Skarns and Genesis of the Huanggang Fe‐Sn Deposit, Inner Mongolia, China

Abstract: The skarns and genesis were studied of the Huanggang Fe‐Sn deposit and the nearby Sumugou Zn‐Pb deposit in Inner Mongolia, China. In the Huanggang mine, Nos. 1 to 4 Fe ore bodies are arranged along a calcareous horizon from proximal to distal in this order to a granite intrusion named Luotuochangliang, while Sn ore body is situated near another granite intrusion named 204. According to the distance from the granitic intrusions, mineral assemblages in skarns are systematically changed. Garnet is the most predominant skarn mineral throughout the deposit. Hastingsitic amphiboles, however, predominate in the proximal skarns. Fluorite is common in the proximal skarns, while instead calcite is common in the distal skarns. Chlorite is characteristically present only in No. 3 ore body, and chlorite geothermometry gives near 300C for the mineralization of later stage. When garnet crystal shows zonal structure, isotropic andraditic garnet occupies the core, and is surrounded with anisotropic less‐andraditic garnet. The presence of white skarn along the boundary between main skarns and host sedimentary rocks confirms relatively reducing environment prevailing as a whole in the studied area. However, the compositional relation between coexisting garnet and clinopyroxene demonstrates that relatively oxidizing condition was achieved for garnet skarn and magnetite ore in the distal, Nos. 2 to 4 Fe ore bodies and Sumugou deposit, compared to that for garnet skarn in the proximal, No. 1 and Sn ore bodies. Preliminary study on the tin content of garnets in the studied area revealed a certain degree of contribution brought from granitic intrusives since the early stage of skarn formation, irrespective of proximal or distal. Oxygen isotope study on garnet, magnetite, quartz and skarn calcite, as well as hydrogen isotope study on hastingsitic amphibole, demonstrates mainly meteoric water origin for the skarn– and ore‐forming solutions. The occurrence of Sn, W, Mo and F minerals indicates that those elements were mainly supplied to the deposit later than the formation of skarns and iron ores, overlapping to them. These constraints allow to delineate the formation model of the deposit as follows (Fig. 10): At the time of late Jurassic to early Cretaceous, felsic activity occurred in this region as a part of Yanshanian magmatism, and formed granitic intrusions as well as thick volcanic piles on the surface. The circulation of meteoric water was provoked by the heat brought by the intrusions. By this circulation, much amount of iron was extracted from andesites of the Dashizhai Formation, and precipitated as skarns and magnetite ores along calcareous horizons near the bottom of the Huanggangliang Formation. Subsequently, volatile‐rich fluids with Sn, W and Mo were expelled from the solidifying granitic magmas, and precipitated these metals in the pre‐existing skarns and ores.