The Wenquan porphyry moybdenium deposit, Western Qinling, NW China, with a resource of 247 million tonnes at 0.048% Mo, formed during Triassic collision between South China and North China blocks. Ore fluids at Wenquan vary widely in composition from single-phase, low-salinity aqueous to low-salinity vapor, and hypersaline inclusions. Fluid inclusion assemblages in a quartz-molybdenite vein contain >60 vol. % vapor, are equant to negative-crystal shaped, and form clusters or distinct inclusion trails. They yield homogenization temperatures of 285~295 °C, with an estimated trapping temperature of 425 °C, suggesting a paleodepth of about 5 km calculated at a pressure correction of 100~150 MPa. Hydrothermal K-feldspar from early stockwork veins related to potassic alteration have calculated δ 18 O fluid values of-1.9 ‰ to +1.9 ‰. Hydrothermal sericite from an overprinting phyllic alteration associated with late quartz-pyrite veins has calculated δD fluid values between-68 and-60 ‰, and δ 18 O fluid values from-3.7 to +1.4 ‰. These isotopic data suggest that both early-and late-stage fluids are dominated by magmatic fluids, with influx of meteoric water during the late stage. Exsolution of volatiles from magma in a late-stage open system, results in more variable δD values than an earlier closed-system. Molybdenite and pyrite have δ 34 S values ranging from 1.1 ‰ to 6.6 ‰, indicating that sulfur at Wenquan had a magmatic source. A linear relationship between δ 34 S values of sulfides separated from early potassic alteration and late phyllic alteration could reflect incorporation of isotopically heavy evaporate sulfate into source magmas from underlying Devonian sedimentary rocks during late alteration. The δ 56 Fe whole-rock values of altered porphyries range from 0.08 ‰ to 0.26 ‰, similar to δ 56 Fe values of 0.15 ‰ to 0.32 ‰ for pyrite from quartz veins related to both the potassic and phyllic alteration assemblages. The δ 56 Fe values of pyrite are positively correlated to, but in general slightly lighter than, those of altered porphyries, indicating similar metal sources. Moreover, both altered porphyries and the pyrite are progressively enriched in heavy Fe isotopes from biotite, through potassic to late phyllic alteration, consistent with isotopic evolution from an early lithostatic load to a late hydrostatic load. The Triassic intrusive rocks and fluids responsible for mineralization were derived from a deeply-sourced hybrid mantle-crustal magma crystallizing at a paleodepth of 5 km under lithostatic load. External Late Triassic meteoric or Devonian formational fluids became a part of the hydrothermal system during the post-fracturing final stage of ore formation under a hydrostatic regime. The formation of the Wenquan magmatic-hydrothermal systems spans the ductile-brittle transition based on a normal thermal gradient as constrained by the temperature range of 550~300 °C. The early, high-temperature potassic alteration developed under a ductile regime, 3 / 36 whereas the later, low-temperature phyllic alterat...
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.