New Mexico Geological Society Annual Spring Meeting — Abstracts

It is well known that the Circum-Pacific belt contains major metallogenic tungsten provinces in the world. There are many similarities among them as they are most likely related to the subduction processes at the margin of the Pacific plate. However, the different environments of formation resulted in different types of deposits between the various Circum-Pacific tungsten provinces. The geological environment of tungsten deposits in SE China may exist in other parts of the world, in which case a detailed description would be more useful for explorers.

China is one of the most important tungsten producing countries in the world. Tungsten minerals are predominantly concentrated in the SE continental margin of China. where vein-type deposits are characterized by "5-floor-building" structural pattern according to structure, morphology, and vertical zonations of gangue and ore mineralization. Ore deposits are intimately associated with various ages of granite formation of which the most important is the Yanshanian period (76-150 m.y. ago). The W-bearing magma is thought to be mainly derived from a subduction plate and partial melting. though it is possible that mantle inhomogeneities may be the controlling factor in the tungsten environment. The continental boundaries are associated with extreme uplifts and with relatively younger granite intrusions. These are the fundamental conditions in searching for tungsten resources in SE China.