ALBERT

Description: The Huxingshan tungsten deposit (~0.21 Mt at 0.3 wt% WO3) is located in the Jiangnan Massif tungsten ore belt, South China. Here, the W mineralization is restricted to quartz and muscovite-quartz veins intruding variable country rocks of the Lower Cambrian strata. Rb-Sr isochron ages derived from fluid inclusions trapped in muscovite-quartz veins (ca. 134 ± 2 Ma) agree with the zircon U–Pb crystallization age of the associated Huxingshan granite (137.8 ± 0.5 Ma) and may thus suggest a close petrogenetic relationship between both rock types. Zircon εHf (t) values of the Huxingshan granite (−16.2 to +6.6) overlap with those of the specially related metasedimentary Banxi and Lengjiaxi Groups, consistent with melting of Neoproterozoic Yangtze lower crustal materials with mantle melts input to the source. We suggest that the highly differentiated signatures of tungsten and beryllium granite might be inherited from the origin chemistry of source rocks and further modified by highly fractional crystallization rather than by fluid-rock interaction processes. During this process, tungsten and beryllium was enriched in the residual melts/fluids, which finally separated from the solidifying melt body and were introduced into the county rock to precipitate scheelite and beryl along skarn and greisen horizons by large-scale fluid movements. The outlined processes are likely to be coupled to large-scale melting of continental crust and associated granitic magmatism under a regime of subduction of the paleo-Pacific Plate beneath South China and subsequent tearing of the slab. The newly discovered Huxingshan deposit underlines the huge prospecting potential for the northwestern Jiangnan Massif.

Description: The Lindero gold deposit is located in the Southern Puna plateau, northwest Argentina. The deposit is centered in a cluster of six subvolcanic intrusions emplaced at the margin of the Arizaro Basin. Three alteration types were recognized: (i) Ca–Na silicate (clinopyroxene + magnetite + K-feldspar + quartz + calcite ± plagioclase), (ii) K-silicate (K-feldspar + quartz + magnetite ± biotite ± anhydrite) and (iii) chlorite-calcite alteration. The highest ore grades are linked to the K-silicate alteration. The proven plus probable reserves of Lindero are 84,226 t with average grades of 0.63 g/t Au and 0.11% Cu. A previous study assigned Lindero to the iron oxide copper-gold (IOCG) deposit type but many features of Lindero suggest that it is a porphyry gold deposit, including (i) the temporal and spatial link between alteration and the intrusive bodies, (ii) the alteration distribution pattern, particularly the small volume of rock affected by Ca–Na silicate alteration, (iii) the Au-rich and Cu-poor mineralization style. The magmatic complex at Lindero comprises an early-mineral unit (FPD), four inter-mineral units (CPD1, PBFD, CPD2 and DDP) and one post-mineral unit (PMI). In-situ U/Pb SIMS dating of the oldest (FPD), an intermediate (PBFD) and the youngest (DDP) intrusive units, confirms a middle Miocene age. The weighted mean ages of the oldest and youngest units are indistinguishable, with 15.36 ± 0.13 Ma (n = 21) and 15.47 ± 0.11 Ma (n = 16), respectively. Individual ages from each unit range by ~1 m.y. and the overall spread of zircon ages is 15.92 ± 0.23 to 14.44 ± 0.33 Ma. We suggest that emplacement of the subvolcanic stocks took place within this span time, likely at the lower end of this range (15.0–14.4 Ma). Two 40Ar/39Ar ages of hydrothermal biotites from the K-silicate alteration (14.99 ± 0.16 Ma and 14.93 ± 0.12 Ma) indicate that hydrothermal alteration began practically simultaneously with the emplacement of the porphyry units. All of the intrusive units are similar compositionally. They show a fine- to medium-grained porphyric texture (1–4 mm) comprising plagioclase, amphibole, clinopyroxene and scarce quartz phenocrysts (40–55 vol % of phenocrysts) in a K-feldspar ± quartz microcrystalline (0.02–0.07 mm) groundmass, except in the post-mineral unit which has a cryptocrystalline groundmass. Whole-rock analyses reveal a narrow range of dioritic composition (58.6–61.9 wt % SiO2) and high-K calc-alkaline character for all units. Trace element features (low Ba/Nb ratios, high Nb) of the Lindero magmas indicate a back-arc affinity, similar to those from the Southern Puna and distinct from the Central Volcanic Zone (CVZ) frontal arc. The Sr and Nd isotope ratios (87Sr/86Sr = 0.706042 to 0.706607; 143Nd/144Nd = 0.512501 to 0.512582) from Lindero intrusives are also similar to Southern Puna back-arc volcanic rocks. The Pb isotope ratios of Lindero (206Pb/204Pb = 18.79 to 18.83; 207Pb/204Pb = 15.60 to 15.63; 208Pb/204Pb = 38.66 to 38.74) overlap with both back-arc and arc magmas in the CVZ. The narrow age range, spatial association and uniform chemical and isotopic composition of Lindero porphyry units suggest that were derived from a common magma source, which underwent fractionation and/or crustal assimilation before emplacement as suggest by the low concentrations of Mg, Cr, Ni and Sr. The Lindero porphyry units show chemical and isotopic similarities with those from porphyry gold deposits in the Maricunga belt, Chile, and with the porphyry copper deposits of Argentina located in a back-arc setting; however, they differ from porphyry copper deposits in the frontal-arc setting of Chile, notably by the lack of an adakite-like signature (high Sr/Y ratio).

