Tinnunculite,C<Subscript>5</Subscript>H<Subscript>4</Subscript>N<Subscript>4</Subscript>O<Subscript>3</Subscript> · 2H<Subscript>2</Subscript>O: Occurrences on the Kola Peninsula and Redefinition and Validation as a Mineral Species

Based on a study of samples found in the Khibiny (Mt. Rasvumchorr: the holotype) and Lovozero (Mts Alluaiv and Vavnbed) alkaline complexes on the Kola Peninsula, Russia, tinnunculite was approved by the IMA Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature, and Classification as a valid mineral species (IMA no. 2015-02la) and, taking into account a revisory examination of the original material from burnt dumps of coal mines in the southern Urals, it was redefined as crystalline uric acid dihydrate (UAD), C₅H₄N₄O₃ · 2H₂O. Tinnunculite is poultry manure mineralized in biogeochemical systems, which could be defined as “guano microdeposits.” The mineral occurs as prismatic or tabular crystals up to 0.01 × 0.1 × 0.2 mm in size and clusters of them, as well as crystalline or microglobular crusts. Tinnunculite is transparent or translucent, colorless, white, yellowish, reddish or pale lilac. Crystals show vitreous luster. The mineral is soft and brittle, with a distinct (010) cleavage. D_calc = 1.68 g/cm³ (holotype). Tinnunculite is optically biaxial (–), α = 1.503(3), β = 1.712(3), γ = 1.74(1), 2V_obs = 40(10)°. The IR spectrum is given. The chemical composition of the holotype sample (electron microprobe data, content of H is calculated by UAD stoichiometry) is as follows, wt %: 37.5 О, 28.4 С, 27.0 N, 3.8 H_calc, total 96.7. The empirical formula calculated on the basis of (C + N+ O) = 14 apfu is: C_4.99H₈N_4.07O_4.94. Tinnunculite is monoclinic, space group (by analogy with synthetic UAD) P2₁/c. The unit cell parameters of the holotype sample (single crystal XRD data) are a = 7.37(4), b = 6.326(16), c = 17.59(4) Å, β = 90(1)°, V = 820(5) ų, Z = 4. The strongest reflections in the XRD pattern (d, Å–I[hkl]) are 8.82–84[002], 5.97–15[011], 5.63–24[102?, 102], 4.22–22[112], 3.24–27[114?,114], 3.18–100[210], 3.12–44[211?, 211], 2.576–14[024].     

Olivine-bearing rocks of the Lapland granulite belt (Baltic Shield)

Olivine-bearing varieties of garnet–clinopyroxene crystalline schists of the Lapland granulite belt have been studied in detail for the first time. Two types of olivine (iron mole fractions of 27 and 38%) are distinguished. Olivine with lower Fe content occurs as inclusions in clino- and orthopyroxene and in terms of СаО and Cr contents is close to magmatic minerals. Olivine with high Fe content presumably suffered highand moderate-temperature metamorphism. The olivine-bearing rocks contain several grains of omphacite with 30–37 mol % jadeite and garnet with 44–50 mol % pyrope, which can be regarded as relict assemblages of the early stage of eclogitization of a magmatic protolith. The presence of symplectites indicates their retrograde transformation during decompression. The protoliths of the studied rocks could be olivine gabbronorites and pyroxenites. It was found that the rocks contain high-alumina minerals: corundum, spinel, and sapphirine. In addition, Al₂O₃ content in some amphibole grains is as high as 19 wt %. This indicates that the ascent of the deep-seated rocks was accompanied by interaction with Al-rich fluid. The positive Eu anomaly in the olivine-bearing rocks and some of their minerals is indicative of the reducing character of fluid. Activation of fluid reworking leading to the formation and transformation of the olivine-bearing rocks, transfer of alumina and its precipitation at different depths are related to the processes at the base of the Paleoproterozoic rift system of Karelides.     

Finding of corundum-bearing rocks in the Lapland granulite belt

Corundum-bearing rocks are described for the first time in the Kandalaksha structure of the Lapland granulite belt. Corundum is confined to rocks of two types: metagabbro?anorthosites constituting lenses among metaanarthosites of the Kandalaksha massif and basic granulites. Corundum crystals (up to 200 μm long) occur in plagioclase and garnet and differ from each other depending on the host mineral, which serves as evidence against their xenogenic nature. Some corundum crystals exhibit an axial zone, which may indicate their crystallization from the gaseous phase. Corundum-bearing rocks are accompanied by piclogites (pyroxene?garnet varieties with olivine). Piclogites and their minerals (clinopyroxene, garnet) are characterized by a positive Eu anomaly, which implies rock reworking by fluids during corundum formation, when deep-seated complexes were subjected to exhumation.     

