坦桑尼亚条带状含铁建造磁化率参数 统计特征及其应用

坦桑尼亚联合共和国位于赤道以南(南纬1°～11.5°),其金矿与条带状含铁建造(BIF)关系密切。系统地对坦桑尼亚BIF磁化率参数进行了测定、分析,统计整理了BIF磁化率参数值,进而研究了其磁性特征,并探讨了BIF磁化率对地面高精度磁测间接寻找BIF型金矿的指示作用,为预测矿区提供进一步的找矿信息及方向。     

与前寒武纪含铁建造有关的铁矿床基本特征及研究进展

与前寒武纪含铁建造有关的铁矿床是最具经济价值的铁矿床类型,多形成于太古代和早元古代海底的环境。含铁建造结构多呈条带状,故被认为条带状含铁建造(BIF),粒状含铁建造(GIF)较为少见。条带状含铁建造是由各种富铁矿物组成的非均一组合,矿物包括含铁的氧化物、硅酸盐、碳酸盐和硫酸盐。而粒状含铁建造则主要由含铁的氧化物和硅酸盐组成,偶而富含含铁碳酸盐。根据结构及组成的不同,含铁建造可分为两类:阿尔戈马型(Algoma type)和苏必利尔型(Superior type),其中苏必利尔型含铁建造是最为重要的成矿母岩。以其为母岩形成的矿床可分为三类:未经富集的原生含铁建造矿床,假象赤铁矿-针铁矿矿床和高品位赤铁矿矿床,其中以高品位赤铁矿矿床最为重要,其形成与成岩作用、表生作用及深部流体的参与有关。我国在下一步工作中应加强对中高品位矿床成因的研究,并对国内已有类似矿床进行再认识,进而取得找矿突破。     

条带状铁建造(BIF)与地球大氧化事件

地球大氧化事件是指约24亿年前的地球大气圈中开始出现氧并连续增加。到20世纪末对地球大氧化事件的形成和演化模型可概括为两类:22亿年前为缺氧大气圈,22～19亿年大气圈中O_2明显增加,而后逐渐增加到现代大气圈O_2含量水平的C-W-K-H模型;大气圈中O_2含量自40亿年来近于常数,在现代大气圈O_2含量水平的50%范围内变化的D-K-O模型。21世纪开始实施了太古宙生物圈钻探计划(ABDP),在太古宙—元古宙页岩、条带状铁矿建造中微生物、S、C同位素分馏、稀土元素及过渡族金属Ni、Fe、Mo等含量变化等方面取得了许多新成果,建立了大气圈游离氧产生机理及含量变化的不同模型,将大气圈中氧的出现时间至少提前到25亿年前。中国前寒武纪条带状铁矿建造BIF广泛发育,特别是特有的稀土铁建造及其稀土地球化学初步研究成果表明,稀土元素的含量、轻重稀土的分异及变价元素Eu的相对富集与亏损,均显示明显的对时间的依赖。文中提出,应对其开展系统地质地球化学研究,可为大气圈、水圈的演化,特别是对研究中国铁矿的形成和分布规律研究提供重要参考资料。     

加强前寒武纪条带状铁建造中伴生矿床的研究

在世界范围内,前寒武纪条带状铁建造中除产出大量贫铁矿和富铁矿外,常共生和伴生许多金属和非金属矿产,特别是金、锰、铅锌铜和镍以及硫铁矿等矿床,其中不少达到大型和超大型规模,其经济价值超过铁矿床本身,在一些国家的国民经济中占有重要位置。我国前寒武纪鞍山式条带状铁建造除主要产出贫铁矿和少量富铁矿外,少数地区也已发现伴生金矿床。但目前已知多属于中小型矿床,大型金矿床和其他金属矿床迄今为止尚未发现,从综合找矿角度,应重视和加强这些矿床的研究和进一步寻找,一旦有新发现,一矿变多矿,在找矿中必将有重大突破。本文主要介绍国内外目前对这些矿床的研究现状和基本地质特征,为目前我国的找矿工作提供借鉴,扩大找矿思路。     