Description: The Singhbhum Craton, one of five major Archean cratons in the Indian subcontinent, contains abundant well-preserved Paleoarchean supracrustals and granitoids. This study presents zircon U-Pb ages and whole rock geochemistry of tonalite-trondhjemite-granodiorites (TTGs) and granites from the Bonai Granite Complex (BGC) and Older Metamorphic Tonalite Gneiss (OMTG), which are separated from each other by the Jamda-Koira-Noamundi Iron Ore Group (IOG) supracrustals. Emplacement ages obtained in this study indicate that a major episode of TTG magmatism took place in BGC around 3368 ± 8 Ma (1σ), followed by granitic magmatism around 3331 ± 33 Ma (1σ). In contrast, a TTG from the Deo Nala area representing OMTG yielded crystallization age of 3312 ± 8 Ma (1σ). The emplacement and evolution of the BGC were coeval with granitoid magmatism from the central part of the Singhbhum Craton. Whole rock geochemical data identify both high- and low-HREE TTGs in both the BGC and OMTG to the west and east of the IOG basin, respectively. The trace element systematics of high-HREE Bonai TTG are similar to those of Icelandic dacites, suggestive of their derivation from a garnet free, plagioclase rich amphibolite. The low-HREE TTGs of the BGC and OMTG were derived from an amphibolite source with varying amounts of garnet. The potassic granites of the BGC were sourced from the older TTGs which had undergone partial melting at a shallow depth. The evolution of the BGC and OMTG can be attributed to the partial melting under a thickened mafic crust. Dome and keel structures and emplacement ages of granitoids from the west and east of the Jamda-Koira-Noamundi IOG basin, support the origin of these Paleoarchean granitoids in a stagnant lid regime. High geothermal gradients induced by heat supplied by mantle upwelling appear to have induced the melting of the thickened crust, to form the TTG. Delamination induced mafic–ultramafic underplating resulted in melting of early formed TTGs, to form the younger potassic granites of the BGC at ~ 3.33 Ga.

Description: Our most important Zn resources occur within clastic-dominated (CD-type) deposits, which are located in a small number of Proterozoic and Phanerozoic sedimentary basins. The most common model for CD-type mineralisation involves sedimentary exhalative (SEDEX) processes, i.e. the venting of metal bearing fluids into a restricted, anoxic H2S-bearing (euxinic) water column. In the Carpentaria Zn Province (Australia), multiple world class deposits are hosted in Proterozoic (1.6 Ga) stratigraphy, where models of the ancient sulfur cycle have also been developed. Focusing on the most recent discovery – the Teena deposit – we report bulk rock and isotopic data (δ34Spyrite values) that provide information on the sulfur cycle during the diagenetic and hydrothermal evolution of the Teena sub-basin. In contrast to the SEDEX model, intervals containing abundant pyrite with highly positive δ34S values (〉25 ‰) correspond with euxinic conditions that developed due to high organic loading (i.e. productivity) and not basin restriction. This basin wide feature, which can also be mistaken as a hydrothermal pyrite halo, is genetically unrelated to the subsequent hydrothermal mineralisation that formed beneath the palaeo-seafloor. The formation of CD-type deposits in the Proterozoic does not, therefore, require euxinic conditions.

Description: Crustal recycling into Earth’s deep mantle has been inferred from both seismic tomography and geochemical observations. As a further line of evidence, we report on zircons having a wide range of ages that were recovered from the Aladag chromitites, providing direct evidence for crustal recycling. Mesozoic zircons represent the earliest stages of Neotethyan seafloor spreading magmatism, whereas Neoproterozoic and Mesoproterozoic–Archean zircons record recycled old crustal material entrained in the ophiolitic mantle melt sources. The incorporation of such old, crustal zircons into the Neotethyan mantle might have followed from previous subduction events, from lithospheric delamination, and/or from the dismantling of West Gondwana in the Permo-Triassic. Subduction–affiliated ophiolitic melts may have picked up these recycled zircons and integrated them into chromitites, which precipitated from peridotite–melt interactions in a mantle wedge beneath the Inner–Tauride (a Neotethyan seaway) seafloor spreading system. Common in ophiolitic chromitites within the Neotethyan realm, such unusually old zircons present unique archives for tracking crustal recycling and mantle processes during rift–drift, seafloor spreading and subduction zone evolution of the oceanic mantle. We conclude that ophiolitic mantle peridotite and chromitite may be an important archive for preserving the recycling history of crustal material back into Earth’s deep mantle.

