Abstract
The Xiaotuergen deposit is the first porphyry Cu deposit to be identified in the northern Xinjiang Altay, Northwest China. Voluminous granitoids comprising granite porphyry, granodiorite porphyry, biotite monzogranite, and quartz porphyry are present in the ore district. Granodiorite porphyry hosts the main Cu mineralization, in disseminated, veinlet, veinlet-disseminated, and stockwork forms. The Xiaotuergen intrusions are weakly metaluminous to peraluminous calc-alkaline to alkaline granitic rocks, and exhibit typical subduction-related geochemical signatures comprising light rare earth element (LREE) enrichment, high field strength element (HFSE) depletion, and low Sr/Y and La/Yb ratios. They are depleted in Nb–Ta–Ti, P, and Eu–Sr, yield moderate Mg# values (41.10–55.38), and show negative but near-zero εNd(t) values (−2.0 to −0.1) and variable positive εHf(t) values (+1.52 to +11.08). Geochemical constraints indicate that the Xiaotuergen granitoids are highly evolved I-type granites which were derived from strong fractional crystallization of a parental magma, mixed with materials derived from partial melting of both subducting oceanic sediments and the overlying mantle wedge. The Xiaotuergen granitoids are products of the same tectono-magmatic activity as that which produced the synchronous magmatic rocks of the Xinjiang Altay, having been formed in a continental arc setting during the early Devonian. The Xiaotuergen ore-bearing porphyries are identified as the shoshonite series, rather than the adakite series. Mantle-derived contributions played a crucial role in the formation of magmas with Cu and S contents that were high enough to produce economic mineralization. The mature arc environment and long-lived magmatism provided favorable conditions for the development of porphyry Cu mineralization.
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