Relationship between the genesis of Changlinggang alkaline rocks and uranium mineralization in the 414U-Th deposit, Jianshui County, Yunnan Province, China

Abstract

Alkaline rocks identified in the 414 U-Th deposit in Jianshui County, Yunnan Province, exhibit intense spatial correlation with uranium mineralization. However, limited investigations into their genesis have had an adverse impact on our understanding of uranium mineralization. Analyses of major and trace elements, U-Pb chronology, and petrography were conducted on alkaline rocks. The results indicate that anorthosite, which is rich in alkalis, high in potassium, peraluminous, enriched in rare earth elements (U, Th, Rb, and Zr) and deficient in Sr, Ba, Ti, and P, predominates the lithology. The light and heavy rare earth fractionation of the material is readily apparent (LREE/HREE=7.89–46.72), and the presence of Eu negative anomalies (δEu=0.65–0.81) suggests that the region from which the magma originated is a metasomatism-enriched mantle where the source material originates from the transition zone between garnet-lherzolite and spinel-lherzolite in the EMII-enriched lithospheric mantle. This area underwent metasomatization by subduction material from the Paleo-Pacific Ocean and during the ascent process, magma experienced a certain degree of partial melting and a significant degree of crystallization differentiation. The diagenesis of the syenite (186.64 ± 3.76 Ma) occurred after the closure time of the Paleotethys Ocean (237 Ma) in a dynamical context of an intra-terrestrial rift environment following subduction of the oceanic plate. In summary, the U and Th present in the 414 U-Th deposits underwent isomorphism within biotite and feldspars during the hydrothermal mineralization stage of magma evolution, where they were enriched in minerals through the separation and crystallization of alkaline magma.