Generation of high-Mg diorites and associated iron mineralization within an intracontinental setting: Insights from ore-barren and ore-bearing intrusions in the eastern North China Craton

Abstract

Abstract High-Mg andesitic rocks (HMAs) are commonly generated through slab-mantle interactions in arc settings. In this study, however, we report the high-Mg diorites in the Zibo and Laiwu areas of the eastern North China Craton (NCC), which were particularly produced during lithospheric thinning within an intracontinental setting. Some of the rocks generated large-scale Fe skarn deposits (e.g., the Zibo quartz monzonite and the Laiwu Kuangshan monzonite), whereas the others are ore-barren (e.g., the Zibo gabbroic diorite and the Laiwu Jinniushan and Jiaoyu monzodiorites), providing an excellent case to reveal how the non-arc HMAs were formed and the crucial factors controlling the Fe mineralization. All the rocks are characterized by high Mg# values (51–84) at andesitic compositions (52.5–65.0\u202fwt%) and show arc-like geochemistry (e.g., enriched in LREEs and LILEs and depleted in HREEs and HFSEs), of which the strongly mineralized intrusions are more felsic with higher Mg# values (69–84) and stronger fractionation between LREEs and HREEs. Zircon U-Pb dating indicates that these rocks were emplaced at the early Cretaceous (130–132\u202fMa), coeval with the peak thinning of the lithosphere in the eastern NCC. All the rocks have transitional Sr-Nd-Pb isotopic compositions (0.704726