Re–Os isotope and platinum-group element geochemistry of the Pobei Ni–Cu sulfide-bearing mafic–ultramafic complex in the northeastern part of the Tarim Craton

A number of mafic–ultramafic intrusions that host Ni–Cu sulfide mineralization occur in the northeastern Tarim Craton and the eastern Tianshan Orogenic Belt (NW China). The sulfide-mineralized Pobei mafic–ultramafic complex is located in the northeastern part of the Tarim Craton. The complex is composed of gabbro and olivine gabbro, cut by dunite, wehrlite, and melatroctolite of the Poyi and Poshi intrusions. Disseminated Ni–Cu sulfide mineralization is present towards the base of the ultramafic bodies. The sulfide mineralization is typically low grade (<0.5 wt.% Ni and <2 wt.% S) with low platinum-group element (PGE) concentrations (<24.5 ppb Pt and <69 ppb Pd); the abundance of Cu in 100 % sulfide is 1–8 wt.%, and Ni abundance in 100 % sulfide is typically >4 wt.%. Samples from the Pobei complex have εNd (at 280 Ma) values up to +8.1, consistent with the derivation of the magma from an asthenospheric mantle source. Fo 89.5 mol.% olivine from the ultramafic bodies is consistent with a primitive parental magma. Sulfide-bearing dunite and wehrlite have high Cu/Pd ratios ranging from 24,000 to 218,000, indicating a magma that evolved under conditions of sulfide saturation. The grades of Ni, Cu, and PGE in 100 % sulfide show a strong positive correlation. A model for these variations is proposed where the mantle source of the Pobei magma retained ~0.033 wt.% sulfide during the production of a PGE-depleted parental magma. The parental magma migrated from the mantle to the crust and underwent further S saturation to generate the observed mineralization along with its high Cu/Pd ratio at an R-factor varying from 100 to 1,200. The mineralization at Poshi and Poyi has very high γOs (at 280 Ma) values (+30 to +292) that are negatively correlated with the abundance of Os in 100 % sulfide (5.81–271 ppb) and positively correlated with the Re/Os ratios; this indicates that sulfide saturation was triggered by the assimilation of crustal sulfide with both high γOs and Re/Os ratios. When compared to other Permian mafic–ultramafic intrusions with sulfide mineralization in the East Tianshan, the Poyi and Poshi ultramafic bodies were formed from more primitive magmas, and this helps to explain why the sulfide mineralization has high Ni tenor.