Geochronology and geochemistry of the major host rock of the Dong’an gold deposit, Lesser Khingan Range: Implications for petrogenesis and metallogenic setting during the Early–Middle Jurassic in northeast China

The Dong’an gold deposit is a large-sized epithermal gold deposit recently discovered in the Lesser Khingan Range, NE China. Here, we present a detailed study of the petrogenesis, magma source, and tectonic setting of a medium–coarse grained alkali-feldspar granite, the major host rock of the Dong’an gold deposit. The LA–ICP–MS zircon U–Pb dating of the medium–coarse grained alkali-feldspar granite yields an early Jurassic age of 176.3 ± 1.1 Ma (MSWD = 0.62). The whole-rock geochemical data indicate that the samples are felsic, ferroan, alkali-calcic and peraluminous with relatively high alkali (K2O + Na2O) content. They are enriched in LREEs and LILEs (e.g., Rb, Ba, K), but are depleted in HFSEs (e.g., Nb, Ta, P, Ti), especially in P and Ti, showing characteristics of volcanic arc magmas and similarities with the Early–Middle Jurassic granitic rocks in Xing’an Mongolian orogenic belt. Meanwhile, the negative Eu, Nb, Ta, Ti, and P anomalies are consistent with fractional crystallization of plagioclase, Ti-bearing phases (rutile, ilmenite, titanite, etc.) and apatite during magma evolution. The samples have low Nb/Ta ratios (8.65–14.91) and low Mg# values (18–36), which are indicative of crustal derived magmas and no interaction between source magmas and the mantle. In-situ Hf isotopic analyses of the zircons from the medium–coarse grained alkali-feldspar granite yield εHf(t) values of +3.38–+5.68 and two-stage model ages (TDM2) of 772–900 Ma, indicating the magmas formed this intrusion were generated by partial melting of Neoproterozoic basaltic materials in the young lower crust, and the magma source could be derived from a depleted mantle. The medium–coarse grained alkali-feldspar granite most likely formed in the late stage of Toarcian subduction of the Pacific plate, which can be identified on the tectonic setting discrimination diagrams, and the formation of this intrusion was associated with underplating of mantle-derived magmas, which provided heat for crustal partial melting. Similar to the medium–coarse grained alkali-feldspar granite, large amounts of granitic rocks and a series of nonferrous metal hydrothermal deposits (Mo, Cu, Au) formed in northeast China as results of magmatic activities triggered by subduction of the Pacific plate during the Early–Middle Jurassic.