冀东司家营条带状含铁建造铁矿石铁同位素特征及其地质意义

司家营条带状含铁建造（Banded iron formation,BIF）型铁矿床是冀东地区规模最大的铁矿床,前人对其进行了大量的年代学、岩石学和元素地球化学工作,但目前尚未对其进行Fe同位素研究。本文通过Fe同位素和主微量、稀土元素相结合的方法对司家营BIF的成矿物质来源和形成背景提出了有效制约,同时对司家营BIF的锆石U- Pb年龄数据进行补充。锆石U- Pb年代学显示,司家营BIF形成于2537~2531Ma。地球化学数据显示司家营BIF矿石主要由TFe2O3和SiO2组成,具有较低的Al2O3和TiO2含量,富集Fe重同位素（δ56Fe=0.341‰~0.525‰）;稀土元素配分模式呈现轻稀土亏损、重稀土富集的特征,具有明显的Eu、Y、La正异常,Y/Ho比率较高（Y/Ho=34.96~45.84）。这些特征表明司家营BIF是基本无碎屑物质参与的化学沉积岩,稀土元素来源于高温热液和海水的混合溶液,铁质来源于海相热液流体。司家营BIF缺乏真正的Ce负异常和Fe同位素组成均为正值指示其形成于缺氧环境。综合对比世界上其他地区太古宙BIF的Fe同位素特征,本文认为新太古代时期地球海洋含氧量逐步上升,此时海洋总体属于缺氧环境,但部分地区氧气含量较高。     

辽宁抚顺地区太古宙条带状硅铁建造地球化学特征及成因

经过近几年对抚顺地区铁矿的勘查找矿工作,发现抚顺地区太古宙硅铁建造的矿石类型及地理分布,与横贯抚顺地区的浑河深大断裂存在某种特定的位置关系,这种关系具有普遍的规律性.作者在总结抚顺地区数个太古宙硅铁建造矿石特征的基础上,从分析多个硅铁建造矿床的地球化学特征入手,探讨其成矿的环境、过程,从而提出抚顺地区太古宙硅铁矿床的成矿模式,即海底火山喷气、热水-成矿流体洋底环流-沉积-变质重结晶的成矿模式.在中新太古代时期,浑河断裂作为当时的海底扩张带（或洋中脊）,经过海底扩张作用,形成浑河裂谷.海底断裂附近频繁的火山活动,沿浑河断裂不断涌出的地下喷气、热水,萃取海底的拉斑玄武岩中的铁元素,形成富含铁、硅的热水溶液,这种热水溶液称之为成矿流体.成矿流体经过洋底环流作用,向两侧运移,在合适的环境下堆积成岩.该种岩石后来遭受区域变质作用和构造-岩浆热事件多重作用改造,发生变质重结晶成矿.     

鞍山前寒武纪条带状含铁建造中石墨的成因

在研究弓长岭铁矿的工作中,曾有人在石榴云母石英片岩中发现了石墨。近年来,李绍炳在二矿区富磁铁矿石中也发现了石墨,并指出它是菱铁矿变质分解形成的,该矿床为石墨和磁铁矿共生的新类型。他的看法引起了多方的兴趣和争论。 基于石墨成因对阐明弓长岭富磁铁矿床成因有重要意义,我们研究了矿区中石墨碳     

鞍本地区大孤山条带状铁建造含铁矿物和相分带特征及形成环境分析

鞍山-本溪条带状铁建造(Banded Iron Formation,简称BIF)位于华北克拉通东北缘,是世界上典型BIF之一,也是我国最重要的铁矿资源基地。大孤山位于鞍山地区南部矿带,为新太古代典型的Algoma型BIF,与华北克拉通其它大多数BIF相比,具有较低变质程度(绿片岩相-低角闪岩相)和较完整的沉积相分布特征。因此,通过大孤山BIF的研究有利于追踪Algoma型BIF的原生矿物组成及其后期成岩-变质过程,进而通过分析原生矿物形成的物理化学条件探讨古海洋环境。依据原生矿物共生组合及产出特征,可将大孤山BIF沉积相划分为氧化物相(30%)、硅酸盐相(50%)和碳酸盐相(20%)。氧化物相主要分布于主矿体南部,主要矿物组成为磁铁矿和石英;硅酸盐相分布于主矿体中部,主要矿物组成除了石英和磁铁矿之外,还有黑硬绿泥石、绿泥石、镁铁闪石等;碳酸盐相分布于矿体北部,主要矿物组成为菱铁矿、磁铁矿和石英等。本文通过大孤山BIF岩相学观察和含铁矿物化学成分研究,推测原生沉积物的组成为无定形硅胶、三价铁氢氧化物和富铝粘土碎屑,在经历了成岩和低级变质作用后转变为具不同相带的条带状铁建造。通过分析磁铁矿、菱铁矿和黑硬绿泥石等矿物在不同P_(O_2)-P_(CO_2)和pH-Eh条件下的共生相图可知,这些矿物均是在较低氧逸度、中到弱碱性环境下形成。综合考虑矿物成分、共生组合及受变质作用较弱等信息,本文推测制约原生矿物形成的控制因素主要是古海水氧化还原状态、酸碱度、CO_2含量和硫逸度。     

