Geochemistry of paleozoic basalts from the Juchatengo complex of southern Mexico: tectonic implications

Analyses of Lower Permian or older basalts and associated dykes of the Juchatengo sequence indicate that they are rift tholeiites that formed in a continental rift or back-arc tectonic setting. Age constraints include a Middle Permian fossil recovered from the tectonically overlying sediments and a cross-cutting, post-tectonic pluton dated by K/Ar on hornblende at 282±6 Ma. A location adjacent to the Oaxacan Complex or other old continental crust is suggested by (1) an Nd_i isotopic value of −8.95 and a T_DM age of 1487 Ma in the overlying sediments, which are similar to the Oaxacan Complex; (2) enrichment of incompatible elements in the lavas, suggesting old crustal contamination; and (3) the presence of Permian–Triassic calc-alkaline plutons that stitch the Juchatengo–Oaxaca boundary. The possible tectonic models depend on the age of the Juchatengo basalts, which requires future geochronological work. If the Juchatengo basalts are Permo-Carboniferous, they could have formed near the eastern edge of a back-arc basin: the contemporaneous arc would have rifted away to the west. Eastward migration of the arc magmatism indicated by the Permian–Triassic calc-alkaline plutonism may reflect shallowing of the dip of the subduction zone, which probably also produced the deformation of the Juchatengo sequence.     

The buried southern continuation of the Oaxaca-Juarez terrane boundary and Oaxaca Fault,southern Mexico: Magnetotelluric constraints

Thirty magnetotelluric soundings were made along two NW–SE profiles to the north and south of Oaxaca City in southern Mexico. The profiles crossed the N–S Oaxaca Fault and the Oaxaca-Juarez terrane boundary defined by the Juarez mylonitic complex. Dimensionality analysis of the MT data showed that the subsurface resistivity structure is 2D or 3D. The Oaxaca and correlative Guichicovi terranes consist of ca. 1–1.4 Ga granulitic continental crust overlain by Phanerozoic sedimentary rocks, characterized by high and low resistivities, respectively. The Juarez terrane consists of oceanic Mesozoic metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks, characterized by a low to medium resistivity layer, that is approximately 10 km thick. The Oaxaca Fault is a Cenozoic aged, normal fault that reactivated the dextral and thrust Juarez mylonitic complex north of Oaxaca City: its location south of Oaxaca City is uncertain. In the southern profile, the MT data show a ca. 20–50 km wide, west-dipping, relatively low resistivity zone material that extends through the entire crust. This is inferred to be the Juarez terrane bounded on either side by the ca. 1–1.4 Ga granulites. The Oaxaca Fault is imaged only by a major electrical resistivity discontinuity (low to the west, high to the east) along both the western border of the Juarez mylonitic complex (northern profile) and the San Miguel de la Cal mountains (southern profile) suggesting continuity.     

Gravity and magnetic survey of the Oaxaca city region: Cenozoic horst-and-graben structure superimposed on the Oaxaca–Juarez terrane boundary,southern Mexico

A geophysical survey of the Oaxaca Fault along the north-trending Etla and Zaachila valleys area, southern Mexico, shows a series of NNW–SSE Bouguer and magnetic anomalies with steeper gradients towards the east. The Oaxaca Fault represents Tertiary extensional reactivation of the Juarez shear zone that constitutes the boundary between the Oaxaca and Juárez terranes. Cooperative interpretation of six combined gravity and magnetic NE–SW profiles perpendicular to the valleys indicates the presence of a composite depression comprising three N–S sub-basins: the northern Etla and southern Zaachila sub-basins separated by the Atzompa sub-basin. The Etla sub-basin is bounded by the moderately E-dipping, Etla Fault and the more steeply W-dipping Oaxaca Fault, which together constitute a graben that continues southwards into the Atzompa graben. The deeper Zaachila sub-basin, south of Oaxaca city, is a wide V-shaped graben with a horst in the middle. The new geophysical data suggest that the Oaxaca–Juarez terrane boundary is displaced sinistrally ca. 20 km along the E–W Donají Fault, which defines the northern boundary of the Zaachila sub-basin. On the other hand, the Oaxaca Fault may either continue unbroken southwards along the western margin of the horst in the Zaachila sub-basin or be offset along with the terrane boundary. The sinistral movement may have taken place either during the Late Mesozoic-Early Cenozoic, Laramide Orogeny as a lateral ramp in the thrust plane or under Miocene–Pliocene, NE–SW extension. The former suggests that the Donají Fault is a transcurrent fault, whereas the latter implies that it is a transfer fault. The models imply that originally the suture was continuous south of the Donaji Fault and provide a constraint for the accretion of the Oaxaca and Juarez terranes.     

