Characteristics and evolution of ore-forming fluids of the Chongjiang copper deposit in the Gangdise porphyry copper belt, Tibet

Abstract

Petrography, microthermometry, and scanning electron microscope/energy dispersive spectrometer (SEM/EDS) studies were performed on the fluid inclusions in the ore-bearing quartz veins and quartz phenocrysts in the porphyry of the Chongjiang porphyry copper deposit. The analyses of the fluid inclusions indicate that the ore-forming fluids were exsolved from magma. They are near-saturated, supercritical, rich in volatile constituents, and have the capture temperature of 362–389°C and salinities of 17.7wt%-18.9wt% NaCl eq. With the decreasing of temperature and pressure, the supercritical fluids were separated into a low salinity vapor phase and a high salinity liquid phase. During quartz-sericitization, the high salinity fluid boiled and separated into a low salinity vapor phase and a high salinity liquid phase. The high salinity inclusions that formed in the boiling process had daughter mineral melting temperatures higher than the homogenization temperatures of the vapor and liquid phases. The late fluids that are responsible for argillization are of lower temperature and salinity.