Sulfide saturation mechanism of the Poyi magmatic Cu-Ni sulfide deposit in Beishan, Xinjiang, Northwest China

Abstract

The Poyi Cu-Ni deposit is hosted by the Early Permian Pobei mafic-ultramafic complex along the northern margin of the Tarim Plate. This series of multiple intrusions in the Poyi deposit can be divided into four lithologies: gabbro, dunite, hornblende peridotite, and wehrlite. The ore body consists mainly of disseminated sulfides hosted by hornblende peridotite. All the Poyi deposit sulfides show positive Δ33S values from 0.004 to 0.221‰ and negative δ34S values from −0.8 to −3.5‰. High Ni contents occur in the hornblende peridotites, which exhibit the highest Δ33S value of 0.221‰ and the lowest δ34S value of −3.5‰, indicating contamination by sulfides from Archean sedimentary rocks. This contamination was important during sulfide saturation in the Poyi intrusions and likely occurred at depth before the emplacement of the Poyi intrusions. The intrusions incorporated country rocks during their emplacement and consolidation, and the degree of assimilation increases from the central lithofacies (i.e., the hornblende peridotite) to the marginal lithofacies (i.e., the wehrlite, dunite, olivine gabbro, and gabbro). Higher Ni contents are correlated with lower degrees of contamination; thus, we infer that the contamination by the country Paleoproterozoic rocks, which contain significant amounts of gneiss and marble, hindered sulfide saturation.The whole-rock Ni content is negatively correlated with the MgO and Fo contents in the olivine and positively correlated with the FeO and MnO contents in the olivine. During crystallization, olivine becomes gradually richer in FeO but poorer in MgO, and Mn tends to be enriched in the late stages of the melt. We infer that the fractional crystallization of olivine was an important factor during sulfide saturation.