The Niujiaotang zinc deposit in southeastern Guizhou, China, is a Mississippi Valley-type Zn deposit within Early Cambrian carbonate rocks. Sphalerite is enriched in cadmium (average 1.4 wt.% Cd), which occurs mostly as isomorphous impurities in the sphalerite lattice. Discrete cadmium minerals (greenockite and otavite) are rare and are found almost exclusively in the oxidation zone of the deposit, probably formed as secondary minerals during weathering-leaching processes. Geochemical data show that the sulfides are enriched in heavy sulfur, with delta S-34 ranging from +10.0aEuro degrees to +32.8aEuro degrees (mean +22.5aEuro degrees). The consistent Pb isotopic compositions in different sulfide minerals are similar to that of Cambrian strata. The ore lead probably came from U- and Th-rich upper crustal rocks, such as the Lower Cambrian Wuxun Formation. The ore fluid is of low-temperature (101A degrees C to 142A degrees C) type, with a Na-Ca-Mg-Cl-dominant composition, and is interpreted as oil-field brine. The data indicate that the metals were mainly derived from the Early Cambrian strata (Qingxudong and Wuxun Formations), whereas sulfur is sourced from sulfate in Cambrian strata or oil-field brines of the Majiang petroleum paleoreservoir. The genetic model for the deposit invokes an Early Cambrian shallow-sea environment on the Yangtze Platform. Zinc and Cd in seawater were concentrated in abundant algae via unknown biological mechanisms, resulting in large amounts of Zn- and Cd-rich algal ooliths. During the Ordovician, concurrent with destruction of the Majiang petroleum paleoreservoir, oil-field brines migrated from the center of the basin to the margin leaching metals from the Cambrian strata. In the Niujiaotang area, preexisting Zn and Cd, particularly in the Qingxudong and Wuxun Formation, were further mobilized by hot brines rising along the Zaolou fault system, forming stratiform and generally conformable Zn-Cd orebodies in reactive carbonate lithologies.

Publication name	MINERALIUM DEPOSITA　Volume: 47 　Issue: 6 　Special Issue: SI 　Pages: 683-700　 Published: AUG 2012
Author(s)	Ye, Lin; Cook, Nigel J.; Liu, Tiegeng; Ciobanu, Cristiana L.; Gao, Wei;Yang, Yulong
Corresponding author	YE Lin  yelin@vip.gyig.ac.cn  Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Geochem, State Key Lab Ore Deposit Geochem, Guiyang 550002, Peoples R China.

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