Application of discriminant function analysis to the felsic rocks of the Bushveld Complex,South Africa

The technique of multivariate analysis was used to investigate the geochemical relationships between the felsic rocks of the Bushveld Complex. The Bushveld granite and Rooiberg felsite form two distinct geochemical groups based on their major element compositions, possibly indicating that they originated from separate and genetically unrelated magmas. A discriminant function based on six major oxides was found to be 90 percent effective in distinguishing between the two groups. These conclusions have important implications for the petrogenesis of the Bushveld Complex.     

Trapped intercumulus liquid in the Main Zone of the eastern Bushveld Complex, South Africa

Lateral variations in the amount of trapped intercumulus liquid in the Main Zone of the eastern Bushveld Complex are constrained by new Sr-isotopic, whole-rock and mineralogical data from three profiles that are separated laterally by ca.100 km and represent thicknesses of 551–1,127 m of Main Zone gabbronorites below the Pyroxenite Marker. An analysis of the An-contents (100×Ca/(Ca+Na)) of plagioclase cores within the Thornhill (north), Roossenekal and Stoffberg (south) profiles show similar systematic, up-section variations from An₆₆ to An₅₉. In contrast, both the An-contents of bulk plagioclase separates and the Mg-numbers (100×Mg/(Mg+Fe_T)) of orthopyroxenes show pronounced lateral variations from Thornhill (An_67-61; Mg#_67-61), through Roossenekal (An_64-58; Mg#_64-55) to Stoffberg (An_59-55; Mg#_59-50). These mineralogical variations are interpreted to be the result of reaction between cumulus minerals and an increasing amount of trapped liquid from north to south. Modelling of the trapped liquid shift of orthopyroxene compositions suggests that the amount of trapped liquid in the cumulates increased from near 0% at Thornhill, through 10–30% at Roossenekal to 30–45% at Stoffberg. A two- to eightfold southward increase in whole-rock concentrations of P, Ti, Y, Zr and Ba is consistent with the trapped liquid model. However, the 14-fold increase in Rb from Thornhill to Stoffberg is too great to be accounted for by trapped liquid alone, but can be explained by local assimilation of partial melts of the country rock. Constant initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr isotopic ratios of Main Zone plagioclase separates (0.7081–0.7085) in all the three profiles do not preclude assimilation of adjacent basaltic to rhyolitic country rock with initial ratios between 0.6924–0.7096. The southward increase in the amount of trapped liquid is ascribed to an increased cooling rate by enhanced heat loss and partial assimilation of country rock xenoliths in the distal cumulate sequence at Stoffberg. Electronic Supplementary Material Supplementary material is available for this article at and is accessible for authorised users.     

The geology and structure of the Rustenburg Layered Suite in the Potgietersrus/Mokopane area of the Bushveld Complex,South Africa

A new geological map of the Rustenburg Layered Suite south of the Ysterberg–Planknek fault of the northern/Potgietersrus limb of the Bushveld Complex is presented, displaying features that were not available for publication in the past and are considered contributing to the complexity of this region. The northern limb is known for the Platreef, atypical mafic lithologies in sections of the layered sequence and the unusual development of the ultramafic Lower Zone as satellite bodies or offshoots at the base of the intrusion. The outcrop and suboutcrop pattern of Lower Zone Grasvally body and its relation to the surrounding geology of Main Zone, Critical Zone, and floor rocks is described. The extent of the base metal sulfide (BMS) and platinum-group element (PGE)-mineralized cyclic unit 11 of the Drummonlea harzburgite–chromitite sub zone is shown. Only that which is considered to be the equivalents of the mafic Upper Critical Zone has thus far been traced south of Potgietersrus/Mokopane. The Platreef is traced from the farm Townlands and further northwards. The presence of Platreef proper south of Potgietersrus/Mokopane appears to be speculative. However, Merensky Reef, UG 2, and equivalent layers outcrop or were intersected to the south of the town. The Kleinmeid Syncline comprising Main Zone/Critical Zone layers and its structure is discussed. The lateral lithological transfomation of the Merensky Reef/UG 2 and equivalent layers south of the Ysterberg–Planknek fault to Platreef north of this fault is recorded. Attenuation of both the Main Zone and Upper Zone is observed from the northwest towards the town and resulted in only the lower units being developed. The lateral change of Main Zone and Upper Zone lithologies from the northwest towards the town is described. The PGE and BMS economic potential south of the town are briefly tabulated.     

