A Study on Rare Earth Elements Geochemistry of the Makeng Skarn Fe-Mo Deposit and Its Geological Significance in Fujian Province

The Makeng Fe-Mo deposit is a large skarn-type magnetite deposit hosted by interbedded structural fracture zone between limestone in the Huanglong formation (C₂h) and clastic rocks in the Lindi formation (C₁l) in the vicinity of the outer aureole of the Juzhou-Dayang granite intrusion. The rare earth elements (REEs) in garnet, pyroxene, pyrite and magnetite from the Makeng deposit were studied by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). The results demonstrate that garnet, pyroxene, pyrite and magnetite have similar chondrite-normalized REEs distribution patterns with light REEs (LREEs) enrichment, moderate Eu positive anomaly and no Ce anomaly. It implies a genetic relation between ores and skarns, which were formed in an oxidation environment. The REEs characteristics of nearby marble and altered rocks varied regularly, which indicates that they were influenced by the metasomatism of post-magmatic hydrothermal fluids, and the ore-forming materials were partially derived from surrounding clastic rocks and diabase.