Tectonic controls on ore deposit exhumation and preservation: A case study of the Handan-Xingtai iron-skarn district

Abstract

Despite the growing concern regarding post-mineralization thermo-tectonic processes in recent years, the relative roles in exhuming and preserving ore deposits remain highly controversial. This study presents new apatite fission track and (U-Th)/He data from the Xishimen iron skarn deposit in the Handan-Xingtai district, central North China Craton. Apatite fission track dating yielded central ages ranging from 88 ± 18 Ma to 125 ± 9 Ma, with mean confined track lengths varying between 11.9 ± 0.4 μm and 13.3 ± 0.2 μm. Integrated apatite (U-Th)/He dating provided ages of 42.5 ± 0.8 Ma to 48.1 ± 3.3 Ma. Our new data, combined with previous zircon U-Pb and potassium-bearing mineral ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages, revealed three cooling episodes: very rapid cooling (100–140 °C/Ma) at ca. 130–120 Ma, a protracted slow cooling period (0.2–0.4 °C/Ma) at ca. 120–50 Ma, and moderate cooling (0.8–1.0 °C/Ma) since ca. 50 Ma. The initial rapid cooling phase was primarily attributed to post-magmatic thermal equilibration following the shallow emplacement of the Xishimen deposit. The subsequent cooling phases were controlled by uplift and exhumation processes. Our thermal models indicate an estimated total unroofing thickness of < 3 km, which is shallower than the emplacement depth of the ore deposit (3–5 km). This suggests significant potential for mineral exploration. Furthermore, a comprehensive review of preservation mechanisms for various ore deposits underscores the significant role of tectonics in both exhuming and preserving ore bodies.

Keywords

Low-temperature thermochronology / Ore deposits / Exhumation and preservation / Handan-Xingtai district / Xishimen iron deposit

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Yannan Wang: Writing – original draft, Methodology, Funding acquisition, Conceptualization. Zhiyuan He: Writing – review & editing, Methodology, Conceptualization. Kai Bian: Supervision, Project administration, Funding acquisition, Conceptualization. Cunliang Zhao: Writing – review & editing, Supervision. Lian Chen: Software, Methodology, Data curation. Rui Dong: Software, Investigation, Funding acquisition. Jin Zhang: Writing – review & editing, Funding acquisition, Conceptualization. Zhaoqun Zhu: Software, Formal analysis. Guang Liu: Investigation, Data curation.

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments that improved the manuscript significantly. We also thank Profs. M. Santosh and Stijn Glorie for their handling work. This study is financially supported by the Open Project Program of Hebei Province Collaborative Innovation Center for Strategic Critical Mineral Research, Hebei GEO University, China (No. HGUXT-2023-14), the China Geological Survey (DD20221646), National Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province (Nos. D2020402013 and D2023402022), National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 42102091).

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