Reply to the comment on “Geochronology and geochemistry of submarine volcanic rocks in the Yamansu iron deposit, Eastern Tianshan Mountains, NW China: Constraints on the metallogenesis” by Hou et al.

Our recent works on Yamansu deposit associated with submarine volcanic rocks, NW China, got critical comments from one of the research groups. Based on the reliable zircon U–Pb dating and discussion about the iron source, the comments from Li et al. (2014) have not convinced us that our proposal on the coeval formation of basalt and skarn is a bad idea. The interpretations might be controversial, and require further studies through precise dating of the skarns from more submarine volcanic iron oxide deposits. With respect to the iron source, we do not exclude the possibility of derivation of iron from depth, but our conclusion on the leaching of Fe from the basalt remains a valid alternative for the major iron sources.