A Metamorphosed, Early Archaean Chromitite from West Greenland: Implications for the Genesis of Archaean Anorthositic Chromitites

An early Archaean (>3·81 Ga) chromitite–ultramaficlayered body from the Ujaragssuit nunât area, west Greenland,may represent the Earth’s oldest chromitite. The layeredbody occurs as a large xenolith (800 m x 100 m) entrained withintonalitic gneisses and preserves primary igneous layering andtextures. New Re–Os and Pb–Pb isotope results supportthe view that it has been metamorphosed twice, in the earlyand late Archaean at 3·75 Ga and 2·8 Ga. Mineralchemistry and textures indicate that the chromite compositionspreserve two different evolutionary trends. There is a mainmagmatic trend in which Cr/(Cr + Al) ratios remain relativelyconstant but in which there is strong enrichment in Fe³⁺, Fe²⁺and Ti with progressive differentiation. This trend is a compositeof magmatic-liquidus, magmatic-cooling and subsolidus re-equilibrationprocesses. A second trend is defined by chromites from harzburgitesin the upper part of the layered body. These chromites showmagmatic replacement textures in which Fe-rich chromites arealtered to aluminous chromites. Chromites showing magmatic replacementtextures are thought to have formed by reaction with a late,interstitial melt during the solidification of the layered body.The close association between the Fe³⁺–Cr-chromites ofthe main trend and Al-rich chromites of the type found in otherArchaean megacrystic anorthosites suggest a magmatic-geneticrelationship between the two types of chromite. We propose thatanorthositic chromites form in an Fe-rich basaltic melt derivedfrom a komatiitic, boninitic or basaltic parent magma throughreaction between the melt and early-formed Fe-rich chromite. KEY WORDS: chromite; anorthosite; Archaean; Greenland; Re–Os