Geochemical signatures of uranium oxides in the Lufilian belt: From unconformity-related to syn-metamorphic uranium deposits during the Pan-African orogenic cycle

The Pan-African Lufilian belt (Zambia and Democratic Republic of Congo) is known for its world-class copper and cobalt deposits. In addition, the Lufilian Copperbelt hosts several uranium occurrences concentrated within deformed siliciclastic rocks of the basal Neoproterozoic Katanga Supergroup. We report LA-ICPMS and EMP analyses of the rare earth element (REE) and yttrium (Y) abundances (designated as the REY signatures) of uranium oxides from two uranium mineralizing events of the Lufilian belt previously dated at 652 ± 8 Ma and 530 ± 6 Ma by the U–Pb method on uraninite. Uranium oxides dated at ca. 650 Ma from the External fold-and-thrust belt are characterized by (i) bell shape REE patterns centered on middle REE (MREE), (ii) positive europium (Eu) anomalies and (iii) relatively low Y contents. In contrast, uranium oxides dated at ca. 530 Ma from the Domes region are characterized by (i) REE patterns but with a less pronounced light REE (LREE) fractionation, (ii) negative Eu anomalies and (iii) higher Y contents. Moreover, the External fold-and-thrust belt also contains uranium mineralization dated at ca. 530 Ma having the same characteristics as the ca. 530 Ma uranium oxides from the Domes region (a moderately fractionated REE pattern and a negative Eu anomaly).As REY signatures are known to reflect mineralizing processes, the distinct geochemical signatures of the two uranium oxide generations (ca. 650 Ma and ca. 530 Ma) provide meaningful information about the uranium cycle during the Pan-African orogeny. Compared to the REY signatures of the known worldwide uranium deposit types, the REY signature of uranium oxides dated at ca. 650 Ma of the External fold-and-thrust belt is similar to the REE patterns from unconformity-related U deposits (Athabasca in Canada and Kombolgie in Australia). Uranium oxides of the Domes region and some of the External fold-and-thrust belt display similar characteristics to syn-metamorphic U deposit (Mistamisk in Canada). Accordingly, we propose that the two stages of uranium oxide crystallizations within the Lufilian belt, at ca. 650 and ca. 530 Ma, occurred under distinct physico-chemical conditions. The first stage, at ca. 650 Ma, may be related to late diagenesis hydrothermal processes, at the basement/cover interface, with the circulation of highly saline basinal brines linked to evaporites of the Roan Group. This Pan-African unconformity-related uranium deposit is the youngest of this type described to date. The second stage may be connected to metamorphic fluid circulations, at about 530 Ma, during the Lufilian orogeny in the Domes region and also in the External fold-and-thrust belt.     

Magmatic and hydrothermal behavior of uranium in syntectonic leucogranites: The uranium mineralization associated with the Hercynian Guérande granite (Armorican Massif,France)

