A Comparative Study of Ore‐bearing Dikes and a Barren Dike in the Zaozigou Gold Deposit, Western Qinling: Zircon Morphology, U‐Pb Chronology and Geochemical Constraints

Abstract The Zaozigou gold deposit lies south of the Xiahe–Hezuo regional fault zone in the western Qinling orogenic belt and contains many intermediate to felsic dikes. Diorite porphyry, quartz diorite porphyry and biotite diorite porphyry are mineral‐bearing dikes, whereas granite porphyry is unrelated to gold mineralization. To compare the relationship between different dikes and mineralization, this study analyzed the cathodoluminescence (CL) of zircon crystals in all four types of dikes exposed in the Zaozigou deposit, using a zircon typological classification. The formation temperature of the granite porphyry (734°C) was higher than the average temperature of the other three types of dikes (704°C), whereas the former's alkalinity index (395) was lower than the average alkalinity index of the other three dikes (425). The ΣREE amount of granite porphyry (147.18 ppm) was smaller than the average ΣREE amount of the other three dikes (246.80 ppm) and its δ Eu value (0.33) was larger than the average δ Eu values of the other three dikes (0.30). The U‐Pb ages of zircon in the four types of dikes were relatively consistent with the crystallization ages of approximately 240 Ma, which indicates that all four types of dikes intruded in the Middle Triassic. Compared to the other three ore‐bearing dikes, the morphology of the zircon crystals in the barren dikes evolved from S 13 to S 5 and then returned to S 13 . These results indicate that the barren dike underwent an increase in temperature and a decrease in alkalinity, which may be an important reason for the absence of mineralization.