Elemental and mineralogical anomalies in the coal-hosted Ge ore deposit of Lincang, Yunnan, southwestern China: Key role of N2-CO2-mixed hydrothermal solutions

Hydrothermal solutions have played a significant role in producing the elemental and mineralogical anomalies in the Lincang Ge ore deposit. The hydrothermal solutions leaching the batholith granite were a mixture of alkaline N2-bearing and volcanogenic CO2-bearing fluids, which led to the enrichment of trace elements, not only including assemblages of Ge-W and Be-Nb-U (both leached from granite and the deposited in the peat), but also As-Sb (from volcanogenic solution), as well as the alteration and argillization of the batholith granites, and the formation of carbonate and quartz-carbonate metasomatites.