Origin and tectonic environment of the Lala Fe-Cu-(Mo, REE) deposit, Sichuan province, SW China

Abstract

The Hekou Group in the Kangdian region, SW Yangtze Block is a metavolcanic-metasedimentary succession hosting the giant Lala Fe-Cu-(Mo, REE) deposit. Mafic volcanic rocks of the Hekou Group and nearby gabbroic intrusions have identical zircon U-Pb ages of ~1700 Ma. The sedimentary and mafic rocks are suggested to have formed in an intra-continental rift, similar to those of the North Australian Craton. Such a similarity suggests that the Yangtze Block was likely linked with the North Australian Craton in the Columbia supercontinent during late Paleoproterozoic.

Overlying the Hekou Group is a thick sedimentary sequence of the Julin Group containing basaltic layers with zircon U-Pb ages of ~1050 Ma. The basalts and other coeval igneous rocks in the region have geochemical affinity of within-plate rocks, representing a ~1.05-1.1 Ga rifting event. Occurrence of the within-plate rocks does not support existence of a Grenvillian orogenic belt in the region, and thus agrues against previous hypothesis that proposed the Yangtze Block to be located in the interior of the Rodinia supercontinent on the basis of the so-called Grenvillian orogenic belt.

The Lala deposit contains 200 Mt of ores with an average grade of 13 wt.% Fe, 0.92 wt.% Cu, 0.018 wt.% Mo, 0.022 wt.% Co, 0.25 wt.% REE2O3 and 0.16 ppm Au, and is one of the largest IOCG deposits in the region. The ores are hosted mostly in meta-vocalnic rocks (albitite) and schists, and are characterized by abundant low-Ti magnetite with subordinate chalcopyrite, pyrite, molybdenite and REE minerals. The paragenetic sequence includes Stage I of Na-alteration, Stage II of Fe mineralization, Stage III of Cu-Mo-REE mineralization, Stage IV of chalcopyrite-pyrite-calcite veins and Stage V of hematite-calcite-quartz veins. Molybdenite of Stage III has a Re-Os isotopic age of 1086 ± 8 Ma, similar to U-Pb ages of the primary allanite as 1067 ± 41 Ma, suggesting that mineralization of the Lala deposit is coeval with the ~1.05-1.1 Ga within-plate magmatism in the region. The secondary allanite has U-Pb ages of 880-850 Ma, comparable to Ar-Ar and Pb-Pb ages of undeformed Stage IV and V veins, representing a younger hydrothermal event.

C-O-S isotopes suggest that the Fe and Cu mineralization stages (II and III) at Lala have formed from high temperature magmatic-hydrothermal fluids (385-430ºC). However, compositions of fluid inclusions and minerals demonstrate that the Fe and Cu mineralizing fluids have different compositions. Strontium isotopic compositions of apatite and calcite suggest that the Fe mineralizing fluid has formed from magmatic fluids interacted with late Paleoproterozoic host rocks, whereas the Cu mineralizing fluid with much higher 87Sr/86Sr ratios has possibly involved magmatic fluids that have interacted with older basement beneath. Close association of monazite-bearing apatite, Cu-sulfides and REE-minerals at Lala suggests that REE mobilization and mineralization is genetically related to the Cu mineralizing fluid. This study suggests that the Cu mineralizing fluid contains Cl-, K, CO2, F-, PO43- and CO32- with low Na activity, and is thus responsible for mobilization, transportation and deposition of LREEs in the Lala deposit.