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Invisible gold distribution on pyrite and ore-forming fluid process of the Huangshan orogenic-type gold deposit of Zhejiang, SE China: implications from mineralogy, trace elements, impurity and fluid inclusion studies

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Abstract

The Huangshan orogenic-type gold deposit in Zhejiang of SE China occurred in quartz–pyrite veins. It is hosted by phyllonite that underwent greenschist-facies metamorphism along a large Jiangshan–Shaoxing tectonic belt with a NE–SW direction. Trace elemental characteristics, ore-forming process and invisible gold on different forms of pyrite and quartz are studied. The Au associated pyrite can be classified into two categories; recrystallized pyrite and euhedral pyrite. The precipitation of invisible Au on pyrite is mainly derived by Co and Ni with AuHS2 − complex in the mineralizing fluids in different events. The XPS results revealed that valence states of Au3+ replaced 2Fe2+ in the pyrite and Au0 replaced Si4+ in the quartz structure. The electron paramagnetic resonance and trace elemental results suggested that the element pairs of Ge–Li–Al in quartz and Mn–Co–Ni in pyrite have distinct impurities as identified. A fluid inclusion study showed that the auriferous quartz is characterized by low-saline and CO2-rich fluids. Coexistence of the type I–type III inclusions and same range of homogenization temperature with different mode are evidences of immiscible fluid process. The temperature–pressure values of ca. 250 °C/1250 bar and ca. 220 °C/780 bar for gold precipitation have been calculated by intersection of coexisting fluids during the entrapment. The Huangshan orogenic-type gold deposit may be associated with the Wuyi–Yunkai orogeny during the early Paleozoic, including an upper–mid greenschist-facies metamorphism (450–420 Ma). All the features suggest that the Huangshan gold deposit is probably a product linking with the early Paleozoic orogeny in South China.

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Acknowledgments

The authors sincerely thank Y.-H. Hu and S.-Q. Yu of Zhejiang Institute of Geological Survey, H.-L. Chen, C. Rao, L.-F. Meng and X.-Q. Yang of Zhejiang University for their assistance in field and indoor work, J.-H. Zhu and G.-L. Xu for EPMA analyses in Key Laboratory of Submarine Geosciences, State Oceanic Administration of P. R. China, and Joseph Nathaniel Bass (USA) for improving the English level of the manuscript. This study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41541018), China Geology Survey (Nos. 12120114020801, 2014-04-018-010), Department of Science and Technology of Zhejiang Province (No. 2014C33023), and Department of Land and Resources of Zhejiang Province (Nos. 2015006, 2010001) and Zhejiang Provincial Geological Prospecting Bureau of china (No. 2015005).

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  1. School of Earth Sciences, Zhejiang University, 38 Zheda Road, Hangzhou, 310027, People’s Republic of China

    Vijay Anand Sundarrajan, Zilong Li, Yizhou Hu & Xuheng Fu

  2. Department of Earth Sciences, Eritrea Institute of Technology, Asmara, 12676, Eritrea

    Vijay Anand Sundarrajan

  3. Zhejiang Xinsheng Gold Limited Company, Zhuji, 311809, People’s Republic of China

    Yuhuo Zhu

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Sundarrajan, V.A., Li, Z., Hu, Y. et al. Invisible gold distribution on pyrite and ore-forming fluid process of the Huangshan orogenic-type gold deposit of Zhejiang, SE China: implications from mineralogy, trace elements, impurity and fluid inclusion studies. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 106, 1057–1073 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-016-1353-9

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