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Upper temperature limits of orogenic gold deposit formation: Constraints from TiO2 polymorphs in the Dongyuan Au deposit, Jiangnan Orogen, China

  • Shenghua Wu , Jingwen Mao , Hong Yu , Daorong Tan and Xinxia Geng
Published/Copyright: October 29, 2021
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American Mineralogist
From the journal American Mineralogist Volume 106 Issue 11

Abstract

Gold (Au) deposits have formed in orogenic belts throughout Earth’s history. However, the upper temperature limits of orogenic Au vein formation are difficult to constrain because measurements made on fluid inclusions focus on intermediate to late-stage minerals (e.g., quartz and calcite) or are based on P-T estimates for the metamorphic mineral assemblages of the host rocks. We conducted a study of TiO2 polymorphs that are among the earliest minerals that grew in Au-bearing veins of the Dongyuan deposit, Jiangnan orogenic Au belt, South China. Based on Raman analyzes, we identified TiO2 polymorphs of anatase (with Raman peaks at 396, 515, and 638 cm−1), rutile (with Raman peaks at 235, 447, and 613 cm−1), and anatase–rutile intergrowths. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) confirmed the polymorphs identifying the [11 1] zone axis of anatase, [110] zone axis of rutile, and [11 1] and [111] zone axes of rutile–anatase intergrowths. The TiO2 polymorphs in the Dongyuan Au veins constrain a temperature range for early mineral precipitation in the veins of 450–550 °C. The results show that ore-forming fluids for this orogenic Au deposit emplaced in the shallow crust originated from deeper and hotter crustal levels (e.g., high-grade metamorphic rocks in the middle to lower crust).

Keywords: Temperature; rutile; anatase; Raman; TEM; orogenic gold deposit

Present address: Institute of Mineral Resources, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing 100037, China.

Acknowledgments and Funding

We would like to thank Youxue Zhang, Jiajun Liu, and Wei Jian for their constructive suggestions. Our colleague, Zhenyu Chen, gave great help and guidance during the EPMA analyzes. We are grateful to Inês Pereira and another reviewer for their critical and constructive reviews. This manuscript was greatly improved by C.J. Hetherington. We are grateful to Zhi’an Zhu, Jian Chen, Xiaolong Cai, and Ganping Wei from Jiangxi Geological and Mineral Development Co. LTD. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41430314), National Nonprofit Institute Research Grant of Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences (No. K1617), and a Project of China Mineral Resource Assessment (No. DD20190193).

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Received: 2020-08-14
Accepted: 2020-11-24
Published Online: 2021-10-29
Published in Print: 2021-11-25

© 2021 Mineralogical Society of America

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https://doi.org/10.2138/am-2021-7754
Keywords for this article
Temperature; rutile; anatase; Raman; TEM; orogenic gold deposit

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Highlights and Breakthroughs
  2. First-principles Molecular Dynamics maps out complete mineral surface acidity landscape
  3. Sulfur solubility in the Earth magma ocean—Testing the hypothesis of the “Hadean matte”
  4. Spectroscopic evidence for the Fe3+ spin transition in iron-bearing δ-AlOOH at high pressure
  5. Quantitative WDS compositional mapping using the electron microprobe
  6. Interfacial structures and acidity constants of goethite from first-principles Molecular Dynamics simulations
  7. Sound velocities of iron-nickel (Fe90Ni10) alloy up to 8 GPa and 773 K: The effect of nickel on the elastic properties of bcc-iron at high P-T
  8. Formation of metallic-Cu-bearing mineral assemblages in type-3 ordinary and CO chondrites
  9. Behavior and origin of hydrogen defects in natural orthopyroxene during high-temperature processes
  10. Phase transitions in CaCO3 under hydrous and anhydrous conditions: Implications for the structural transformations of CaCO3 during subduction processes
  11. Strain-induced partial serpentinization of germanate olivine with a small amount of water
  12. The origin of trapiche-like inclusion patterns in quartz from Inner Mongolia, China
  13. Upper temperature limits of orogenic gold deposit formation: Constraints from TiO2 polymorphs in the Dongyuan Au deposit, Jiangnan Orogen, China
  14. Formation of clinohumite ± spinel in dolomitic marbles from the Makrohar Granulite Belt, Central India: Evidence for Ti mobility during regional metamorphism
  15. Carletonmooreite, Ni3Si, a new silicide from the Norton County aubrite meteorite
  16. Sulfur content at sulfide saturation of peridotitic melt at upper mantle conditions
  17. Johnkoivulaite, Cs(Be2B)Mg2Si6O18, a new mineral of the beryl group from the gem deposits of Mogok, Myanmar
  18. Age determination of oriented rutile inclusions in sapphire and of moonstone from the Mogok metamorphic belt, Myanmar
  19. X-ray computed microtomography of diamondiferous impact suevitic breccia and clast-poor melt rock from the Kara astrobleme (Pay-Khoy, Russia)
  20. Book Review
  21. Book Review: Clays in the Minerals Processing Value Chain
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