Research Progress of Geophysical Exploration in Karatungk Mine in Northern Xinjiang, China

Karatungk Mine in northern Xinjiang, China, which is a large-scale magmatic Cu-Ni sulfide mine in the Central Asian orogenic belt, has a long history of mining. The mine is located at the merging belt between Altay orogenic belt and Junggar Basin, and has strong tectonic activities. In recent years, mining source detection has become an important target for mineral exploration due to the difficulties in ore body exploitation. In this paper,we systematically summarize the achievements of the geophysical explorations in Karatungk Mine from various aspects, including tectonic backgrounds of the mine, dynamic mechanisms, geophysical characteristics and scientific challenges in the future. Because of the restrictions of observation density and analysis methods, the fine geometrical structure of the mine cannot be completely characterized yet. Therefore,in order to obtain the high-resolution structure and detailed spatial distribution of orebodies, researchers should focus on combining multiple geophysical methods, developing high-resolution imaging methods, and improving petro physical experiments in the future.