early Mesozoic (185\~210 Ma)^[@CR19]--[@CR21]^ granite, diorite, granodiorite and syenogranite, as well as the locally distributed late Mesozoic (110\~120 Ma)^[@CR19],[@CR20],[@CR23]^ granite porphyry and diorite porphyry. Among them, the granite porphyry records intense phyllic alteration, accompanied by abundant mineralization^[@CR19]^. The emplacement age of the granite porphyry has been well constrained, concentrated at 110\~113 Ma^[@CR19],[@CR20]^ which is broadly consistent with the time of the gold mineralization. We therefore infer that the gold mineralization is spatio-temporally and genetically associated with the granite porphyry. The emplacement of the granite porphyry and subsequent pulses of volatile release and gas streaming resulted in breccia pipes and fractures. When the ore-bearing fluids exsolved from the granite porphyry, they migrated into the breccia pipes and fractures, leading to the intense alteration and precipitating abundant ore minerals due to water-rockand epithermal gold deposits along eastern margin of NE China.

The Yanbian-Dongning region, located in the southeastern margin of NE China, is recognized as a unique zone that underwent two stages of evolution within the tectonic regimes of the Paleo-Asian and Paleo-Pacific oceans^[@CR6]--[@CR8]^. Although the transformation time of the two tectonic regimes is still debated, it is generally accepted that the study area was associated with subduction of the Paleo-Pacific plate (Izanagi plate) during the Mesozoic^[@CR7],[@CR33],[@CR34]^. The temporal--spatial distribution of Mesozoic granitoids and volcanic rocks in the Yanbian area demonstrates that an arc front migrated oceanwards, probably as a result of roll-back of the subducted Pacific plate (Izanagi plate)^[@CR9],[@CR35],[@CR36]^. During the late Mesozoic, the presence of early Cretaceous A-type granite and alkali rhyolite^[@CR37]^, metamorphic core complexes^[@CR38],[@CR39]^, typical bimodal igneous