minerals Article Geochemistry and Origin of Scheelites from the Xiaoyao Tungsten Skarn Deposit in the Jiangnan Tungsten Belt, SE China Qiangwei Su 1,*, Jingwen Mao 1, Jia Sun 1, Linghao Zhao 2 and Shengfa Xu 3 1 MLR Key Laboratory of Metallogeny and Mineral Assessment, Institute of Mineral Resources, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing 100037, China;
[email protected] (J.M.);
[email protected] (J.S.) 2 National Research Centre for Geoanalysis, Beijing 100037, China;
[email protected] 3 332 Geological Team of Anhui Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, Huangshan 245000, China;
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[email protected] Received: 13 January 2020; Accepted: 11 March 2020; Published: 18 March 2020 Abstract: The type, association, variations, and valence states of several metal elements of scheelite can trace the source and evolution of the ore-forming fluids. There are four types of scheelite from the Xiaoyao deposit: (1) scheelite intergrown with garnet in the proximal zone (Sch1a) and with pyroxene in the distal zone (Sch1b), (2) scheelite replaced Sch1a (Sch2a) and crystallized as rims around Sch1b (Sch2b), (3) quartz vein scheelite with oscillatory zoning (Sch3), and 4) scheelite (Sch4) within micro-fractures of Sch3. Substitutions involving Mo and Cd are of particular relevance, and both elements are redox-sensitive and oxidized Sch1a, Sch2b, Sch3 are Mo and Cd enriched, relatively reduced Sch1b, Sch2a, Sch4 are depleted Mo and Cd. Sch1a, Sch2a, Sch3, and Sch4 are characterized by a typical right-inclined rare earth element (REE) pattern, inherited from ore-related granodiorite and modified by the precipitation of skarn minerals.