Rock Enclaves Discovered in Andesite and its Geological Prospecting Significance, Tulasu basin, western Tianshan
DOI:
Author:
Affiliation:

Clc Number:

Fund Project:

  • Article
  • |
  • Figures
  • |
  • Metrics
  • |
  • Reference
  • |
  • Related
  • |
  • Cited by
  • |
  • Materials
  • |
  • Comments
    Abstract:

    The succeed exploration of porphyry copper deposit in the western Tianshan, Xinjiang, faces much hope but a difficulty. The Tulasu basin is a concentration area of the epithermal gold deposits in western Tianshan, was a south-west-Pacific-type of island-arc setting during late Paleozoic period as the southward subduction of northern Tianshan ocean to Yili plate. The porphyry Cu-Au deposit could be found at the depth or the adjacent of those epithermal gold deposits. Some sulfide mineralized rock enclaves of monzonite porphyry and fine-crystalline diorite are discovered in the andesite, Tawurbieke gold district, Tulasu basin. The enclaves occur in random distribution, generally round or subangular ship, commonly clear boundaries with the hosted andesite, and result chilled margins of the andesite around the enclaves. The monzonite porphyry enclave exhibits porphyaceous texture, and th phenocryst consisits of plagioclase and K-feldspar. The fine-crystalline diorite enclave is mainly composed of plagioclase and hornblende with aplitic texture and massive structure. The hosted andesite show porphyry texture, and the phenocryst consisits of plagioclase, miner hornblende and clinopyroxene, and the groundplasm are composed of short column plagioclase and miner clinopyroxene with hyalopilitic texture. The monzonite porphyry enclave, the fine-crystalline diorite enclave and the hosted andesite shows a similarity of the rare- and the rare-earth-element composition, such as a pronounced enrichment of Large Ion Lithophile Elements, deficit of High Field Strength Elements. The petrology and geochemistry suggests that the rock enclaves were captured from the underlying body by the eruption process of island-arc magma, and the cognate porphyry body may exist under the andesite strata and the porphyry had been sulfide mineralized. The porphyry-epithermal Cu-Au mettallogenic system might occur in the Tulasu basin, western Tianshan, and the Tawuerbieke may be an important target for porphyry Cu-Au exploration based on the fact of the copper mineralizations, acid hydrothermal alterations, the high-sulfidation and the low-sulfidation epithermal gold deposits in the basin.

    Reference
    Related
    Cited by
Get Citation

ZHAO Xiaobo, XUE Chunji, ZHANG Zhaochong, WANG Honggang, LI Xiaozhong, MI Dengjiang.2012. Rock Enclaves Discovered in Andesite and its Geological Prospecting Significance, Tulasu basin, western Tianshan[J]. Acta Geologica Sinica,86(11):1781-1791

Copy
Share
Article Metrics
  • Abstract:
  • PDF:
  • HTML:
  • Cited by:
History
  • Received:April 10,2012
  • Revised:July 21,2012
  • Adopted:July 27,2012
  • Online: November 13,2012
  • Published: