REE mineralogy and geochemistry of the Western Keivy peralkaline granite massif,Kola Peninsula,Russia

The authors have studied the geology, geochemistry, petrology and mineralogy of the rare earth elements (REE) occurring in the Western Keivy peralkaline granite massif (Kola Peninsula, NW Russia) aged 2674 ± 6 Ma. The massif hosts Zr- and REE-rich areas with economic potential (e.g. the Yumperuaiv and Large Pedestal Zr-REE deposits), where 25% of ΣREE are represented by heavy REE (HREE). The main REE minerals are: chevkinite-(Ce), britholite-(Y) and products of their metamict decay, bastnäsite-(Ce), allanite-(Ce), fergusonite-(Y), monazite-(Ce), and others. The areas contain also significant quantities of zircon reaching potentially economic levels. We have discovered that behavior of REE and Zr is controlled by alkalinity of melt/solution, which, in turn, is controlled by crystallization of alkaline pyroxenes (predominantly aegirine) and amphiboles (predominantly arfvedsonite) at a late magmatic stage. Crystallization of mafic minerals leads to a sharp increase of K₂O content and decrease of SiO₂ content that cause a decrease of melt viscosity and REE and Zr solubility in the liquid. Therefore, REE and zirconium immediately precipitate as zircon and REE-minerals. There are numerous pod- and lens-like granitic pegmatites within the massif. Pegmatites in the REE-rich areas are also enriched in REE, but HREE prevails over light REE (LREE), about 88% of REE sum.     

Parental Melts of Neoarchean Subalkaline Magmatic Rocks of the Keivy Structure (Kola Peninsula)

Doklady Earth Sciences - The Neoarchean subalkaline magmatism of the Keivy structure is manifested by the emplacement of the latite–monzonite–granite (LMG) volcano-plutonic association....     

Age paradoxes of Devonian magmatism of the northeastern part of the Kola Peninsula

A structural-geochemical study has been conducted on the dikes of presumably Devonian mafic rocks confined to a small graben filled in with Riphean sedimentary rocks hosted by Early Precambrian granite-gneiss of the Murmansk block. It has been demonstrated that the dolerite dikes of this region can be considered as manifestations of trap magmatism whose products fill in the foundation of the East Barents riftogenic downfold. In turn, manifestations of alkaline and kimberlite rocks of the White Sea region are confined to the peripheral portion of the trap magnetism area. Zircons from dolerite transecting Late Riphean sediments examined in two laboratories have a concordant age of 2.74–2.72 Ba, while zircons from a similar dike located in granite-gneiss of the basement are characterized by an age range of 2700–155 Ma, and the concordant age based on 4 points is 790 Ma. All these factors indicate that the age determinations of the mafic rocks are ambiguous, particularly in the zone of transition from the center of the trap province to its periphery, where alkaline magmatism is observed.     

Continental rift systems and anorogenic magmatism

Precambrian Laurentia and Mesozoic Gondwana both rifted along geometric patterns that closely approximate truncated-icosahedral tessellations of the lithosphere. These large-scale, quasi-hexagonal rift patterns manifest a least-work configuration. For both Laurentia and Gondwana, continental rifting coincided with drift stagnation, and may have been driven by lithospheric extension above an insulated and thermally expanded mantle. Anorogenic magmatism, including flood basalts, dike swarms, anorthosite massifs and granite-rhyolite provinces, originated along the Laurentian and Gondwanan rift tessellations. Long-lived volcanic regions of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, sometimes called hotspots, originated near triple junctions of the Gondwanan tessellation as the supercontinent broke apart. We suggest that some anorogenic magmatism results from decompression melting of asthenosphere beneath opening fractures, rather than from random impingement of hypothetical deep-mantle plumes.     

