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Textural Evidence for the Chromite‐Oversaturated Character of the Melt Involved in Podiform Chromitite Formation |
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| Authors: | Betchaida D Payot Shoji Arai Graciano P Yumul Jr |
| Institution: | 1. Department of Earth Sciences, Kanazawa University, , Kakuma, Ishikawa, 920‐1192 Japan;2. National Institute of Geological Sciences, University of the Philippines, , Diliman, Quezon City, 1101 Philippines;3. Monte Oro Resources and Energy, Inc., Room 3304‐C, West Tower, Philippine Stock Exchange, Ortigas Center, , Pasig City, 1605 Philippines |
| Abstract: | Well‐preserved oval‐shaped dunite clots occur within the exceptionally fresh massive podiform chromitites from the Coto Block of the Zambales Ophiolite Complex, the Philippines. The dunite/chromitite boundary shows an interlocking texture; olivine inclusions in chromites in the podiform chromitites show the same optical extinction with larger adjacent olivines in the dunite clots. This texture was formed by the reaction between chromite‐oversaturated melt and its dunite inclusions. The existence of such type of melt was previously only hypothesized to explain the origin of layered and podiform chromitites but is now confirmed by this discovery. |
| Keywords: | chromite‐oversaturated melt dunite Philippines podiform chromitite |