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Evolution of the Miocene Ailaoshan orogenic gold deposits, southeastern Tibet, during a complex tectonic history of lithosphere-crust interaction

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Abstract

The orogenic gold deposits along the NNW-trending Ailaoshan shear zone are formed during Miocene continental collision, after a complex history of Neoproterozoic subduction, Late Triassic amalgamation between the Indochina and South China blocks after closure of the Paleo-Tethyan Ocean, and Oligocene-Eocene continental-scale shearing related to the Indian-Eurasian continental collision. As a result, the eastern Neoproterozoic basement with ductile shear zones was thrust over the western metasedimentary rocks and Paleo-Tethyan ophiolites affected by brittle faulting. These tectonically juxtaposed successions were underlain by lithosphere metasomatized in the Neoproterozoic. The gold-hosting western succession is characterized by tightly folded Silurian to Permian metasedimentary rocks, overlain by gently folded Late Triassic metasedimentary rocks, and cut by secondary NW-trending shear zones. This crustal architecture controlled migration of ore fluid towards the cessation of regional ductile deformation at ca. 22 Ma, with major ductile shear zones serving as the main conduit, tight folds, and jogs or intersections on subsidiary brittle shear zones as the fluid trap, and Late Triassic rocks as the seal. Gold-rich rims on disseminated gold-poor sedimentary pyrite with a limited δ34S range from − 3 to 3‰, pyrite He-Ar isotope ratios, and the timing of mineralization within retrograde metamorphism suggest an important metal contribution from mantle lithosphere. The auriferous fluid, derived from previously metasomatized mantle lithosphere, is interpreted to have advected up the Ailaoshan shear zone into the metasedimentary sequence during mantle upwelling, clearly contrasting with widely accepted crustal metamorphic models for Phanerozoic orogenic gold deposits.

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Acknowledgments

This paper was improved by the constructive comments of the two reviewers, Drs. Derek Wyman and Kun-Feng Qiu, Guest Editor, Dr. Julian Vearncombe, and Chief Editor, Dr. Bernd Lehmann. We appreciated the help from PhD students Xuan Wang and Huazhi Yu in the figure preparation of this manuscript.

Funding

The research was jointly supported by the National Key Research and Development Project of China (2016YFC0600307), the National Key Basic Research Development Program (973 Program; 2015CB452606), and the fundamental research funds of university teachers (No. 2652016070).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, China University of Geosciences, Beijing, 100083, China

    Qingfei Wang, David I. Groves, Jun Deng, Huajian Li, Lin Yang & Chaoyi Dong

  2. Centre for Exploration Targeting, UWA, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia

    David I. Groves

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  1. Qingfei Wang
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  2. David I. Groves
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  3. Jun Deng
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  4. Huajian Li
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Correspondence to Jun Deng.

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Editorial handling: B. Lehmann

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Wang, Q., Groves, D.I., Deng, J. et al. Evolution of the Miocene Ailaoshan orogenic gold deposits, southeastern Tibet, during a complex tectonic history of lithosphere-crust interaction. Miner Deposita 55, 1085–1104 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00126-019-00922-3

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