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Abstract

The Wushan copper skarn deposit (1.37 Mt at 1.17% Cu) is located in the Middle-Lower Yangtze River polymetallic belt. Skarn orebodies mainly occur in the Carboniferous and Permian carbonates adjacent to Early Cretaceous granodiorite porphyries (148–138 Ma). Ore deposition underwent two episodes of metallogenic events, involving hydrothermal evolution followed by skarn formation and porphyry-related mineralization. The skarn episode formed massive, disseminated, veinlet- and breccia-style mineralization at the contact zone, whereas porphyry mineralization is characterized as disseminated and veinlet-style only. Various types of fluid inclusions (daughter mineral-bearing, CO2-bearing, vapor and aqueous–vapor) are classified based on their fluid composition and phase assemblages. The hydrothermal fluids are mainly derived from a magmatic origin, which exsolves during the melt-fluid differentiation. Primary fluid in endoskarn is interpreted as representing two immiscible phases evolving from a low-salinity initial fluid. The initial supersaturated fluid has a relative low salinity and the wide range of Th values (433–626 °C) implies heterogeneous trapping, corresponding to pressures of 371–646 bars and hydrostatic depth of 3.7–6.5 km. Primary fluid inclusions trapped in syn-ore quartz show the coexistence of S-type inclusions (~30.0 wt% NaCl equiv) with vapor-rich and liquid-rich inclusions, indicating fluid immiscibility and phase separation from heterogeneous trapping. The homogenization temperatures (347–434 °C) of primary vapor-rich inclusions represent the trapping temperatures, corresponding the trapped pressures range from 152 to 374 bars and a hydrostatic depth of 1.5–3.7 km. Copper mineralization in episode porphyry occurs on a very small scale and have a clear trend of decreasing temperatures and salinities during fluid evolution. A similar scenario occurred during the porphyry episode in which fluid immiscibility led to copper mineralization. Significant trends of decreasing temperatures and salinities for both mineralization episodes reflect the change from a magmatic fluid-dominated system to a mixed source fluid that incorporated formation water from the country rocks and/or meteoric water. Controlled by the chemical transition of the fluid, this mixing process produced a relatively cool fluid system with lower salinities, which enhanced the precipitation of Cu–Fe sulfides. H–O–C isotope signatures further indicate that both the fluid and metal are predominantly derived from magmatic sources, and that multiple fluid pulses contributed to form skarn minerals and sulfides in the Wushan deposit.