Geology and mineralization of the Dayin’gezhuang supergiant gold deposit (180 t) in the Jiaodong Peninsula, China: A review

Abstract

The Dayin’gezhuang gold deposit is located in the central part of the Zhaoping Fault metallogenic belt in the Jiaodong gold province —the world ’s third-largest gold metallogenic area. It is a typical successful case of prospecting at a depth of 500‒2000 m in recent years, with cumulative proven gold resources exceeding 180 t. The main orebodies (No. 1 and No. 2 orebody) generally have a pitch direction of NNE and a plunge direction of NEE. As the ore-controlling fault, the Zhaoping Fault is a shovel-shaped stepped fault, with its dip angle presenting stepped high-to-low transitions at the elevation of −2000‒0 m. The gold mineralization enrichment area is mainly distributed in the step parts where the fault plane changes from steeply to gently, forming a stepped metallogenic pattern from shallow to deep. It can be concluded from previous studies that the gold mineralization of the Dayin’gezhuang gold deposit occurred at about 120 Ma. The ore-forming fluids were H2O-CO2-NaCl-type hydrothermal solutions with a medium-low temperature and medium-low salinity. The H-O isotopic characteristics indicate that the fluids in the early ore-forming stage were possibly magmatic water or mantle water and that meteoric water gradually entered the ore-forming fluids in the late ore-forming stage. The S and Pb isotopes indicate that the ore-forming materials mainly originate from the lower crust and contain a small quantity of mantle-derived components. The comprehensive analysis shows that the Dayin ’gezhuang gold deposit was formed by thermal uplifting-extensional tectonism. The strong crust-mantle interactions, large-scale magmatism, and the material exchange arising from the transformation from adakitic granites to arc granites and from the ancient lower crust to the juvenile lower crust during the Early Cretaceous provided abundant fluids and material sources for mineralization. Moreover, the detachment faults formed by the rapid magmatic uplift and the extensional tectonism created favorable temperature and pressure conditions and space for fluid accumulation and gold precipitation and mineralization.©2022 China Geology Editorial Office.

Keywords

• Stepped metallogenic model
• Thermal uplifting-extension mineralization
• Geological characteristics
• Supergiant gold deposit
• Zhaoping metallogenic belt
• Jiaodong gold province