Description: This study presents new secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) reference materials (RMs) for measuring water contents in nominally anhydrous orthopyroxenes from upper mantle peridotites. The enstatitic reference orthopyroxenes from spinel peridotite xenoliths have Mg#s between 0.83 and 0.86, Al2O3 ranges between 4.02 and 5.56 wt%, and Cr2O3 ranges between 0.21 and 0.69 wt%. Based on Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) characterizations, the water contents of the eleven reference orthopyroxenes vary from dry to 249 ± 6 μg/g H2O. Using these reference grains, a set of orthopyroxene samples obtained from variably altered abyssal spinel peridotites from the Atlantic and Arctic Ridges as well as from the Izu-Bonin-Mariana forearc region was analyzed by SIMS and FTIR regarding their incorporation of water. The major element composition of the sample orthopyroxenes is typical of spinel peridotites from the upper mantle, characterized by Mg#s between 0.90 and 0.92, Al2O3 between 1.66 and 5.34 wt%, and Cr2O3 between 0.62 and 0.96 wt%. Water contents as measured by SIMS range from 68 ± 7 to 261 ± 11 μg/g H2O and correlate well with Al2O3 contents (r = 0.80) and Cr#s (r. = -0.89). We also describe in detail an optimized strategy, employing both SIMS and FTIR, for quantifying structural water in highly altered samples such as abyssal peridotite. This approach first analyzes individual oriented grains by polarized FTIR, which provides an overview of alteration. Subsequently, the same grain along with others of the same sample is measured using SIMS, thereby gaining information about homogeneity at the hand sample scale, which is key for understanding the geological history of these rocks.

Description: of oxygen isotope compositions in silicate glasses was studied using a set of 27 synthesized glasses spanning a compositionally broad range of six major oxides: SiO2, TiO2, Al2O3, total FeO (FeOt), MgO and CaO. The impact of chemical composition on the IMF values was investigated using a Cameca 1280-HR during a single SIMS analytical session operated under constant instrumental conditions. The data measured were compared with the δ18O values obtained by laser fluorination gas source mass-spectrometry (LF). The offset between the δ18O(LF)and δ18O(SIMS) was found to reach up to 5‰. Our data document that SIMS oxygen isotope matrix effects in silicate glasses strongly depend on the chemical composition of silicate glasses, here the cation‑oxygen bond strength was found to have a strong influence on the IMF value. We tested a variety of models based on single oxide contents and various composition-dependent parameters, but none were fully satisfactory for predicting IMF. Neither mean atomic mass nor NBO/T (the ratio of non-bridging oxygens per tetrahedrally coordinated cation) show a strong correlation with the IMF values (R2 of 0.45 and 0.46, respectively). Among the single oxides, only the model based on the SiO2 content is useful for prediction of the IMF in silicate glasses, but this model has a large standard error (1σ = ± 0.90‰) and was also found to break down for glasses with high Na and K contents. We propose an empirical model based on the correlation of six major element oxides that shows a strong correlation with IMF (R2 = 0.98, 1σ = ± 0.40‰). This model describes the experimental data with uncertainties that are roughly a factor of two better than the correction methods proposed in earlier studies. We also investigated using the correlation between IMF and isotope I-18O index, which describes the correlation between atomic bond strength and relative oxygen isotope enrichment in silicate substances (R2 = 0.87). Although our efforts provide refinements to the SIMS determination of δ18O in natural silicate glasses, truly accurate IMF corrections will need further refinements related to the impact of alkali elements.

Description: The Raman spectra of five [4]B-bearing tourmalines of different composition synthesized at 700°C/4.0 GPa (including first-time synthesis of Na-Li-[4]B-tourmaline, Ca-Li- [4]B-tourmaline and Ca-bearing -[4]B-tourmaline), reveal a strong correlation between the tetrahedral boron content and the summed relative intensity of all OH-stretching bands between 3300–3430 cm-1. The band shift to low wavenumbers is explained by strong O3-H...O5 hydrogen bridge bonding. Applying the regression equation to natural [4]B-bearing tourmaline from the Koralpe (Austria) reproduces the EMPA-derived value perfectly [EMPA: 0.67(12) [4]B pfu vs. Raman: 0.66(13)[4]B pfu]. This demonstrates that Raman spectroscopy provides a fast and easy-to-use tool for the quantification of tetrahedral boron in tourmaline. The knowledge of the amount of tetrahedral boron in tourmaline has important implications for the better understanding and modeling of B-isotope fractionation between tourmaline and fluid/melt, widely used as tracer of mass transfer processes.