Copper is a moderately incompatible chalcophile element.Its behavior is strongly controlled by sulfides.The speciation of sulfur is controlled by oxygen fugacity.Therefore,porphyry Cu deposits are usually oxidized(with oxygen fugacities > AFMQ +2)(Mungall 2002;Sun et al.2015).The problem is that while most of the magmas at convergent margins are highly oxidized,porphyry Cu deposits are very rare,suggesting that high oxygen fugacity alone is not sufficient.Partial melting of mantle peridotite even at very high oxygen fugacities forms arc magmas with initial Cu contents too low to form porphyry Cu deposits directly(Lee et al.2012;Wilkinson 2013).Here we show that partial melting of subducted young oceanic slabs at high oxygen fugacity(>AFMQ +2) may form magmas with initial Cu contents up to >500 ppm,favorable for porphyry mineralization.Pre-enrichment of Cu through sulfide saturation and accumulation is not necessarily beneficial to porphyry Cu mineralization.In contrast,remelting of porphyritic hydrothermal sulfide associated with iron oxides may have major contributions to porphyry deposits.Thick overriding continental crust reduces the "leakage" of hydrothermal fluids,thereby promoting porphyry mineralization.Nevertheless,it is also more difficult for ore forming fluids to penetrate the thick continental crust to reach the depths of 2—4 km where porphyry deposits form.
The Xinjie layered intrusion in the Panxi region,SW China,hosts both Fe-Ti oxide and platinum-group element（PGE） sulfide mineralization.The intrusion can be divided,from the base upward,into UnitsⅠ,ⅡandⅢ,in terms of mineral assemblages.UnitsⅠandⅡare mainly composed of wehrlite and clino-pyroxenite, whereas UnitⅢis mainly composed of gabbro.PGE sulfide-rich layers mainly occur in Unit I, whereas thick Fe-Ti oxide-rich layers mainly occur in UnitⅢ.An ilmenite-rich layer occurs at the top of UnitⅠ.Fe-Ti oxides include magnetite and ilmenite.Small amounts of cumulus and intercumulus magnetite occur in UnitsⅠandⅡ.Cumulus magnetite grains are commonly euhedral and enclosed within olivine and clinopyroxene.They have high Cr2O3 contents ranging from 6.02 to 22.5 wt.%,indicating that they are likely an early crystallized phase from magmas.Intercumulus magnetite that usually displays ilmenite exsolution occupies the interstices between cumulus olivine crystals and coexists with interstitial clinopyroxene and plagioclase.Intercumulus magnetite has Cr2O3 ranging from 1.65 to 6.18 wt.%, lower than cumulus magnetite.The intercumulus magnetite may have crystallized from the trapped liquid.Large amounts of magnetite in UnitⅢcontains Cr2O3（＆lt;0.28 wt.%） much lower than magnetite in UnitsⅠandⅡ.The magnetite in UnitⅢis proposed to be accumulated from a Fe-Ti-rich melt.The Fe-Ti-rich melt is estimated to contain 35.9 wt.%of SiO2,26.9 wt.%of FeOt,8.2 wt.%of TiO2,13.2 wt.%of CaO, 8.3 wt.%of MgO,5.5 wt.%of Al2O3 and 1.0 wt.%of P2O5.The composition is comparable with the Fe-rich melts in the Skaergaard and Sept Iles intrusions.Paired non-reactive microstructures,granophyre pockets and ilmenite-rich intergrowths,are representative of Si-rich melt and Fe-Ti-rich melt,and are the direct evidence for the existence of an immiscible Fe-Ti-rich melt that formed from an evolved ferro-basaltic magma.
