Conditions for Early Cretaceous Emerald Formation at Dyakou, China: Fluid Inclusion, Ar-Ar, and Stable Isotope Studies
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©2010 Society of Economic Geologists, Inc. Economic Geology, v. 105, pp. 339–349 Conditions for Early Cretaceous Emerald Formation at Dyakou, China: Fluid Inclusion, Ar-Ar, and Stable Isotope Studies G. XUE,1 D. MARSHALL,1,† S. ZHANG,2 T. D. ULLRICH,3 T. BISHOP,1 L. A. GROAT,3 D. J. THORKELSON,1 G. GIULIANI,4 AND A. E. FALLICK5 1Department of Earth Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia V5A 1S6, Canada 2Department of Earth Sciences, Science and Technology University of Kunming, Kunming, Yunnan 650093, China 3Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z4, Canada 4Centre de Recherches Pétrographiques et Géochimiques-CNRS, BP 20, 54501 Vandeouvre-Cedex, France 5Isotope Geoscience Unit, SURRC, East Kilbride Glasgow, G75 OQF, Scotland Abstract The Dyakou emerald occurrence is located in Malipo County in the province of Yunnan, southern China. The occurrence lies in the northern part of the Laojunshan-Song Chay metamorphic core complex, which is exposed in an area of approximately 2,000 km2 and extends across the border between China and Vietnam. Emerald mineralization is hosted by pegmatite and associated quartz veins that intrude deformed Proterozoic biotite-muscovite granofels and schist. Hydrogen and oxygen isotope results from the emerald channel waters and emerald, respectively, are consistent with an igneous fluid source. The δ18O fractionation between emer- ald and quartz yields vein temperatures of 365° to 420°C. Fluid inclusions indicate that the emerald precipi- tated from saline brines ranging from almost pure water to 10.5 mass percent NaCl equiv. Fluid inclusion iso- chores intersected with δ18O data yield pressures changing along the geothermal gradient from 1,500 to 3,300 bars. Ar-Ar geochronology of biotite and muscovite from the emerald veins yields consistent ages of 124 ± 1 Ma. These constraints combined with field observations indicate that the Dyakou emerald deposit is consistent with the igneous-related model for emerald formation. Introduction the emerald mineralization are published in Zhang et al. BERYL and its green, chromium-vanadium−rich variety, emer- (1998, 1999), Feng et al. (2000), and Lu et al. (2001). ald, typically contain abundant fluid inclusions. Pioneering The relative rarity of emerald worldwide can partially be work by Roedder (1963, 1972, 1982) on fluid inclusions in explained by low Be concentrations in Earth’s crust and gen- emerald led to a better understanding of pressures, tempera- erally higher concentrations in pegmatite, clays, black shale, tures, and fluid conditions responsible for emerald precipita- and their metamorphic equivalents such as gneiss and mica tion. Ed Roedder’s studies indicated a diverse range of fluid schist. Be is the least abundant of the first 40 elements on the compositions and modes of origin, most notably the hyper- periodic table with an average crustal concentration of less saline fluids associated with some emeralds and a diverse than 5 ppm (Wedepohl, 1978). In contrast, Cr (±V) is most range of daughter and accidental crystals, all of which could commonly enriched in mafic and ultramafic rocks in geologic be used to differentiate between natural and synthetic gems. environments incongruous with Be. Therefore, unusual geo- In this paper, we examine fluid inclusions from the Dyakou logic and geochemical conditions are required to bring Be emerald occurrence in Malipo County, southeastern Yunnan, and Cr together to form emerald (Schwarz et al., 2002). Two China. Our work builds on preliminary fluid inclusion studies general models for emerald precipitation proposed by by Zhang et al. (1999) and Moroz et al. (2004) on samples Schwarz and Giuliani (2001) are widely accepted: a granite- related model and a tectonic-hydrothermal model. In the first from Dyakou, which indicated brine and rare brine-CO2 fluid inclusion assemblages similar to those in fluid inclusions from model, granitic to pegmatitic rocks intrude Cr (±V)-rich host other emerald occurrences documented by Roedder (1963, rocks, introducing Be and heat into the mineralization sys- 1972, 1982). tem. In the second model, emerald formation results from a In 1992, prospectors discovered gem-quality emerald Be-rich fluid flowing through major crustal faults and shear crystals near Dyakou village while exploring for tungsten zones and interacting with Cr (±V)-rich metamorphic rocks at (Fig. 1). It is the only significant emerald discovery in China. upper greenschist to lower amphibolite facies. This study Previous geologic work in the vicinity of the Dyakou show- characterizes the Dyakou emerald occurrence as a granite-re- ing included geologic mapping at 1:10,000 scale by Wang et lated emerald deposit, using fluid inclusion, stable and radi- al. (1996) and at 1:50,000 scale by Feng et al. (1998). In ogenic isotope studies. 