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Using rare earth elements (REE) to study the origin of ore-fluids associated with granite intrusions
Version 1
: Received: 31 May 2019 / Approved: 3 June 2019 / Online: 3 June 2019 (12:16:38 CEST)
A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.
Yang, X. Using Rare Earth Elements (REE) to Decipher the Origin of Ore Fluids Associated with Granite Intrusions. Minerals 2019, 9, 426. Yang, X. Using Rare Earth Elements (REE) to Decipher the Origin of Ore Fluids Associated with Granite Intrusions. Minerals 2019, 9, 426.
Abstract
A practical method is presented to estimate rare earth elements (REE) concentrations in magmatic vapour phase (MVP) in equilibrium with water-saturated granitic melts based on empirical fluid-melt partition coefficients of REE (k_P^REE). The values of k_P^REEcan be calculated from a set of new polynomial equations linking to the chlorine molality (m_Cl^v) of the MVP associated with granitic melts, which are established via a statistical analysis on the existing experimental dataset. These equations may be applied to the entire pressure range (0.1 to 10.0 kb) within the continental crust, suggesting that light REEs behave differently in magmatic fluids, i.e. either being fluid compatible with higher m_Cl^v or fluid incompatible with lower m_Cl^v values. In contrast, heavy REEs are exclusively fluid incompatible and partition favourably into granitic melts. Consequently, magmatic fluids tend to be rich in LREE relative to HREE, leading to REE fractionation during the evolution of magmatic hydrothermal systems. Maximum k_P^REEvalue for each element is predicted and presented in a REE distribution diagram constrained by the threshold of m_Cl^v. REE contents of the granitic melt is approximated by whole-rock analysis, so that REE concentrations in the associated MVP would be estimated from the value of k_P^REE given chemical equilibrium retains. Two examples are provided respectively, to show the use of this method as a REE tracer to fingerprint the source of ore-fluids responsible for the Lake George intrusion-related Au-Sb deposit in New Brunswick (Canada), and for the Bakircay Cu-Au (-Mo) porphyry systems in northern Turkey.
Keywords
REE distribution pattern; REE fluid-melt partition coefficient; granite; intrusion-related gold system; porphyry copper (gold) system
Subject
Environmental and Earth Sciences, Geochemistry and Petrology
Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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