Abstract
The Baolun gold deposit is a mesothermal orogenic gold deposit located in the southwestern part of Hainan Island, South China. The deposit comprises a series of NNW-trending quartz-sulfide lodes situated within a parallel array of fault zones traversing a sequence of variably foliated flysch siliciclastic rocks of the Lower Silurian. Detailed field mapping documented at least five phases of deformation in the deposit including NNW-trending folding of the Lower Silurian rocks (D1), development of NNW-trending, steeply dipping ductile shear zones with an oblique dextral sense corresponding to NNE-SSW shortening (D2), WNW-ESE shortening and extension associated with an early oblique sinistral ductile shearing along the NNW-trending fault zones (D3), ENE-WSW shortening (D4), and near N-S extension (D5). The gold-bearing quartz lodes cut the strata folded in the D1, show some laminar layering related to ductile shear in the D2 and are overprinted by brittle structures formed in the D3 to D5. 40Ar–39Ar dating on muscovite from an auriferous quartz lode yielded an age of 242±2.5Ma, which, together with the age of 232±2.5Ma for an aplite vein in the deposit, suggests that the mineralization may be related to a tectono-thermal event in the Triassic. In the context of the southern South China plate tectonics, the formation of the Baolun gold deposit is interpreted to be related to the oblique dextral ductile shearing (D2) along the NNW-trending fault zones during the Indosinian orogeny, in relation to the convergence between the Indochina and South China plates.
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