玄武岩古风化淋滤生成条带状铁硅建造的模拟实验

A serics of simulating experiments on the mechanism of formation of banded ironsilica formations have been made using a suite of self-designed glasswares to model the hypergene circulation of surface water.The simulating process involved two stages;In the first stage weathering-leaching of basalts by strongly acidic meteoric water formed in the volcanic period of early Proeambrian,resulting in amorphous silica precipitates and strongly acidic ore solutions(pH,1.25),and in the second stage weathering-leaching of basalts by rainwater satupated with CO2 gas free fromcontamination of volcanie gases in the intermission of volcanic activity.Under such conditions the pH value of the seawater would increase.When the pH value rose to 1.25-3.00,ferric hydroxide and amorphous silica would be alternatively precipitated due to periodic heating of the upper solutions and continueous addition of pH-high basalt leaching solutions.This is a possible explanation for the mechanism of formation of banded iron-silica formations.     

条带状铁建造的原始矿物组成：进展与问题

原生矿物信息作为前寒武纪条带状铁建造(BIF)研究的最基本命题,是研究BIF成矿规律及其早期地球环境效应的基础。长期以来,将低级变质且保存部分原始矿物及沉积结构的BIF作为研究对象,进而追踪BIF的原始矿物组成与后期演变过程一直是科学家们关心的关键问题。目前,关于BIF原始矿物组成主要有三种认识：三价铁的氢氧化物、铁硅酸盐(成分类似于铁蛇纹石和黑硬绿泥石)和绿锈。其中,绿锈为含二价和三价铁的过渡态化合物,仅可见于局部缺氧环境。由于绿锈的亚稳态性质,对于其在类似于前寒武纪的富硅海洋条件下转变成何种矿物及相关转变的具体途径仍不清楚。因而,当前关于原始铁质矿物的争议主要存在于三价铁的氢氧化物和铁硅酸盐之间,由此引发的对BIF成矿理论及其对古环境指示意义的理解也存在较大分歧。本文系统回顾和评述了近年来BIF原始矿物组成研究的重要进展;在此基础上,认为三价铁的氢氧化物应是BIF最为主要的原始矿物,其次为铁硅酸盐矿物,二者可能在地质历史时间和空间分布上具有差异性。然而,支持铁硅酸盐原始成因的现有证据主要为经典的岩相学特征,急需更多元素和同位素地球化学等方面的佐证。BIF中现有铁质矿物组合应是原始沉...     

Early Cambrian crustal shortening and a clockwise P–T–t path from the southern Prince Charles Mountains, East Antarctica: implications for the formation of Gondwana

Cambrian orogenesis (550–490 Ma) in the Lambert Province of the southern Prince Charles Mountains resulted in three successive stages of deformation. The earliest of these deformations resulted in the development of a layer‐parallel foliation (S1) that was folded into macro‐scale recumbent folds (F2). Subsequent deformation buckled the rocks into long‐wavelength (c. 20 km), SW‐ to NW‐trending antiformal closures (F3) mostly separated from each other by west to SW trending, steeply dipping, high‐strain zones. Metapelitic rocks from the region are divisible into two compositional types: a high‐Al, ‐Fe and ‐K type and a high‐Mg, ‐Ca and ‐Na type. In rocks of both composition, relic staurolite preceded the formation of upper amphibolite facies garnet + biotite + sillimanite ± muscovite mineral assemblages that record peak pressures and temperatures of c. 650–700 °C and 6–7 kbar. Subsequent decompression of c. 3 kbar is implied from texturally late plagioclase and a reduction in the modal abundance of garnet in the high‐Al, ‐Fe and ‐K metapelites, and from texturally late cordierite in the more magnesium rocks. This clockwise P–T–t path, with prograde heating followed by rapid decompression, is: (i) equivalent to that recorded in the same‐aged rocks at Prydz Bay located 600 km to the north, and (ii) similar to the modelled response of the crust to thickening following continent–continent collision. These results indicate that large areas of East Antarctica were thickened and rapidly exhumed, probably in response to collisional orogenesis during the Early Cambrian. This supports the inference that Early Cambrian orogenesis in the Prydz Bay–Prince Charles Mountains region of East Antarctica marks one of the fundamental lithospheric boundaries within Gondwana.     