The Early Paleoproterozoic Monchegorsk layered mafite-ultramafite massif in the Kola Peninsula: Geology, petrology, and ore potential

The Early Paleoproterozoic Monchegorsk Complex is exposed over an area of 550 km² and comprises two layered mafite-ultramafite intrusions of different age: the Monchegorsk pluton of ultramafic and mafic rocks and the predominantly gabbroid Main Range Massif (also referred to as the Moncha-Chuna-Volch??i Tundras Massif), which are separated by a fault. Both massifs consists of intercalating cumulates (first of all, Ol ± Crt, Ol + Opx ± Crt, Opx, Opx + Pl ± Cpx, and Pl), they were produced by similar melts of siliceous high-Mg series but differ in the stratigraphy of their cumulates: while the Monchegorsk pluton is dominated by ultramafites, the Main Range Massif consists mostly of gabbroids, first of all, of gabbronorites. The complex is accompanied by PGE-Cu-Ni ore mineralization, low-sulfide Pt-Pd mineralization, and chromite mineralization. Judging from geological data and isotopic dates, the Monchegorsk Complex is a long-lived magmatic center, which evolved over a time span of 50 Myr at 2.50?C2.46 Ga. The Main Range Massif is younger and likely truncates the western continuation of the Monchegorsk pluton. The complex is spatially restricted to the zone of the Middle Paleoproterozoic regional Central Kola Fault and is now tectonic collage whose rocks were variably affected by overprinted metamorphism in the course of deformations. These processes most significantly affected rocks along the peripheries of the Monchegorsk pluton in the south. These rocks were completely transformed under greenschist-facies conditions but often preserved their primary textures and structures. The processes overprinted both the marginal portions of the pluton itself and the rocks of its second phase, which are accompanied by economic low-sulfide PGE deposits. The PGE-Cu-Ni ore mineralization of the Monchegorsk Complex is genetically related to two distinct evolutionary episodes with a quiescence period in between:

1. The emplacement of large layered mafite-ultramafite intrusions at 2.5?C2.45 Ga. Economic deposits of sulfide Cu-Ni ores with subordinate PGE mineralization occur within the Monchegorsk pluton, and the moderate-grade low-sulfide PGE ores are related to its second evolutionary phase (in the foothills of Vuruchuaivench and in the Moroshkovoe Lake, and Southern Sopcha areas). The primary magmatic ore mineralization is predominantly Cu-Fe-Ni sulfide with PGE bismuthides-tellurides.
2. The Monchegorsk Complex was involved in the zone of the Central Kola Fault at 2.0?C1.9 Ga and was broken in a collage of tectonic blocks. The rocks were sheared along the boundaries of the blocks and were affected by overprinted metamorphism, which proceeded under greenschist-facies conditions in the structures surrounding the Monchegorsk pluton in the south. Thereby the primary PGE-Cu-Ni ore mineralization underwent metamorphic processes was recrystallized with the formation of Pt-Pd arsenides, stannides, antimonides, selenides, etc. This processes was associated with the partial redistribution of PGE with their local accumulation (up to economic concentrations), and the orebodies themselves acquired diffuse outlines. In other words, the second episode was marked by the transformation of the older primary magmatic ore mineralization.

     

New data on the age (SHRIMP II) of protolith and paleoproterozoic transformations of the Archean Keivy terrain (Kola Peninsula)

Doklady Earth Sciences -     

Middle Proterozoic anorogenic magmatism in Sweden and worldwide

Compilation of geochronological data from southeastern Sweden indicates widespread anorogenic intrusive activity between 1.40 and 1.35 Ga ago. This activity was part of a major igneous event in a belt extending from Siberia and the Urals in the U.S.S.R. across southern Scandinavia, southern Greenland, and Labrador to western North America. It was characterized by high-level granites, sometimes rapakivilike, intruded under anorogenic conditions. The source granite melts were probably derived by the fusion of lower crust, i.e. older calc-alkaline Proterozoic granitoids, by mantle magma. These composite melts were mixed at the time of intrusion and gave rise to granitoids showing mixed I- and S-type features. The causes for the igneous activity were probably related to changes in the configuration of the continents with ensuing rifting and associated igneous activity. The 1.40-1.35 Ga old intrusions reset older isotope systems, especially the K---Ar one in southeastern Sweden. Between 1.25 and 1.20 Ga ago, there was a second event of smaller magnitude, characterized by the intrusion of acid and basic dykes. These dykes probably correspond to an initial stage of the Grenvillian (Sveconorwegian) orogeny soon to be followed by a 90° rotation of the Baltic shield.     

