Experimental Investigation of the Upper Thermal Stability of Mg-rich Actinolite; Implications for Kiruna-Type Iron Deposits

The occurrence of actinolite in magnetite deposits of possiblemagmatic origin has prompted an experimental investigation ofthe upper thermal stability of Mg-rich actinolite to determinehow the stability of actinolite changes with increasing Fe content.Experiments were carried out primarily on the compositionalre-equilibration of natural tremolite [molar Fe/(Fe + Mg) =Fe-number = 0·014] in the presence of synthetic clinopyroxene(Ca_0·80Fe_0·67Mg_0·54Si_2·00O₆), syntheticpigeonite/orthopyroxene (Ca_0·08Fe_1·19Mg_0·70Si_2·02O₆),quartz, and water to a more Fe-rich actinolite over the rangeof 600–880°C, 1 and 4 kbar, at the Ni–NiO oxygenbuffer, for durations of 1–2 weeks. The bulk compositionof the mineral mixture is close to actinolite with Fe-number= 0·5. These experiments constitute a half-reversal ofthe amphibole composition, which, when approached from a Mg-richstarting composition, provides information on the minimum Fecontent of actinolite at a given temperature. Compositionalchanges were monitored by electron microprobe analysis of amphibolerim compositions and/or overgrowths on the original tremolite.At 4 kbar and 880–800°C, tremolite shows strong re-equilibrationwith overgrowths of an Fe-rich but low-Ca (1·7 > Ca> 1·4) actinolite; Fe-rich cummingtonite (Ca <0·7)begins to nucleate at 860°C. At 800–700°C, tremoliteshows weak compositional re-equilibration but strong nucleationof Fe-rich cummingtonite. Similar results were observed at 1kbar, with tremolite showing strong re-equilibration to low-Caactinolite at 790–600°C with cummingtonite nucleationat 800°C and below. The wide variation in Ca contents ofthe re-equilibrated amphiboles was unexpected. Additional univariantreversal experiments were carried out on the thermal decompositionof a natural actinolite (Fe-number = 0·22) from PleitoMelón, Chile, indicating the breakdown of actinoliteto clinopyroxene, orthopyroxene, quartz, and water at 780°Cand 1 kbar, and 850°C and 4 kbar. Considering only amphiboleswith Ca >1·7 a.p.f.u., the thermal stability of actinoliteis observed to decrease in a linear manner over the P–Trange investigated with a dT/dFe-number slope of –372°C/Fe-numberat 1 kbar and –546°C/Fe-number at 4 kbar. The highthermal stabilities (750–900°C) of actinolites withFe-numbers in the range of 0–0·4 overlap with therange of water-saturated melting for a typical andesite or tonalite.These conditions also overlap the field of experimental Fe–P-richmelt formation, suggesting that actinolite may have an igneousorigin in Kiruna-type ore deposits. KEY WORDS: actinolite; mineral stability; Kiruna deposits, thermodynamic values; cummingonite