Laser probe 40Ar/39Ar dating for quartz from auriferous quartz veins in the Shihu gold deposit, western Hebei Province, North China

The Shihu gold deposit is situated in the central shear zone of the Meso-Cenozoic Fuping metamorphic core complex in the middle-northern part of the Taihang Mountains. This kind of gold deposits named after ‘Shihu type’ widely occurs in this region. Gold-bearing quartz veins are their most important industrial orebodies. Detailed laser 40Ar/39Ar geochronology of the mineralized quartz veins in the study area reveals details of its tectono-magmatic history. The 40Ar/39Ar ages for the quartz are between 134.4 Ma and 155.9 Ma with a mean age of 141±4 Ma on the isochron line and 139±7 Ma on the inverse isochron line, respectively, which is interpreted to be the best estimate of the crystalline age of the quartz veins. The gold mineralization was most likely related to an underplating event that took place in the northern part of the Taihang Mountain at ca. 140 Ma. The timing of gold mineralization in the area is similar to those observed in other major gold-producing provinces in the NCC. This episode is simultaneous with those in the eastern NCC, indicative of a widespread late Yanshanian metallogenic event that was a response either to the subduction of the Izanagi-Pacific plate beneath eastern China or to the removal of the Early Cretaceous lithosphere in the eastern NCC. The ore-forming material sources may be the Early Precambrian metamorphic basement, instead of intermediate-acid rock bodies and dykes.