Gold Content of Mantle‐Derived Rocks from Eastern China and Its Implications

Abstract We have analyzed the gold content of 65 samples of mantle‐derived xenoliths and their host rocks from eastern China, which is found to be inhomogeneous, falling in the ranges of 1.0times10−9‐8.2times10−9 (averaging 3.8 times 10‐9) and 0.2times10−9‐5.3times10−9 (averaging 2.7times10−9) in the mantle‐derived xenoliths and the host basalts respectively. Except the samples from Wanquan County of Hebei Province and Anding County of Hainan Province, the gold content is the highest on the margins of the North China platform and decreases spatially towards the north and south, and temporally the samples of the Tertiary have a higher gold content than those of the Quaternary. The gold content of the mantle‐derived xenoliths and the host Paleozoic kimberlites is 3.8times10−9‐180times10−9 and 0.1times10−9‐38.0times10−9 respectively, which are higher than that in the mantle‐derived xenoliths in basalt and the host Cenozoic basalts. The mantle‐derived xenoliths have a higher gold content than the host rocks, but their relativity is not very clear, suggesting that the genetic relationship between them is complex. Our data indicate that the average gold content of the lithospheric mantle in eastern China is approximately equal to or approaching 3.8times10−9, which is lower than the average abundance of the upper mantle (5.0times10−9), higher than the average abundance of the continental crust (3.0times10−9) and only slightly higher than the average abundance of the lower continental crust (3.4times10−9). Except the samples from Hainan Province, the mantle‐derived xenoliths in basalts with a high gold content are distributed on the two margins of the North China platform, corresponding to the gold deposits‐concentrated districts in northwest Hebei Province and Shandong Province, showing the control by the old continental lithospheric mantle and the lower continental crust on the margins of the North China platform. The gold content of the mantle‐derived xenoliths from Hainan Province ranges from 7.1times10−9 to 15times10−9, suggesting that some blocks of the lithospheric mantle in Hainan Province may be derived from the ancient gold‐rich lithospheric mantle of western Australia and that Hainan Province may possibly be an important gold deposits‐concentrated district. Some mantle‐derived xenoliths in kimberlite of Shandong Province have an excessively high gold content amounting to 180times10−9, which provides new evidence for the possibility of “finding gold deposits near kimberlite pipes or alkali‐basalt volcanic vents”. Thererfore, the gold content of the mantle‐derived xenoliths may be an indicator to the distribution of gold deposits‐concentrated districts.