimentary strata are the middle carboniferous huanglong formation lower permian and lower middle triassic carbonate and evaporite rocks the intrusion hosted and skarn orebodies exhibit well developed zonation in alteration assemblages metal contents and isotopic compositions within individual deposits and apparently formed from hydrothermal activities related to the yanshanian magmatism the stratabound massive sulfide orebodies in the late paleozoic early mesozoic sedimentary strata have long been suggested to have formed from sedimentary or volcano sedimentary exhalative processes in shallow marine environments however extensive research over the last 40 years failed to produce unequivocal evidence for syngenetic mineralization on the basis of geological relationships and isotope geochemical characteristics we propose a carbonate hosted replacement deposit model for the genesis of these stratabound massive sulfide orebodies and associated skarn orebodies this model suggests that epigenetic mineralization resulted from interactions between magmatic fluids evolved from the yanshanian intrusions with carbonate and evaporite wall rocks mineralization was an integral but distal part of the larger hydrothermal systems that formed the proximal skarn orebodies at the contact zones and the intrusion hosted orebodies the stratabound massive sulfide deposits of the lower changjiang metallogenic belt share many features with the well studied high temperature carbonate hosted replacement deposits of northern mexico and western united states particularly with respect to association with small shallow granitoid complexes structural and stratigraphic controls on mineralization alteration assemblages geometry of orebodies metal association metal zonation and isotopic systematics

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

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

timing of synorogenic granitoids in the south qinling central china constraints on the evolution of the qinling dabie orogenic belt abstract the ca 400 km long granitoid belt in the south qinling is believed to be a synorogenic product of the collision between the north and south china blocks along the qinling dabie orogenic belt in central china single and multigrain zircon u pb dating of six of these granitoid bodies indicate that the granitoids were formed 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 renewcommand sfdefault wncyss renewcommand encodingdefault ot2 normalfont selectfont declaretextfontcommand textcyr cyr pagestyle empty declaremathsizes 10 9 7 6 begin document landscape 220 pm 1 end document and documentclass aastex usepackage amsbsy usepackage amsfonts usepackage amssymb usepackage bm usepackage m

compression to extension switch during the middle triassic orogeny of eastern china the case study of the jiulingshan massif in the southern foreland of the dabieshan abstract the jiulingshan massif is an e w trending anticlinorium in the south china block scb that forms the southern foreland of the qinling dabie orogen the jiulingshan consists of middle proterozoic ca 1 ga 800 ma metamorphic and plutonic rocks unconformably overlain by sinian to triassic rocks in these cover rocks two episodes of deformation of pre late triassic age are recognized namely a n s compressional phase characterized by south verging thrusts upright folds and vertical cleavage followed by an extensional phase characterized by layer parallel slip collapse folds and extensional allochthons of proterozoic slate on top of carboniferous to middle triassic carbonates the extensional tectonics appears to be a mechanical consequence of the compressional tectonics on a regional scale the jiulingshan massif forms one of the domed crustal scale shear zones of the scb that accommodated the continuing convergence that immediately followed the qinling dabie collision

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

tectonics of south china key to understanding west pacific geology abstract south china is not a post caledonian platform but a composite of orogenic belts this late proterozoic mesozoic orogen is a collage of three continental fragments the three blocks are yangzi huanan and dongnanya and they are separated by the banxi nanpanjiang formerly xianggangzhe and gunanhai suture zones yangzi was separated from gondwanaland during late precambrian when an open ocean called banxi was present between the two continents tectonic processes at an active margin during sinian and early paleozoic time led to the genesis of an accretionary wedge complex the banxi melange and the huanan flysch nappes on the northern margin of huanan which was then the northern margin of the gondwana continent reorganization of plates during the devonian suspended subduction at the huanan active margin huanan was uplifted and unconformably overlain by transgressive deposits of devonian and or carboniferous age a remnant ocean the nanpanjiang sea still existed between yangzi and huanan and deep water sedimentation continued both at the southern margin of yangzi and at the northwestern margin of huanan the latter again became an active margin during late paleozoic when permian and triassic flysch sediments were deposited in foredeeps ahead of advancing nappes huanan and yangzi collided during the triassic and resulted in the deformation of the passive margin of the latter to form the yangzi deformed belt huanan was separated from a more southerly continent dongnanya in the devonian by seafloor spreading which created a late paleozoic and early mesozoic ocean gunanhai ocean a continuously deposited sequence ranging in age from devonian to triassic was laid down on the southern passive margin of huanan on the other side of the ocean the dongnanya permian strata include glacial marine deposits of gondwanaland affinity dongnanya became separated from gondwanaland during the late permian when it marched northward to be reunited with huanan the huanan passive margin sequence was deformed by folding and overthrusting after the late mesozoic collision of huanan and dongnanya scattered outcrops of the suture melange resulting from this collision occur at a few localities in coastal fujian dongnanya in our model was the mesozoic continent of southeast asia peripheral to mainland asia this may or may not have been the eastern continuation of the microcontinent sibumasu siam thailand burma malaysia sumatra the collision of dongnanya and asia gave rise not only to the gunanhai melange of coastal fujian but also to the ophiolite melanges parts of which are present in taiwan tailuko the philippines and western malaysia

os os dating of copper and molybdenum deposits along the middle and lower reaches of the yangtze river china the 186 os 187 os and 188 os 187 os dating techniques were modified and applied to molybdenites from two cu vein deposits and three mo skarn deposits along the middle and lower reaches of the yangtze river china the results show that these deposits formed at 138 to 133 ma identical to the ages of 140 to 130 ma for the host granitoids re os and os os ages of two of the samples agree within analytical uncertainties the close temporal relationship between the granitoid intrusions and the formation of the deposits supports a magmatic model for the origin of these deposits the results show that the novel os os dating technique is capable of resolving geologic problems although the accuracy obtained by the present work 1 2 is lower than that of the re os method

paleoarchean trace fossils in altered volcanic glass microbial corrosion textures in volcanic glass from cenozoic seafloor basalts and the corresponding titanite replacement microtextures in metamorphosed paleoarchean pillow lavas have been interpreted as evidence for a deep biosphere dating back in time through the earliest periods of preserved life on earth this interpretation has been recently challenged for paleoarchean titanite replacement textures based on textural and geochronological data from pillow lavas in the hooggenoeg complex of the barberton greenstone belt in south africa we use this controversy to explore the strengths and weaknesses of arguments made in support or rejection of the biogenicity interpretation of bioalteration trace fossils in cenozoic basalt glasses and their putative equivalents in paleoarchean greenstones our analysis suggests that biogenicity cannot be taken for granted for all titanite based textures in metamorphosed basalt glass but a cautious and critical evaluation of evidence suggests that biogenicity remains the most likely interpretation for previously described titanite microtextures in paleoarchean pillow lavas