Lead Isotopic Composition and Lead Source of the Huogeqi Cu-Pb-Zn Deposit, Inner Mongolia, China

Abstract

The Huogeqi orefield located on the northern side of Mt. Langshan, Inner Mongolia occurs in the Middle Proterozoic Langshan Group metamorphic rocks, and the orebodies are stratiform. In the past twenty years, many Chinese geologists have conducted researches on the Huogeqi Cu-Pb-Zn deposit, but there has been still a controversy on its origin. Some advocate that the deposit is of sedimentary-metamorphic reworking origin, some hold that it is of sea-floor SEDEX origin, and others have a preference for magmatic superimposition origin. The crux of the controversy is that there is no common understanding about the source of ore-forming materials. In this paper, the Pb isotopic compositions of regional Achaean-Early Proterozoic basement rocks, various types of sedimentary-metamorphic rocks and volcanic rocks in the mining district, Late Proterozoic and Hercynian magmatic rocks are introduced and compared with the ore-lead composition, so as to constrain the source of the ore lead. The result indicates that (1) sulfides in the ores have homogeneous Pb isotopic compositions, showing a narrow variation range. Their 206Pb/204Pb ratios are within a range of 17.027–17.317; 207Pb/204Pb ratios, 15.451–15.786 and 208Pb/204Pb ratios, 36.747–37.669; (2) the Pb isotopic compositions of the regional Achaean-Early Proterozoic basement rocks are characteristic of the old Pb isotopic composition at the early-stage evolution of the Earth, which varies over a wider range, reflecting significant differences in Pb isotopic compositions of the ores. All this indicates that the source of ore lead has no bearing on the basement rocks; (3) the sedimentary-metamorphic rocks in the mining district are characterized by highly variable and more radiogenic Pb isotopic compositions and their Pb isotopic ratios are obviously higher than those of ores, demonstrating that ore lead did not result from metamorphic reworking of these rocks; (4) Pb isotopic compositions of Late Proterozoic diorite-gabbro and Hercynian granite are higher than those of ores. Meanwhile, the Pb isotopic compositions of sulfides in the small-sized strata-penetrating mineralized veinlets formed at later stages are completely consistent with that of sulfides in stratiform-banded ores, suggesting that these veinlets are the product of autochthonous reworking of the stratiform-banded ores during the period of metamorphism and the late magmatic superimposition-mineralization can be excluded; (5) amphibolite, whose protolith is basic volcanic rocks, has the same Pb isotopic compositions as ores, implying that ore lead was derived probably from basic volcanism. So, the source of ore-forming materials for the Huogeqi deposit is like that of the volcanic massive sulfide (VMS) deposits. However, the orebodies do not occur directly within the volcanic rocks, and instead they overlie the volcanic rocks, showing some differences from those typical VMS-type deposits.