Most of the hydrothermal uranium (U) deposits from the European Hercynian belt (EHB) are spatially associated with Carboniferous peraluminous leucogranites. In the southern part of the Armorican Massif (French part of the EHB), the Guérande peraluminous leucogranite was emplaced in an extensional deformation zone at ca. 310 Ma and is spatially associated with several U deposits and occurrences. The apical zone of the intrusion is structurally located below the Pen Ar Ran U deposit, a perigranitic vein-type deposit where mineralization occurs at the contact between black shales and Ordovician acid metavolcanics. In the Métairie-Neuve intragranitic deposit, uranium oxide-quartz veins crosscut the granite and a metasedimentary enclave.Airborne radiometric data and published trace element analyses on the Guérande leucogranite suggest significant uranium leaching at the apical zone of the intrusion. The primary U enrichment in the apical zone of the granite likely occurred during both fractional crystallization and the interaction with magmatic fluids. The low Th/U values (< 2) measured on the Guérande leucogranite likely favored the crystallization of magmatic uranium oxides. The oxygen isotope compositions of the Guérande leucogranite (δ¹⁸O_{whole rock} = 9.7–11.6‰ for deformed samples and δ¹⁸O_{whole rock} = 12.2–13.6‰ for other samples) indicate that the deformed facies of the apical zone underwent sub-solidus alteration at depth with oxidizing meteoric fluids. Fluid inclusion analyses on a quartz comb from a uranium oxide-quartz vein of the Pen Ar Ran deposit show evidence of low-salinity fluids (1–6 wt.% NaCl eq.), in good agreement with the contribution of meteoric fluids. Fluid trapping temperatures in the range of 250–350 °C suggest an elevated geothermal gradient, probably related to regional extension and the occurrence of magmatic activity in the environment close to the deposit at the time of its formation. U-Pb dating on uranium oxides from the Pen Ar Ran and Métairie-Neuve deposits reveals three different mineralizing events. The first event at 296.6 ± 2.6 Ma (Pen Ar Ran) is sub-synchronous with hydrothermal circulations and the emplacement of late leucogranitic dykes in the Guérande leucogranite. The two last mineralizing events occur at 286.6 ± 1.0 Ma (Métairie-Neuve) and 274.6 ± 0.9 Ma (Pen Ar Ran), respectively. Backscattered uranium oxide imaging combined with major elements and REE geochemistry suggest similar conditions of mineralization during the two Pen Ar Ran mineralizing events at ca. 300 Ma and ca. 275 Ma, arguing for different hydrothermal circulation phases in the granite and deposits. Apatite fission track dating reveals that the Guérande granite was still at depth and above 120 °C when these mineralizing events occurred, in agreement with the results obtained on fluid inclusions at Pen Ar Ran.Based on this comprehensive data set, we propose that the Guérande leucogranite is the main source for uranium in the Pen Ar Ran and Métairie-Neuve deposits. Sub-solidus alteration via surface-derived low-salinity oxidizing fluids likely promoted uranium leaching from magmatic uranium oxides within the leucogranite. The leached out uranium may then have been precipitated in the reducing environment represented by the surrounding black shales or graphitic quartzites. As similar mineralizing events occurred subsequently until ca. 275 Ma, meteoric oxidizing fluids likely percolated during the time when the Guérande leucogranite was still at depth. The age of the U mineralizing events in the Guérande region (300–275 Ma) is consistent with that obtained on other U deposits in the EHB and could suggest a similar mineralization condition, with long-term upper to middle crustal infiltration of meteoric fluids likely to have mobilized U from fertile peraluminous leucogranites during the Late Carboniferous to Permian crustal extension events.     

Age and origin of uranium mineralization in the Camie River deposit (Otish Basin,Québec,Canada)

The Camie River uranium deposit is located in the southeastern part of the Paleoproterozoic Otish Basin (Québec). The uranium mineralization consists of disseminated and vein uraninite and brannerite precipitated close to the unconformity between Paleoproterozoic fluviatile, pervasively altered, sandstones and conglomerates of the Matoush Formation and the underlying sulfide-bearing graphitic schists of the Archean Hippocampe greenstone belt. Diagenetic orange/pink feldspathic alteration of the Matoush Formation consists of authigenic albite cement partly replaced by later orthoclase cement, with the Na₂O content of clastic rocks increasing with depth. Basin-wide green muscovite alteration affected both the Matoush Formation and the top of the basement Tichegami Group. Uraninite with minor brannerite is mainly hosted by subvertical reverse faults in basement graphitic metapelites ± sulfides and overlying sandstones and conglomerates. Uranium mineralization is associated with chlorite veins and alteration with temperatures near 320 °C, that are paragenetically late relative to the diagenetic feldspathic and muscovite alterations. Re-Os geochronology of molybdenite intergrown with uraninite yields an age of 1724.0 ± 4.9 Ma, whereas uraninite yields an identical, although slightly discordant, 1724 ± 29 Ma SIMS U-Pb age. Uraninite has high concentrations in REE with flat REE spectra resembling those of uraninite formed from metamorphic fluids, rather than the bell-shaped patterns typical of unconformity-related uraninite. Paragenesis and geochronology therefore show that the uranium mineralization formed approximately 440 million years after intrusion of the Otish Gabbro dykes and sills at ∼2176 Ma, which constrains the minimum age for the sedimentary host rocks. The post-diagenetic stage of uraninite after feldspathic and muscovite alterations, the paragenetic sequence and the brannerite-uraninite assemblage, the relatively high temperature for the mineralizing event (∼320 °C) following the diagenetic Na- and K-dominated alteration, lack of evidence for brines typical of unconformity-related U deposits, the older age of the Otish Basin compared to worldwide basins hosting unconformity-related uranium deposits, the large age difference between basin fill and mineralization, the older age of the uranium oxide compared to ages for worldwide unconformity-related U deposits, and the flat REE spectra of uraninite do not support the previous interpretation that the Camie River deposit is an unconformity-associated uranium deposit. Rather, the evidence is more consistent with a PaleoProterozoic, higher-temperature hydrothermal event at 1724 Ma, whose origin remains speculative.     

