The Tanlu Fault Zone and Gold Ore Metallogenesis in Eastern China

The Tanlu Fault Zone (TFZ) is a large NE-trending fault system in eastern China that is the locus of several significant gold deposits. At different periods of its evolution and in different zones along its length, the TFZ has distinct geological features that control gold mineralization. In the northeastern part of the TFZ, early-stage faulting activity (from the Jurassic to Cretaceous) is associated with abundant calc-alkaline volcanic rocks, reflecting the compressive structural setting in the Jurassic and Cretaceous. However, activities in the late stage (Cenozoic) produced alkali basalts, indicating a mainly extensional tectonic regime. In the middle and southern segments of the TFZ, early-stage (Jurassic) activity was characterized by calc-alkalic granite intrusions, followed later (Cretaceous) by partial alkalic and alkalic volcanic-intrusive complexes, and in the latest stage (Cenozoic) by alkalic volcanic eruptions.

The TFZ system controls the distribution of gold metallogenic provinces in eastern China, and periods of mineralization of gold ore deposits coincide with the major stages of faulting. Gold ore deposits in eastern China are products of the evolution of the TFZ. During the early evolution of the TFZ, gold ore deposits related to calc-alkalic granite intrusions were formed—e.g., of the quartz-vein and altered-rock types. Gold deposits of the interlayer–sliding fault breccia type were formed along the margin of the extensional basin during the middle period of TFZ evolution. Finally, epithermal gold deposits related to alkalic magmatism were formed during the latest stage of TFZ evolution.