Genesis of positive Eu anomalies in acid rocks from the Eastern Baltic Shield

The eastern part of the Baltic Shield contains an abundance of acid rocks with positive Eu anomalies. These rocks are vein granites and blastomylonites of similar chemical composition but with variable K₂O concentrations. The rocks are depleted in Ti, Fe, Mg, Ca, Rb, Zr, and REE, but are enriched in Ba and Sr, a fact suggesting a deep-seated nature of the fluids that participated in the genesis of these rocks. A zone favorable for the derivation of these rocks was transitional from brittle to ductile deformations. The rocks were produced during the tectonic exhumation of lower and middle crustal material a horizontal extension. Shock decompression facilitated the inflow of reduced fluids, which, in turn, ensured the partial melting of the host rocks along open fractures and controlled REE fractionation with the development of Eu maxima.     

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.     

The first discovery of Hadean zircon in garnet granulites from the Sutam River (Aldan Shield)

For the first time in Russia, a Hadean zircon grain with an age of 3.94 Ga (ID-TIMS) has been discovered in high-aluminous garnet granulites of the Aldan Shield among the U–Pb zircons with an age from 1.92 Ga. In this connection, the problems of its parental source, the petrogenesis of granulites that captured this zircon, and the mechanism of occurrence of these deep rocks in the upper horizons of the crust have been solved. The comparison of the geochemistry of garnet granulites and the middle crust has shown that the granulites are enriched in the entire range of rare-earth elements (except for the Eu minimum), as well as in Al₂O₃, U, and Th and are depleted in the most mobile elements (Na, Ca, Sr). In the upper part of the allitic weathering zone of the middle crust, which formed under conditions of arid climate, this zircon grain was originated from the weathered granites from the middle crust. In the latter case, they were empleced discretely in the upper granite–gneiss crust under high pressure conditions (the rutile age is 1.83–1.82 Ga). The zircon with an age of 3.94 Ga is comparable to the Hadean zircons from orthogneisses of the Acasta region (Canadian Shield, 4.03–3.94 Ga).     

Revised determination of the paleointensity in the cretaceous from the collection of A.S. Bol’shakov and G.M. Solodovnikov

A large volume of data on the paleointensity H _an obtained by A.S. Bol’shakov and G.M. Solodovnikov is ignored in modern reconstructions because the authors did not indicate whether they used the check-point procedure for the detection of chemical alterations in rocks associated with determination of H _an. The paper presents new values of H _an determined by the Thellier-Coe method with the use of the checkpoint procedure from samples of the Armenian collection of Cretaceous rocks used in published studies of Bol’shakov and Solodovnikov. The new results are close to the published ones and point to a small value of the geomagnetic field in the Cretaceous, thereby corroborating Bol’shakov-Solodovnikov’s hypothesis on a low paleofield in the Mesozoic. Our study of samples of the collection studied confirms the reliability of Bol’shakov-Solodovnikov’s determinations of H _an.     

Pseudosecondary clastic rocks of the Dzuramtai massif (Southern Mongolia)

Specific rocks (tectonomixtites) developed in the framing of Mongolian granite massifs (Dzuramtai and some others) at the Mesozoic section bottom are studied. It is shown that the tectonomixtites are tectonic rocks rather than eluvial or sedimentary rocks, as was considered previously. They formed in the Cenozoic in the process of granite protrusion beneath a thick sedimentary cover owing to the crushing of granites and abrasion of granite fragments with the subsequent transformation of clastic rocks by groundwaters (suffosion). In this process, clastic rocks yielded fine products of the destruction of feldspars and quartz was concentrated. The rocks formed at relatively low temperatures (no more than 200–300°C) under stress strains.     

Crystallization temperature of anatectic melt: An example of biotite–muscovite granite in the Rikolatvi structure,Belomorian Mobile Belt

Zircon hosted in granite, which crystallized from local pools of anatectic melt among migmatites, in the Rikolatvi structure, Belomorian Mobile Belt, contains minute inclusions of various minerals, biotite and garnet among others. The compositions of the biotite and garnet in the microinclusions differ from those of the same minerals in the granite containing the zircon. The crystallization temperature of the anatectic melt was estimated by the biotite–garnet geothermometer and the composition of the biotite and garnet inclusions at ~800°C.     

Paleomagnetic studies and estimation of geomagnetic paleointensity at the early/middle Riphean boundary in rocks of the Salmi Formation (North Ladoga area)

The territory of Karelia (Baltic Shield) is virtually not represented in the global paleomagnetic database for the Lower Riphean time interval (1650—1350 Ma). As regards the paleointensity H _an, the huge interval 1–2 Ga in length is represented in the global paleointensity database by only eight determinations concentrated in the interval 1–1.35 Ga. The paper presents results of paleomagnetic studies of volcanic and subvolcanic rocks composing the Early Riphean Salmi Formation, which outcrops in the valley of the lower Tulemaioki River in the northern coast area of Lake Ladoga. Results of the study indicate that, in the Early Riphean time, the East European craton was located in the tropical region of the Southern Hemisphere between 15° S and 40° S. The inferred value of H _an is close to the lower boundary of the interval (1.36–11.56) × 10²² A m², encompassing previously published intensity values of the paleofield 1–1.35 Ga; this supports the hypothesis on the existence of long intervals of a lower field in the period in question [Maquoin et al., 2003].