相山铀矿田成矿流体特征:来自微量、稀土元素地球化学证据

相山铀矿田的成矿流体性质和来源存在争议,为进一步探讨相山铀矿田成矿流体的性质和来源,本文对相山铀矿田西部的居隆庵铀矿床和北部的沙洲铀矿床中的新鲜围岩、蚀变围岩及矿石的微量、稀土元素含量及其变化进行了研究。结果显示:在含较多热液成因萤石的居隆庵铀矿床中,从新鲜围岩到蚀变围岩到矿石,Zr、Hf含量先降低再升高;而在含少量热液萤石的沙洲铀矿床中,新鲜围岩、蚀变围岩和矿石的Zr、Hf含量基本一致。鉴于富F流体易汲取岩石中的Zr、Hf,因此,这两个矿床中不同类型样品Zr、Hf含量的不同变化趋势,可能与居隆庵铀矿床的成矿流体富F、而沙洲铀矿床的成矿流体相对贫F有关。这两个铀矿床中矿石的稀土配分曲线与其各自的新鲜及蚀变围岩的稀土配分曲线形态相似但又存在差异,说明每个矿床的新鲜围岩、蚀变围岩和矿石之间的稀土元素既具有继承性、又受到不同性质的流体的影响。居隆庵铀矿床中矿石显示Eu负异常,可能主要是继承了围岩的Eu负异常;沙洲铀矿床中矿石Eu显示弱负异常至弱正异常的特征,可能与围岩中斜长石因热液蚀变作用而释放出的Eu的进入流体有关。基于新鲜围岩、蚀变围岩及矿石的U和REE研究,推断居隆庵铀矿床成矿流体中U和REE均以F的络合物形式迁移;但沙洲铀矿床中铀矿石品位较低,可能是与流体中相对贫F有关。     

豫西卢氏县柳树湾伟晶岩型铀矿床岩石地球化学特征及其成矿意义

伟晶岩型铀矿床由于其易规模化和便于开采的特点成为非常重要的铀矿床类型。该矿床类型在我国以商-丹地区最具有代表性。经过近几年的铀矿勘测,在豫西柳树湾地区发现了一定规模的铀矿床,通过详细的野外勘测以及岩石学和地球化学分析,显示豫西柳树湾矿体的形态为脉状或透镜状;赋矿层段由于强烈的钾化作用而表现出肉红色,具发育烟灰色石英以及矿物颗粒明显增大等特征;主量元素显示研究区整体具有富Si、K和Al过饱和以及低氧逸度等特征,含矿伟晶岩段稀土元素的配分模式呈现右倾型、强烈Eu亏损的特征,且∑REE、δEu、Th、Ti、V、Zn、Pb等特征元素含量与U关系密切。通过对研究区与光石沟铀矿床和小花岔铀矿床进行对比显示,发现这3个地区在矿体形态、矿物组成和岩石学特征方面极为相似,但在副矿物类型上柳树湾地区出现铀钍石;柳树湾与小花岔铀矿床的SiO₂含量与U呈现正向相关关系,但光石沟铀矿床呈现负向相关关系;柳树湾与小花岔铀矿床非含矿层段的稀土元素配分模式图均呈现平滑特征,但光石沟铀矿床呈右倾特征。由于小花岔铀矿床形成的时间最早,且光石沟与小花岔铀矿床更靠构造中心,使其在时间尺度、岩浆侵入和构造...     

