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... The Shihu gold deposit has been explored for the last 30 years and has high metallogenic reserves. Previous studies have focused on the deposit's geochemistry (Liu, 2007;Niu et al., 2008), mineralogy (Cao et al., 2008(Cao et al., , 2009(Cao et al., , 2010, and fluid inclusions (Cao et al., 2012). However, the age and the source of ore-forming material of the deposit have not been studied and is not well understood. ...
The Early Cretaceous Shihu gold deposit is located in the northern segment of the Taihang Tectonic belt, which extends across the central part of the North China Craton. The deposit is hosted predominantly by the Archean metamorphic crystalline units, and is spatially and temporally related to quartz diorite porphyry present extensively throughout the gold deposit. We studied the geology, geochronology and stable isotopic geochemistry. Zircon U–Pb LA–ICP–MS ages of the quartz diorite porphyry at deposit range from 134 ± 1 to 131 ± 2 Ma, which are coeval and probably genetically related to the mineralization. The majority of the sulfides of the gold deposit have δ34S values ranging from −1 to 2‰, which suggest an homogeneous magmatic source. In addition, the isotopic compositions of δ18Ofluid and δ18Dfluid vary from 2.1 to 7.0‰ and −93 to −65‰, respectively, suggesting that the magmatic fluids mingled with meteoric water. The Pb isotopic analyses reveal that both the ore-forming materials and the quartz diorite porphyry originated from the lower crust and may have been mixed with mantle material. The 87Sr/86Sri and 143Nd/144Nd (143Nd/144Nd)i ratios for the quartz diorite porphyry demonstrate that there was mixing of two end-member (crust and the mantle) isotopic compositions. These results suggest that the ore-forming fluids and materials were derived from lower-crustal melting induced by mantle processes. Processes associated with the formation of the Shihu gold deposit differ significantly from those that characterize orogenic gold deposits, and instead are representative of formation in an intracontinental tectonic environment.
The Shihu gold deposit is situated in the central shear zone of the Meso-Cenozoic Fuping metamorphic core complex in the middle-northern
part of the Taihang Mountains. This kind of gold deposits named after ‘Shihu type’ widely occurs in this region. Gold-bearing
quartz veins are their most important industrial orebodies. Detailed laser 40Ar/39Ar geochronology of the mineralized quartz veins in the study area reveals details of its tectono-magmatic history. The 40Ar/39Ar ages for the quartz are between 134.4 Ma and 155.9 Ma with a mean age of 141±4 Ma on the isochron line and 139±7 Ma on
the inverse isochron line, respectively, which is interpreted to be the best estimate of the crystalline age of the quartz
veins. The gold mineralization was most likely related to an underplating event that took place in the northern part of the
Taihang Mountain at ca. 140 Ma. The timing of gold mineralization in the area is similar to those observed in other major
gold-producing provinces in the NCC. This episode is simultaneous with those in the eastern NCC, indicative of a widespread
late Yanshanian metallogenic event that was a response either to the subduction of the Izanagi-Pacific plate beneath eastern
China or to the removal of the Early Cretaceous lithosphere in the eastern NCC. The ore-forming material sources may be the
Early Precambrian metamorphic basement, instead of intermediate-acid rock bodies and dykes.
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