The Sangdong tungsten-molybdenum skarn deposits are embedded in the Pungchon limestone and limestone interbeds in the Myobong slate Formation of Cambrian age. The orebodies are composed of massive skarns and hydrothermal quartz veins. Sangdong granite of Cretaceous age (87.5 m.y.) which is recently found below the orebodies, has been slightly sericitized and pyritized, and it might be responsible for the W-Mo mineralization.
The orebody exibits well defined zonal distribution which consists, from periphery to center, of pyroxenegarnet-wollastonite zone, amphibole-mica-quartz zone and quartz-mica zone.
Stable isotope data of calcites and carbonate host rocks show mixing trend between regionally metamorphosed marble (δ
13C=0.6‰, δ
18O=+19.1‰) and fluids in equilibrium with deep seated granitic magma. Oxygen isotopic values of silicate minerals of the granite range from +10.1 to +11.3‰ which is rather homogeneous isotopic composition. Meanwhile, ore bearing skarn silicates and W-bearing hydrothermal vein quartz have a relatively scattered value ranging from +7.4 to +13.6‰ in δ
18O. Isotope geothermometry yields temperature of 860°C for the Sangdong granite, 670°C for the pyroxene-garnet zone, 630°C for the amphibole-mica zone and less than 350°C for the quartz-mica zone, the results of which indicate a retrograde metasomatism.
The calculated δ
18O and D/H values of H
2O equilibriating with quartz and hydrous mineral of W-bearing skarn silicates suggest that meteoric water influx increase toward later stage of tungsten mineralization.
Judging from the mineralogical, stable isotopic and chronological data, the metasomatic and hydrothermal ore fluids were derived primarily from the Sangdong granitic magma. This is also strongly supported by its sulfur isotope data of being δ
34S
Σs=+3-+5‰.
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