Origin of the Devonian carbonate-hosted Banbianjie Ge-Zn deposit, Guizhou Province, South China: Geological, mineralogical and geochemical constraints

Trace Elements of Gangue Minerals from the Banbianjie Ge-Zn Deposit in Guizhou Province, SW China

“…In barite, the whole-rock contents of Zn and Sr are generally higher than their crustal abundances, while the whole-rock contents of other trace elements are lower than their crustal abundances (Table 2). The whole-rock total rare earth element (∑REE) contents of altered dolostone range from 10.1 × 10 −6 to 16.8 × 10 −6 [14], which are slightly lower than these of hydrothermal calcite, dolomite and barite (Table 3). Altered dolostone is rich in light rare earth elements (LREE) (∑LREE/∑HREE = 7.4-9.4, La/Yb N = 12.5-18.6) (Figure 6a) and has negative Eu (Eu/Eu* = 0.43-0.74) and Ce anomalies (Ce/Ce* = 0.72-0.80) [14].…”

“…The analysis results are shown in Tables 1 and 2, of which the whole-rock REE data of wall rocks (altered dolostone) were taken from [14]. The in situ contents of Mn, Fe and Sr in the dolomite and calcite from the Banbianjie deposit are more than 69 × 10 −6 , 1 × 10 −6 and 22 × 10 −6 , respectively, and the in situ contents of Pb, Th and U are less than 8 × 10 −6 , 0.7 × 10 −6 and 0.7 × 10 −6 , respectively.…”

“…Previous studies have shown that the source of sulfur in these deposits is the marine sulfates within the ore-bearing strata, and the ore-forming metals (Zn, Ge, Cd, etc.) were mainly sourced from the basement rocks [10][11][12][13][14]. However, the nature and source of ore-forming fluids are still controversial: (i) ore-forming fluids are characterized by "multi-source" [11,[15][16][17][18][19]; (ii) ore-forming fluids are associated with ancient oil and gas reservoirs [4,10]; (iii) stratigraphic fluids [20]; and (iv) deep circulation basin brine [6].…”

“…In our previous study, isotope geochemistry was used to trace the source of oreforming elements (such as S and Pb) [14]. As the trace elements characteristics of hydrothermal minerals depend on the nature, composition and physical-chemical condition of ore-forming fluids [21][22][23][24][25], they are widely used to explore the nature, source and evolution of hydrothermal fluids.…”

“…As the trace elements characteristics of hydrothermal minerals depend on the nature, composition and physical-chemical condition of ore-forming fluids [21][22][23][24][25], they are widely used to explore the nature, source and evolution of hydrothermal fluids. Based on the previously reported whole-rock rare earth elements (REE) of partial dolomite [14], this paper analyzed the in situ trace elements (including REE) of gangue minerals (dolomite, calcite and barite) from the Banbianjie Ge-Zn deposit to reveal this issue, which provided more abundant geochemical information for comprehending the ore genesis of the deposit.…”