## 2 Geological Setting and Ore Deposit Geology  
### Geological Setting  
The Jiaodong Peninsula, to the west separated from the Luxi Block of the NCC by the 2400 km long NNE-SSW (010\({}^{\circ}\) and 025\({}^{\circ}\)) trending and steeply dipping Tan-Lu Fault (TLF), and to the east bounded by the Pacific Plate [36], consists of the Sulu terrane in the southeast and the Jiaobei terrane in the northwest (Figure 1a). The Jiaobei and Sulu terranes are separated by the lithospheric-scale NNE-SSW- to NE-SW-trending Wulian-Qingdao-Yantai Fault (WQYF) (Figure 1a,b). The former includes the Jiaolai Basin in the southeast and the Jiaobei Uplift in the northwest (Figure 1b) [37], where all the gold deposits are hosted by the Jiaobei Uplift. More precisely, the Zhaoyuan-Laizhou and Penglai-Qixia gold metallogenic belts are located in the western and central Jiaodong Peninsula, respectively (Figure 1) [5], whereas in the Sulu Terrane, namely the eastern Jiaodong Peninsula, gold is concentrated in the Muping-Rushan gold metallogenic belt (Figure 1) [5]. The Muping-Rushan gold metallogenic belt is dominated by Paleoproterozoicoic and Neoproterozoic basement rocks of the Yangtze Craton (YC) [38], which were subjected to an ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) metamorphic event resulting from the mid-Late Triassic collision ca. 244 to 220 Ma between the YC and NCC along the WQYF [39], as well as the Mesozoic intrusions (Figures 2 and 3) [37]. The UHP metamorphic rocks comprise quartzite, coesite-bearing eclogite, granitic gneiss, and marble [40], with the granulite to amphibite-facies metamorphism (220 to 205 Ma) overprinting in local outcrops [41]. The Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous magmatism was widely developed (Figure 2) [42], of which the Late Jurassic crustally derived Kunyushan granitoid, with emplacement ages ranging between 161 and 141 Ma [43; 44], is a batholith consisting of granodiorite, monzogranite, and garnet-bearing leucogranite [45], whereas the late Early Cretaceous Sanfoshan monzonite resulting from crust-mantle interaction, with zircon U-Pb ages varying from 121 to 110 Ma [45], which intrudes into the Kunyushan granitoid in the southeast part (Figure 2). The former is undeformed and hosts no gold deposits, whereas the latter exhibits an NNE-SSW-trendingmylonitic foliation associated with WNW-ESE-trending stretching lineations [42] and hosts almost all the gold deposits in the Muping-Rushan gold metallogenic belt (Figure 2). Figure 3: **(a)** Geological map of the Xiawolong gold deposit. **(b)** No. 31\(\#\) and **(c)** No. 35\(\#\) prospecting line profile of the Xiawolong gold deposit. **(d)** The abrupt contact between the medium- to coarse-grained monzogranite and medium- to fine-grained monzonite. **(e)** The abrupt contact between the medium- to coarse-grained monzogranite and the fine-grained granite disk. **(f)** Unaltered fine-grained granite. Figure 2: Geological map of the Muping–Rushan gold belt. Adapted with permission from Ref. [46]. 2007, Elsevier. Structurally, the Muping-Rushan gold metallogenic belt is dominated by the NNE-NETending Muping-Rushan Fault Zone, as well as the SN-trending Mishan Fault, considered to be subsidiary to the WQYF [47] (Figures 1 and 2). The Muping-Rushan Fault Zone comprises a series of sub-parallel NNE-NE-striking faults steeply dipping towards the SE (Figure 2), which are evenly distributed with an interval of ca. 2-3 km in the middle to central part of the Kunyushan granitoid, from west to east, named the Qinghushan-Tangjiagou, Jinniushan, Chahe-Sanjia, Jiangjunshi-Quhezhuang, Gekou, and Laohuwo-Hezi Faults. These faults, usually ca. 5 to 15 km long, cut the Late Jurassic Kunyushan granitoids at the footwall of the WQYF and control the \"Linglong-type\" deposits, represented by the Jinqing, Denggezhuang, and Yinggezhuang gold deposits, whereas the Mishan Fault, striking N5\({}^{\circ}\) and dipping E 40 to 65\({}^{\circ}\), mostly follows the contact between the east edge of the Kunyushan granitoid in the footwall and the UHP metamorphic rocks in the hanging wall (Figure 2).