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Ore genesis of the Wusihe carbonate-hosted Zn-Pb deposit in the Dadu River Valley district, Yangtze Block, SW China: evidence from ore geology, S-Pb isotopes, and sphalerite Rb-Sr dating

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Abstract

The Wusihe carbonate-hosted Zn-Pb deposit (3.7 Mt. Zn + Pb at a grade of 8.6% Zn and 2.0% Pb) is the largest deposit in the Dadu River Valley district of the Sichuan-Yunnan-Guizhou metallogenic province of southwest China. Three types of orebodies occur: (1) stratiform, banded and lamellar, within dolomite of the Neoproterozoic Dengying Formation; (2) vein type; and (3) breccia type. Four stages of mineralization are distinguished: (i) pyrite stage, (ii) pyrite-pyrrhotite-galena-sphalerite-bitumen stage, (iii) sphalerite-galena stage, and (iv) bitumen-calcite stage. Sphalerite and galena from stages II and III show δ34S ranges from +7.1 to +9.7‰ and +9.1 to +13.1‰, respectively. High-precision in situ lead isotope analyses of sulfides show 208Pb/204Pb, 207Pb/204Pb, and 206Pb/204Pb ratios of 37.938 to 38.336, 15.579 to 15.682, and 17.951 to 18.195, respectively, which suggest a mixing of lead from the basement and the host rocks. Rb-Sr isotope analyses for six sphalerite samples of stage II yielded an isochron age of 411 ± 10 Ma (MSWD = 1.4). Combining all available ore geology and geochemical data, together with fluid inclusion data reported previously, we suggest that the Wusihe deposit is a Mississippi Valley-type (MVT) deposit.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41603042 and 41672140), China Geological Survey (121201103094200), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan (CUGQYZX1733). We thank Dr. Tan Mantang and Mr. Wang Wei for their help in field investigations. We are grateful to Mr. Bao Zhian and Ms. Lu Jue for helping with LA–MC-ICP–MS Pb isotope analyses and to Mrs. Cai Hong for helping with Rb-Sr isotope analyses. Thanks are given to Prof. Yao Shuzhen, Prof. Shen Chuanbo, Dr. Jiang Manrong, and Mr. Chen Qizhi for their helpful suggestions. We acknowledge Prof. Bernd Lehmann, Prof. David Huston, Prof. Chen Huayong, Prof. Chris Eastoe, and anonymous reviewers for their constructive reviews and valuable suggestions that led to great improvement in the presentation of the paper.

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  1. State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, Faculty of Earth Resources, Collaborative Innovation Center for Exploration of Strategic Mineral Resources, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Suo-Fei Xiong, Yong-Jun Gong, Shao-Yong Jiang, Qian Li & Guo-Ping Zeng

  2. Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Graduate School of Environmental Studies Nagoya University, Chikusa-Ku, Nagoya, 464-8601, Japan

    Xiao-Jing Zhang

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  1. Suo-Fei Xiong
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Xiong, SF., Gong, YJ., Jiang, SY. et al. Ore genesis of the Wusihe carbonate-hosted Zn-Pb deposit in the Dadu River Valley district, Yangtze Block, SW China: evidence from ore geology, S-Pb isotopes, and sphalerite Rb-Sr dating. Miner Deposita 53, 967–979 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00126-017-0776-y

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