Melt extraction and mineralization: A case study from the Shuangjianzishan supergiant Ag-Pb-Zn deposit (208 Mt), Inner Mongolia, NE China

Abstract

The supergiant Shuangjianzishan (SJZ) Ag-Pb-Zn deposit is in the southern segment of the Great Hinggan Range (SGHR), northeast China. Previous studies suggest the ore-forming material and fluid originated from the magmatic system, and the mineralization age was consistent with the diagenetic age. However, the relationship between granitic magmatism and mineralization is still unclear in the SJZ. In this study, C-H-O-He-Ar and in-situ S-Pb isotope analyses were conducted to determine the sources of ore-forming fluids and metals, which were combined with geochemistry data of SJZ granitoids from previous studies to constrain the relationship between the magmatism and the mineralization. The C-H-O-He-Ar-S-Pb isotopic compositions suggested the SJZ ore-forming material and fluids were derived from a magmatic source, which has mixed a small amount of mantle-derived materials. In addition, the disseminated sulfide from the syenogranite has comparable S-Pb isotopic composition with the sulfide minerals from ore veins, suggesting that the generation of the SJZ ore-forming fluids has a close relationship with the syenogranite magmatism. Combining with the geochemical characters of the syenogranite, the authors proposed that the mantle-derived fingerprint of the SJZ ore-forming fluid might be caused by the parent magma of the syenogranite, which was derived from partial melting of the juvenile lower crust, and underwent the residual melts segregated from a crystal mush in the shallow magma reservoir. The extraction of the syenogranite parent magma further concentrated the fertilized fluids, which was crucial to mineralization of the SJZ Ag-Pb-Zn deposit.

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