The vourinos ophiolite complex, Greece: The tectonite suite

Classical structural analysis, in combination with new techniques including pyroxene thermobarometry and recrystallized-grain- and subgrain-size paleopiezometry, has been used to deduce the tectonic history of the Vourinos Ophiolite Complex, Greece. Results can be used to infer the variation with depth of differential stress in the upper mantle and indicate that these rocks were subjected to an initial stress level of 10–100 bar over a depth interval from 100 to 40 km, respectively. Subsequently, they underwent mylonitization, associated with stresses of about 2500 bar at 30 km depth. Rocks equilibrated at the deepest levels commonly have the highest structural positions within the ultramafic tectonites and also show appreciable Al depletion. Lack of annealing recrystallization in the mylonitic rocks, together with low stress levels and an abnormally high pyroxene geotherm for the Complex lead to the interpretation of the Complex being the remnant of a mantle diapir, with an overlying magma chamber, located at a spreading ridge.     

南天山库勒湖蛇绿岩地球化学特征及其年龄

南天山库勒湖蛇绿岩的形成环境和时代一直存有争议。本文通过对蛇绿岩基性熔岩的主量、微量和同位素地球化学研究,结果表明库勒湖蛇绿岩具N-MORB特征,推测其形成于小洋盆环境。基性辉长岩中锆石SHRIMP U-Pb年代学的研究表明425±8Ma古亚洲洋南缘南天山一带存在一小洋盆。     

The Colima volcanic complex,Mexico:III

A 34 meter section of ash- and scoria-fall units has been studied on the upper NE flank of the active Volcán Colima. Charcoal and soil horizons are restricted to the topmost 12 m. Nine ¹⁴C dates show a smooth progression from 235 years near the surface to 8,300 years at 10 meters depth, indicating a post-Pleistocene accumulation rate of 1.3 m/1,000 years at 6 km from the vent. This figure allows an estimate of the magmatic eruption rate for fallmaterial of 0.31 km³/1,000 years, less than 15% of Colima's lava eruption rate. An unusually thick and coarse-grained scoria-fall horizon at about 4 m depth in the section appears to have been produced by the caldera-forming eruption of Colima some 4,300 years ago.The majority (40) of 46 analyzed scoria and ash horizons are typical Colima hornblende-andesites with an average SiO₂ content of 58%, nearly identical to the scoriae of Colima's 1913 pyroclastic flows. The scoriae are significantly more basic than Colima's andesitic lavas, which average 61% SiO₂. The six remaining scoria horizons are anomalously alkalic and rich in incompatible elements. Five coarse alkaline scoria layers occur in sequence just below the 8,300 year level. They show progressive upward increases in K, P, Ba, Sr, Zr, La, Ce, and related elements, culminating in a phlogopite-bearing scoria horizon.Over the last 20,000 years or so, a group of cinder cones erupted 20–35 km to the north of Volcán Colima, producing basic alkalic magmas including basanites and phlogopite-bearing minettes. The alkaline scoriae of the studied sections probably record pre-eruptive injections of minette magma into the subvolcanic, calc-alkaline system of V. Colima. The age, composition, and mineralogy of the alkaline scoriae are consistent with this interpretation. Least squares mixing models suggest 60 wt.% minette component in the phlogopite-bearing horizon.     

The upper cretaceous ophiolite complex of Masirah Island,Oman

Masirah Island is almost entirely composed of a highly faulted and unmetamorphosed folded ophiolite complex which is unconformably overlain by unfolded Eocene limestone and is correlated with the Upper Cretaceous Semail Complex of the Oman Mainland. The ophiolites include serpentine, basalt, pyroclastics and some radiolarite, and intrusive complexes largely composed of serpentine, peridotite, picrite, anorthosite, gabbro and granite, with transitional varieties. Emplacement structures within the intrusions are extremely complicated, with the gabbros full of blocks mostly of serpentine up to 1 km or more in diameter. There are also late stage veins, lenses and irregular bodies of granite. Ophiolites, probably derived from the mantle, are ultrabasic differentiates with soda metasomatism. Tectonic structures are largely pre-Eocene. They include fractures, some of which are parallel to the late Tertiary submarine Masirah fault which is related to continental drift.     

