LA-ICP-MS Zircon U-Pb Geochronology of the Fine-grained Granite and Molybdenite Re-Os Dating in the Wurinitu Molybdenum Deposit,Inner Mongolia,China

The Wurinitu molybdenum deposit,located in Honggor,Sonid Left Banner of Inner Mongolia,China,is recently discovered and is considered to be associated with a concealed fine-grained granite impregnated with molybdenite.The wall rocks are composed of Variscan porphyritic-like biotite granite and the Lower Ordovician Wubin'aobao Formation.LA-ICP-MS zircon U-Pb dating of the fine-grained granite reveals two stages of zircons,one were formed at 181.7±7.4 Ma and the other at 133.6±3.3 Ma.The latter age is believed to be the formation age of the fine-grained granite,while the former may reflect the age of inherited zircons,based on the morphological study of the zircon and regional geological setting.The Re-Os model age of molybdenite is 142.2±2.5 Ma,which is older than the diagenetic age of the fine-grained granite.Therefore the authors believe that the metallogenic age of the Wurinitu molybdenum deposit should be nearly 133.6±3.3 Ma or slightly later,i.e.,Early Cretaceous.Combined with regional geological background research,it is speculated that the molybdenum deposits were formed at the late Yanshanian orogenic cycle in the Hingganling-Mongolian orogenic belt,belonging to the relaxation epoch posterior to the compression and was associated with the closure of the Mongolia-Okhotsk Sea.

Minimum critical thickness of dike for ore-bearing fluid injection:A new approach applied to the Shihu gold deposit,Hebei Province,North China

According to the metallogenic theory by transmagmatic fluid （TMF）, one magmatic intrusion is a channel of ore-bearing fluids, but not their source. Therefore, it is possible to use TMF＇s ability for injection into and for escaping t^om the magmatic intrusion to evaluate its ore-forming potential. As the ore-bearing fluids cannot effectively inject into the magmatic intrusion when the magma fully crystal- lized, the cooling time and rates viscosity varied can be used to estimate the minimum critical thickness of the intrusion. One dimensional heat transfer model is used to determine the cooling time for three representative dikes of different composition （granite porphyry, quartz diorite and diabase） in the Shihu gold deposit. It also estimated the rates viscosity varied in these time interval. We took the thickness of dike at the intersection of the cooling time -- thickness curve and the rates viscosity varied versus thick- ness curve as the minimum critical thickness. For the ore-bearing fluids effectively injecting into the magma, the minimum critical thicknesses for the three representative dikes are 33.45 m for granite porphyry, 8.22 m for quartz diorite and 1.02 m for diabase, indicating that ore-bearing dikes must be thicker than each value. These results are consistent with the occurrence of ore bodies, and thus they could be applied in practice. Based on the statistical relationship between the length and the width of dikes, these critical thicknesses are used to compute critical areas： 0.0003--0.0016 km2 for diabase, 0.014--0.068 km2 for quartz diorite and 0.011-0.034 km2 for granite porphyry. This implies that ore- bearing minor intrusions have varied areas corresponding to their composition. The numerical simulation has provided the theoretical threshold of exposed thickness and area of the ore-bearing intrusion. These values can be used to determine the ore-forming potentials of dikes.

Sodium-rich volcanic rocks and their relationships with iron deposits in the Aqishan-Yamansu belt of Eastern Tianshan,NW China

The volcanic rocks hosting the iron deposits in the Aqishan–Yamansu metallogenic belt are sodium-rich.The geochronology,petrography,and geochemistry of minerals and sodium-rich rocks as well as the relationship between these rocks and the iron deposits are studied.Geochemically,the ore-hosting volcanic rocks are sodiumrich(the averages of Na2O and Na2O/K2O are 4.31 wt.%and 8.56,respectively)and belong to the calc-alkaline series.They are enriched in LREEs and LILEs(Ba,U,K,and Sr),but depleted in HFSEs(Nb,Ta,and Ti).SHRIMP zircon U–Pb dating of the crystal tuff in the Aqishan Formation and the dacite in the Tugutu Bulak Formation yields ages of 337.5
2.3 Ma(n?15,MSWD?0.85)and 313.0
3.3 Ma(n?13,MSWD?0.74),respectively,indicating that the sodium-rich volcanic rocks formed from the early–late Carboniferous.Electron microprobe data from plagioclases demonstrate that albites and/or oligoclases were formed in the basic–intermediate–acid volcanic rocks.Two stages of albitization are identified,and the latter is likely attributed to the dissolution of iron in the Aqishan–Yamansu belt.The sodium-rich volcanic rocks probably formed by the interaction between volcanic lava and seawater after volcanoes erupted on the seafloor;meanwhile,the albites formed by element substitution in a low-metamorphic environment.The spatiotemporal coupling relationship between sodium-rich volcanic rocks and iron deposits in the Aqishan–Yamansu belt is favorable.Iron dissolved from the dark minerals of basic–intermediate volcanic rocks through sodium metasomatism is one of the material sources for the iron deposits.