Geologic setting of selected chromium and nickel deposits of China.

Abstract

Podiform chromite deposits occurring in Luobusa, NW and N Inner Mongolia, and W Hunan are associated with harzburgite and dunite. They are the result of magmatic differentiation and gravity settling and are also associated with a subduction zone. The stratiform chromite in the Panzihua deposit, Sichuan, is related to rifting. The Ni deposits are usually associated with ultramafic bodies, in particular with lherzolite and dunite. The Jinchuan and Dali deposits are related to continental rifting, and the Ailaoshan deposits to a subduction zone. Ni ores are also found in weathering products around Ailaoshan and in Lower Cambrian black shales in the Yangtse craton. -R.E.S.