Magmatic-hydrothermal Evolution and Mineralization Mechanisms of the Wangjiazhuang Cu (-Mo) Deposit in the Zouping Volcanic Basin, Shandong Province, China: Constraints from Fluid Inclusions

Abstract

The Wangjiazhuang Cu (-Mo) deposit, located within the Zouping volcanic basin in western Shandong Province, China, is unique in this area for having an economic value. In order to expound the metallogenetic characteristics of this porphyry-like hydrothermal deposit, a detailed fluid inclusion study has been conducted, employing the techniques of representative sampling, fluid inclusion petrography, microthermometry, Raman spectroscopy, LA-ICP-MS analysis of single fluid inclusions, as well as cathode fluorescence spectrometer analysis of host mineral quartz. The deposit contains mainly two types of orebodies, i.e. veinlet-dissemination-stockwork orebodies in the K-Si alteration zone and pegmatitic-quartz sulfide veins above them. In addition, minor breccia ore occurs locally. Four types of fluid inclusions in the deposit and altered quartz monzonite are identified: L-type one- or two-phase aqueous inclusions, V-type vapor-rich inclusions with V/L ratios greater than 50%–90%, D-type multiphase fluid inclusions containing daughter minerals or solids and S-type silicate-bearing fluid inclusions containing mainly muscovite and biotite. Ore petrography and fluid inclusion study has revealed a three-stage mineralization process, driven by magmatic-hydrothermal fluid activity, as follows. Initially, a hydrothermal fluid, separated from the parent magma, infiltrated into the quartz monzonite, resulting in its extensive K-Si alteration, as indicated by silicate-bearing fluid inclusions trapped in altered quartz monzonite. This is followed by the early mineralization, the formation of quartz veinlets and dissemination-stockwork ores. During the main mineralization stage, due to the participation and mixing of meteoric groundwater with magmatic-sourced hydrothermal fluid, the cooling and phase separation caused deposition of metals from the hydrothermal fluids. As a result, the pegmatitic-quartz sulfide-vein ores formed. In the late mineralization stage, decreasing fluid salinity led to the formation of L-type aqueous inclusions and chalcopyrite-sulfosalt ore. Coexistence of V-type and D-type inclusions and their similar homogenization temperatures with different homogenization modes suggest that phase separation or boiling of the ore-forming fluids took place during the early and the main mineralization stages. The formation P-T conditions of S-type inclusions and the early and the main mineralization stages were estimated as ca. 156–182 MPa and 450–650°C, 350–450°C, 18–35 MPa and 280–380°C, 8–15 MPa, respectively, based on the microthermometric data of the fluid inclusions formed at the individual stages.