Ages and tectonic implications of the mafic–ultramafic-carbonatite intrusive rocks and associated Cu-Ni, Fe-P and apatite-vermiculite deposits from the Quruqtagh district, NW China

Abstract

The Tarim Craton is an important tectonic unit and a suitable target to investigate and understand the Proterozoic tectonic framework of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt and supercontinent Rodinia. Precambrian ultramafic–mafic-carbonatite rocks are widely distributed in the Quruqtagh domain of NE-Tarim. In the Quruqtagh, Cu-Ni, Fe-P and apatite-vermiculite deposits hosted in the ultramafic-mafic-carbonatite rocks occur in the Xingdi, Qieganbulake, Daxigou, and Kawuliuke. These deposits associated with the ultramafic-mafic-carbonatite rocks in Quruqtagh formed in a period between the Paleoproterozoic and Neoproterozoic. The Paleoproterozoic Fe-P deposit is represented by the Daxigou deposit that yielded a SIMS U-Pb zircon age of 2452 ± 10 Ma. The other Cu-Ni, Fe-P and apatite-vermiculite deposits, hosted in the ultramafic–mafic rocks, formed in the Neoproterozoic, represented by the Xingdi, Kawuliuke, and Qieganbulake deposits that formed between 812 Ma and 707 Ma. The Paleoproterozoic mineralization event was coincident with the global collisional events that led to the assembly of the Paleo-Mesoproterozoic Columbia (Nuna) supercontinent. And the emplacement of these Neoproterozoic ultramafic-mafic-carbonatite rocks was related to a mantle plume event that led to the breakup of the Tarim Craton from the Rodinia supercontinent. © 2016 Elsevier B.V.