华南中生代不整合型铀矿成因模式

本文通过对华南铀成矿地质环境和成矿条件的分析，指出华南铀成矿时代集中分布于50－90Ma，成矿作用与晚中生代红盆、产铀花岗岩体和含还原性物质的岩层在空间上关系，可与澳大利亚元古宙不整合型铀矿床对比；进而总结了华南中生代不整合型成因模式；并探索性地提出了其找矿标志和找矿方向。     

K–Ar dating and δO–δD tracing of illitization within and outside the Shea Creek uranium prospect,Athabasca Basin,Canada

Isotope analyses (K–Ar, δ¹⁸O and δD) were performed on illite from both the sandstone cover and the underlying basement, close to and distant from Shea Creek, an unconformity-type U deposit (Athabasca Basin, Canada); the illite had previously been characterized crystallographically. In the barren areas away from deposit, illite is mainly of the cis-vacant 1M polytype occurring as relatively coarse-grained lath-shaped particles, while it occurs as fine-grained particles of the trans-vacant 1M type next to and in the U mineralized strata. The tectonic-induced hydrothermal system that favored illite crystallization was multi-episodic 1453 ± 2, 1330 ± 20 and probably about 1235 Ma ago. These illite-forming episodes appear to have occurred contemporaneously to those favoring the concentration of the associated U oxides, which were dated independently by the U–Pb method in the Shea Creek deposits and elsewhere in the Athabasca Basin.     

不整合面型矿床特征及云南绿春——江城一带找矿方向探讨

自从不整合面型矿床提出以来,尤其是在加拿大和澳大利亚等国相继发现了一大批与不整合面有关的超大型铀矿床后,在国内外寻找该类矿床取得了较大突破。不整合面型矿床以其规模大、品位富以及受不整合面上下盘地层中构造控制的特点,引起广大地质工作者的关注。在总结不整合面型矿床特征的基础上,进一步探讨不整合面型矿床形成机制,并对云南绿春-江城一带地质、矿化、蚀变和特定的中低温元素组合特征研究认为,该区具有寻找不整合面型矿床的前景。     

U redox fronts and kaolinisation in basement-hosted unconformity-related U ores of the Athabasca Basin (Canada): late U remobilisation by meteoric fluids

Proterozoic basement-hosted unconformity-related uranium deposits of the Athabasca Basin (Saskatchewan, Canada) were affected by significant uranium redistribution along oxidation–reduction redox fronts related to cold and late meteoric fluid infiltration. These redox fronts exhibit the same mineralogical and geochemical features as the well-studied uranium roll-front deposits in siliclastic rocks. The primary hydrothermal uranium mineralisation (1.6–1.3 Ga) of basement-hosted deposits is strongly reworked to new disseminated ores comprising three distinctly coloured zones: a white-green zone corresponding to the previous clay-rich alteration halo contemporaneous with hydrothermal ores, a uranium front corresponding to the uranium deposition zone of the redox front (brownish zone, rich in goethite) and a hematite-rich red zone marking the front progression. The three zones directly reflect the mineralogical zonation related to uranium oxides (pitchblende), sulphides, iron minerals (hematite and goethite) and alumino-phosphate-sulphate (APS) minerals. The zoning can be explained by processes of dissolution–precipitation along a redox interface and was produced by the infiltration of cold (<50°C) meteoric fluids to the hydrothermally altered areas. U, Fe, Ca, Pb, S, REE, V, Y, W, Mo and Se were the main mobile elements in this process, and their distribution within the three zones was, for most of them, directly dependent on their redox potential. The elements concentrated in the redox fronts were sourced by the alteration of previously crystallised hydrothermal minerals, such as uranium oxides and light rare earth element (LREE)-rich APS. The uranium oxides from the redox front are characterised by LREE-enriched patterns, which differ from those of unconformity-related ores and clearly demonstrate their distinct conditions of formation. Uranium redox front formation is thought to be linked to fluid circulation episodes initiated during the 400–300 Ma period during uplift and erosion of the Athabasca Basin when it was near the Equator and to have been still active during the last million years. A major kaolinisation event was caused by changes in the fluid circulation regime, reworking the primary uranium redox fronts and causing the redistribution of elements originally concentrated in the uranium-enriched meteoric-related redox fronts.     