Brittle faulting in the Prince Charles Mountains, East Antarctica: Cretaceous transtensional tectonics related to the break-up of Gondwana

The Lambert Glacier–Amery Ice Shelf occupies a narrow NNE–SSW-orientated fault-bound depression referred to as the Lambert Graben. Deep faults associated with this structure are recognised geophysically, and are interpreted to extend at least 700 km inland from the Antarctic coast. Kinematic and palaeostress data from quartz- and calcite-bearing faults, inferred to represent the surface expression of these deeper structures, suggest that a single faulting event occurred in response to NW–SE-directed extension, oblique to the axis of the graben. The bulk of the movement along these faults was dextral strike slip, accommodating components of both normal and reverse offset. In the northern Prince Charles Mountains, these faults disrupt the Permo-Triassic Amery Group and juxtapose it against Proterozoic basement. Equivalent strike-slip faults in the southern Prince Charles Mountains produce dextrally offset tectonic boundaries and metamorphic isogrades across the Lambert Glacier. The similarity in orientation between the palaeostress field calculated for these faults and the Cretaceous divergence vector between India and Antarctica strongly supports the inference that faulting was of Cretaceous age, and related to the break-up of Gondwana.     

Metamorphic evolution of calcsilicate granulites near Battye Glacier, northern Prince Charles Mountains, East Antarctica

Calcsilicate granulites of probable Middle Proterozoic age ( c .1000–1100  Ma) in the vicinity of Battye Glacier, northern Prince Charles Mountains, East Antarctica, contain prograde metamorphic assemblages comprising various combinations of wollastonite, scapolite, clinopyroxene, An-rich plagioclase, calcite, quartz, titanite and, rarely, orthoclase, ilmenite, phlogopite and graphite. Comparison of the prograde assemblages with calculated and experimentally determined phase relations in the simple CaO–Al₂O₃–SiO₂–CO₂–H₂O system suggests peak metamorphism at ≥835 °C in the presence (in wollastonite-bearing assemblages at least) of a CO₂-bearing fluid ( X _CO≥0.3) at a probable pressure of 6–7  kbar.
Well-preserved retrograde reaction textures represent: (1) breakdown of scapolite to anorthite+calcite±quartz; (2) formation of grossular–andradite garnet and, locally, (3) epidote, both principally by reactions involving scapolite breakdown products and clinopyroxene; (4) local coupled replacement of clinopyroxene and ilmenite by hornblende and titanite, respectively; and finally (5) local sericitization of prograde and retrograde plagioclase. These retrograde reactions are interpreted to be the result of cooling and variable infiltration by H₂O-rich fluids, possibly derived from crystallizing pegmatitic intrusions and segregations that may be partial melts, which are common throughout the area.     

Isotopic and geochemical constraints on the age and origin of granitoids from the central Mawson Escarpment, southern Prince Charles Mountains, East Antarctica

