Mineralogy, fluid inclusion petrography, and stable isotope geochemistry of Pb-Zn-Ag veins at the Shizhuyuan deposit, Hunan Province, southeastern China.

The Shizhuyuan polymetallic deposit is located in the central part of the Nanling region, southeastern China, and consists of proximal W-Sn-Mo-Bi skarns and greisens and distal Pb-Zn-Ag veins. The sulfides and sulfosalts in the distal veins formed in three distinct stages: (1) an early stage of pyrite and arsenopyrite, (2) a middle stage of sphalerite and chalcopyrite, and (3) a late stage of galena, Ag-, Sn-, and Bi-bearing sulfides and sulfosalts, and pyrrhotite. Combined sulfide and sulfosalt geothermometry and fluid inclusion analyses indicate that the early stage of mineralization occurred at a temperature of ~400 °C and involved boiling under hydrostatic pressure (~200 bar), with the temperature of the system dropping during the late stage to ~200 °C. Laser Raman analysis indicates that the fluid inclusions within the studied minerals are dominated by HO, although some contain carbonate solids and CH gas. Vein-hosted sulfides have δS values of 3.8-6.3‰ that are interpreted as indicative of a magmatic source of sulfur. The mineralization process can be summarized as follows: an aqueous fluid exsolved on final crystallization of the Qianlishan pluton, ascended along fracture zones, cooled to <400 °C, and boiled under hydrostatic conditions, and with decreasing temperature and sulfur fugacity, sulfide and sulfosalt minerals precipitated successively from the Ag-Cu-Zn-Fe-Pb-Sb-As-S-bearing fluid system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]