Trace-element study and age dating of zircon from chromitites of the Bushveld Complex (South Africa)

The layered Bushveld Complex hosts a number of chromitite layers, which were found to contain significant amounts of zircon grains compared with adjacent silicate rocks. Cathodoluminescent-dark, partially metamict cores and transparent rims of composite zircon grains were analyzed for trace elements with SIMS and LA-ICPMS techniques. The cores are enriched in REE, Y, Th and U and are characterized by distinctly flatter REE patterns in contrast to those of the rims and transparent homogenous crystals. Zircon from the different stratigraphic units has specific Th/U ratios, the highest of which (1.5–4) occurs in a Merensky Reef zircon core. The Ti content of Bushveld zircon ranges from 12 to 52 ppm correlating to a crystallization temperature range of 760–930 °C. The geochemical characteristics of the first zircon generation are consistent with its high-temperature crystallization as the first major U, Th and REE acceptor from a highly-evolved residue of the high-Mg basalt magma, whereas the rims and coreless crystals have crystallized from percolating intercumulus liquid of new influx of the same magma. U-Pb SHRIMP dating of zircon cores and rims does not reveal a distinguishable difference between their ages indicating the absence of inherited zircon. Concordia ages of 2,051?±?9 Ma (2σ, MSWD?=?0.1) and 2,056?±?5 Ma (2σ, MSWD?=?0.05) for zircons from the Merensky Reef and the Upper Platreef located equally near the top of the Critical Zone are in agreement with published ages for the Merensky Reef. Zircon from the deeper-seated Lower Group, Middle Group and Lower Platreef chromitites yields younger concordia ages that may reflect prolonged late-stage volatile activity.     

Precious metal enrichment in the Platreef,Bushveld Complex,South Africa: evidence from homogenized magmatic sulfide melt inclusions

Magmatic sulfide deposits are the most significant source of platinum-group elements (PGE) in the world. Key to understanding their genesis is determining the processes and timing of sulfide saturation, metal enrichment and crustal contamination. In this study, we have identified droplets of magmatic sulfide from the Platreef, South Africa, where droplets of sulfide have been trapped in the earliest crystallising phase, chromite. Due to their early entrapment at high temperatures, metal concentrations and ratios that they display are indicative of a very early-stage sulfide liquid in the system, as they will have cooled and fractionated within an essentially closed system, unlike interstitial blebs that crystallise in an open system as the magma cools. Analysis of these droplets in an opaque mineral like chromite by LA-ICP-MS is problematic as some of the fractionated inclusion is necessarily lost during cutting and polishing to initially identify the inclusion. This particularly affects the ability to representatively sample the most fractionated phases such as gold and platinum minerals. Here, using a novel technique whereby the inclusions are homogenized and quickly quenched, so that any cutting, polishing and subsequent LA-ICP-MS analysis samples a truly representative portion of the droplet. This has been used to show that early sulfide liquids in the Platreef were highly PGE-rich and had Pt/Pd ratios of close to unity that supports genetic models invoking sulfide saturation and metal enrichment prior to intrusion, with pre-enriched sulfides entrained within the Platreef magma.     

Spinel–cordierite symplectites replacing andalusite: evidence for melt-assisted diapirism in the Bushveld Complex, South Africa

