Tourmaline as a recorder of magmatic-hydrothermal evolution: In-situ
elements and boron isotope analysis of tourmaline from the Qinghe
pegmatite, NW China
Abstract
We conducted systematic elements and boron isotope studies on the
tourmalines from a single pegmatite vein of the Qinghe pegmatite field
(NW China), aiming to reveal its magmatic-hydrothermal evolution and
implications for Li mineralization. The pegmatite vein is barren,
intruded into the Paleozoic mica schists, and texturally divided into a
border zone, a transition zone and a core zone. Tourmalines occur in all
these zones, and they commonly have late-stage hydrothermal tourmaline
overgrowths. All tourmalines belong to the alkali group, but show varied
Mg/(Mg+Fe) ratios (0.39-0.66), with the border and transition zone
tourmalines belonging to schorl, while the core zone and hydrothermal
tourmalines to dravite. Most tourmalines follow the (Na+Mg) (Al+Xvac)-1,
FeMg-1 and MnMg-1 exchange vectors. The core zone tourmalines, however,
show positively correlated FeOt and MgO, and negatively correlated FeOt
and Al2O3, suggesting a Fe3+Al-1 substitution for them, which could be
related to a rise of fO2. Thus, tourmaline FeAl-1 correlation could be
reflective of the redox state of pegmatite system. The elevated fO2 can
be linked to concentration of aqueous fluid during pegmatite evolution.
Moreover, the core zone tourmalines differ from other tourmalines by
their positive Eu anomalies, reflecting an increased polymerization of
Eu2+-Al-Si complexing in the zone. The border zone tourmalines have δ11B
= -14.0 ~ -12.7‰, similar to the transition zone (-13.9
~ -12.1‰). The core zone and hydrothermal tourmalines
show slightly lower δ11B values (-14.4‰ ~ -13.3‰). The
commonly light B, along with low Li (<120 ppm), of the
tourmalines from barren pegmatite are in contrast to the relatively
heavy B (-6.0 ~ -9.0‰) and high Li (>6000
ppm) of tourmalines from global Li-mineralized pegmatite, which is
significant in Li mineralization prospect.