Late Jurassic Cu‐Mo Mineralization at the Zhashui‐Shanyang District, South Qinling, China: Constraints from Re‐Os Molybdenite and Laser Ablation‐Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry U‐Pb Zircon Dating

Abstract

Abstract:The Zhashui‐Shanyang district is one of the most important sulfide deposits in the Qinling Orogen where the formation of porphyry‐skarn Cu‐Mo deposits has a close genetic link with the Yanshannian magmatism. Laser Ablation‐Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA‐ICP‐MS) U‐Pb zircon dating of two granodiorite intrusions (Xiaohekou and Lengshuigou deposits) was investigated in the Zhashui‐Shanyang district and the rock‐forming ages obtained from 148.3±2.8 to 152.6±1.2 Ma, averaging 150.5 Ma, accompanied by a younger disturbance age of 144.3±1.7 Ma in the Lengshuigou intrusion, which is in excellent agreement with published sensitive high resolution ion micro‐probe (SHRIMP) zircon date on the later monzodiorite porphyry phase in the Lenshuigou deposit. Two samples were selected for molybdenite ICP‐MS Re‐Os isotopic analyses from the Lengshuigou granodiorite porphyry, yielding Re‐Os model ages from 149.2±2.7 Ma to 150.6±3.4 Ma, with a weighted mean age of 149.7±2.1 Ma. These mineralization ages overlap rock‐forming ages of the host intrusions within the error range. This implies that the mineralization occurred in the Late Jurassic, which belongs to the tectonic phase B event of the Yanshan Movement, not Cretaceous as previously thought. Therefore, the Late Jurassic mineralization of the Zhashui‐Shanyang district could be connected to the large‐scale Yanshan molybdenum metallogenic period, the geodynamic regime of which is attributable to the far field response of convergence of surrounding plates, perhaps the approximately westward subduction of the Izanagi plate beneath the Eurasian continent.