Spinel–cordierite symplectites partially replacing andalusite occur in metapelitic rocks within the cores of several country rock diapirs that have ascended into the upper levels of layered mafic/ultramafic rocks in the Bushveld Complex. We investigate the petrogenesis of these symplectites in one of these diapirs, the Phepane dome. Petrographic evidence indicates that at conditions immediately below the solidus the rocks were characterized by a cordierite‐, biotite‐ and K‐feldspar‐rich matrix and 5–10 mm long andalusite porphyroblasts surrounded by biotite‐rich fringes. Phase relations in the MnNCKFMASHT model system constrain the near‐solidus prograde path to around 3 kbar and imply that andalusite persisted metastably into the sillimanite + melt field, where the fringing relationship between biotite and andalusite provided spatially restricted equilibrium domains with silica‐deficient effective bulk compositions that focused suprasolidus reaction. MnNCKFMASHT pseudosections that model these compositional domains suggest that volatile phase‐absent melting reactions consuming andalusite and biotite initially produced a moat of cordierite surrounding andalusite; reaction progressed until all quartz was consumed. Spinel is predicted to grow with cordierite at around 720 °C. Formation of the aluminous solid products was strongly controlled by the receding edge of andalusite grains, with symplectites forming at the andalusite‐cordierite moat interface. Decompression due to melt‐assisted diapiric rise of the floor rocks into the overlying mafic/ultramafic rocks occurred close to the thermal peak. Re‐crossing of the solidus at P = 1.5–2 kbar, T > 700 °C resulted in preservation of the symplectites. Two features of the silica‐deficient domains inhibited resorption of spinel. First, the cordierite moat armoured the symplectites from reaction with crystallizing melt in the outer part of the pseudomorphs. Second, an up‐T step in the solidus at low‐P, which may be in excess of 100 °C higher than the quartz‐saturated solidus, resulted in high‐T crystallization of melt on decompression. Even in metapelitic rocks where melt is retained, preservation of spinel is favoured by decompression.     

Morphology and microstructure of chromite crystals in chromitites from the Merensky Reef (Bushveld Complex, South Africa)

The Merensky Reef of the Bushveld Complex consists of two chromitite layers separated by coarse-grained melanorite. Microstructural analysis of the chromitite layers using electron backscatter diffraction analysis (EBSD), high-resolution X-ray microtomography and crystal size distribution analyses distinguished two populations of chromite crystals: fine-grained idiomorphic and large silicate inclusion-bearing crystals. The lower chromitite layer contains both populations, whereas the upper contains only fine idiomorphic grains. Most of the inclusion-bearing chromites have characteristic amoeboidal shapes that have been previously explained as products of sintering of pre-existing smaller idiomorphic crystals. Two possible mechanisms have been proposed for sintering of chromite crystals: (1) amalgamation of a cluster of grains with the same original crystallographic orientation; and (2) sintering of randomly orientated crystals followed by annealing into a single grain. The EBSD data show no evidence for clusters of similarly oriented grains among the idiomorphic population, nor for earlier presence of idiomorphic subgrains spatially related to inclusions, and therefore are evidence against both of the proposed sintering mechanisms. Electron backscatter diffraction analysis maps show deformation-related misorientations and curved subgrain boundaries within the large, amoeboidal crystals, and absence of such features in the fine-grained population. Microstructures observed in the lower chromitite layer are interpreted as the result of deformation during compaction of the orthocumulate layers, and constitute evidence for the formation of the amoeboid morphologies at an early stage of consolidation. An alternative model is proposed whereby silicate inclusions are incorporated during maturation and recrystallisation of initially dendritic chromite crystals, formed as a result of supercooling during emplacement of the lower chromite layer against cooler anorthosite during the magma influx that formed the Merensky Reef. The upper chromite layer formed from a subsequent magma influx, and hence lacked a mechanism to form dendritic chromite. This accounts for the difference between the two layers.     

Petrogenesis of the Merensky Reef in the Rustenburg section of the Bushveld Complex

