Earth Science Frontiers ›› 2021, Vol. 28 ›› Issue (2): 333-347.DOI: 10.13745/j.esf.sf.2020.10.30

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Geochemical characteristics of tourmalines from the Dayakou emerald deposit in Yunnan Province: implications for emerald mineralization

LONG Zhengyu(), YU Xiaoyan*(), ZHENG Yuyu, GUO Bijun   

  1. School of Gemology, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing 100083, China
  • Received:2020-02-29 Revised:2020-09-15 Online:2021-03-25 Published:2021-04-03
  • Contact: YU Xiaoyan

Abstract:

Emerald is the green variety of beryl and its color is predominantly associated with trace chromium and/or vanadium. The Dayakou emerald deposit in Malipo County, Yunnan Province is a significant emerald deposit in China. A series of researches have been done in recent years on a variety of minerals in the deposit, but the emerald-associated tourmaline has not been investigated. Here, we studied the tourmalines from emerald-bearing and barren veins in the Dayakou deposit. Based on detailed field survey, petrographic investigation and component analysis, we aimed to investigate the origin of tourmaline to ascertain its fluid source and evolution in order to further understand the metallogenic mechanism of the Dayakou emerald deposit. The results show that, in tourmalines from emerald-bearing and barren veins, the measured Na contents were 0.62-0.79 and 0.64-0.76 apfu, respectively; the Al contents were 5.36-6.17 and 5.66-6.38 apfu, respectively; and the Fe/(Fe+Mg) ratios were 0.31-0.41 and 0.14-0.34, respectively. The Dayakou tourmaline belongs to alkline dravite, rich in Mg, with low or zero Al content in the Y site, whereas tourmaline from emerald-bearing veins has a comparably high Fe/(Fe+Mg) ratio. These chemical compositional differences in tourmalines may be related mainly to the ore-forming condition, which makes tourmaline a potential indicator of emerald mineralization. The Dayakou tourmaline contains 0.65%-4.76% V2O3 in component zonation, formed by metasomatism during sustained fluid-rock interactions. The early fluids of the Dayakou deposit were granite-derived fluids consisting of Si, Al, Be, F, and P. As hydrothermal alkali-metasomatism progressed, the Ca and V (extracted from wall rock) contents gradually increased. We believe beryllium fluoride (BeF) or Be-F complex is a significant Be migration mode in the Dayakou ore-forming fluids. The crystallization of F-containing minerals such as fluorite and fluorapatite resulted in the decomposition of BeF or Be-F complex, and the reduction of fluorine in the ore-forming fluid may be one of the important emerald mineralization mechanism of the Dayakou emerald deposit.

Key words: Yunnan Dayakou, emerald deposit, tourmaline, beryllium migration, metallogenic mechanism

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