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    Paired Magmatic-Metallogenic Belts in Myanmar: An Andean Analogue?

    Access Status
    Fulltext not available
    Authors
    Gardiner, Nicholas
    Robb, L.
    Searle, M.
    Morley, C.
    Date
    2015
    Type
    Conference Paper
    
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Citation
    Gardiner, N. and Robb, L. and Searle, M. and Morley, C. 2015. Paired Magmatic-Metallogenic Belts in Myanmar: An Andean Analogue?, in André-Meyer A.-S. et al. (ed), Proceedings of the 13th SGA Biennial Meeting on Mineral Resources in a Sustainable World, Aug 24-27 2015, pp. 95-98. Nancy, France: Society for Geology Applied (SGA).
    Source Title
    MINERAL RESOURCES IN A SUSTAINABLE WORLD, VOLS 1-5
    Source Conference
    13th SGA Biennial Meeting on Mineral Resources in a Sustainable World
    ISBN
    978-2-85555-066-4
    School
    Department of Applied Geology
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/4594
    Collection
    • Curtin Research Publications
    Abstract

    Myanmar (Burma) is richly endowed in precious and base metals, having one of the most diverse collections of natural resources in SE Asia. Its geological history is dominated by the staged closing of Tethys and the suturing of Gondwana-derived continental fragments onto the South China craton during the Mesozoic-Cenozoic. The country is located at a crucial geologic juncture where the main convergent Tethyan collision zone swings south around the Namche Barwa Eastern Himalayan syntaxis. However, despite recent work, the geological and geodynamic history of Myanmar remains enigmatic. Plate margin processes, magmatism, metasomatism and the genesis of mineral deposits are intricately linked, and there has long been recognized a relationship between the distribution of certain mineral deposit types, and the tectonic settings which favour their genesis. A better knowledge of the regional tectonic evolution of a potential exploration jurisdiction is therefore crucial to understanding its minerals prospectivity. This strong association between tectonics and mineralization can equally be applied in reverse. By mapping out the spatial, and temporal, distribution of presumed co-genetic mineral deposits, coupled with an understanding of their collective metallogenetic origin, a better appreciation of the tectonic evolution of a terrane may be elucidated. Identification and categorization of metallotects within a geodynamically-evolving terrane thus provides a complimentary tool to other methodologies (e.g. geochemical, geochronological, structural, geophysical, stratigraphical), for determining the tectonic history and inferred geodynamic setting of that terrane through time.Myanmar is one such study area where this approach can be undertaken. Here are found two near-parallel magmatic belts, which together contain a significant proportion of that country's mineral wealth of tin, tungsten, copper, gold and silver. Although only a few 100 km's apart, these belts exhibit a contrasting minerals endowment. The Mogok-Mandalay-Mergui (MMM) Belt hosts crustal-melt S-type granites with significant tin-tungsten mineralization, and contains the historically major tungsten deposit of Mawchi. The Wuntho-Popa Arc comprises I-type granites and granodiorites with porphyry-type copper-gold and epithermal gold mineralization, and includes the world-class Monywa copper mine. Recent U-Pb radiometric age dating has shown the potential for the two belts to be both active from the Late Cretaceous to Eocene. The spatial juxtaposition of these two sub-parallel belts, the implication of contemporary magmatism, and their distinct but consistent metallogenic endowment bears strong similarities to the metallogenic belts of the South American Cordillera. Here we investigate whether they together represent the magmatic and metallogenic expression of an Andean-type setting in Myanmar during the subduction of Neo-Tethys. In this analogue the Wuntho-Popa Arc represents a proximal I-type magmatic belt sited immediately above the eastwards-verging Neo-Tethys subduction zone. Exhibiting porphyry-type copper-gold and epithermal gold mineralization, this would therefore be the Myanmar equivalent of the Andean coastal copper belts. Conversely, the parallel MMM Belt, comprised of more distal crustal-melt S-type tin granites, would have an analogue in the Bolivian tin belt.

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    • Neo-Tethyan magmatism and metallogeny in Myanmar - An Andean analogue?
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      © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. Plate margin tectonism, magmatic and hydrothermal processes, and the genesis of mineral deposits are intricately linked. In Myanmar two near-parallel magmatic belts, that together contain a significant ...
    • Contrasting Granite Metallogeny through the Zircon Record: A Case Study from Myanmar.
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      Granitoid-hosted mineral deposits are major global sources of a number of economically important metals. The fundamental controls on magma metal fertility are tectonic setting, the nature of source rocks, and magma ...
    • The crustal architecture of Myanmar imaged through zircon U-Pb, Lu-Hf and O isotopes: Tectonic and metallogenic implications
      Gardiner, Nicholas; Searle, M.; Morley, C.; Robb, L.; Whitehouse, M.; Roberts, N.; Kirkland, Chris; Spencer, Christopher (2018)
      The Tethys margin in central and eastern Asia is comprised of continental terranes separated by suture zones, some of which remain cryptic. Determining the crustal architecture, and therefore the geological history, of ...
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