Tveitite-(Y) and REE-enriched fluorite from amazonite pegmatites of the Western Keivy,Kola Peninsula,Russia: Genetic crystal chemistry of natural Ca,REE-fluorides

Tveitite-(Y) as pods up to 10 cm across has been found at Mt. Rovgora, the Western Keivy, Kola Peninsula, Russia, in an albite-quartz-amazonite pegmatite vein related to alkaline granite. Tveitite-(Y) grains (up to 4 cm) are parallel microintergrowths of two isostructural varieties, Ca_9.5Na_1.7Y_5.2Ln_2.0F_42.6 and Ca_11.4Na_1.9Y_4.4Ln_1.4F_42.0. The idealized structural formula (Z = 3) is (Y, Na)₆(Ca, LREE)₆(Ca, Na, HREE)₆(Ca, Na)F₄₂; the simplified formula is (Ca, REE, Na)₁₃(Y, Na)₆F₄₂; space group R \(\bar 3\) a = 17.020, c = 9.679 Å. [Lanthanoides are abbreviated in this paper as Ln, whereas Ln + Y as REE]. Nine fluorite samples containing from 0 to 18 mol % (REE)F₃ were examined by electron microprobe, X-ray powder diffraction, and IR spectroscopy. The crystal structure of natural yttrofluorite has been determined for the first time (R _aniso = 1.47 %): Fm3m, a = 5.493 Å; the structural formula is (Ca_0.82Y_0.12Ln_0.06)F_2.15. Earlier published and new data show that yttrofluorite containing (REE)F₃ > 20 mol % and REE-enriched fluorite with LREE > Y (HREE) are metastable under room conditions. In nature, tveitite-(Y) is a product of solid-state transformation of metastable yttrofluorite with (REE)F₃ > 20 mol %. Inferred protophases could have been exsolved into tveitite-(Y) variable in composition or tveitite-(Y) + yttrofluorite stable under normal conditions. The formation of tveitite-(Y) requires the erichment of a protophase not only in Y but also in LREE and HREE as stabilizing admixtures regularly distributed by different types of Ca-dominant structural sites. Tveitite-(Y) and yttrofluorite are geochemical indicators of a medium that is not only enriched in Y, Ln, and F, but also depleted in Na, Ca, CO₂ and P.     

Pyroxenes of the Khibiny alkaline pluton, Kola Peninsula

Seven pyroxene varieties were identified in nepheline syenites and foidolites of the Khibiny pluton: enstatite, ferrosilite, diopside, hedenbergite, augite, aegirine-augite, and aegirine. Enstatite and augite are typical of alkaline and ultramafic rocks of dike series. Ferrosilite was found in country quartzitic hornfels. Diopside is a rock-forming mineral in alkaline and ultramafic rocks, alkali gabbroids, hornfels in xenoliths of volcanic and sedimentary rocks and foyaite, melteigite-urtite that assimilate them, and certain hydrothermal pegmatite veins. Hedenbergite was noted in hornfels from xenoliths of volcanic and sedimentary rocks and in a hydrothermal pegmatite vein at Mount Eveslogchorr. Aegirine-augite is the predominant pyroxene in all types of nepheline syenites, phonolites and tinguaites, foidolites, alkaline and ultramafic rocks of dike series, fenitized wall rocks surrounding the pluton, and xenoliths of Devonian volcanic and sedimentary rocks. Aegirine is an abundant primary or, more often, secondary mineral in nepheline syenites, foidolites, and hydrothermal pegmatite veins. It occurs as separate crystals, outer zones of diopside and aegirine-augite crystals, and homoaxial pseudomorphs after Na-Ca amphiboles. Microprobe analyses of 265 pyroxenes samples allowed us to distinguish ten principal trends of isomorphic replacement and corresponding typomorphic features of pyroxenes. Compositional variations in clinopyroxenes along the sampled 35-km profile from the margin of the Khibiny pluton to its center confirm the symmetric zoning of the foyaite pluton relative to semicircular faults of the Minor Arc and the Main (Central) Ring marked by Devonian volcanic and sedimentary rocks, foidolites, and related metasomatic rocks (rischorrite, albitite, and aegirinite). Changes in the composition of pyroxenes are explained mainly by the redistribution of elements between coexisting minerals of foyaites in the process of their intense differentiation under the effect of foidolite melts that have intruded into the circular fault zones.     

