Petrogenesis and Metallogenesis of the Niumaoquan Gabbroic Intrusion Associated with Fe‐Ti Oxide Ores in the Eastern Tianshan, NW China

Abstract

AbstractThe Niumaoquan layered gabbroic intrusion is in the southern margin of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt in North Xinjiang, China, and hosts a Fe‐Ti oxide deposit in its evolved gabbroic phases. In this paper, we report zircon U‐Pb age, Sr‐Nd‐Hf isotopes, plagioclase chemistry, and whole‐rock geochemistry of the Niumaoquan layered gabbroic intrusion. Zircon grains separated from an anorthosite sample analyzed by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry yielded a concordia age of 314.7±0.74 Ma, indicating that the Niumaoquan ore‐bearing gabbroic intrusion was emplaced during the Late Carboniferous. The olivine gabbro texture and plagioclase chemistry suggest that plagioclase was an early crystallized silicate phase that crystallized prior to olivine. Fractional crystallization and accumulation of plagioclase significantly controlled the evolution of the Niumaoquan gabbroic intrusion and contributed to the formation of anorthosite layers, causing metallogenic elements to become enriched in the residual melt. The Niumaoquan gabbroic intrusion is characterized by the enrichment of large ion lithophile elements and depletion of high field strength elements, positive zircon εHf(t) values (+2.1 to +12.2), positive εNd(t) values (+3.3 to +5.2), and low initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios (0.7039 to 0.7047), suggesting that the parental magma was produced by interactions between metasomatized lithospheric mantle and depleted asthenospheric melts at an early post‐collision stage. The Fe‐Ti oxide mineralization of the Niumaoquan intrusion benefited from interactions between depleted asthenospheric melts and lithospheric mantle, and fractional crystallization of abundant plagioclase and magnesian minerals.