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Chemical and boron isotopic compositions of tourmaline in the Longtoushan hydrothermal gold deposit, Guangxi, China: implications for gold mineralization

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Abstract

The Longtoushan hydrothermal gold deposit is located in the southwestern region of the Dayaoshan Uplift. Tourmaline is widespread in the Longtoushan gold deposit and is mainly distributed in the rhyolite porphyry and associated cryptoexplosive breccia. The spatial distribution of tourmaline enrichment is similar to that of the gold orebody. Feldspar has been largely replaced by tourmaline in the rhyolite porphyry and cryptoexplosive breccia. Electron microprobe analysis revealed that tourmalines in the Longtoushan deposit belong mainly to the alkali group and partly to the X-vacant group; they mostly fell in the schorl-dravite series field. Two distinct sets of dominant substitutions were observed: MgFe−1 and Al□(NaR2+)−1, where R = Fe, Mg. In addition, minor substitutions include (CaMg)(NaAl)−1 and FeAl−1. The calculated δ11B value for the mineralizing fluids ranged from − 12.8 to − 9.7‰, which is typical of S-type granites, and boron-enriched fluids predominantly derived from rhyolitic melt. Part of the tourmaline from the rhyolite porphyry crystallized during the magmatic-hydrothermal stage, whereas most tourmalines from the deposit formed in the post-magmatic hydrothermal stage. The tourmalines were deposited from a relatively reduced and acidic fluid system, and the gold predominantly precipitated during the post-magmatic hydrothermal stage in the Longtoushan deposit.

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Fig. 1

Modified after Chen et al. (2015)

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a is modified after Xie and Sun (1993)

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the Project of Innovation-driven Plan in Central South University (Project No. 2015CX008) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of Central South University (Project No. 2015zzts071). Miao Yu and Jeff Dick are thanked for their critical review of the manuscript. Moreover, we wish to thank two anonymous reviewers and editors for their constructive comments.

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  1. Key Laboratory of Metallogenic Prediction of Nonferrous Metals and Geological Environment Monitoring, Ministry of Education, School of Geosciences and Info-Physics, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China

    Lihua Qian, Jianqing Lai, Shugen Zhang, Lifang Hu, Rong Cao & Shilong Tao

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  1. Lihua Qian
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Correspondence to Jianqing Lai.

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Qian, L., Lai, J., Zhang, S. et al. Chemical and boron isotopic compositions of tourmaline in the Longtoushan hydrothermal gold deposit, Guangxi, China: implications for gold mineralization. Acta Geochim 38, 277–291 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11631-018-0292-5

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