Geochemical characteristics,cooling history and mineralization significance of Zhangtiantang pluton in South Jiangxi Province,P.R. China

The zircon SHRIMP dating of the Zhangtiantang granite gave an age of 159±7 Ma., which shows that the granite was produced at the early Late Jurassic. The Ar-Ar plateau ages of biotite and K-feldspar from the Zhangtiantang pluton are 153.2±1.1 Ma and 135.8±1.2 Ma, respectively. The Ar-Ar anti-isochrone ages of biotite and K-feldspar are 152.5±1.7Ma and 135.4±2.7Ma, respectively. The ages represent the isotopic closure ages of minerals in the pluton. The Zhangtiantang granites are regarded as peraluminous crust-derived type granites to possess the typical geochemical characteristics of calc-alkaline rocks on continental margin, with enriched Si, K, Al (average value of A/CNK as 1.18), HREE, Rb, U, and Th, heavily depleted V, Cr, Co, Ni, Ti, Nb-Ta, Zr, Sr, P, and Ba, strongly negative Eu and common corundum normative (average value of C as 1.84). The εNd_(t) values of the Zhangtiantang granite are ?5.84 to ?7.79, and t _2DM values are 1.69 to 1.83 Ga, which indicates partial melting of continental-crust metamorphic sedimentary rocks during the Middle Proterozoic. The cooling history of the Zhangtiantang granitic pluton indicates that the cooling velocity of pluton was faster (about 67°C/Ma) from zircon (158 Ma) to biotite (152 Ma), and was slower (about12°C/Ma) from biotite (152.5 Ma) to K-feldspar (135.8 Ma). It can be deduced that the temporal gap (about 10 Ma) between the granite formmation and W-Sn mineralization in South China may be related to ordinary magma-hydrothermal processes by the variational cooling curve of the pluton. The Zhangtiantang pluton was formed in a compressive setting, with differentiation evolution and mineralization occurring in a relative relaxation setting.