A petrogenetic model for the Merensky Reef in the Rustenburg section of the Bushveld Complex has been developed based on detailed field and petrographic observations and electron microprobe data. The model maintains that the reef formed by reaction of hydrous melt and a partially molten cumulate assemblage. The model is devised to account for several key observations: (1) Although the dominant rock type in the Rusterburg sections is pegmatoidal feldspathic pyroxenite, there is a continous range of reef lithology from pyroxenite to pegmatoidal harzburgite and dunite, and small amounts of olivine are present in nearly all pegmatoids. (2) The pegmatoid is usually bounded above and below by chromitite seams and the basal chromitite separated from underlying norite by a centimeter-thick layer of anorthosite. The thicknesses of the two layers exhibit a well-defined, positive correlation. (3) Inclusion of pyroxenite identical to the hanging wall and of leuconorite identical to the footwall are present in the pegmatoid. The leuconorite inclusions are surrounded by thin anorthosite and chromitite layers in the same sequence as that at the base of the reef. (4) Chromite in seams adjacent to plagioclase-rich rocks is characterized by higher Mg/Mg+Fe and Al/R3 and lower Cr/R3 than that in seams adjacent to pyroxene-rich rocks. Similar variations in mineral compositions are observed across individual chromitite seams where the underlying and overlying rock types differ. The chromite compositional variations cannot be rationalized in terms of either fractional crystallization or reequilibration with surrounding silicates. It is proposed that the present reef was originally a melt-rich horizon in norite immediately overlain by relatively crystallized pyroxenite. Magmatic vapor generated by crystallization of intercumulus melt migrated upward through fractures in the cumulate pile below the protoreef. The melt-rich protoreef became hydrated because fractures were unable to propagate through it and because the melt itself was water-undersaturated. Hydration of the intercumulus melt was accompanied by melting, and the hydration/melting front migrated downward into the footwall and upward into the hanging wall. In the footwall melting resulted first in the dissolution of orthopyroxene and then of plagioclase. With continued hydration chromite was stabilized as melt alumina content increased. The regular variations in chromite compositions reflect the original gradients in melt composition at the hydration front. The stratigraphic sequence downward through the base of the reef or pegmatoid (melt)-chromitite-anorthosite-norite represents the sequence of stable mineral assemblages across the hydration/melting front. The sequence is shown to be consistent with knowledge gained from experiments on melting of hydrous mafic systems at crustal pressures. With cooling the hydrated mixture from partial melting of norite footwall and more mafic hanging wall crystallized in the sequence chromite-olivine-pyroxene-plagioclase, with peritectic loss of some olivine. Calculations of mass balance indicate that a significant proportion of the melt was lost from the melt-rich horizon. Variations in the development of the pegmatoid and associated lithologies and amount of modal olivine in the pegmatoids along the strike of the Merensky Reef resulted because the processes of hydration, melting and melt loss operated to varying extents.     

Chromite in the Platreef (Bushveld Complex, South Africa): occurrence and evolution of its chemical composition

The regional distribution and chemical composition of massive and disseminated chromitites through a Platreef sequence and along a strike distance of over ∼20 km were investigated to correlate them both within the framework of the northern limb and to the eastern and western limbs of the Bushveld Complex. The chromitite layers and seams of the Platreef form two main chromite-bearing zones: the Upper Chromitite that occurs as two to three discontinuous seams in feldspathic pyroxenite at approximately 20 m below the Platreef top contact and the Lower Chromitite that is composed of multiple seams in feldspathic harzburgite, pyroxenite and norite close to the bottom contact of the Platreef with footwall. Electron micro-probe analyses reveal that the chemical composition of chromite depends on the host rock type. Norite and pyroxenite host chromite with the highest Cr₂O₃ content while harzburgite-hosted chromites are Cr and Mg poor. The wide range in chromite compositions is explained by the influence of late-magmatic processes including post-cumulus growth and re-equilibration, interaction with fluid- and sulphide-saturated magmatic liquid and contact metamorphism. Each of these processes is characterised by its own distinct geochemical signature, but generally they lead to a decrease in Mg and Al and an increase in both di- and tri-valent Fe in the chromite. The occurrence of chromitite locally on the different distance from the contact between the upper Platreef sills and the overlying Main Zone magma suggests erosion of the upper Platreef by the Main Zone as it was emplaced. The localisation of chromitites supports an independent development of the northern limb during the Critical Zone emplacement although the chemical composition of chromite and co-existing silicates from ultramafic rocks suggest a Critical Zone affinity with the eastern and western limbs of the Bushveld Complex.     

Geochemical exploration for platinum-group elements in the Bushveld Complex, South Africa

Analyses of stream sediment and soil samples from the Bushveld Complex, South Africa have revealed enhanced precious metal concentrations, which can be related both to mining activities and the presence of hidden concentrations of platinum-group elements (PGEs) and gold. The economically important PGE deposits hosted by the Upper Critical Zone of the Rustenburg Layered Suite are revealed by a high PGE and Au content in the overlying soils. A second zone of elevated precious metal concentrations straddles the boundary between the Main and Upper Zones and has to date been traced for more than 100 km. This zone follows the igneous layering of the Rustenburg Layered Suite and is offset by the Brits Graben. It is therefore thought to be the reflection of a magmatic PGE-Au mineralisation. Received: 31 May 1996 / Accepted: 7 January 1997     

Plagioclase content of cyclic units in the Bushveld Complex,South Africa

Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology - The Upper Critical Zone of the Bushveld Complex, South Africa, has been divided into so-called cyclic units. Ideally, they should consist of (from the...     

