In situ U-Pb Dating of Calcite from the South China Antimony Metallogenic Belt

Kai Luo; Jia-Xi Zhou; Yue-Xing Feng; I Tonguc Uysal; Ai Nguyen; Jian-Xin Zhao; Jiawei Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2020.101575

In situ U-Pb Dating of Calcite from the South China Antimony Metallogenic Belt

iScience. 2020 Sep 18;23(10):101575. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2020.101575. eCollection 2020 Oct 23.

Authors

Kai Luo^{1

2}, Jia-Xi Zhou¹, Yue-Xing Feng², I Tonguc Uysal³, Ai Nguyen², Jian-Xin Zhao², Jiawei Zhang⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Earth Sciences, Yunnan University, Kunming 650500, China.
² School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, the University of Queensland, Brisbane QLD 4072, Australia.
³ Geological Engineering Department, Ankara University, Gölbaşı, Ankara 06100, Turkey.
⁴ Guizhou Geological Survey, Bureau of Geology and Mineral Exploration and Development of Guizhou Province, Guiyang 550081, China.

Abstract

Accurately determining the age of hydrothermal ore deposits is difficult, because of lack of suitable mineral chronometers and techniques. Here we present the first LA-MC-ICPMS U-Pb age of carbonates from hydrothermal Sb deposits. Three stages of hydrothermal carbonates from the giant South China Sb metallogenic belt were identified: (1) pre-ore dolomite (Dol-I), (2) syn-ore calcite (Cal-II), and (3) post-ore calcite (Cal-III). The U and Pb isotopic data show that Cal-II yielded a lower intercept age of 115.3 ± 1.5 Ma (MSWD = 2.0), suggesting a Sb mineralization that corresponds to an extension event occurred during the early Cretaceous in South China. Although Cal-III yielded an age of 60.0 ± 0.9 Ma (MSWD = 1.5), indicating a potential tectonothermal event occurred in this belt during the early Cenozoic. Hence, in situ U-Pb dating of calcite offers a new way to determine the age of hydrothermal ore deposits.

Keywords: Geochemistry Methods; Isotope Geochemistry; Ore Geochemistry; Thermochronology.