Metal preconcentration for gold mineralization in arcs: Geophysical observations from Western Junggar, NW China

Abstract Previous studies showed that metal preconcentration in fluids and/or magma is critical to the formation of gold deposit in arcs and is closely related to the segregation of sulfide phases. However, the depth range and the magnitude of and associated mechanism by which the deep crust controls the metal preconcentration of arc mineralization remain enigmatic. Here we present geophysical observations of the medium-scale Baogutu porphyry copper–gold deposit and the large-scale Hatu epithermal gold deposit from the late Paleozoic arc in the western Junggar, NW China. During the closure of Paleo-Asian Ocean, Baogutu deposit formed at ∼313 Ma relating to the adakitic intrusions driven by the ridge-related subduction, and Hatu deposit formed at ∼300 Ma just before the subduction termination. The transcrustal structures of resistivity and shear-wave velocity would show the signatures of metal preconcentration by reasoning the cause of low-resistivity anomaly to the persisting sulfide phases and the change of shear-wave velocity to the garnet proportion, respectively. Our results showed that the sulfide phases persisted in the entire deep crust and thus the metal preconcentration could occur in the base cumulates and mush reservoir beneath Hatu deposit, but the signatures were not fully reflected beneath the Baogutu deposit. These observations suggest that the reduced permeability of brittle-ductile transition and the water flux associated with magma likely affect the rising rate of melt, resulting in different efficiency of the metal preconcentration. Thus, the endowments of mineralization in arcs are controlled by crustal structures and contemporaneous arc magmatism during subduction.