New Chronological Evidence for Indosinian Diagenetic Mineralization in Eastern Xinjiang, NW China

Abstract  There have been conflicting ideas about the Indosinian mineralization in E. Xinjiang, a subject that has attracted many geologists' attention over a long period. Isotopic dating shows that the Shiyingtan gold deposit located on the southern margin of the Turpan-Hami basin has a quartz fluid inclusion Rb-Sr isochron age of 237±9 Ma (95% conf.); the Shuangfengshan gold deposit on the southern margin of the Junggar orogenic belt has a quartz fluid inclusion Rb-Sr isochron age of 226±21 Ma (95% conf.); the Weiya vanadium-titanium magnetite in the E. Tianshan mountains has a mineral-whole rock Sm-Nd isochron age of 220 ±30 Ma (95% conf.); the Jinwozi and Jinwozi 210 gold deposits in the E. Tianshan mountains have quartz fluid inclusion Rb-Sr isochron ages of 228±22 Ma (95% conf.) and 230±6 Ma (95% conf.), respectively; and the Xiaobaishitouquan scheelite deposit in the E. Tianshan mountains has a quartz fluid inclusion Rb-Sr isochron age of 248±7 Ma (95% conf.). The metallogenetic ages mentioned above prove the existence of Indosinian mineralization in E. Xinjiang, and the metallogenetic event might have been related to Triassic intraplate magmatic evolution, intra-continent subduction, strike-slip shoving and ductile shearing in the studied area, representing another mineralization peak after the Late Paleozoic.