Chronology and origin of Au-Cu deposits related to Paleozoic intracontinental rifting in West Tianshan Mountains, NW China

Located between the Tarim platform and Junggar massif, the West Tianshan intraconti-nental rift abuts against the China-Kazakhstan boundary in the west part, borders on the Yilianha-bierga late Paleozoic relic ocean basin and the South Tianshan late Paleozoic ocean basin re-spectively in the northeast separated by the Aibi Lake fault and in the southeast by the fault alongthe southern margin of the Yili massif. During the development and after the close of the WestTianshan intracontinental rifting in the Carboniferous-Permian period, a series of nonferrous andprecious metal mineralizations occurred with the Au-Cu deposits being the most important. Isotopicchronologic study of representative deposits of different types shows that gold-copper mineraliza-tion in the West Tianshan intracontinental rift zone mainly happened during the middle-late Her-cynian Period, among which the Axi volcanic hydrothermal type gold deposit was formed duringthe Carboniferous with a fluid inclusion Rb-Sr isochron age of (339 ± 28) Ma; the Qiabukanzhuotaquartzolite type gold deposit has a Rb-Sr isochron age of (312 ± 46) Ma; the Tawuerbieke por-phyry type gold deposit has a Rb-Sr isochron age of (295 ± 16) Ma; the Jingbulak magmatic liqua-tion Cu-Ni deposit and the Musizaote porphyry type Cu deposit have the forming ages of 300 Ma ±and 250 Ma±, respectively. Analyses of crustal evolution and metallogenetic geological back-grounds of Au-Cu mineralizations in the studied area shows a close correlation with the rifting.