Granitoids from the central Mawson Escarpment (southern Prince Charles Mountains, East Antarctica) range in age from Archaean to Early Ordovician. U–Pb dating of zircon from these rocks indicates that they were emplaced in three distinct pulses: at 3,519 ± 20, 2,123 ± 12 Ma and between 530 and 490 Ma. The Archaean rocks form a layer-parallel sheet of limited extent observed in the vicinity of Harbour Bluff. This granitoid is of tonalitic-trondhjemitic composition and has a Sr-undepleted, Y-depleted character typical of Archaean TTG suites. ε_Nd and T_DM values for these rocks are −2.1 and 3.8 Ga, respectively. Subsequent Palaeoproterozoic intrusions are of granitic composition (senso stricto) with pronounced negative Sr anomalies. These rocks have ε_Nd and T_DM values of −4.8 and 2.87 Ga, indicating that these rocks were probably melted from an appreciably younger source than that tapped by the Early Archaean orthogneiss. The remaining intrusions are of Early Cambrian to Ordovician age and were emplaced coincident with the major orogenic event observed in this region. Cambro–Ordovician intrusive activity included the emplacement of layer-parallel pre-deformational granite sheets at approximately 530 Ma, and the intrusion of cross cutting post-tectonic granitic and pegmatitic dykes at ca. 490 Ma. These intrusive events bracket middle- to upper-amphibolite facies deformation and metamorphism, the age of which is constrained to ca. 510 Ma—the age obtained from a syn-tectonic leucogneiss. Nd–Sr isotope data from the more felsic Cambro–Ordovican intrusions (SiO₂ > 70 wt%), represented by the post-tectonic granite and pegmatite dykes, suggest these rocks were derived from Late Archaean or Palaeoproterozoic continental crust (T_DM ∼ 3.5–2.3 Ga, ε_Nd ∼ −21.8 to −25.9) not dissimilar to that tapped by the Early Proterozoic intrusions. In contrast, the compositionally more intermediate rocks (SiO₂ < 65 wt%), represented by the metaluminous pre-tectonic Turk orthogneiss, appear to have melted from a notably younger lithospheric or depleted mantle source (T_DM = 1.91 Ga, ε_Nd ∼ −14.5). The Turk orthogneiss additionally shows isotopic (low ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd and low ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr) and geochemical (high Sr/Y) similarities to magmas generated at modern plate boundaries—the first time such a signature has been identified for Cambrian intrusive rocks in this sector of East Antarctica. These data demonstrate that: (1) the intrusive history of the Lambert Complex differs from that observed in the adjacent tectonic provinces exposed to the north and the south and (2) the geochemical characteristics of the most mafic of the known Cambrian intrusions are supportive of the notion that Cambrian orogenesis occurred at a plate boundary. This leads to the conclusion that the discrete tectonic provinces observed in the southern Prince Charles Mountains were likely juxtaposed as a result of Early Cambrian tectonism.     

On the roles of deformation and fluid during rejuvenation of a polymetamorphic terrane: inferences on the geodynamic evolution of the Ruker Province, East Antarctica

Evaluating pressure–temperature (P–T) conditions through mineral equilibria modelling within an amphibolite facies polymetamorphic terrane requires knowledge of the fluid content of the rocks. The Archean‐Palaeoproterozoic basement rocks of the Ruker Province, East Antarctica, preserve evidence of three metamorphic events (M1–M3). Of particular interest is the M3 event, which is constrained to the early Palaeozoic (c. 550–480 Ma). Evaluation of the tectonic setting during this time is important because the Ruker Province is located within a critical region with respect to models of Gondwana assembly. Structural evidence of the early Palaeozoic event is preserved as large (up to ～500 m wide) high strain zones that cut the orthogneiss‐metasedimentary basement (Tingey Complex) of the Ruker Province. Rocks within these zones have been thoroughly recrystallized and preserve a dominant shear fabric and M3 mineral assemblages that formed at P–T conditions of 4.0–5.2 kbar and 565–640 °C. Distal to these zones, rocks preserve more complex petrographic relationships with S1 and S2 foliations, being incompletely overgrown by M3 retrograde assemblages. We show that the mineral assemblages preserved during the M3 event are highly dependent on the availability of fluid H₂O, which is strongly influenced by the structural setting (i.e. proximity to the high‐strain zones). P–T structural and fluid flow constraints support a model of basin inversion during early Palaeozoic crustal rejuvenation in the Ruker Province.     

The metamorphic evolution of metapelitic granulites from Radok Lake, northern Prince Charles Mountains, east Antarctica; evidence for an anticlockwise P–T path

Mineral textures in metapelitic granulites from the northern Prince Charles Mountains, coupled with thermodynamic modelling in the K₂O–FeO–MgO–Al₂O₃–SiO₂–H₂O–TiO₂–Fe₂O₃ (KFMASHTO) model system, point to pressure increasing with increasing temperature on the prograde metamorphic path, followed by retrograde cooling (i.e. an anticlockwise P–T path). Textural evidence for the increasing temperature part of the path is given by the breakdown of garnet and biotite to form orthopyroxene and cordierite in sillimanite‐absent rocks, and through the break‐down of biotite and sillimanite to form spinel, cordierite and garnet in more aluminous assemblages. This is equated to the advective addition of heat from the regional emplacement of granitic and charnockitic magmas dated at c. 980 Ma. A subsequent increase in pressure, inferred from the break‐down of spinel and quartz to sillimanite, cordierite and garnet in aluminous rocks, is attributed to crustal thickening related to upright folding dated at 940–910 Ma. The terrane attained peak metamorphic temperatures of c. 880 °C at pressures of c. 6.0–6.5 kbar during this event. Subsequent cooling is inferred from the localised breakdown of cordierite and garnet to form biotite and sillimanite that developed in the latter stages of the same event. The textural observations described are interpreted via the application of P–T and P–T–X pseudosections. The latter show that most rock compositions preserve only fragments of the overall P–T path; a result of different rock compositions undergoing mineral assemblage changes, or changes in mineral modal abundance, on different sections of the P–T path. The results also suggest that partial melting during granulite facies metamorphism, coupled with melt loss and dehydration, initiated a switch from pervasive ductile, to discrete ductile/brittle deformation, during retrograde cooling.     