The Colima Volcanic complex,Mexico

Volcán Colima is Mexico's most historically active andesitic composite volcano. It lies 150 km north of the Middle America Trench at the western end of the Mexican Volcanic Belt, closer to the trench than any other composite volcano in Mexico. Since its earliest reported eruption in 1576, V. Colima has evolved through three cycles of activity. Each cycle culminated in a major ashflow eruption, halting activity for 50 or more years. The last major ashflow eruption occurred in 1913. Andesitic block lava eruptions in 1961–1962 and 1975–1976 marked the inception of activity in a fourth historical cycle which may also terminate with a major ashflow eruption in the early part of the next century.Major and trace element analyses of whole rock samples and all constituent phases are presented for a suite of nine post-caldera hornblende and olivine-andesites. The suite includes samples from Colima's four major eruptions since 1869, spanning the last two eruptive cycles. Colima's post-caldera andesites are poor in K and other incompatible elements (Ti, P, Zn, Rb, Y, Zr, Ba, La, Yb, Hf, Th, and U) as may be characteristic of near trench andesites. From the 1913 ashflow eruption through the fourth cycle andesites, there have been increases in whole rock abundances of Si, Ba, and Cs, and decreases in Ti, Fe, Mg, Ni, Cr, and Sc. Crystal fractionation models can closely reproduce major element variations in the post-caldera suite, but systematically fail to predict sufficient concentrations of the compatible trace elements Cr, Ni, and Zn. Anomalous enrichments of compatible trace elements in Colima's andesites probably reflect simultaneous crystal fractionation and magma mixing in the subvolcanic system.Estimated pre-eruptive temperatures range from 940 °–1,000 ° C in the hornblende-andesites and 1,030 °–1,060 ° C in the olivine-andesites. Pre-eruptive magmatic water contents of 1.0–3.6 wt.% are calculated for the hornblende-andesites; the phenocryst assemblage of the olivine-andesite is calculated to equilibrate at 1,000 bars with 0.8% H₂O.Orthopyroxenes and certain clinopyroxenes in all pre-1961 samples are reversely zoned, with relatively Mg-rich rims. The most pronounced Mg-rich rims occur in the olivine-andesites and are thought to reflect pre-eruptive magma mixing, involving a basic, olivine+/-clinopyroxene-bearing magma. In addition to their normally zoned pyroxenes, the post-1961, fourth cycle andesites display a number of other features which distinguish them from earlier post-caldera hornblende-andesites of similar bulk composition. These include: (1) higher total crystal contents, (2) lower modal hornblende contents, (3) higher calculated pre-eruptive silica activities, and (4) lower calculated pre-eruptive water contents. These features are all consistent with the interpretation that the fourth cycle andesites were less hydrous prior to eruption. The slight Mg-rich pyroxene rims in pre-1961 hornblende-andesites may record late-stage, pre-eruptive increases in magmatic water content, which act to raise magmatic f _{O 2} and Mg/Fe⁺² ratios in the melt and in all crystalline phases. The fourth cycle andesites apparently did not experience a strong, pre-eruptive influx of water, resulting in lower magmatic water contents and normally zoned pyroxenes.     

Neoliberal development through technical assistance: Constructing communities of entrepreneurial subjects in Oaxaca, Mexico

Technical assistance (TA) has a long and varied history as a development practice. It initially emerged as a set of ‘hard’ programs, tools, and technologies delivered to developing countries by imported First World experts, typically in the agricultural and resource sectors. Later, in response to critical and antidevelopment theories, TA morphed into its ‘soft’ version, attempting to empower marginalized people in the Global South by delivering the know-how - often collaboratively generated - sufficient to produce forms of development ‘from below’. In spite of this shift in the politics and practices of TA, it remains susceptible to neoliberal styles of development that have proceeded apace with withdrawal of state institutions in the funding and operation of social and economic development programs, and with the concomitant rise of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).In this paper, we follow the operation of one TA program operated by an intermediary NGO in Oaxaca, Mexico. We find that the program intersects with neoliberalization in two prominent ways, relying on a form of governmentality that codifies and prescribes: (a) the social spaces of action and need, and (b) learning subjects deficient in entrepreneurial initiative and know-how. We conclude by commenting on the political economic conditions that continue to underwrite TA as a development practice in spite of a decade or more of criticism directed at it and we consider the possibilities for its subversion.     