前寒武纪铀金矿床的主要类型及在我国的成矿特点

前寒武纪铀金矿床主要类型有:古砾岩型铀金矿床,层状或层控型铀金矿床,不整合脉型铀矿床(不含或少含金),绿岩型金矿床。我国主要发育绿岩型,并具有时代新、变质程度高、成岩成矿时差大等特点;空间上,金矿床常分布在隆起带,铀矿床分布在坳陷带,二者均受区域断裂制约。     

Mapping Proterozoic unconformity-related uranium deposits in the Rockhole area, Northern Territory, Australia using landsat ETM+

The Rockhole area, Northern Territory, Australia, hosts a number of Proterozoic unconformity-related uranium deposits. The geology of the area features within Paleoproterozoic rocks of the Pine Creek Orogen, near the unconformity with overlying platform cover sandstone of the Paleo- to Mesoproterozoic McArthur Basin. Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper plus (ETM+) data was used in the Rockhole area to assist in mapping geological structures and lithology, and to identify anomalous concentrations of ferrous minerals, the product of alteration, which can be indicators of buried uranium mineralization. Several image-processing procedures were applied to the ETM+ data to identify, isolate and enhance mineralogical information as simple and complex false color composites. ETM+ 754 shown as red green and blue respectively was the best simple image. Overall, complex images based on Principal Component Analysis proved to be the most useful products. Sandstone, shale and siltstone, the target lithologies, Koolpin Formation, the target stratigraphic unit, and bleaching pattern due to the removal of iron(II) compounds, the target alteration pattern, were confidently mapped to provide information required by the mineral emplacement model, which ultimately identified areas of likely uranium mineralization. Thus the contrasting behavior of the two principle oxidation states of uranium and iron can be utilized to map/delineate bleached alteration zones associated with economic concentrations of uranium using multispectral sensors like Landsat or better hyperspectral sensors.     

试述华东南中新生代不整合面型铀矿床

在华东南产出大量中新生代热液型铀矿床,其主要地质特征与世界上众所周知的元古代不整合型铀矿床十分相似。作者描述了这些热液型铀矿床的地质特征,讨论了其地质背景及可能的成矿机制,并认为,这类铀矿床可命名为中新生代不整合面型铀矿床。     

桂北沙子江铀矿床稀土元素地球化学特征

针对沙子江矿床的区域地层、赋矿围岩、成矿各阶段方解石及铀矿石进行稀土元素地球化学研究发现:各类样品具大体类似的LREE富集及Eu负异常的稀土配分模式,表明它们之间稀土元素特征具有继承性,赋矿花岗岩与区域地层稀土元素特征指示两者具有共同的陆壳沉积物源区;方解石及矿石中稀土元素主要继承了赋矿花岗岩的特征。成矿各阶段方解石Y/Ho值范围狭窄,在28.86~38.22之间,显示它们具共同的源区,且从成矿早阶段经主成矿阶段到成矿晚阶段,Eu负异常趋于强烈,δEu均值由0.34→0.26→0.25,表明成矿流体向相对还原环境演化。铀矿石具最高的稀土元素总量(ΣREE=259.88×10-6~869.31×10-6),且与铀矿石的品位存在正相关关系,暗示稀土元素与铀的迁移具同步性。铀矿石(以原生铀矿物为主)中Ce负异常的形成可能与铀源岩中分散的U(Ⅳ)被活化为在成矿流体中易迁移的U(Ⅵ)的氧化过程相伴;而铀黑的Ce正异常则是由表生作用过程所导致。     

REE/trace element characteristics of sandstone-type uranium deposits in the Ordos Basin

1 Introduction The Ordos Basin is the second largest sedimentary basin in China. During the last 10 years, a great progress has been achieved in the aspects of tectonic evolution, dynamics process, inner and outer geological processes during Mesozoic-Cen…     

