Exhumation history and preservation of the Jiaojia giant gold deposit, Jiaodong Peninsula

The Jiaojia giant gold deposit is the largest gold deposit in China, with a total gold reserve of approximately 1200 t.Until now, the knowledge of the exhumation history of post-mineralization period is limited, in particular for the low-temperature thermochronology studies of samples below-1000 m. In this work, we combined zircon fission-track(ZFT) and apatite fission-track(AFT) dating of samples between-1100 and-2000 m to determine the post-mineralization cooling and exhumation history of the Jiaojia giant gold deposit. The ZFT ages ranged from 144.2±6.3 to 124.4±5.5 Ma, representing the cooling period and the disturbance of ore-forming fluid. The AFT ages ranged from 28.1±2.6 to 16.2±1.0 Ma, recording the exhumation and cooling processes. With reference to previous low-temperature thermochronology studies in the Jiaojia goldfield, we estimated the exhumation rate and amount of the Jiaojia giant gold deposit and reconstructed its exhumation and preservation history. The exhumation history was divided into four stages, rapid exhumation(~120–95 Ma), relatively slow exhumation(~95–50 Ma),slow exhumation(~50–30 Ma) and relatively rapid exhumation(since 30 Ma). Each stage corresponds to geological events related to the basin-mountain coupling that have occurred since the Cretaceous in the Jiaodong area, namely, a strong tectonic extension and volcanic eruption in the Jiaolai Basin, subsidence of the Jiaolai Basin and Wangshi Group molasse sedimentary,tectonic quiescence, and the Linqu Group basalt eruption of the Jiaobei uplift. Our results show that the exhumation of the Jiaojia giant gold deposit is ~5.2±1.2 km and the orebody erosion degree is relatively low, indicating huge prospecting potential deep in the Jiaojia giant gold deposit. These findings have significance and practical value for deep prospecting in the Jiaodong area.