Fluid-mediated metal transport in subduction zones and its link to arc-related giant ore deposits: Constraints from a sulfide-bearing HP vein in lawsonite eclogite (Tianshan, China)

The chemical changes in the selvage suggest that the fluid, which caused the dissolution of the wall-rock and the precipitation of the selvage assemblage while the vein formed, was probably a mixture of an “internal” fluid derived from the prograde dehydration (e.g., lawsonite breakdown) of the wall rock and an “external” fluid most likely derived from dehydrating altered oceanic crust located in stratigraphically lower units of the subducting slab. The external fluid introduced Ca, S, Sr, Pb and at least parts of the LREE and the MREE into the selvage, whereas some elements, such as the remaining LREE and MREE, may have been derived from the wall rock eclogite via diffusional transport into the selvage. The enrichment of Ca and L-MREE is displayed by the abundant growth of selvage epidote. In contrast, the dissolution of garnet and phengite released significant amounts of HREE and LILE (K-Rb-Ba) into the passing fluid, because the chemical changes within the selvage prevented the formation of a mineral assemblage with sufficiently high bulk-fluid partition coefficients for these elements. Significant amounts of transitional metal elements were released into the fluid during the dissolution of white mica and the dissolution-precipitation behavior of garnet, omphacite, dolomite and sulfides. Thus the LILE and HREE along with some transition metal elements (e.g., Fe, Cu, Ni and Zn) were mobilized during the dissolution-precipitation processes that led to the selvage formation. Accordingly the slab fluids are not only strongly enriched in LILE and depleted in HFSE, but also carry significant amounts of transition metals. It is most likely that slab fluids strongly contribute to the metal flux into the arc magma systems finally resulting in giant arc-related ore deposits.