Sulphide melt evolution in upper mantle to upper crust magmas, Tongling, China

•Sulphide inclusions indicate immiscible separation of sulphide melts from various silicate melts.•A model is proposed for sulphide melt evolution during evolution of mafic to siliceous magmas.•This model improves understanding of the sulphide melt evolution in upper mantle to upper crust magmas.

Sulphide inclusions, which represent melts trapped in the minerals of magmatic rocks and xenoliths, provide important clues to the behaviour of immiscible sulphide liquids during the evolution of magmas and the formation of Ni–Cu–Fe deposits. We describe sulphide inclusions from unique ultramafic clots within mafic xenoliths, from the mafic xenoliths themselves, and from the three silica-rich host plutons in Tongling, China. For the first time, we are able to propose a general framework model for the evolution of sulphide melts during the evolution of mafic to felsic magmas from the upper mantle to the upper crust. The model improves our understanding of the sulphide melt evolution in upper mantle to upper crust magmas, and provides insight into the formation of stratabound skarn-type Fe–Cu polymetallic deposits associated with felsic magmatism, thus promising to play an important role during prospecting for such deposits.

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