Geology and origin of the Dongping alkalic-type gold deposit, Northern Hebei province, People's Republic of China

The Dongping deposit, located near the center of the northern margin of the north China craton, is one of the largest gold deposits in China. It is spatially, temporally, and genetically associated with the shallowly-emplaced Hercynian Shuiquangou alkaline intrusive complex. The complex intrudes high-grade metamorphic rocks of the Archean Sanggan Group along a deep-seated fault zone within the north China craton. Four major ore bodies (Nos. 1, 2, 22, and 70), consisting mainly of a set of en echelon lenses and veins, have been delineated at the Dongping deposit. Hypogene hydrothermal activities can be divided into four periods from early to late including: (1) gold-bearing K-feldspar-quartz stockworks and veins; (2) disseminated sulfide and gold zones; (3) gold-bearing quartz veins, and (4) barren calcite-quartz veins. Individual veins and stockwork systems can be traced along strike for 125 to 600 m and downdip for 100 to 600 m; they range from 0.5 to 3 m in thickness. The mineralogical composition of the ore in the first three hypogene periods is relatively simple. It is composed of pyrite, galena, sphalerite, magnetite, specularite, chalcopyrite, native gold, electrum, calaverite, and altaite. Gangue minerals include K-feldspar, quartz, sericite, chlorite, epidote, albite, and calcite. Ore grade averages 6 g/t Au, but varies between 4.14 and 22.66 g/t Au. Gold is generally fine-grained and not visible in hand specimen. Fluid inclusions in ore-bearing quartz of periods 1, 2, and 3 are CO2-rich, variable salinity (2.5-21 wt% equiv. NaCl), and have variable homogenization temperatures of 195 degrees to 340 degrees C. Quartz in the gold-bearing K-feldspar-quartz stockworks (period 1), disseminated sulfide and gold zones (period 2), and the gold-bearing quartz veins (period 3) has calculated delta(18)O(H2O) values between -1.7 and 6.9 parts per thousand, and delta D values of fluid inclusion waters between -101 and -66 parts per thousand. All these isotope data of the ore-forming fluids plot between the magmatic fluid field and the meteoric water line. Sulfide minerals disseminated in host rocks show positive delta(34)S values of 1.9 to 3.5 parts per thousand. Pyrite separates from he gold-bearing g-feldspar-quartz stockworks and veins (period 1) have a delta(34)S range of -4.3 to 0.5 parts per thousand, whereas delta(34)S values of pyrite, chalcopyrite, galena, and sphalerite from the disseminated sulfide and gold zones (period 2) and the gold-bearing quartz veins (period 3) vary from -5.3 to -13.4 parts per thousand. Gold ores are also characterized by relatively radiogenic lead isotope compositions compared to those of the alkaline syenite host rock. The data are interpreted as indicative of a mixing of lead from the alkaline intrusive complex with lead from Archean metamorphic rocks. The combined fluid inclusion measurements, sulfur, oxygen, hydrogen, and lead isotope data, and petrological observations indicate that the Dongping deposit was formed from the mixing of these magmatic fluids with meteoric waters. The deposit is, therefore, believed to be a product of Hercynian alkaline igneous processes within the north China craton.