REE地球化学在砂岩型铀成矿研究中的应用--以川北砂岩型铀矿床为例

本文在系统的取样分析基础上,总结了川北砂岩型铀矿床的稀土元素地球化学特征,分析研究了围岩、矿石、方解石脉和铀矿物的稀土元素组成、关系,讨论了岩、矿石沉积和成岩过程的稀土元素变化规律,与国内外典型的火山岩型和变质岩型热液成因铀矿床进行了对比,认为川北砂岩型铀矿具有热液（水）改造成矿作用的稀土元素地球化学特征,铀矿化经历了沉积成岩和热液改造富集两个阶段,为砂岩型铀矿成矿研究提供了新的思路。     

Trace and REE element geochemistry of fluorite and its relation to uranium mineralizations,Gabal Gattar Area,Northern Eastern Desert,Egypt

Uranium mineralizations occur and form in a broad range of geologic setting and age, including magmatic to surfacial conditions, and there are numerous controls on their transportation and deposition, such as redox, pH, ligand concentration, complexation, and temperature. These temporal and spatial variations have caused a range of ore deposit mineral assemblages. Consequently, understanding their conditions of formation is still in its infancy. This research reports rare earth elements (REE) and trace elements of fluorite associated with hexavalent uranium mineralizations and tests of genetic models for the deposits. These data contribute to a better understanding of the variables controlling fluorite formation and uranium ore composition through understanding the evolution of these ore-forming hydrothermal systems. Fluorite in Gabal Gattar granite occurs as disseminations and/or thin veinlets and encrustations filling some uranium mineralized fissures and fractures along the northern margin of host granite mass. In the U-poor samples, fluorite forms well-developed large crystals that are commonly zoned. The zones are represented by alternating colorless and violet zones, and the outer zones are frequently dark violet. In the U-rich samples, fluorite is usually anhedral, unzoned, and has a dark violet color. The results of analysis of REE and trace element contents of fluorites using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry indicate that total REE in the anhedral unzoned fluorite are elevated compared to the well developed zoned fluorite, and also total REE in dark violet zones of zoned fluorite are elevated with respect to the colorless zones. The fluorites and host granite are generally characterized by strongly negative Eu anomalies and slightly negative or chondritic Ce anomalies. Accordingly, REE patterns of the fluorite and host granite are roughly alike, indicating that the source of REE and trace elements of hydrothermal fluids is the host granite leached by fluids. Y/Y*, Ce/Ce,* and Eu/Eu* patterns show that fluorite clearly records the compositional evolution of the hydrothermal solutions that have transferred trace and REE from host granite during the fluid–wall rocks interactions. The high uranium contents of fluorite in Gabal Gattar granite suggest that parent fluids bearing fluorine have interacted with host granite to leach uranium from the accessory minerals of granite and tetravalent uranium minerals in reduced or weakly oxidized zones.     

Reconnaissance-style EPMA chemical U–Th–Pb dating of uraninite

EPMA chemical U-Th-Pb uraninite analysis has been used to constrain the age of the granite-related, Rössing South uranium prospect in Namibia and the Kintyre unconformity-related uranium deposit in Western Australia. Uraninite from the Rössing South prospect has an age of 496.1 ± 4.1 Ma, which is similar to the age of other uranium deposits in the region at Rössing and Goanikontes. Uraninite grains analysed from the Kintyre deposit have an age of 837 +35/-31 Ma suggesting that the uranium mineralisation occurred during or after the latest period of sedimentation in the Yeneena Basin during the ca 850 to ca 800 Ma Miles Orogeny.     

REE and fluid inclusions in zoned fluorites from Eastern Transbaikalia: Distribution and geochemical significance

Special methodology was used to study the distribution of REE and some other elements in zoned fluorites from the different deposits of Eastern Transbaikalia. Fluorites from the uranium and polymetallic ore fields sharply differ in their REE distribution pattern and the composition of fluid inclusions, which reflects the geochemical specifics and indicates the possible sources of parental solutions. A gradual change in REE distribution patterns established in the successive growth zones of fluorites clearly coincides with the gradual decrease of temperature and mineralization of fluid inclusions. It is suggested that a change in the REE distribution pattern was provoked by the crystallochemical differentiation related to the formation of nano-sized mineral admixtures of REE phosphates and/or fluorcarbonates, which possess an ability to the selective accumulation of different REE groups. It was found that the zoned fluorites from the Streltsovka and Garsonui deposits show an opposite trends in the change of REE pattern with zonation. With a general decrease in total REE contents, fluorite from the Streltsovka deposit shows a change from positive parabolic to subchondritic pattern, while that from the Garsonui deposit, varies from the negative via subchondritic to the positive patterns.     

