Mineralium Deposita

, Volume 41, Issue 5, pp 453–467 | Cite as

Trace- and rare-earth element geochemistry and Pb–Pb dating of black shales and intercalated Ni–Mo–PGE–Au sulfide ores in Lower Cambrian strata, Yangtze Platform, South China

  • Shao-Yong Jiang
  • Yong-Quan Chen
  • Hong-Fei Ling
  • Jing-Hong Yang
  • Hong-Zhen Feng
  • Pei Ni
Article
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Abstract

The Lower Cambrian black shale sequence of the Niutitang Formation in the Yangtze Platform, South China, hosts an extreme metal-enriched sulfide ore bed that shows >10,000 times enrichment in Mo, Ni, Se, Re, Os, As, Hg, and Sb and >1,000 times enrichment in Ag, Au, Pt, and Pd, when compared to average upper continental crust. We report in this paper trace- and rare-earth-element concentrations and Pb–Pb isotope dating for the Ni–Mo–PGE–Au sulfide ores and their host black shales. Both the sulfide ores and their host black shales show similar trace-element distribution patterns with pronounced depletion in Th, Nb, Hf, Zr, and Ti, and extreme enrichment in U, Ni, Mo, and V compared to average upper crust. The high-field-strength elements, such as Zr, Hf, Nb, Ta, Sc, Th, rare-earth elements, Rb, and Ga, show significant inter-element correlations and may have been derived mainly from terrigenous sources. The redox sensitive elements, such as V, Ni, Mo, U, and Mn; base metals, such as Cu, Zn, and Pb; and Sr and Ba may have been derived from mixing of seawater and venting hydrothermal sources. The chondrite-normalized REE patterns, positive Eu and Y anomalies, and high Y/Ho ratios for the Ni–Mo–PGE–Au sulfide ores are also suggestive for their submarine hydrothermal-exhalative origin. A stepwise acid-leaching Pb–Pb isotope analytical technique has been employed for the Niutitang black shales and the Ni–Mo–PGE–Au sulfide ores, and two Pb–Pb isochron ages have been obtained for the black shales (531±24 Ma) and for the Ni–Mo–PGE–Au sulfide ores (521±54 Ma), respectively, which are identical and overlap within uncertainty, and are in good agreement with previously obtained ages for presumed age-equivalent strata.

Keywords

Trace- and rare-earth elements Pb–Pb dating Ni–Mo–PGE–Au sulfide ore Black shale South China 
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Notes

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by China National Science Foundation grants (40221301, 40372059, 40232020). Profs. Zhu Maoyan, Zhang Junming, and Wu Xianhe are thanked for their very helpful assistance in field work and for critical discussions. We thank Dr. R. M. Coveney Jr., J. B. Murowchick J.B., and an anonymous reviewer for their constructive comments that helped us to better clarify our view and improve the paper significantly.

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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag 2006

Authors and Affiliations

  • Shao-Yong Jiang
    • 1
  • Yong-Quan Chen
    • 1
  • Hong-Fei Ling
    • 1
  • Jing-Hong Yang
    • 1
  • Hong-Zhen Feng
    • 1
  • Pei Ni
    • 1
  1. 1.State Key Laboratory for Mineral Deposits Research and Center for Marine Geochemistry Research, Department of Earth SciencesNanjing UniversityNanjingPeople’s Republic of China

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