华北克拉通北缘崇礼—赤城地区的红旗营子(岩)群:一套晚古生代的变质杂岩

分布在华北克拉通北缘中段崇礼—赤城地区的红旗营子(岩)群主要由变质表壳岩、晚古生代的闪长质—石英闪长质片麻岩和古元古代—新太古代的变质岩残片或残块组成。利用SHRIMP和LA-ICPMS法对红旗营子(岩)群变质表壳岩的锆石同位素年代学研究表明,变质表壳岩样品中除大量古元古代—新太古代的锆石年龄信息外,还有许多中元古代—晚古生代的锆石,且均有晚古生代甚至早中生代的多阶段变质作用的记录。这些证据表明红旗营子(岩)群并非早前寒武纪岩石建造,而是一套晚古生代的变质杂岩。红旗营子(岩)群周围侵入体的锆石U-Pb测年表明岩浆作用与变质作用具有较好的相关性,它们与中亚造山带多阶段的俯冲、碰撞造山和后造山伸展事件相关。由于红旗营子杂岩中含有晚古生代退变榴辉岩和变质方辉橄榄岩,这可能意味着华北克拉通北缘的冀北地块在晚古生代早期曾经从华北克拉通上裂开,在中亚造山带古亚洲洋板块俯冲作用的影响下又重新拼合,红旗营子杂岩代表华北克拉通北缘的冀北地块与华北克拉通在晚古生代重新拼合的俯冲碰撞拼贴带。     

藏北羌塘中部桃形湖早古生代蛇绿岩的岩石学特征

桃形湖早古生代蛇绿岩是龙木错－双湖板块缝合带近期的重要发现。通过对桃形湖蛇绿岩进行详细的野外地质调查和岩石学、年代学、地球化学的研究发现,桃形湖早古生代蛇绿岩各单元出露齐全,由下到上分别为变质橄榄岩、超基性堆晶杂岩、堆晶辉长岩、基性岩墙群和枕状玄武岩,在堆晶岩中有不同规模的斜长花岗岩（层）脉体。桃形湖堆晶辉长岩的时代为中奥陶世,并具有大洋中脊型的地球化学特点。桃形湖早古生代蛇绿岩的发现说明龙木错－双湖板块缝合带中存在完整的蛇绿岩组合,同时也是古特提斯洋早期裂解的重要证据。     

The late Neoproterozoic Enganepe ophiolite, Polar Urals, Russia: An extension of the Cadomian arc?

The Enganepe ophiolite, Polar Urals was formed at 670 Ma and records a diverse geochemical association of tholeiite, arc-tholeiite, adakite, and OIB-like lithologies. This constrains the tectonic setting of the protolith of the ophiolite to an oceanic island-arc, with ridge-trench interaction most readily explaining the diverse compositions. The initiation of intra-ocean subduction and the development of the Enganepe island arc off the eastern margin of Baltica probably pre-dated the formation of the Enganepe ophiolite, i.e. prior to 670 Ma. The timing of island-arc magmatism is similar in age to that recorded off Avalon in the Cadomian arc. We propose that the active margin of Baltica in the Vendian is an extension of the Cadomian arc. This requires the northeast margin of Baltica (present-day coordinates) to have been in a southerly position in the Vendian, in agreement with proposed tectonic reconstructions. Consequently, the post-Rodinia continental amalgamation, Pannotia, had active ocean-continent convergence along its entire southerly (west Avalonia and Amazonian cratons) margin at the time of its break-up.     

Paleozoic serpentinite-enclosed chromitites from Tehuitzingo (Acatlán Complex, southern Mexico): a petrological and mineralogical study