Paleozoic tholeiitic magmatism of the Kola province: Spatial distribution,age, and relation to alkaline magmatism

This paper focuses on the occurrences of tholeiitic magmatism in the northeastern Fennoscandian shield. It was found that numerous dolerite dikes of the Pechenga, Barents Sea, and Eastern Kola swarms were formed 380–390 Ma ago, i.e., directly before the main stage of the Paleozoic alkaline magmatism of the Kola province. The isotope geochemical characteristics of the dolerites suggest that their primary melts were derived from the mantle under the conditions of the spinel lherzolite facies. The depleted mantle material from which the tholeiites were derived shows no evidence for metasomatism and enrichment in high fieldstrength and rare earth elements, whereas melanephelinite melts postdating the tholeiites were generated in an enriched source. It was shown that the relatively short stage of mantle metasomatism directly after the emplacement of tholeiitic magmas was accompanied by significant mantle fertilization. In contrast to other large igneous provinces, where pulsed intrusion of large volumes of tholeiitic magmas coinciding or alternating with phases of alkaline magmatism was documented, the Kola province is characterized by systematic evolution of the Paleozoic plume–lithosphere process with monotonous deepening of the level of magma generation, development of mantle metasomatism and accompanying fertilization of mantle materials, and systematic changes in the composition of melts reaching the surface.     

Kalsilite of the Khibiny and Lovozero alkaline plutons,Kola Peninsula

Kalsilite—a typical mineral of ore-bearing zones of the Khibiny and Lovozero plutons—was formed after low-Si and high-K nepheline in one of three ways: (1) by relatively high-temperature replacement of Na with K; (2) due to orthoclase-kalsilite poikiloblastesis in foidolites and overlapping foyaites; or (3) by replacement of nepheline with zeolite.     

Amphiboles of the Khibiny alkaline pluton, Kola Peninsula, Russia

The rocks of the Khibiny pluton contain 25 amphibole varieties, including edenite, fluoredenite, kaersutite, pargasite, ferropargasite, hastingsite, magnesiohastingsite, katophorite, ferrikatophorite, magnesiokatophorite, magnesioferrikatophorite, magnesioferrifluorkatophorite, ferrimagnesiotaramite, ferrorichterite, potassium ferrorichterite, richterite, potassium richterite, potassium fluorrichterite, arfvedsonite, potassium arfvedsonite, magnesioarfvedsonite, magnesioriebeckite, ferriferronyboite, ferrinyboite, and ferroeckermannite. The composition of rock-forming amphiboles changes symmetrically relative to the Central Ring of the pluton; i.e., amphiboles enriched in K, Ca, Mg, and Si are typical of foyaite near and within the Central Ring. The Fe and Mn contents in amphiboles increase in the direction from marginal part of the pluton to its center. Foyaite of the marginal zone contains ferroeckermannite, richterite, arfvedsonite, and ferrorichterite; edenite is typical of foyaite and hornfels of the Minor Arc. Between the Minor Arc and the Central Ring, foyaite contains ferroeckermannite, arfvedsonite, and richterite; amphiboles in rischorrite, foidolite and hornfels of the Central Ring are (potassium) arfvedsonite, (potassium) richterite, magnesiokatophorite, magnesioarfvedsonite, ferroeckermannite, and ferriferronyboite; amphiboles in foyaite within the Central Ring, in the central part of the pluton, are arfvedsonite, magnesioarfvedsonite, ferriferronyboite, katophorite, and richterite. It is suggested that such zoning formed due to the alteration of foyaite by a foidolite melt intruded into the Main (Central) Ring Fault.     

Behoite and mimetite from the Saharjok alkaline intrusion,Kola Peninsula

The detailed study of the mineral composition of the nepheline syenite pegmatite from the Saharjok Intrusion has resulted in the finding of behoite and mimetite, a mineral species identified in the Kola region for the first time. The pegmatite body at the contact between nepheline syenite and essexite is unusual in textural and structural features and combination of mineral assemblages including unique beryllium mineralization. Behoite Be(OH)₂ is an extremely rare beryllium mineral. It occurs as powderlike aggregates in the leaching cavities between euhedral pyroxene crystals. Behoite was identified by comparison of X-ray powder diffraction data of the studied mineral phase and behoite from the Be-bearing tuff in the type locality of this mineral (Utah, United States). Mimetite was found in the same pegmatite of the Saharjok intrusion. It forms unusual parallel-fibrous aggregates with individual fibers as long as ∼1 mm and only ∼1 μm across. X-ray powder diffraction data and the chemical composition characterize the mineral as hexagonal phase Pb₅[AsO₄]₃Cl. Both behoite and mimetite are the products of late hydrothermal alteration of primary minerals (meliphanite, galena, arsenopyrite, and loellingite). The secondary phases freely crystallized in the cavities remaining after the leached nepheline.