Progressive crustal contamination of the Bushveld Complex: evidence from Nd isotopic analyses of the cumulate rocks

We report the first Nd isotopic data on the cumulate rocks of the Bushveld Complex, South Africa. We analysed 17 whole-rock samples covering 4700 m of stratigraphy through the Lower, Critical and Main Zones of the intrusion at Union Section, north-western Bushveld Complex. The basal ultramafic portions of the complex have markedly higher ɛNd(T) (−5.3 to −6.0) than the gabbronoritic Main Zone (ɛNd(T) −6.4 to −7.9). The rocks of the Upper Critical Zone have intermediate values. These results are in agreement with new Nd isotope data on marginal rocks and sills in the floor of the complex that are generally interpreted as representing chilled parental magmas, and with published Sr isotopic data, all of which show a larger crustal component in the upper part of the intrusion. In contrast, the concentrations of many highly incompatible trace elements are decoupled from the isotopic signatures. The basal portions of the complex have higher ratios of incompatible to compatible trace elements than the upper portions. The variations of isotopic and trace-element compositions are interpreted in terms of a change in the nature of the crustal material that contaminated Bushveld magmas. Those magmas that fed into the lower part of the complex had assimilated a relatively small amount of incompatible trace-element-rich partial melt of upper crust, whereas magmas parental to the upper part of the complex had assimilated a higher proportion of the incompatible trace-element-poor residue of partial melting. Received: 5 October 1999 / Accepted: 7 July 2000     

Microtextural characterisation of the Lower Zone in the western limb of the Bushveld Complex,South Africa: evidence for extensive melt migration within a sill complex

The Lower Zone of the Bushveld Complex comprises an up to 2-km-thick package of different ultramafic rock types with an approx. 90-cm-thick, sulphide-bearing noritic interval that occurs in the western and eastern limbs. The distribution and geometry of the zone are highly variable across the Complex, showing pronounced, yet laterally discontinuous layering on different scales. Together with the ubiquitous lack of large-scale fractionation in the Mg# of orthopyroxene, variable Sr isotope compositions and erratic Pt/Pd ratios, these observations strongly suggest an emplacement of the Lower Zone as a sill complex, as these contrasting geochemical characteristics are difficult to account for in a large Bushveld magma chamber, as previously suggested. It is more likely that these sills were episodically fed from a sub-Bushveld staging chamber, and variably contaminated, while passing through the crust before their final emplacement in the Lower Zone. Detailed mineralogical and microtextural work based on high-resolution elemental mapping of a set of samples, covering the entire Lower Zone stratigraphy of the western Bushveld shows that the variations in the late crystallising interstitial mineral mode are different from what would be expect, if all phases crystallised from a fixed initial mass of interstitial liquid. The interstitial mineral mode, represented by plagioclase, clinopyroxene and other late stage phases, shows variable ratios of these minerals ranging from ca. 21:15:64 to 75:17:8. In comparison to modelled expected ratios, most of the analysed rocks have higher amounts of early crystallising interstitial phases (e.g. plagioclase, clinopyroxene), relative to late crystallising phases (e.g. quartz, alkali feldspar). Therefore, interstitial melt must have migrated at different stages of fractionation during cumulate solidification, as a consequence of either compaction or displacement by convecting interstitial liquids. Two samples, however, show the opposite: late phases are relatively more abundant than early ones, which is consistent with a convection-driven replacement of primitive interstitial liquid by more evolved liquid. These results have important implications for the interpretation of the Lower Zone and, by extension, for layered intrusions in general: (1) interstitial sulphide mineralisation may be introduced into a cumulate through infiltrating melts, i.e. the liquid components of a sulphur-saturated crystal mush are not withheld from further migration, upon interaction with a cumulate pile; (2) most importantly, late stage minerals, such as zircon, rarely crystallise from trapped liquid that was initially in equilibrium with the cumulate. Therefore, dating of interstitial zircon from cumulates is unlikely to record the actual timing of emplacement, but merely the crystallisation of a later episode of residual melt that migrated through the cumulate.     