The serpentinites and associated chromitite bodies in Tehuitzingo (Acatlán Complex, southern Mexico) are in close relationship with eclogitic rocks enclosed within a metasedimentary sequence, suggesting that the serpentinites, chromitites and eclogitic rocks underwent a common metamorphic history.Primary chromites from the chromitite bodies at Tehuitzingo are of refractory-grade (Al-rich) and have a chemical composition similar to that expected to be found in an ophiolitic environment. The chromite grains in chromitites and serpentinites are systematically altered to ‘ferritchromite’. The alteration trend is usually characterized by a decrease in the Al, Mg and Cr contents coupled by an increase in Fe³⁺ and Fe²⁺.The Tehutizingo chromitites have low Platinum Group Elements (PGE) contents, ranging from 102 to 303 ppb. The chondrite-normalized PGE patterns are characterized by an enrichment in the Ir-subgroup elements (IPGE=Os, Ir, Ru) relative to the Pd-subgroup elements (PPGE=Rh, Pt, Pd). In addition, all chromitite samples display a negative slope from Ru to Pd [(Os+Ir+Ru)/(Pt+Pd)=4.78−14.13]. These patterns, coupled with absolute PGE abundances, are typical of ophiolitic chromitites elsewhere. Moreover, all the analyzed samples exhibit chondrite-normalized PGE patterns similar to those found for non-metamorphosed ophiolitic chromitites. Thus, the PGE distribution patterns found in the Tehuitzingo chromitites have not been significantly affected by any subsequent Paleozoic high-pressure (eclogite facies) metamorphic event.The chondrite-normalized PGE patterns of the enclosing serpentinites also indicate that the PGE distribution in the residual mantle peridotites exposed in Tehuitzingo was unaffected by high-pressure metamorphism, or subsequent hydrothermal alteration since the serpentinites show a similar pattern to that of partially serpentinized peridotites present in mantle sequences of non-metamorphosed ophiolites.Our main conclusion is that the chromitites and serpentinites from Tehuizingo experienced no significant redistribution (or concentration) of PGE during the serpentinization process or the high-pressure metamorphic path, or during subsequent alteration processes. If any PGE mobilization occurred, it was restricted to individual chromitite bodies without changing the bulk-rock PGE composition.Our data suggest that the Tehuitzingo serpentinites and associated chromitites are a fragment of oceanic lithosphere formed in an arc/back-arc environment, and represent an ophiolitic mantle sequence from a supra-subduction zone, the chemical composition of which remained essentially unchanged during the alteration and metamorphic events that affected the Acatlán Complex.     

A Neoarchean dismembered ophiolite complex from southern India: Geochemical and geochronological constraints on its suprasubduction origin

Ophiolites, the remnants of ancient oceanic lithosphere, have been described from collisional sutures of various ages with only few examples from Archean terranes. Here we report the discovery of a Neoarchean ophiolite suite from the southern margin of the Dharwar Craton in India, tectonically intercalated within a Neoproterozoic suture zone. The metamorphosed and variably dismembered ophiolite suite, exposed around Devanur, comprises altered ultramafic units, websterite, gabbros, mafic dykes, amphibolites, trondhjemites and pegmatites associated with ferruginous metachert. Structural and petrographic studies indicate that the rocks represent a highly sheared and metamorphosed suite emplaced as a thrust sheet. The major and trace element geochemistry of the mafic dykes indicate derivation from basaltic-andesitic magmas with tholeiitic to calc-alkaline characteristics. The rocks display negative Nb anomalies with enrichment of LILE (K, Rb, Ba, Th) and depletion in HFSE (Ti, Nb, Hf, Tb). The tectonic discrimination of these rocks based on various geochemical plots suggests that they were generated in a suprasubduction zone setting. We present new SHRIMP zircon U-Pb data for two trondhjemite samples from this complex, which yield ²³⁸U-²⁰⁶Pb ages of 2528 ± 61 and 2545 ± 56 Ma. The Neoarchean age from the trondhjemites obtained in our study is closely comparable to similar ages obtained in recent studies from magmatic zircons in charnockites and orthogneisses in the area. The suprasubduction zone assemblages and arc magmas suggest a Neoarchean ocean closure along the southern margin of the Dharwar Craton.     

The social impact of anthropogenic landscape modification in the Río Verde drainage basin,Oaxaca, Mexico

This article examines the effects of anthropogenic landscape modification in the upper drainage basin of the Río Verde on environments and populations of the lower Río Verde Valley, Oaxaca, Mexico. Archaeological and geomorphological research conducted by the Río Verde Formative Project indicates that Late Formative (400–100 B.C.) population growth and agricultural intensification in the Oaxaca and Nochixtlán valleys increased erosion and runoff from the Verde's upper drainage. This geomorphic change in the highland valleys altered the drainage system and led to increased flooding and alluviation in the lower Río Verde Valley. The environmental effect in the lower valley may have increased the agricultural potential of the region, leading to population growth, and at least indirectly to social change.     