东南极格罗夫山变质基性岩地球化学特征

东南极格罗夫山变质基性岩的地球化学研究表明，该区存在两类玄武岩，即洋岛型玄武岩（OIB）和洋中脊型玄武岩（MORB）。OIB型具有大体类似的地球化学性质，它们均富集Ti（TiO2＝2．68％）、REE＝（202μg/g）、LREE[（La/Yb)N＝4．8]、Ti/Y（＝343）、Zr／Y(＝3．1），具洋岛玄武岩的特征，推测岩浆来源于富休地幔源区（EM）。而MORB型以低Ti（TiO2＝1．1％－1．31％），明显低于OIB的P的含量（P2O5＝0．1％－0．2％），低REE（47－93μg/g）。LREE／HREE（2．27－2．54）、（La/Yb)N（＝1．30－1．62）为特征，具洋中脊玄武岩的特征。MORB和OIB组合的出现说明在泛非期该区可能存在过洋分。     

Geochemistry of mafic igneous rocks of the northern Prince Charles Mountains,Antarctica

Rare mafic dykes, which intrude 1000 Ma high‐grade metamorphic rocks of the northern Prince Charles Mountains‐Mawson Coast area, are compositionally distinct from abundant early to middle Proterozoic tholeiite dykes, which are confined to Archaean or early Proterozoic terrains in the southern Prince Charles Mountains and elsewhere in East Antarctica, and which have therefore proved useful as stratigraphic markers. The younger dykes (and extrusive rocks) are a composition‐ally heterogeneous group with a wide range of ages (at least Cambrian to Eocene), although most are of K‐rich alkaline composition or have alkaline affinites. Their strong enrichment in highly incompatible elements (Rb, Ba, Th, Nb, K, Pb, Th and U) relative to less incompatible elements (La, Ce and P) suggests derivation by partial melting of more enriched mantle source regions than those of most of the Proterozoic tholeiite suites. However, unlike the latter, many incompatible element ratios have been significantly affected by fractional crystallisation and possibly also by the presence of residual minor phases during low degrees of melting.     

Major element distribution in Archean banded iron formation (BIF): influence of metamorphic differentiation

The Archean (2.8 Ga) Banded Iron Formation (BIF) of the Bell Lake region of Yellowknife greenstone belt, Canada is recrystallized to metamorphic assemblages of the amphibolite facies. This BIF is characterized by centimetre‐scale Fe‐rich and Si‐rich mesobands. In the Si‐rich mesobands, thin layers of magnetite microbands are developed in a quartz matrix. The Fe‐rich mesobands are composed mainly of Ca‐amphibole (hornblende), Fe–Mg amphibole (grunerite), and magnetite. The metamorphic foliation locally cuts across the mesoband boundaries, indicating the mesobanding was formed prior to peak metamorphism. Variations in mineral modal proportions between Fe‐rich mesobands and microbands are diagnostic of depositional compositional differences between beds. Micro‐X‐ray fluorescence imaging reveals metamorphic differentiation within Fe‐rich mesobands, with segregation of Fe–Mg amphibole, and the incompatible element Mn is concentrated at the margins of the Fe‐rich mesobands during the amphibole‐forming reactions. Ti was relatively immobile during metamorphic segregation and its distribution provides a record of the original structures in the Fe‐rich mesobands.     

