Reaction-driven magmatic crystallisation at the Maoniuping carbonatite.

ABSTRACT: Igneous rocks form by solidification of magmas through cooling or volatile degassing following decompression. Expelled H₂O is thought to trigger alteration around intrusions, leading to formation of metasomatic halos. This mechanism is often invoked to explain many magmatic-hydrothermal rock associations, some of them economically mineralised. Maoniuping in China is one of the four largest operating rare earth element (REE) mines globally, whose origin has been attributed to such hydrothermal exsolution. However, no direct evidence links hydrothermal fluids to the formation of Maoniuping and its associated REE mineralisation. Here we show that the REE deposit at Maoniuping formed magmatically from a carbonatitic brine-melt. Textural and chemical evidence reveals extensive intera

SUBMITTER: Liu Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12322019 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature