scholarly journals Podiform Chromitites and PGE Mineralization in the Ulan-Sar’dag Ophiolite (East Sayan, Russia)

Minerals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga N. Kiseleva ◽  
Evgeniya V. Airiyants ◽  
Dmitriy K. Belyanin ◽  
Sergey M. Zhmodik

In this paper, we present the first detailed study on the chromitites and platinum-group element mineralization (PGM) of the Ulan-Sar’dag ophiolite (USO), located in the Central Asian Fold Belt (East Sayan). Three groups of chrome spinels, differing in their chemical features and physical–chemical parameters, under equilibrium conditions of the mantle mineral association, have been distinguished. The temperature and log oxygen fugacity values are, for the chrome spinels I, from 820 to 920 °C and from (−0.7) to (−1.5); for chrome spinels II, 891 to 1003 °C and (−1.1) to (−4.4); and for chrome spinels III, 738 to 846 °C and (−1.1) to (−4.4), respectively. Chrome spinels I were formed through the interaction of peridotites with mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB)-type melts, and chrome spinels II were formed through the interaction of peridotites with boninite melts. Chrome spinels III were probably formed through the interaction of andesitic melts with rocks of an overlying mantle wedge. Chromitites demonstrate the fractionated form of the distribution of the platinum-group elements (PGE), which indicates a high degree of partial melting at 20–24% of the mantle source. Two assemblages of PGM have been distinguished: The primary PGE assemblage of Os-Ir-Ru alloys-I, (Os,Ru)S2, and IrAsS, and the secondary PGM assemblage of Os-Ir-Ru alloys-II, Os0, Ru0, RuS2, OsS2, IrAsS, RhNiAs with Ni, Fe, and Cu sulfides. The formation of the secondary phases of PGE occurred upon exposure to a reduced fluid, with a temperature range of 300–700 °C, log sulfur fugacity of (−20), and pressure of 0.5 kbar. We have proposed a scheme for the sequence of the formation and transformation of the PGMs at various stages of the evolution of the Ulan-Sar’dag ophiolite.

2012 ◽  
Vol 150 (3) ◽  
pp. 497-508 ◽  
Author(s):  
GEORGE S.-K. MA ◽  
JOHN MALPAS ◽  
JIAN-FENG GAO ◽  
KUO-LUNG WANG ◽  
LIANG QI ◽  
...  

AbstractEarly–Middle Miocene intraplate basalts from the Aleppo Plateau, NW Syria have been analysed for their platinum-group elements (PGEs). They contain extremely low PGE abundances, comparable with most alkali basalts, such as those from Hawaii, and mid-ocean ridge basalts. The low abundances, together with high Pd/Ir, Pt/Ir, Ni/Ir, Cu/Pd, Y/Pt and Cu/Zr are consistent with sulphide fractionation, which likely occurred during partial melting and melt extraction within the mantle. Some of the basalts are too depleted in PGEs to be explained solely by partial melting of a primitive mantle-like source. Such ultra-low PGE abundances, however, are possible if the source contains some mafic lithologies. Many of the basalts also exhibit suprachondritic Pd/Pt ratios of up to an order of magnitude higher than primitive mantle and chondrite, an increase too high to be attributable to fractionation of spinel and silicate minerals alone. The elevated Pd/Pt, associated with a decrease in Pt but not Ir and Ru, are also inconsistent with removal of Pt-bearing PGE minerals or alloys, which should have concurrently lowered Pt, Ir and Ru. In contrast, melting of a metasomatized source comprising sulphides whose Pt and to a lesser extent Rh were selectively mobilized through interaction with silicate melts, may provide an explanation.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sobhi Nasir

<p>The Masirah ophiolite is one of the few true ocean ridge ophiolites that have been preserved (Rollinson, 2017) and lacks any indication that it formed in a subduction environment. The Masirah ophiolite in south-eastern Oman is a different and older ophiolite from the more famous northern Oman ophiolite. Chromite and copper ores comprise large deposits in the Samail ophiolite, northern Oman. In comparison, chromite and copper deposits have not been described in previous reports or previous exploration in Masirah ophiolite. Rollinson (2017) has proposed that the apparent absence of chromitites in the mantle section of Masirah ophiolite is an important discriminant between subduction related and ocean ridge ophiolites.  However, during recent studies on the Batain ophiolite mélange, and Masirah ophiolite, several chromitite pods have been discovered. The chromitites occur as separated small concordant, lenticular pods (3–10 m in thickness), which have been extensively altered and deformed, with the host pyroxenite serpentinites serpentinized harzburgites and dunites. The largest chromitite pods found within the pyroxenite and dunite of Masirah are up to 10 m across.  Unusual minerals and mineral inclusions (orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene, amphibole, phlogopite, serpentine, native Fe, FeO, alloy, sulfide, calcite, laurite, celestine and halite) within chromite have been observed in the chromitites from the  Masirah ophiolites.  The existence of hydrous silicate inclusions in the chromite calls for a role of hydration during chromite genesis. Both  phlogopite and hornblende were possibly formed from alkali-rich hydrous fluids/melts trapped within the chromite during the chromitite formation. High-T green hornblende and phlogopite included in the chromites is evidence of the introduction of water in the magma at the end of the chromite crystallization. Such paragenesis points to the presence of hydrous fluids during the activity of the shear bands. The chromitites parental magmas are rich in K, Na, LREE, B, Cs, Pb, Sr, Li, Rb and U relative to HREE, reflecting the alkalic fluids/melts that prevailed during the chromitites genesis.</p><p>The mineral inclusions  in association with host peridotites may have been brought by the uprising asthenosphere at mid-oceanic ridges due to the mantle convection. It appears that this chromite has been formed through reaction between amid-ocean-ridge basalt-melt with depleted harzburgite in the uppermost mantle.  The chromitite deposits have similar cr# (55-62% Al-chromitites), mg# Al2O3 and TiO2 contents to spinels found in MORB, and have been interpreted as having formed in amid-ocean ridge setting.  This suggests that this chromitites is residual from lower degree, partial melting of peridotite, which produced low-Cr# chromitites at the Moho transition zone, possibly in a mid-ocean-ridge setting. The chemistry of both mineral inclusions and chromite   suggests MORB-related tectonic setting for the chromitites that were crystallized at 1000 °C–1300 °C under pressures <3 GPa . The host peridotites were generated during the proto-Indian Ocean MORB extension and emplaced as a result of the obduction of the ophiolite over the Oman Continental margin during Late Cretaceous-Early Paleocene.</p><p>Rollinson, H., 2017. Geoscience Frontiers, 8: 1253–1262.</p>