Economic potential of the Rooiberg Group: volcanic rocks in the floor and roof of the Bushveld Complex

Volcanic rocks of the Rooiberg Group are preserved in the floor and roof of the mafic Rustenburg Layered Suite of the Bushveld Complex. Field and geochemical characteristics of these volcanic rocks imply that they are genetically related to the Rustenburg Layered Suite. Four major ore-forming events are identified in the Rooiberg Group. The first phase was accompanied by volcanic hosted, fault controlled, hydrothermal copper mineralisation, which is found in the lowermost portion of the Rooiberg Group, underlying the Rustenburg Layered Suite. This type of mineralisation is tentatively linked to initial Rustenburg Layered Suite intrusions. Stratabound arsenic mineralisation that possibly formed in response to contact metamorphism, characterises the second phase, and occurred after extrusion of the Damwal Formation, possibly due to shallow granophyric intrusion. The third mineralising event occurred in response to contact metamorphism during the final stages of the Rustenburg Layered Suite, where especially Pb and Zn were introduced into the felsite roof rocks. This type of mineralisation affected the majority of the Rooiberg Group, but is most pronounced towards the contact with the Rustenburg Layered Suite. The fourth phase is restricted to the Rooiberg Group in the Nylstroom area and is linked to the granite intrusions of the Lebowa Granite Suite, from which Sn and F were introduced into the uppermost felsite succession. Mineralisation in the Rooiberg Group appears to be controlled by the character and intrusion level of the associated Bushveld magmas. Different styles of mineralisation in Rooiberg Group volcanic rocks are encountered at various stratigraphic levels. Major primary volcanogenic ore deposits appear to be absent.     

Cr and Sr: Keys to parental magmas and processes in the Bushveld Complex, South Africa

Large layered intrusions are almost certainly periodically replenished during their protracted cooling and crystallization. The exact composition(s) of the replenishing magma(s) in the case of the Bushveld Complex, South Africa, has been debated, mainly on the basis of major element composition and likely crystallization sequences. The intrusion is dominated by orthopyroxene and plagioclase, and so their Cr and Sr contents, and likely partition coefficient values, can be used to re-investigate the appropriateness of the various proposed parental magmas. One magma type, with about 12% MgO, 1000 ppm Cr and 180 ppm Sr, can explain the genesis of the entire Lower and Critical Zones. A number of other magma compositions proposed to produce the Critical Zone fail to match these trace-element constraints by being too poor in Cr. A fundamentally different magma type was added at the base of the Main Zone, but none of the proposed compositions is consistent with the trace-element requirements. Specifically, the Cr contents are higher than predicted from pyroxene compositions. A further geological constraint is demonstrated from a consideration of the Cr budget at this level. There is an abrupt decrease from about 0.4% to 0.1% Cr₂O₃ in orthopyroxene across this Critical Zone–Main Zone transition. No realistic proportions of mixing between the residual magma at the top of the Critical Zone and any proposed added magma composition can have produced a composition that could have crystallized these low-Cr orthopyroxenes. Instead, it is suggested that the resident magma from the Upper Critical Zone was expelled from the chamber, possibly as sills into the country rocks, during influx of a dense, differentiated magma. Near the level of the Pyroxenite Marker in the Main Zone, there is further addition of a ferrobasaltic magma, with 6% MgO, 111 ppm Cr and 350 ppm Sr, that is consistent with the geochemical requirements.     

Partial Melting of Metapelitic Rocks Beneath the Bushveld Complex, South Africa

Metapelitic rocks in the aureole beneath the Bushveld Complexpreserve evidence for both high- and low-a_H2O anatexis. Theaureole is characterized by an inverted thermal structure inwhich suprasolidus rocks potentially interacted with an H₂O-richvolatile phase derived from underlying, dehydrating rocks. Atlower grade (T < 700°C) the rocks contain fibrolite matsand seams that record local redistribution of volatiles. Incongruentreactions consuming biotite produced small quantities (<1mol %) of liquid and peritectic cordierite that remained trappedwithin the mesosome. Larger volumes of melt (3–4%), preservedas coarse-grained discordant leucosomes, were produced by congruentmelting following a structurally focused influx of H₂O. Subhorizontalvolatile-phase flow was concentrated within thin (     

Trace elements in the Merensky Reef and adjacent norites Bushveld Complex South Africa