湖南沃溪金-锑-钨矿床成因的稀土元素地球化学证据

沃溪金-锑-钨矿床的稀土元素地球化学组成良好地反映了成矿作用的条件和过程,并为示踪矿床成因提供了有用的信息.以流体包裹体为代表的成矿溶液,以较高的稀土总量、显著的轻稀土富集和缺乏明显的铕异常为特征,代表了一种通过在碎屑沉积物柱中循环而萃取矿质的演化的海水热液.矿石相对于成矿流体(母液)富集重稀土而轻微亏损铕,反映了矿石沉淀过程中来自于海水的稀土元素掺合.同一矿层内由下往上,重稀土相对富集的程度逐渐增大而稀土总量则逐渐降低,表明随着热液化学沉淀作用的进行,海水掺合的影响逐渐增强.矿石的稀土元素组成,无论在分布模式还是在轻重稀土之间的分馏程度上,均与其他许多 Sedex型多金属矿床十分相似,暗示了这些矿床具有相似的成因机制.稀土元素地球化学特征支持矿床同生沉积成因的观点.     

The composition of garnet in garnet-rich rocks in the southern Proterozoic Curnamona Province, Australia: an indicator of the premetamorphic physicochemical conditions of formation

Garnet-rich rocks occur throughout the Proterozoic southern Curnamona Province, Australia, where they are, in places, spatially related to Broken Hill-type Pb-Zn-Ag deposits. Fine-scale bedding in these rocks, their conformable relationship with enclosing metasedimentary rocks, and their enrichment in Mn and Fe suggest that they are metamorphosed chemical precipitates. They formed on the floor of a 1.69?Ga continental rift basin from hydrothermal fluids mixed with seawater and detritus. Garnet in garnet-quartz and garnet-amphibole rocks is generally light rare earth element (LREE) depleted, and has flat heavy REE (HREE) enriched chondrite-normalized REE patterns, and negative Eu anomalies (Eu/Eu*?<?1). Garnet in garnet-rich rocks from the giant Broken Hill deposit has similar REE patterns and either positive (Eu/Eu*?>?1) or negative Eu anomalies. Manganese- and Mn-Ca-rich, Fe-poor garnets in garnetite, garnet-hedenbergite, and garnet-cummingtonite rocks at Broken Hill have Eu/Eu*?>?1, whereas garnet in Mn-poor, Fe-rich quartz garnetite and quartz-garnet-gahnite rocks from Broken Hill, and quartz garnetite from other locations have Eu/Eu*?<?1. The REE patterns of garnet and its host rock and interelement correlations among REEs and major element contents in garnet and its host rock indicate that the Eu anomaly in garnet reflects that of its host rock and is related to the major element composition of garnet and its host rock. The value of Eu/Eu* in garnet is related to its Mn, Fe, and Ca content and that of its host rock, and the distribution of REEs among garnet and accessory phases (e.g., feldspar). Positive Eu anomalies reflect high amounts of Eu that was preferentially incorporated into Mn- and Mn-Ca-rich oxides and carbonates in the protolith. In contrast, Eu/Eu*?<?1 indicates the preferential discrimination against Eu by Fe-rich, Mn-poor precursor minerals. Precursors to Mn-rich garnets at Broken Hill formed by precipitation from cooler and more oxidized hydrothermal fluids compared to those that formed precursors to Mn-poor, Fe-rich garnet at Broken Hill and the other locations. Garnet from the Broken Hill deposit is enriched in Zn (> 400?ppm), Cr (> 140?ppm), and Eu (up to 6?ppm and positive Eu anomalies), and depleted in Co, Ti, and Y compared to garnet in garnet-rich rocks from other localities. These values, as well as MnO contents ?>?15 wt. % and Eu/Eu*?>?1 are only found at the Broken Hill deposit and are good indicators of the presence of Broken Hill-type mineralization.