Geochemistry and origin of the Neoproterozoic Dahongliutan banded iron formation (BIF) in the Western Kunlun orogenic belt,Xinjiang (NW China)

The Neoproterozoic (593–532 Ma) Dahongliutan banded iron formation (BIF), located in the Tianshuihai terrane (Western Kunlun orogenic belt), is hosted in the Tianshuihai Group, a dominantly submarine siliciclastic and carbonate sedimentary succession that generally has been metamorphosed to greenschist facies. Iron oxide (hematite), carbonate (siderite, ankerite, dolomite and calcite) and silicate (muscovite) facies are all present within the iron-rich layers. There are three distinctive sedimentary facies BIFs, the oxide, silicate–carbonate–oxide and carbonate (being subdivided into ankerite and siderite facies BIFs) in the Dahongliutan BIF. They demonstrate lateral and vertical zonation from south to north and from bottom to top: the carbonate facies BIF through a majority of the oxide facies BIF into the silicate–carbonate–oxide facies BIF and a small proportion of the oxide facies BIF.The positive correlations between Al₂O₃ and TiO₂, Sc, V, Cr, Rb, Cs, Th and ∑REE (total rare earth element) for various facies of BIFs indicate these chemical sediments incorporate terrigenous detrital components. Low contents of Al₂O₃ (<3 wt%), TiO₂ (<0.15 wt%), ∑REE (5.06–39.6 ppm) and incompatible HFSEs (high field strength elements, e.g., Zr, Hf, Th and Sc) (<10 ppm), and high Fe/Ti ratios (254–4115) for a majority of the oxide and carbonate facies BIFs suggest a small clastic input (<20% clastic materials) admixtured with their original chemical precipitates. The higher abundances of Al₂O₃ (>3 wt%), TiO₂, Zr, Th, Cs, Sc, Cr and ∑REE (31.2–62.9 ppm), and low Fe/Ti ratios (95.2–236) of the silicate–carbonate–oxide facies BIF are consistent with incorporation of higher amounts of clastic components (20%–40% clastic materials). The HREE (heavy rare earth element) enrichment pattern in PAAS-normalized REE diagrams exhibited by a majority of the oxide and carbonate facies BIFs shows a modern seawater REE signature overprinted by high-T (temperature) hydrothermal fluids marked by strong positive Eu anomalies (Eu/Eu¹_PAAS = 2.37–5.23). The low Eu/Sm ratios, small positive Eu anomaly (Eu/Eu¹_PAAS = 1.10–1.58) and slightly MREE (middle rare earth element) enrichment relative to HREE in the silicate–carbonate–oxide facies BIF and some oxide and carbonate facies BIFs indicate higher contributions from low-T hydrothermal sources. The absence of negative Ce anomalies and the high Fe³⁺/(Fe³⁺/Fe²⁺) ratios (0.98–1.00) for the oxide and silicate–carbonate–oxide BIFs do not support ocean anoxia. The δ¹³C_V-PDB (−4.0‰ to −6.6‰) and δ¹⁸O_V-PDB (−14.0‰ to −11.5‰) values for siderite and ankerite in the carbonate facies BIF are, on average, ∼6‰ and ∼5‰ lower than those (δ¹³C_V-PDB = −0.8‰ to + 3.1‰ and δ¹⁸O_V-PDB = −8.2‰ to −6.3‰) of Ca–Mg carbonates from the silicate–carbonate–oxide facies BIF. This feature, coupled with the negative correlations between FeO, Eu/Eu¹_PAAS and δ¹³C_V-PDB, imply that a water column stratified with regard to the isotopic omposition of total dissolved CO₂, with the deeper water, from which the carbonate facies BIF formed, depleted in δ¹³C that may have been derive from hydrothermal activity.Integration of petrographic, geochemical, and isotopic data indicates that the silicate–carbonate–oxide facies BIF and part of the oxide facies BIF precipitated in a near-shore, oxic and shallow water environment, whereas a majority of the oxide and carbonate facies BIFs deposited in anoxic but Fe²⁺-rich deeper waters, closer to submarine hydrothermal vents. High-T hydrothermal solutions, with infusions of some low-T hydrothermal fluids, brought Fe and Si onto a shallow marine, variably mixed with detrital components from seawaters and fresh waters carrying continental landmass and finally led to the alternating deposition of the Dahongliutan BIF during regression–transgression cycles.The Dahongliutan BIF is more akin to Superior-type rather than Algoma-type and Rapitan-type BIF, and constitutes an additional line of evidence for the widespread return of BIFs in the Cryogenian and Ediacaran reflecting the recurrence of anoxic ferruginous deep sea and anoxia/reoxygenation cycles in the Neoproterozoic. In combination with previous studies on other Fe deposits in the Tianshuihai terrane, we propose that a Fe²⁺-rich anoxic basin or deep sea probably existed from the Neoproterozoic to the Early Cambrian in this area.