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Metallogenic epoch of the Jiapigou gold belt, Jilin Province, China: Constrains from rare earth element, fluid inclusion geochemistry and geochronology

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The Jiapigou gold belt is located on the northern margin of the North China Craton, and is one of the most important gold-mining and production regions in the circum-Pacific metallogenic zone. Research has been conducted in this area since the 1960s, however, the timing of the gold mineralisation is still unresolved, and an ideal metallogenic model has not been well established. To address these questions, a systematic geological, geochemical and geochronological investigation was conducted. The study revealed that (i) the gold-bearing quartz veins can be divided into two groups, earlier and later gold-bearing quartz veins according to their occurrence and the geochemical characteristics, (ii) the geochemical characteristics of the ore bodies, while similar to granite, are clearly different from the altered rock, and (iii) the geochemical characteristics of the later gold-bearing quartz veins have more similarity to the altered rock than the earlier gold-bearing quartz veins do. Therefore, we conclude that two independent stages of metallogenesis within the Jiapigou gold deposit area are related to magmatic activity in the Palaeoproterozoic and the Yanshanian stage of the Mesozoic, that the ore-forming fluids are mainly of magmatic origin, and that magma contamination by the altered rock was stronger in the Mesozoic. Zircon LA–ICP–MS U–Pb data show that the age of the Palaeoproterozoic granite is ~2426.0 Ma and that of the Mesozoic granite is ~166.2 Ma; these ages can be interpreted as the maximum ages of the two periods of gold mineralisation. In addition to investigating the geotectonic and regional structure of the Jiapigou gold belt, this study also proposes that the WNW-trending zone of gold mineralisation is a result of a magmatic event within the basement in the early Palaeoproterozoic, and that large-scale sinistral strike-slip displacements of the Huifahe and Liangjiang Faults in the late Middle Triassic (Yanshanian epoch) controlled the later tectono-magmatic event and the NNE–ENE-trending zone of gold mineralisation.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to express sincere thanks to Dr Paul Eizenhöfer of Hongkong University, Prof. Jun Deng and Liqiang Yang of CUGB and Huihui Li for their encouragement and support. They also gratefully acknowledge the anonymous reviewers for their detailed reviews and constructive suggestions. The research is supported by the National Science Foundation of China (No. 40872068, 40872141, 41172088).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, China University of Geosciences, No. 29, Xueyuan Road, Beijing, 100083, People’s Republic of China

    ZHIXIN HUANG & WANMING YUAN

  2. Beijing Research Institute of Uranium Geology, P. O. Box 9818, Beijing, 100029, People’s Republic of China

    ZHIXIN HUANG, CHANGMING WANG & LIYA YANG

  3. Shaanxi Province Institute of Geological Survey, No. 66, Jixiang Road, Xi’an, 710065, People’s Republic of China

    XIANGWEI LIU

  4. Development Research Centre, China Geologic Survey, No. 45, Fuwai Street, Beijing, 100037, People’s Republic of China

    XIAOTONG XU

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  1. ZHIXIN HUANG
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Correspondence to WANMING YUAN.

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HUANG, Z., YUAN, W., WANG, C. et al. Metallogenic epoch of the Jiapigou gold belt, Jilin Province, China: Constrains from rare earth element, fluid inclusion geochemistry and geochronology. J Earth Syst Sci 121, 1401–1420 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-012-0239-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-012-0239-x

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