1996, emerald produced from the area was officially named Regional Geology the “Chinese emerald” by the Yunnan Geological Survey. Summaries of data from the mapping projects pertaining to The Dyakou emerald showing occurs in the northern part of the Laojunshan-Song Chay metamorphic core complex (Fig. 1). The exposure of the Laojunshan-Song Chay is more † Corresponding author: e-mail, [email protected] than 2,000 km2 and extends across the China-Vietnam border, Submitted:October17, 2008 0361-0128/10/3877/339-11 339 Accepted: October17, 2009 340 XUE ET AL. SG NC 30 N ASRR Yangtze Craton South China FoldCathaysian Belt Block 20 N SM Indo-China Block KB 10 N 100 E 110 E 120 E Triassic sedimentary rocks Permian sedimentary rocks Carboniferous rocks Devonian argillite and carbonate Cambrian pelite with minor carbonate Pt3 upper Proterozoic Mengdong succession Pt1 lower Proterozoic rocks K2 mid Cretaceous porphyritic granite S3 later Silurian gneissic granite Ductile detachment fault Strike-slip fault Thrust fault Fault China-Vietnam border Study area 0 5 10 15 20 Kilometers FIG. 1. Regional geologic map, showing the major lithologic units in the study area. The index map (inset upper left) shows the location of the study area. The tectonic map (inset upper right) shows the study area (rectangle) relative to the larger scale tectonic setting (after Feng et al., 2000; Roger et al., 2000). Abbreviations: ASRR = Ailao Shan-Red River fault, KB = Korat basin, L-S MCC = Laojunshan-Shay Metamorphic Core Complex, NC = North China-Korea block, SG = Song pan Garze, SM = Song Ma suture. 0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 340 EMERALD FORMATION AT DYAKOU, CHINA: FLUID INCLUSION, Ar-Ar, AND STABLE ISOTOPE STUDIES 341 and is the largest core complex in the southeastern South pressure of approximately 5 kbars, using the relationship be- China block (Li et al., 1996; Zhang et al., 1998; Roger et al., tween Alvi and Si in hornblende (Raase, 1974). 2000; Maluski et al., 2001; Liu et al., 2003, 2006). The Dyakou emerald occurence is northeast of the northwest- Local Geology southeast−trending Ailaoshan-Red River shear zone that sep- In the vicinity of the Dyakou emerald occurrence, the Pro- arates the South China and Cathaysia blocks from the In- terozoic Mengdong succession consists mostly of structurally dochina block. Major left-lateral ductile shearing occurred layered metamorphic rocks (Fig. 2). The basal unit within this along this zone during the Oligo-Miocene as Indochina was succession is the Nanyantian schist (Pt3n), which generally transported several hundreds of kilometers toward the south- comprises biotite + muscovite schist and biotite + muscovite east (Tapponnier et al., 1986, 1990; Yang and Besse, 1993; quartz schist in sheared contact with Late Silurian gneissic Leloup et al., 1995; Roger et al., 2000). The emerald occur- granite. According to Wang et al. (1996), the overlying rocks rence is bounded in the northeast by the Wenshan-Malipo to the foliated Nanyantian unit is the Saxi unit (Pt3s) consist- strike-slip faults that were active beginning in the Early ing of biotite granofels with several lenses of plagioclase am- Devonian. phibolite (Pt3s-1), striped biotite granofels and plagioclase The Laojunshan-Song Chay metamorphic core complex gneiss with minor biotite-muscovite schist (Pt3s-2), and epi- consists of a weakly metamorphosed cover that is structurally dosite, quartzite, and tremolite plagioclase granofels (Pt3s-3). detached from a more highly metamorphosed core (Zhang et The granofels with granoblastic texture in the Saxi unit is the al., 1998; Roger et al., 2000; Liu et al., 2006; Yan et al., 2006). only host rock for emerald mineralization in the Dyakou oc- The cover consists of Cambrian and Devonian slate, phyllite, currence. The Saxi unit consists of quartz (30−60%), ortho- mica schist, and marble with metamorphic grades ranging clase (15%), plagioclase (25−60%), biotite (10%), and minor from lower greenschist grade at the core to lower grades in tourmaline, sphene, apatite, and pyrite. more distal locations. These metasedimentary rocks were de- The Late Silurian gneissic biotite + plagioclase + orthoclase rived from mud rock and carbonate. The core is dominantly granite (S-type) is the dominant igneous rock in the area. Zir- composed of migmatite, granite, and laminated and augen con from the gneissic granite has been dated at 411 Ma using gneiss derived from the metamorphism and deformation of U-Pb (Feng et al., 1998). Nearly 1 km south of the emerald Caledonian to Cathaysian (ca. 400−140 Ma) granites. Rem- showing, the gneissic granite is intruded by an apophysis of nant patches of the Precambrian Mengdong succession are Late Cretaceous porphyritic (S-type) granite, which is dated situated locally within the core. The nucleus has been in- by Ar-Ar at 76 Ma (Feng et al., 2000). truded by Cretaceous porphyritic granites in the northwest- Emerald at the Dyakou showing is found mainly in north- ern part of the complex. Cover and core are separated by ex- west-southeast quartz veins (Fig. 3) paralleling the foliation tensional shear zones with both ductile and brittle character.