Extensional Late Paleozoic deformation on the western margin of Pangea, Patlanoaya area, Acatlán Complex, southern Mexico

New mapping in the northern part of the Paleozoic Acatlán Complex (Patlanoaya area) records several ductile shear zones and brittle faults with normal kinematics (previously thought to be thrusts). These movement zones separate a variety of units that pass structurally upwards from: (i) blueschist-eclogitic metamorphic rocks (Piaxtla Suite) and mylonitic megacrystic granites (Columpio del Diablo granite ≡ Ordovician granites elsewhere in the complex); (ii) a gently E-dipping, listric, normal shear zone with top to the east kinematic indicators that formed under upper greenschist to lower amphibolite conditions; (iii) the Middle–Late Ordovician Las Minas quartzite (upper greenschist facies psammites with minor interbedded pelites intruded by mafic dikes and a leucogranite dike from the Columpio del Diablo granite) unconformably overlain by the Otate meta-arenite (lower greenschist facies psammites and pelites): roughly temporal equivalents are the Middle–Late Ordovician Mal Paso and Ojo de Agua units (interbedded metasandstone and slate, and metapelite and mafic minor intrusions, respectively) — some of these units are intruded by the massive, 461 ± 2 Ma, Palo Liso megacrystic granite: decussate, contact metamorphic muscovite yielded a ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar plateau age of 440 ± 4 Ma; (iv) a steeply-moderately, E-dipping normal fault; (v) latest Devonian–Middle Permian sedimentary rocks (Patlanoaya Group: here elevated from formation status). The upward decrease in metamorphic grade is paralleled by a decrease in the number of penetrative fabrics, which varies from (i) three in the Piaxtla Suite, through (ii) two in the Las Minas unit (E-trending sheath folds deformed by NE-trending, subhorizontal folds with top to the southeast asymmetry, both associated with a solution cleavage), (iii) one in the Otate, Mal Paso, and Ojo de Agua units (steeply SE-dipping, NE–SW plunging, open-close folds), to (iv) none in the Patlanoaya Group. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar analyses of muscovite from the earliest cleavage in the Las Minas unit yielded a plateau age of 347 ± 3 Ma and show low temperature ages of  260 Ma. Post-dating all of these structures and the Patlanoaya Group are NE-plunging, subvertical folds and kink bands. An E–W, vertical normal fault juxtaposes the low-grade rocks against the Anacahuite amphibolite that is cut by megacrystic granite sheets, both of which were deformed by two penetrative fabrics. Amphibole from this unit has yielded a ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar plateau age of 299 ± 6 Ma, which records cooling through  490 °C and is probably related to a Permo-Carboniferous reheating event during exhumation. The extensional deformation is inferred to have started in the latest Devonian ( 360 Ma) during deposition of the basal Patlanoaya Group, lasting through the rapid exhumation of the Piaxtla Suite at  350–340 Ma synchronous with cleavage development in the Las Minas unit, deposition of the Patlanoaya Group with active fault-related exhumation suggested by Mississippian and Early Permian conglomerates ( 340 and 300 Ma, respectively), and continuing at least into the Middle Permian (≡ 260 Ma muscovite ages). The continuity of Mid-Continent Mississippian fauna from the USA to southern Mexico suggests that this extensional deformation occurred on the western margin of Pangea after closure of the Rheic Ocean.     

来自蛇绿岩地幔的硫（砷）化物矿物组合

近来在西藏雅鲁藏布江蛇绿岩带的罗布莎蛇绿岩块的地幔豆荚状铬铁矿中发现一个包括金刚石、柯石英、自然元素、合金、氧化物以及硫(砷)化物组成的地幔矿物群。该矿物群的硫(砷)化物具有特殊化学成分并呈包裹体分布在贱金属(BM)和铂族元素(PGE)或它们的合金中,大量化学成分分析得知它们主要由下列元素组成:S、As、Te、Fe、Ni、Co、Cu、Pt、Pd、Ru、Rh、Os、Ir、Mn和Ti。根据化学成分可辨别出约30种硫(砷)化物矿物:FeS、NiS、(Ni,Fe)S、Fe3S2、Ni3S2、(Ru,Os,Ir)S2、Rh7As3、Rh5Ni(Cu)As4、Pd4Rh3As3、Pd8As2、Pd3TeAs、Pd7Te3、RuAs、PtAs2、Ni4Rh3As3、Rh(As,S)2、(Rh,Ir)(As,S)2、Ir(As,S)2、MnS、Ti7S3、Ti7N3、Rh3.5Se3.5CuS2、RhS、Ir2S3、(Ir,Cu)2、S3(Co,Ni,Fe)2(As,S)3、(Ir,Pt)(As,S)2、Ru3(As,S)7以及(BM)x(PGE)yS10-(x y)等,其中包括已定名和未定名的矿物。由于矿物粒度小(<25μm),缺乏X射线分析资料,有待进一步研究。