Trace elements were analysed in rocks and minerals from three sections across the Merensky Reef in the Rustenburg Platinum Mine in the Bushveld Complex of South Africa. Whole rocks and separated minerals were analysed by inductively coupled plasma-mass-spectrometer (ICP-MS) and in situ analyses were carried out by ion microprobe and by laser-source ICP-MS. Merensky Reef pyroxenites contain extremely high concentrations of a wide range of trace elements. These include elements incompatible with normal silicate minerals as well as siderophile and chalcophile elements. For major elements and compatible trace elements, the measured concentrations in cumulus phases and the bulk rock compositions are similar. For highly incompatible elements, however, concentrations in bulk rocks are far higher than those measured in the cumulus phases. In situ analyses of plagioclase have far lower concentrations of Th, Zr and rare earth elements than ICP-MS analyses of bulk separates of plagioclase, a difference that is attributed to the presence of trace-element-rich accessory phases in the bulk mineral separates. We used these data to calculate the trace-element composition of the magmas parental to the Merensky Unit and adjacent norites. We argue that there is no reason to assume that the amount of trapped liquid in the Merensky orthopyroxenite was far greater than in the norites and we found that the pyroxenite formed from a liquid with higher concentrations of incompatible trace elements than the liquid that formed the norites. We propose that the Bushveld Complex was fed by magma from a deeper magma chamber that had been progressively assimilating its crustal wall rocks. The magma that gave rise to the Merensky Unit was the more contaminated and unusually rich in incompatible trace elements, and when it entered the main Bushveld chamber it precipitated the unusual phases that characterize the Merensky Reef. The hybrid magma segregated sulphides or platinum-group-element-rich phases during the course of the contamination in the lower chamber. These phases accumulated following irruption into the main Bushveld chamber to form the Merensky ore deposits.     

Modeling the Merensky Reef,Bushveld Complex,Republic of South Africa

The Merensky pegmatoid (normal reef) in the western Bushveld Complex is commonly characterized as a pyroxene-rich pegmatoidal unit with a base that is enriched in chromite and platinum-group element-bearing sulfides overlying a leuconorite footwall. Models for its formation have ranged from those that view it as entirely a magmatic cumulate succession to those that have suggested that it is a zone of volatile-induced remelting. The consequences of the latter interpretation are investigated using the numerical modeling program IRIDIUM, which links diffusive and advective mass and heat transport with a phase equilibration routine based on the MELTS program. The initial system consists of a simple stratigraphic succession of a partially molten leuconorite overlain by a partially molten pyroxenite, both initially at 1,190°C and 2 kbar. 2 wt% of a volatile fluid composed of 75 mol% H₂O, 20 mol% CO₂ and 5 mol% H₂S is then added to the lower 20 cm of the pyroxenite. The system is then allowed to evolve under conditions of chemical diffusion in the liquid. The addition of the volatile components results in a modest increase in the amount of melt in the pyroxenite. However, chemical diffusion across the leuconorite–pyroxenite boundary leads to more extensive melting at and below the boundary with preferential loss of opx from the underlying leuconorite, preferential re-precipitation of sulfide and chromite and concentration of the PGE at this boundary. These results mimic actual mineral and compositional profiles across the Merensky pegmatoid and illustrate that long-term diffusion process can effectively produce mineralogical and compositional layering not present in the original assemblage.     

Platinum-group elements in the Boulder Bed,western Bushveld Complex,South Africa

Concentrations of platinum-group elements in samples from the Boulder Bed at five localities in the western Bushveld Complex range between 50 ppb and 70 ppm. Boulders thus have much more variable, and sometimes highly enriched, PGE contents relative to the other lithologies in the immediate foot-wall sequence of the Merensky Reef. The PGE enrichment can largely be modelled as a result of primary magmatic processes including collection of PGE by segregating sulphide melt and fractionation of mss. Other features of the Boulder Bed, such as the selvages of pure anorthosite and the chromitite stringers surrounding some of the boulders, bear evidence of recrystallisation. A model is proposed by which the Boulder Bed formed as a result of a combination of early and late magmatic processes. The PGEs were collected by magmatic sulphide melt which accumulated in a pyroxenite layer. The host rock to the pyroxenite was a thick package of norites which recrystallised in response to upward-migrating magmatic fluids. The fluids caused partial hydration melting of the norites adjacent to the pyroxenite, producing anorthosite. The boulders represent the broken-up remnants of the pyroxenite layer. The selvages of chromite and pure anorthosite around some of the boulders remain poorly understood, but may represent the latest recrystallisation event, in response to localised late-magmatic fluid overpressure upon cooling.