http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987111000545

By applying the ‘theory of synchronization’ from the science of complexity to studying the regional regularity of ore formation within the Nanling region of southern China, a characteristic target-pattern regional ore zonality has been discovered. During the early and late Yanshanian epoch (corresponding respectively to the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods), two centers of ore formation emerged successively in the Nanling region; the former is mainly for rare metals (W, Sn, Mo, Bi, Nb) and one rare-earth element (La) and was generated in the Jurassic period; whereas the latter is mainly for base metals (Cu, Pb, Zn, Sb, Hg), noble metals (Au, Ag), and one radioactive element (U) and was generated in the Cretaceous period. Centers of ore formation were brought about by interface dynamics respectively at the Qitianling and Jiuyishan districts in southern Hunan Province. The characteristic giant nonlinear target-pattern regional ore zonality was generated by spatio-temporal synchronization process of the Nanling complex metallogenic system. It induced the collective dynamics and cooperative behavior of the system and displayed the configuration of the regional ore zonality. Then dynamical clustering transformed the configuration into rudimentary ordered coherent structures. Phase dynamics eventually defined the spatio-temporal structures of the target-pattern regional ore zonality and determined their localization and distribution. A new methodology for revealing regional ore zonality is developed, which will encourage further investigation of the formation of deep-seated ore resources and the onset of large-scale mineralization.