Timing and Tectonic Setting of the Gaoaobei TungstenMolybdenum Deposit in Nanling Range, South China

The Gaoaobei tungsten-molybdenum deposit is a newly discovered large-scale quartzvein-type deposit in the Nanling metallogenic belt in South China.The ore bodies are hosted in the Indosinian granites and the Cambrian Xiangnan Group slates and are controlled by NWW-oriented faults,which are obviously different from the“five-story building”model in southern Jiangxi Province.The magmatic rocks in the study area are dominated by medium-to coarse-grained biotite monzogranite,with a few NW-oriented fine-grained granite dykes.The medium-to coarse-grained biotite monzogranite and fine-grained granite dykes have zircon U-Pb ages of 229.4±1.9 Ma(MSWD=1.5)and 164.9±3.3 Ma(MSWD=0.75),respectively,corresponding to the Indosinian and Yanshanian magmatism.The monzogranites have higher contents of FeO,CaO,K2O,P2O5,and TiO2,while the granite dykes have slightly higher contents of SiO2,Al2O3,MnO,and Na2O.Their A/CNK values are 1.11-1.75 and 1.19-2.25,and the contents of CIPW normative corundum are 1.71%-6.66%and 2.41%-9.50%,suggesting both the monzogranites and granite dykes are S-type granite.The total amount of rare earth elements in the monzogranites(from 84.7 ppm to 129 ppm)is slightly lower than that in the granite dykes(from 128 ppm to 133 ppm).The Eu/Eu*values range from 0.12 to 0.30 in monzogranites and from 0.0011 to 0.0013 in granite dykes,indicating the fine-grained granites underwent more intense fractional crystallization.The monzogranite and granite dykes have high 87Sr/86Sri values of 0.7169-0.7193 and 0.72825-0.72880,lowεNd(t)values ranging from-10.2 to-9.6 and from-11.5 to-11.4,and TDM2 ages of 1835-1785 and 1957-1946 Ma,respectively.These isotope data indicate their origin from the remelting of the Paleoproterozoic crustal materials.Combined with regional geology,it is concluded that the medium-to coarse-grained biotite monzogranite was formed in a post-collisional extensional environment.In addition,40Ar-39Ar dating of the greisen type tungsten-molybdenum ore gave consistent plateau age of 164.0±1.2 Ma,isochronal age of 162.0±2.4 Ma and anti-isochronal age of 161.4±1.8 Ma.Combined with the published molybdenite Re-Os age,the Gaoaobei tungsten-molybdenum deposit was formed at~164 Ma,which is inferred to be genetically related to the contemporaneous finegrained granite dykes(165 Ma).The deposit was likely formed during the large-scale magmatism and mineralization event in the early Yanshanian of the Nanling Range in an intra-continental extensional environment caused by the subduction of the paleo-Pacific plate.The late and small granite dykes within the large granite plutons thus require further attention during mineral prospecting in the regions.