TY - JOUR

T1 - Geological History of the Great Altai: Implications for Mineral Exploration

AU - D′yachkov, Boris A.

AU - Mizernaya, Marina A.

AU - Khromykh, Sergey V.

AU - Bissatova, Ainel Y.

AU - Oitseva, Tatiana A.

AU - Miroshnikova, Anastassiya P.

AU - Frolova, Olga V.

AU - Kuzmina, Oxana N.

AU - Zimanovskaya, Natalya A.

AU - Pyatkova, Anna P.

AU - Zikirova, Karina

AU - Ageyeva, Olga V.

AU - Yeskaliyev, Yertay T.

N1 - Funding Information: The research was funded by the Geology Committee of the Ministry of Ecology, Geology and Natural Researches of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Grants No. BR10264558) and was addi-tionally carried out on a government assignment to the V.S. Sobolev Institute of Geology and Mineralogy (Novosibirsk) and by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Ka-zakhstan, grant AP08856325). Publisher Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

PY - 2022/6

Y1 - 2022/6

N2 - The Great Altai region, located at the boundary of Russia, Mongolia, China, and Ka-zakhstan, belongs to the system of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt. It has undergone a long complex geological and metallogenic history. Extremely rich resources of base, precious, and rare metals (Fe, Cu, Pb, Zn, Ag, Au, Li, Cs, Ta, Nb, REE, etc.) maintain developed mining and metal-lurgical industry, especially in East Kazakhstan, which is the key metallogenic province. The East Kazakhstan province comprises the Rudny Altai, Kalba‐Narym, West‐Kalba, and Zharma‐Saur metallogenic belts, each having its typical mineralization profiles and deposits. The reconstructed geodynamic and metallogenic history of the Great Altai province, along with the revealed rela-tionships between tectonic settings and mineralization patterns, allowed us to formulate a number of geodynamic, structural, lithostratigraphic, magmatic, mineralogical, and geochemical criteria for exploration and appraisal of mineral potential in Eastern Kazakhstan. Geodynamic criteria are based on the origin of different mineralization types in certain geodynamic settings during the Late Paleozoic–Early Mesozoic orogenic cycle. Structural criteria mean that the location of base‐metal deposits in Rudny Altai, gold deposits in the West Kalba belt, rare and base metals in the Kal-ba‐Narym and Zharma‐Saur zones is controlled by faults of different sizes. Lithostratigraphic criteria consist of the relation of orebodies with certain types of sedimentary or volcanic‐sedimentary rocks. Magmatic criteria are due to the relation between mineralization types and igneous litholo-gies. Mineralogical and geochemical criteria include typical minerals and elements that can serve as tracers of mineralization. The joint use of all these criteria will open new avenues in prospecting and exploration at a more advanced level.

AB - The Great Altai region, located at the boundary of Russia, Mongolia, China, and Ka-zakhstan, belongs to the system of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt. It has undergone a long complex geological and metallogenic history. Extremely rich resources of base, precious, and rare metals (Fe, Cu, Pb, Zn, Ag, Au, Li, Cs, Ta, Nb, REE, etc.) maintain developed mining and metal-lurgical industry, especially in East Kazakhstan, which is the key metallogenic province. The East Kazakhstan province comprises the Rudny Altai, Kalba‐Narym, West‐Kalba, and Zharma‐Saur metallogenic belts, each having its typical mineralization profiles and deposits. The reconstructed geodynamic and metallogenic history of the Great Altai province, along with the revealed rela-tionships between tectonic settings and mineralization patterns, allowed us to formulate a number of geodynamic, structural, lithostratigraphic, magmatic, mineralogical, and geochemical criteria for exploration and appraisal of mineral potential in Eastern Kazakhstan. Geodynamic criteria are based on the origin of different mineralization types in certain geodynamic settings during the Late Paleozoic–Early Mesozoic orogenic cycle. Structural criteria mean that the location of base‐metal deposits in Rudny Altai, gold deposits in the West Kalba belt, rare and base metals in the Kal-ba‐Narym and Zharma‐Saur zones is controlled by faults of different sizes. Lithostratigraphic criteria consist of the relation of orebodies with certain types of sedimentary or volcanic‐sedimentary rocks. Magmatic criteria are due to the relation between mineralization types and igneous litholo-gies. Mineralogical and geochemical criteria include typical minerals and elements that can serve as tracers of mineralization. The joint use of all these criteria will open new avenues in prospecting and exploration at a more advanced level.

KW - base metals

KW - Central Asian Orogenic Belt

KW - Eastern Kazakhstan

KW - exploration criteria

KW - gold

KW - Great Altai

KW - mineral deposit

KW - rare metals

KW - tectonic setting

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85131600250&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/d6705af8-25dc-31a4-954b-d2319c428c1b/

U2 - 10.3390/min12060744

DO - 10.3390/min12060744

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85131600250

VL - 12

JO - Minerals

JF - Minerals

SN - 2075-163X

IS - 6

M1 - 744

ER -