Abstract
The Meng’entaolegai Ag-Pb-Zn vein-type deposit in Inner Mongolia, NE China is hosted in biotite/muscovite granite. This deposit includes the western (Zn-rich, deepest), middle (Zn-Pb rich) and eastern (Pb-Ag-rich, shallowest) ore-blocks. To better understand the metallogenic processes in ore district, we have undertaken a series of studies including fluid inclusion microthermometry, H-O-S-Pb isotope compositions and thermodynamic modeling. Based on fluid inclusion petrography, microthermometry results and HO isotope compositions, the ore-forming H2O-NaCl fluid inclusions are characterized by medium temperature and medium salinity. And two kinds of fluid processes (boiling in western and middle ore-block and fluid mixing in the eastern ore-block) were identified to explain the ore fluid evolution. More importantly, log ƒO2- pH diagrams of δ34S contours with the stability fields of Fe- and Cu-, Zn-, Pb-, and Ag-bearing minerals were constructed to restore the physicochemical conditions of ore-forming fluid in the western (270 °C and 80 bars), middle (250 °C and 70 bars), and eastern (230 °C and 50 bars) ore-blocks. As a result, the ore-forming conditions in the western and middle ore-block were similar. In the eastern ore-block, the fluids may have changed from acidic, S-poor and δ34S(ΣS)≈2.8 to neutral, S-richer and δ34S(ΣS)≈0.5, which imply that neutral S-rich meteoric water was mixed with the magmatic fluid. Meanwhile, the activity of Ag+ was estimated to be about 10 ppm–9 ppm in the middle ore-block, but in the eastern ore-block it was about ~10 ppm–12 ppm. We proposed that the key for Ag ore deposition was likely to be neutralization led by fluid mixing.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Prof. Guoxiang Chi, Prof. Hongrui Fan and anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments that helped to improve the manuscript. We are grateful to the staff of the Analytical Laboratory in Beijing Research Institute of Uranium Geology, China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) for their advice and assistance in the isotope analysis. This work was financially supported by the Open Foundation of Key Laboratory of Mineral Resources Evaluation in Northeast Asia, and the Ministry of Natural Resources of China. The final publication is available at Springer via https://doi.org/10.1007/s12583-019-1273-2.
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Yang, H., Ma, W., Wang, R. et al. Factors Controlling Deposition of Metallic Minerals in the Meng’entaolegai Ag-Pb-Zn Deposit, Inner Mongolia, China: Evidence from Fluid Inclusions, Isotope Systematics, and Thermodynamic Model. J. Earth Sci. 31, 271–286 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12583-019-1273-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12583-019-1273-2