Minerals ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. 464 ◽  
Author(s):  
Satoko Ishimaru ◽  
Yuji Saikawa ◽  
Makoto Miura ◽  
Osman Parlak ◽  
Shoji Arai

The Mersin ophiolite, Turkey, is of typical arc type based on geochemistry of crustal rocks without any signs of mid-ocean ridge (MOR) affinity. We examined its ultramafic rocks to reveal sub-arc mantle processes. Mantle peridotites, poor in clinopyroxene (<1.0 vol.%), show high Fo content of olivine (90–92) and Cr# [=Cr/(Cr + Al) atomic ratio] (=0.62–0.77) of chromian spinel. NiO content of olivine is occasionally high (up to 0.5 wt.%) in the harzburgite. Moho-transition zone (MTZ) dunite is also highly depleted, i.e., spinel is high Cr# (0.78–0.89), clinopyroxene is poor in HREE, and olivine is high Fo (up to 92), but relatively low in NiO (0.1–0.4 wt.%). The harzburgite is residue after high-degree mantle melting, possibly assisted by slab-derived fluid. The high-Ni character of olivine suggests secondary metasomatic formation of olivine-replacing orthopyroxene although replacement textures are unclear. The MTZ dunite is of replacive origin, resulted from interaction between Mg-rich melt released from harzburgite diapir and another harzburgite at the diapir roof. The MTZ dunite is the very place that produced the boninitic and replacive dunite. The MTZ is thicker (>1 km) in Mersin than in MOR-related ophiolite (mostly < 500 m), and this is one of the features of arc-type ophiolite.


Crystals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 1362
Author(s):  
Fei Liu ◽  
Dongyang Lian ◽  
Weiwei Wu ◽  
Jingsui Yang

Ophiolite-hosted diamond from peridotites and podiform chromitites significantly differs from those of kimberlitic diamond and ultra-high pressure (UHP) metamorphic diamond in terms of occurrence, mineral inclusion, as well as carbon and nitrogen isotopic composition. In this review, we briefly summarize the global distribution of twenty-five diamond-bearing ophiolites in different suture zones and outline the bulk-rock compositions, mineral and particular Re-Os isotopic systematics of these ophiolitic chromitites and host peridotites. These data indicate that the subcontinental lithospheric mantle is likely involved in the formation of podiform chromitite. We also provide an overview of the UHP textures and unusual mineral assemblages, including diamonds, other UHP minerals (e.g., moissanite, coesite) and crustal minerals, which robustly offer evidence of crustal recycling in the deep mantle along the suprasubduction zone (SSZ) and then being transported to shallow mantle depths by asthenospheric mantle upwelling in mid-ocean-ridge and SSZ settings. A systematic comparison between four main genetic models provides insights into our understanding of the origin of ophiolite-hosted diamond and the formation of podiform chromitite. Diamond-bearing peridotites and chromitites in ophiolites are important objects to discover new minerals from the deep earth and provide clues on the chemical composition and the physical condition of the deep mantle.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yung Ping Lee ◽  
◽  
Jonathan E. Snow ◽  
Yongjun Gao
Keyword(s):  

2021 ◽  
Vol 566 ◽  
pp. 116951
Author(s):  
Suzanne K. Birner ◽  
Elizabeth Cottrell ◽  
Jessica M. Warren ◽  
Katherine A. Kelley ◽  
Fred A. Davis

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Frances M. Deegan ◽  
Martin J. Whitehouse ◽  
Valentin R. Troll ◽  
Harri Geiger ◽  
Heejin Jeon ◽  
...  

AbstractMagma plumbing systems underlying subduction zone volcanoes extend from the mantle through the overlying crust and facilitate protracted fractional crystallisation, assimilation, and mixing, which frequently obscures a clear view of mantle source compositions. In order to see through this crustal noise, we present intracrystal Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) δ18O values in clinopyroxene from Merapi, Kelut, Batur, and Agung volcanoes in the Sunda arc, Indonesia, under which the thickness of the crust decreases from ca. 30 km at Merapi to ≤20 km at Agung. Here we show that mean clinopyroxene δ18O values decrease concomitantly with crustal thickness and that lavas from Agung possess mantle-like He-Sr-Nd-Pb isotope ratios and clinopyroxene mean equilibrium melt δ18O values of 5.7 ‰ (±0.2 1 SD) indistinguishable from the δ18O range for Mid Ocean Ridge Basalt (MORB). The oxygen isotope composition of the mantle underlying the East Sunda Arc is therefore largely unaffected by subduction-driven metasomatism and may thus represent a sediment-poor arc end-member.


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