The subcontinental lithospheric mantle (SCLM) is now suggested by many workers to play a role in the formation of orogenic gold deposits in active continental margins, given that the gold and volatiles may be introduced into the SCLM during plate subduction. The giant Cretaceous Jiaodong gold province within the North China block occurs in a convergent margin setting where there is no terrane accretion, thus eliminating from consideration the commonly accepted metal and fluid source reservoir for orogenic gold—the metamorphosed upper crust of an active orogenic belt. Thus, the auriferous fluids were released below the high-grade Archean cratonic rocks from either enriched SCLM or directly from the subducted oceanic slab. Mercury (Hg) isotopes allow fingerprinting of isotopically distinct reservoirs, discriminating between the two possibilities. We present Hg isotope data for a set of pyrite grains, native gold, and lamprophyres from six main gold districts in the Jiaodong gold province. These samples dominantly yielded near-zero Δ199Hg (0‰ ± 0.1‰), within uncertainty of the mantle Δ199Hg value. The results provide novel evidence that the SCLM predominantly controlled the Hg budget of the Jiaodong gold deposits, implying that the SCLM acted as a buffer for the crustal mass-independent fractionation Hg signatures and a storage reservoir for gold and volatiles. Consequently, during slab subduction, gold and volatiles were recycled and stored within the SCLM and were later released from the mantle during uplift and relaxation of compressional tectonics.

中文翻译：

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岩石圈地幔作为活动大陆边缘造山金矿床的金属储库：来自汞同位素的证据


鉴于金和挥发物可能在板块俯冲过程中被引入次大陆岩石圈地幔（SCLM），许多学者认为次大陆岩石圈地幔（SCLM）在活动大陆边缘造山带金矿的形成中发挥了作用。华北地块内巨大的白垩纪胶东金省出现在没有地体增生的汇聚边缘环境中，因此排除了普遍接受的造山金金属和流体源储层——活动造山带变质的上地壳。因此，含金流体从富集的 SCLM 或直接从俯冲的洋板释放到高品位太古宙克拉通岩石下方。汞 (Hg) 同位素可以对同位素不同的储层进行指纹识别，从而区分两种可能性。我们提供了胶东金矿省六个主要金矿区的一组黄铁矿颗粒、天然金和煌斑岩的汞同位素数据。这些样本主要产生接近于零的 Δ199Hg (0‰ ± 0.1‰)，在地幔 Δ199Hg 值的不确定范围内。结果提供了新的证据，表明 SCLM 主要控制胶东金矿床的汞预算，这意味着 SCLM 充当与地壳质量无关的分馏汞特征的缓冲区以及金和挥发物的储存库。因此，在板片俯冲过程中，金和挥发物被回收并储存在 SCLM 内，随后在挤压构造的隆起和松弛过程中从地幔中释放出来。