Structures exert significant controls on hydrothermal mineralization, although such controls commonly have cryptic expression in geological datasets dominated by 2D maps. Analysis of spatial patterns of mineral deposits and quantification of their correlation with detailed structural features are beneficial to understand the plausible structural controls on mineralization. In this paper, a series of GIS-based spatial methods, including fractal, Fry, distance distribution and weights-of-evidence analyses, were employed to reveal structural controls on copper mineralization in the Tongling ore district, eastern China. The results indicate that Yanshanian intrusions exert the most significant control on copper mineralization, followed by EW-trending faults, intersections of basement faults and folds. The scale-variable distribution patterns of copper occurrences are attributed to the different structural controls operating in the basement and sedimentary cover. In the basement, EW-trending faults serve as pathways for channeling Yanshanian magma from a deep magma chamber to structurally controlled trap zones in the caprocks, imposing an important regional control on the spatial distribution of Cretaceous magmatic-hydrothermal system genetically related to copper mineralization. In the sedimentary cover, bedding-parallel shear zones, formed during the progressive folding and shearing in Indosinian and overprinted by tensional deformation in Yanshanian, act as favorable sites for hosting, focusing and depositing the ore-bearing fluids, playing a vital role in the localization of stratabound deposits at fine scale.

Granitic gneiss (orthogneiss) and Himalayan leucogranite are widely distributed in the Himalayan orogen, but whether or not the granitic gneiss made a contribution to the Himalayan leucogranite remains unclear. In this study, we present the petrological, geochronological and geochemical results for orthogneisses and leucogranites from the Zhada area, Western Himalayas. Zhada orthogneiss is composed mainly of quartz, plagioclase, K‐feldspar, biotite and muscovite, with accessory zircon and apatite. Orthogneiss zircon cathodoluminescence (CL) images show that most grains contain a core with oscillatory zoning, which indicates an igneous origin. Sensitive high‐resolution ion microprobe (SHRIMP) U‐Pb dating of the zircon cores in the orthogneiss shows a weighted 206Pb/238U age of 515 ± 4 Ma (early Paleozoic), with spongelike zircon rims of 17.9 ± 0.5 Ma (Miocene). Zhada leucogranite shows 206Pb/238U ages ranging from 19.0 ± 0.4 Ma to 12.4 ± 0.2 Ma, the weighted average age being 16.2 ± 0.4 Ma. The leucogranites have a low Ca content (<1 wt%), FeOt content (<1 wt%), Rb content (67.0–402 ppm), Sr content (<56.6 ppm), Ba content (3.35–238 ppm) and Rb/Sr ratio (0.5–14.7), which are similar to the geochemical characteristics of the Himalayan leucogranite derived from muscovite dehydration partial melting of metasediments and representative of most Himalayan leucogranites. The highly variable Na2O + K2O (4.33 wt%–9.13 wt%), Al2O3 (8.44 wt%–13.51 wt%), ∑REE (40.2–191.0 ppm), Rb (67.0–402 ppm) and Nb (8.23–26.4 ppm) contents, 87Sr/86Sr(t) ratios (0.7445–0.8605) and εNd(t) values (–3.6 to –8.2) indicate that the leucogranite is derived from a heterogenetic source. The nonradiogenic Nd isotope values of the studied Zhada leucogranite and orthogneiss range from –8.2 to –3.6 and from –8.7 to –4.1, respectively. Therefore, the general mixing equation was used to perform the Sr and Nd isotope mixing calculations. The results indicate that the heterogenetic source was the Tethyan Himalayan Sequence (THS)/Higher Himalayan Crystalline (HHC) metasediments and Zhada orthogneiss. The Zhada area experienced crustal anatexis during the Miocene and the heterogenetic source of the orthogneiss and metasediment may have experienced crustal anatexis controlled by muscovite dehydration. The Zhada leucogranite inherited not only the geochemical characteristics of the Himalayan metasediment (muscovite dehydration melting), but also the trace elements and Sr‐Nd isotopic characteristics of the Zhada orthogneiss. These results indicate that the Paleozoic Zhada orthogneiss was involved in crustal anatexis at 17.9 ± 0.5 Ma (Miocene) and that the muscovite dehydration of the metasediments in the heterogenetic source produced fluid, which may have caused the orthogneiss solidus lines to decline, triggering a partial melting of the Zhada orthogneiss. It is therefore proposed that Himalayan leucogranite is a crust‐derived granite rather than a S‐type granite, as previously hypothesized.