Rare earth element and yttrium analyses of sulfides from the Dachang Sn-polymetallic ore field, Guangxi Province, China: Implication for ore genesis

Abstract

The Dachang Sn-polymetallic ore field (Guangxi, China) is one of the largest tin deposits in the world with a tin reserve of above 106 tons. Several types of orebody occur in this giant ore field, including mainly the Lamo Cu-Zn skarns at the contact of Devonian limestone and the Cretaceous Longxianggai granite, the Changpo-Tongkeng stratiform Sn-Pb-Zn ores in Devonian siliceous rocks, and the Gaofeng massive sulfide ore in Devonian reef limestone. Rare-earth element (REE) and yttrium concentrations in sulfides from different orebody types have been determined by ICP-MS. Sulfides from the Lamo skarn-type Cu-Zn mines display significant LREE-enriched pattern with large negative Eu anomalies. This is in agreement with the mineralizing fluid being of magmatic hydrothermal origin. However, sulfides from massive and stratiform orebodies show significantly different REE distributions. The Gaofeng massive sulfides have very low total REE concentrations and REE patterns range from (1) being strongly enriched in light REE with positive Eu anomalies, to (2) relatively flat patterns with strongly negative Ce and positive Eu anomalies. Pattern 1 resembles REE distributions in modern submarine hydrothermal fluids. Pattern 2 exhibits both seawater and hydrothermal vent-fluid characteristics. Sulfides from stratiform orebodies at Changpo-Tongkeng are LREE-enriched with small or no negative Eu anomalies. REE patterns of sulfides from different stratiform orebodies are slightly different, but they are similar to those of each host rock. It indicates that the sulfides and host rocks are synsedimentary and that their REE patterns are controlled by the local physical-chemical environments. Y/Ho atomic weight ratios of granite, skarn and sulfides at Lamo vary from 26.3 to 33.7, close to the chondritic Y/Ho ratio. But sulfides from massive and stratiform ores have more variable Y/Ho ratios (28.4-134) that are similar to those of many modern hydrothermal fluids. Hence, the ore-forming fluids responsible for mineralization of the stratiform and massive ores at Dachang were likely to be of exhalative hydrothermal origin. It is suggested that the Dachang deposits are formed through a two-stage hydrothermal process, i.e., the Devonian submarine hydrothermal ore-forming stage and the Yanshanian magmatic-hydrothermal ore-forming stage.