In situ LA-MC-ICP-MS and ID-TIMS U–Pb geochronology of cassiterite in the giant Furong tin deposit, Hunan Province, South China: New constraints on the timing of tin–polymetallic mineralization

The Furong deposit, located in southern Hunan Province, China, is a newly-discovered giant tin deposit spatially associated with the A-type Qitianling granite. The petrogenetic link between the giant Furong tin deposit and the Qitianling granite batholith remains controversial because of the lack of precise dating for the tin–polymetallic mineralization. Here we report for the first time in-situ U–Pb data on cassiterite obtained by LA-MC-ICP-MS and the results are compared to ID-TIMS data. The in-situ LA-MC-ICP-MS analyses of the cassiterites provide a reliable age constraint for tin–polymetallic mineralization in the Furong deposit, yielding an isochron age of 159.9 ± 1.9 Ma (at 95% confidence level, MSWD = 18), which is indistinguishable from the ID-TIMS 206Pb/238U weighted mean age of 158.2 ± 0.4 Ma. The in situ U–Pb ages corroborate the Ar–Ar dates published for the Furong tin deposit, which indicate that the mineralization is coeval with the emplacement of the Qitianling granite batholith. These results provide further evidence of a close temporal link between the pluton's emplacement and tin mineralization in the Furong area. The data obtained clearly demonstrate that in-situ LA-MC-ICP-MS U–Pb dating of cassiterite is a robust geochronometer for direct dating of tin–polymetallic mineralization.

► New LA-MC-ICP-MS and TIMS cassiterite U–Pb ages constrain the timing of tin mineralization of the Furong deposit.
► In situ LA-MC-ICP-MS U–Pb dating on cassiterite is robust for directly dating tin mineralization.
► The common lead can be effectively corrected by constructing 206Pb/207Pb–238U/207Pb isochrones.