Progress of geological study in the Middle-Lower Yangtze River Valley metallogenic belt
长江中下游成矿带地质与矿产研究进展

The Middle-Lower Yangtze River Valley metallogenic belt is one of the most important metallogenic belts in China, which experienced a long history of mining exploration and utilization. Many geologists have carried out researchs on this area since the 1920s and have published hundreds of scientific papers and more than 50 books. According to statistics, there are 888 scientific papers published in Chinese Journals focusing on the Middle-Lower Yangtze River Valley metallogenic belt from 1959 to 2012, and 185 SCI papers were published from 1990 to 2012. The research about ore deposits and mineralization is nearly occupying half of the total number of the published papers. The amount of published papers about the Tongling ore district in the belt is the highest. The number of published papers about Middle-Lower Yangtze River Valley metallogenic belt formed two peaks in the early 1990s and 2010~2012 and still exhibit increasing trend, which shows that the Middle-Lower Yangtze River Valley metallogenic belt has been one of the hotspots for geological research in recent years. The researchers focus on four fields: (1) Mesozoic tectonic evolution and dynamic background of magmatism and mineralization, (2) magmatism and plutonic activity, (3) ore-forming system and evolution, (4) metallogenic potential. This edition contains 26 papers generally reflect the latest research progress of the Middle-Lower Yangtze River Valley metallogenic belt and its adjacent areas. Those papers report many new geological and petrological observations, elemental and isotopic geochemical data and high-precision U-Pb zircon age data etc. These documents offer important evidences for further understanding of the origin and evolvement of the Middle-Lower Yangtze River Valley metallogenic belt and also have important significance on prospecting in the area.