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Geochemistry of magmatic and hydrothermal zircon from the highly evolved Baerzhe alkaline granite: implications for Zr–REE–Nb mineralization

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Abstract

The Baerzhe alkaline granite pluton hosts one of the largest rare metal (Zr, rare earth elements, and Nb) deposits in Asia. It contains a geological resource of about 100 Mt at 1.84 % ZrO2, 0.30 % Ce2O3, and 0.26 % Nb2O5. Zirconium, rare earth elements (REE), and Nb are primarily hosted by zircon, yttroceberysite, fergusonite, ferrocolumbite, and pyrochlore. Three types of zircon can be identified in the deposit: magmatic, metamict, and hydrothermal. Primary magmatic zircon grains occur in the barren hypersolvus granite and are commonly prismatic, with oscillatory zones and abundant melt and mineral inclusions. The occurrence of aegirine and fluorite in the recrystallized melt inclusions hosted in the magmatic zircon indicates that the parental magma of the Baerzhe pluton is alkali- and F-rich. Metamict zircon grains occur in the mineralized subsolvus granite and are commonly prismatic and murky with cracks, pores, and mineral inclusions. They commonly show dissolution textures, indicating a magmatic origin with later metamictization due to deuteric hydrothermal alteration. Hydrothermal zircon grains occur in mineralized subsolvus granite and are dipyramidal with quartz inclusions, with murky CL images. They have 608 to 2,502 ppm light REE and 787 to 2,521 ppm Nb, much higher than magmatic zircon. The texture and composition of the three types of zircon indicate that they experienced remobilization and recrystallization during the transition from a magmatic to a hydrothermal system. Large amounts of Zr, REE, and Nb were enriched and precipitated during the transitional period to form the giant low-grade Baerzhe Zr–REE–Nb deposit.

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Acknowledgments

This study was financially supported by the NSFC grant 40872066 and GIGCAS 135 project Y234041001. The authors gratefully acknowledge Profs. Fan-Rong Chen, Ian H. Campbell, and Yu-Zhuo Qiu for constructive reviews of an earlier version of the manuscript. We are grateful to Prof. Li-Ren Cheng, and Drs. Qiu-Li Li and Xiang-Lin Tu for the assistance in field works, and the help with SIMS and LA-ICPMS analyses, respectively. We thank two anonymous reviewers for constructive comments and AE, Christina Yan Wang that helped improve the manuscript substantially. We also thank Pete Hollings and the editor-in-chief, Bernd Lehmann, for polishing the English language. This is contribution No. IS-1776 from GIGCAS.

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  1. Key Laboratory of Mineralogy and Metallogeny, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510640, China

    Wu-Bin Yang, He-Cai Niu, Qiang Shan, Wei-Dong Sun, Ning-Bo Li, Yu-Hang Jiang & Xue-Yuan Yu

  2. State Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics, Department of Geology, Northwest University, Xi’an, 710069, China

    Hong Zhang

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Yang, WB., Niu, HC., Shan, Q. et al. Geochemistry of magmatic and hydrothermal zircon from the highly evolved Baerzhe alkaline granite: implications for Zr–REE–Nb mineralization. Miner Deposita 49, 451–470 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00126-013-0504-1

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