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The Jinding Zn–Pb sediment-hosted deposit in western Yunnan, China, is the fourth largest Zn deposit in Asia. Based on field observations of the ore textures, breccias, and the sandstone host rocks, the ores formed in a dome that was created by the diapiric migration of evaporites in the Lanping Basin during Paleogene deformation and thrust loading. Most of the ore occurs in sandstones that are interpreted to be a former evaporite glacier containing a melange of extruded diapiric material, including breccias, fluidized sand, and evaporites that mixed with sediment from a fluvial sandstone system. A pre-ore hydrocarbon and reduced sulfur reservoir formed in the evaporite glacier that became the chemical sink for Zn and Pb in a crustal-derived metalliferous fluid. In stark contrast to previous models, the Jinding deposit does not define a unique class of ore deposits; rather, it should be classified as MVT sub-type hosted in a diapiric environment. Given that Jinding is a world-class ore body, this new interpretation elevates the exploration potential for Zn–Pb deposit in other diapir regions in the world.

The Dexing porphyry Cu–Mo–Au deposit in east China (1,168 Mt at 0.45 % Cu) is located in the interior of the South China Craton (SCC), made up of two lithospheric blocks, the Yangtze and Cathaysia blocks. The Cu–Mo–Au mineralization is associated with mid-Jurassic granodioritic porphyries with three high-level intrusive centers, controlled by a series of lineaments at the southeastern edge of the Yangtze block. Available age data define a short duration (172–170 Ma) of the felsic magmatism and the mineralization (171 ± 1 Ma). The deposit shows broad similarities with deposits in volcanoplutonic arcs, although it was formed in an intracontinental setting. Porphyries associated with mineralization are mainly granodiorites, which contain abundant phenocrysts (40–60 %) and carry contemporaneous microgranular mafic enclaves (MMEs). They are mainly high-K calc-alkaline and show geochemical affinities with adakite, characterized by relatively high MgO, Cr, Ni, Th, and Th/Ce ratios. The least-altered porphyries yielded relatively uniform e Nd(t) values from −0.9 to +0.6, and wide (87Sr/86Sr)i range between 0.7046 and 0.7058 partially overlapping with the Sr–Nd isotopic compositions of the MMEs and mid-Jurassic mafic rocks in the SCC. Zircons from the porphyries have positive e Hf(t) values (3.4 to 6.9), and low δ18O values (4.7 to 6.3 ‰), generally close to those of depleted mantle. All data suggest an origin by partial melting of a thickened juvenile lower crust involving mantle components (e.g., Neoproterozoic mafic arc magmas), triggered by invasion of contemporaneous mafic melts at Dexing. The MMEs show textural, mineralogical, and chemical evidence for an origin as xenoliths formed by injection of mafic melts into the felsic magmas. These MMEs usually contain magmatic chalcopyrite, and have original, variable contents of Cu (up to 500 ppm). Their geochemical characteristics suggest that they were derived from an enriched mantle source, metasomatized by Proterozoic slab-derived fluids, and supplied a part of Cu, Au, and S for the Dexing porphyry system during their injection into the felsic magmas. The 171 ± 1 Ma magmatic-hydrothermal event at Dexing is contemporaneous with the mid-Jurassic extension in the SCC, followed by 160–90 Ma arc-like magmatism in southeastern China. With respect to the tectono-magmatic evolution of the SCC, the emplacement of Cu-bearing porphyries and the associated Cu mineralization occurred in response to the transformation from a tensional regime, related to mid-Jurassic extension, to a transpressional regime, related to the subduction of the Paleo-Pacific oceanic lithosphere.