| Abstract: | Yangla copper deposit is the largest banded skarn-hosted copper deposit found recently in the Tethys orogenic belt of Southwestern China. On the basis of the study of distribution, petrology and mineralogy as well as major element, REE and isotope geochemistry, the authors find that the banded skarn, which hosts the deposit, was precipitated from hydrothermal solutions in the form of exhalate sediment. Therefore, the banded skarn-hosted copper deposit is a Sedex-type deposit, with a series of stacked, conformable lenses underlain by at least one stringer zone. The deposit, intercalated at the contact of lower clastic rock and upper carbonate rock of Gajinxueshan Group, was formed in the Carboniferous ((296.1±7.0) Ma), contemporary to the host Gajinxueshan Group. The interpretation of the genesis of Yangla banded skarn-hosted copper deposit is of fundamental exploration significance for the discovery of Sedex-type copper deposit in the region. |
