Soft-sediment deformation characteristics in the Hurun Manganese Mining area, Guangxi, South China

China is shortage of manganese mineral resources. Although manganese orebodies have been widely studied by scholars,characteristics and genesis of soft-sediment deformation in manganese ore layers are unclear. Hurun manganese ore is located in the periphery of the super-large Xialei manganese deposit in Guangxi. A number of liquefied deformation structures, such as liquefied sandstone, liquefied micritic (sparry) vein, autoclast breccia, liquefied diaper, micro-corrugated lamination, and syn-sedimentary microfractures, occurred as soft-sediment deformation in the Ⅱ+Ⅲ ore layers, and the complete deformation sequences can be seen in some areas, while the ore layers were overlapped by later strata. This kind of structure not only extends horizontally, but also repeats vertically with a long span, developing from Late Devonian to Carboniferous, which is consistent with the typical soft-sediment deformation structures related to seismic genesis. In addition, the geochemical characteristics of REE show that the hot water participated in the mineralization during the ore-forming period, indicating a strong extension of sedimentary basin during the mineralization of manganese deposits in a lower slope zone of the aulacogen. Comparing with famous large or super-large manganese deposits at home and abroad, it is considered that the soft-sediment deformation is closely related to the mineralization of manganese deposits and it can be used as an important indicator for ore prospecting.