Fluid Inclusions and Stable Isotopic Characteristics of the Yaoling Tungsten Deposit in South China: Metallogenetic Constraints

Abstract

AbstractThe Yaoling tungsten deposit is a typical wolframite quartz vein‐type tungsten deposit in the South China metallogenic province. The wolframite‐bearing quartz veins mainly occur in Cambrian to Ordovician host rocks or in Mesozoic granitic rocks and are controlled by the west‐north‐west trending extensional faults. The ore mineralization mainly comprises wolframite and variable amounts of molybdenite, chalcopyrite, pyrite, fluorite, and tourmaline. Hydrothermal alteration is well developed at the Yaoling tungsten deposit, including greisenization, silicification, fluoritization, and tourmalinization. Three types of primary/pseudosecondary fluid inclusions have been identified in vein quartz, which is intimately intergrown with wolframite. These include two‐phase liquid‐rich aqueous inclusions (type I), two‐ or three‐phase CO2‐rich inclusions (type II), and type III daughter mineral‐bearing multiphase high‐salinity aqueous inclusions. Microthermometric measurements reveal consistent moderate homogenization temperatures (peak values from 200 to 280°C), and low to high salinities (1.3–39 wt % NaCl equiv.) for the type I, type II, and type III inclusions, where the CO2‐rich type II inclusions display trace amounts of CH4 and N2. The ore‐forming fluids are far more saline than those of other tungsten deposits reported in South China. The estimated maximum trapping pressure of the ore‐forming fluids is about 1230–1760 bar, corresponding to a lithostatic depth of 4.0–5.8 km. The δDH2O isotopic compositions of the inclusion fluid ranges from −66.7 to −47.8‰, with δ18OH2O values between 1.63 and 4.17‰, δ13C values of −6.5–0.8‰, and δ34S values between −1.98 and 1.92‰, with an average of −0.07‰. The stable isotope data imply that the ore‐forming fluids of the Yaoling tungsten deposit were mainly derived from crustal magmatic fluids with some involvement of meteoric water. Fluid immiscibility and fluid–rock interaction are thought to have been the main mechanisms for tungsten precipitation at Yaoling.