Metallogenic Mechanism of the Kalatongke Orefield in Northwest China, Constrained by High-Resolution Deep Seismic Reflection Imaging

The Kalatongke orefield, about 11 km², is located in the northeastern margin of Junggar Basin, Northwest China, tectonically the southern part of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB). As an accretionary collage between the Siberia and Tarim-North China Cratons, the CAOB evolved beginning at Precambrian about 1 thousand Million years ago and lasting to 250 Million years ago, experiencing complex geological processes such as plate convergence, the closure of Palo-Asian Ocean, plate collision, post-collision and intercontinental orogeny. The metallogenic process of the Kalatongke orefield may relate to the volcanic activities in the amalgamation of the Yamaquan arc, Dulate arc and Altay Mountains, accompanied with the closure of the Junggar Ocean. In Permian, the post-collision extension led magma to rise up from the asthenosphere mantle and the Kalatongke Orefield was formed. In the following Mesozoic and Cenozoic, the ore area kept relatively silence without strong tectonic movements, implying the present lithosphere preserves information of the Paleozoic continental growth. Thus, we use high-resolution deep seismic reflection image to reveal fine regional structures of the crust and uppermost mantle, and use these results to investigate the magmatism in Paleozoic and provide constraints for regional metallogenic process in the Kalatongke orefield. Based on the seismic image, we find deep intrusion channels, and chambers and Moho entrance for magma intrusion. This research was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2017YFC0601206) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41630210, 41674060).