Abstract:Guilin Chicken Blood Red Jasper (CBRJ) is a kind of quartz jasper. It is characterized by bright red to black colors and high hardness. However, few researches have been focused on the field occurrence, geological background, rock structure and genesis of its color. Field surveys indicate that the Guilin CBRJ is hosted in low-grade metamorphic sandstones which experienced vapor-water hydrothermal metamorphism and iron oxide dissemination. It occurs in the Sanmenjie Formation of Neoproterozoic Danzhou Group in Longsheng area in the north of Guangxi. Tectonically, the ore deposit of Guilin CBRJ is located at the juncture of Yangtze and Cathaysian plates, which has undergone a complex geological process. Its formation was related to multi-phase tectono-magmatic activities from Neoproterozoic to Triassic. Detailed analyses of mineralogy, micro-texture and geochemical composition of Guilin CBRJ were carried out by polarizing microscope, X-ray diffraction, and electronic microprobe. The results indicate that the CBRJ is mainly composed of quartz and hematite, with dolomites in some samples. Quartz grains exhibit two types of allotriomorphic equigranular texture and idiomorphic porphyroblastic texture. The latter one, in which distinct enlargement texture can be observed, reveals a metasomatic metamorphism phase. Hematite occurs in three types: ① single crystal existent between or inside the quartz particles, ② dusty crystals wrapped in the quartz particles, and ③ disseminated crystals filled between the quartz particles. The Fe3+ in the hematite should be responsible for the color of the CBRJ. Electron microprobe analysis shows that the hematites of single crystal and disseminated crystals have 78.9%~85.6% iron oxides, but the dusty crystal is too small to be analyzed. In combination with the different generations of quartz and hematite, the authors have reached the conclusion that the formation of different types of these minerals in the Guilin CBRJ was consistent with the regionally geological evolution in this area.