Here we present an experimental study of the distribution of a broad range of trace elements between carbonatite melt, calcite and fluorite. The experiments were performed in the CaCO
3
+ CaF
2
... + Na
2
CO
3
± Ca
3
(PO
4
)
2
synthetic system at 650–900 °C and 100 MPa using rapid-quench cold-seal pressure vessels. Starting mixtures were composed of reagent-grade oxides, carbonates, Ca
3
(PO
4
)
2
and CaF
2
doped with 1 wt% REE–HFSE mixture. The results show that the distribution coefficients of all the analyzed trace elements for calcite and fluorite are below 1, with the highest values observed for Sr (0.48–0.8 for calcite and 0.14–0.3 for fluorite) and Y (0.18–0.3). The partition coefficients of REE gradually increase with increasing atomic number from La to Lu. The solubility of Zr, Hf, Nb and Ta in the synthetic F-rich carbonatitic melts, which were used in our experiments, is low and limited by crystallization of baddeleyite and Nb-bearing perovskite.
The petrogenesis of temporally and spatially associated carbonatitic and deeply derived carbonated alkaline silicate magmas provides an opportunity to gain insights into the nature of the deepest ...lithospheric mantle. The Chuktukon massif, which is part of the Chadobets alkaline ultramafic carbonatite complex (Chadobets upland, Siberian craton) is a carbonatite-melilitite-damtjernite intrusion, whose emplacement was coeval with the Siberian Traps large igneous province (LIP). In this study, the sources of the primary melts are examined, the petrogenetic evolution of the complex is reconstructed and the relationship with the Siberian LIP is also discussed. Isotopic and geochemical information indicate that the source for the Chuktukon primary melts was isotopically moderately depleted and the primary melts were formed by low degree partial melting of garnet carbonated peridotite. Hydrothermal processes caused 18O- and 13C- enrichment. The weathering process was accompanied by trace element re-distribution and enrichment of the weathering crust in Zn, Th, U, Nb, Pb and REE, relative to the Chuktukon rocks and a change in radiogenic (Sr, Nd) isotope compositions.
•The primary melts were derived from an isotopically depleted mantle source.•The primary melts were formed by low degree partial melting of carbonated peridotite.•The partial melting was under the influence of heat from the Siberian plume.
Fluorite mineralization associated with different types of magmatism is common in the Western Transbaikalia. This study deals with Arshan, Yuzhnoe, and Ulan-Ude fluorite occurrences, which are the ...most significant examples of carbonatite-related fluorite mineralization in the region. The present paper focused on new fluorite geochemistry and fluid inclusion data, is aimed at revealing conditions of the fluorite mineralization formation, highlighting its genetic relationship with magmatism, compared to other deposits of this type. All the three locations belong to the Late Mesozoic Central Asian carbonatite province. Fluorites here are characterized by high rare earth elements (REE), Sr, and elevated La/Yb values. Fluid inclusions data imply that the formation of fluorite mineralization is a long process extending from late magmatic to the hydrothermal stage. Early fluorite crystallized from sulfate-carbonate orthomagmatic fluids at temperatures up to 500 °C. True hydrothermal fluorite was formed from the same fluids that were probably mixed with meteoric waters, which caused the temperature to drop to below 420 °C and led to an increase in the chloride component. The REE compositions of fluorite from the studied locations are similar to compositions of REE-rich fluorites from carbonatite-related deposits around the world.
Abstract
Cerianite (CeO
2
) is one of the key minerals controlling the behavior of rare earth elements (REE) in supergene environment, yet little is known about the composition and structure of the ...mineral. We present Raman spectroscopy and compositional data on regolith cerianite from carbonatite‐related supergene REE deposits. Cerianite showed a low content of impurities, distinguishing from high‐temperature environments, where the mineral is characterized by elevated concentrations of lanthanides other than Ce. The Raman spectra are characterized by the shift of the dominant peak located at 464–465 cm
−1
in stoichiometric CeO
2
to the lower wavenumbers of 450–455 cm
−1
, the widening of this peak with the increasing shift, and the presence of additional peaks at 225–230, 284, and 604–613 cm
−1
. The independence of the main spectral characteristics from the laser wavelength (tested by three lasers: 488, 532, and 633 nm) suggests that the features are genuine and not produced by REE luminescence. The anhydrous composition of supergene cerianite is indicated by the absence of Raman bands in the water‐bearing region of the spectra (2700–3200 cm
−1
). The spectral features of supergene cerianite, combined with the compositional data, suggest non‐stoichiometry in the mineral and the presence of Ce
3+
with oxygen vacancies in the mineral structure. Our observations demonstrate the efficiency of Raman spectroscopy for the identification of the non‐stoichiometric composition of cerianite and its common occurrence in the critical zone.
Petrological, whole-rock major and trace element, and Sr–Nd–Pb isotopic data are reported for the late Mesozoic Dzheltula alkaline igneous complex in the Aldan–Stanovoy Shield, Russia. The alkaline ...rocks are emplaced into the Tyrkanda mélange zone. The Dzheltula complex consists of monzonites, foid monzonites, and alkaline syenites; granite dykes intrude the complex. All alkaline rocks have high LILE contents (e.g., Ba and Sr), high light REE/HFSE ratios, strongly fractionated REE patterns, and typically lack Eu anomalies. Granite shows different major and trace-element characteristics in comparison to monzonites and syenites. The major and trace-element characteristics of the Dzheltula complex rocks and minerals are consistent with formation by combined assimilation and fractionation processes of an alkaline parental magma of lamproitic composition. The alkaline rocks have moderately radiogenic Sr (
87
Sr/
86
Sr(
t
) = 0.7057–0.7065) and unradiogenic Nd (
ɛ
Nd(
t
) = − 11.3 to − 15.2) and Pb (
206
Pb/
204
Pb = 17.17–17.26); granite has more enriched
87
Sr/
86
Sr(
t
) value (0.707408) but similar
ɛ
Nd(
t
) = − 12.93 The trace element and Sr–Nd–Pb isotopic data for the Dzheltula complex indicate its mantle source experienced ancient metasomatic enrichment, probably associated with subduction.
Pyroxenite and nepheline-pyroxene rocks coexist with dolomite-bearing calcite marbles in Tazheran Massif in the area of Lake Baikal, Siberia, Russia. Pyroxenites occur in a continuous elongate zone ...between marbles and beerbachites (metamorphosed gabbro dolerites) and in 5 cm to 20 m fragments among the marbles. Pyroxene in pyroxenite is rich in calcium and alumina (5–12 wt% Al2O3) and has a fassaite composition. The Tazheran pyroxenite may originate from a mafic subvolcanic source indicated by the presence of remnant dolerite found in one pyroxenite body. This origin can be explained in terms of interaction between mafic and crust-derived carbonatitic melts, judging by the mineralogy of pyroxenite bodies and their geological relations with marbles. According to this model, the intrusion of mantle mafic melts into thick lower crust saturated with fluids caused partial melting of silicate-carbonate material and produced carbonate and carbonate-silicate melts. The fassaite-bearing pyroxenite crystallized from a silicate-carbonate melt mixture which was produced by roughly synchronous injections of mafic, pyroxenitic, and carbonate melt batches. The ascending hydrous carbonate melts entrained fragments of pyroxenite that crystallized previously at a temperature exceeding the crystallization point of carbonates. Subsequently, while the whole magmatic system was cooling down, pyroxenite became metasomatized by circulating fluids, which led to the formation of assemblages with garnet, melilite, and scapolite.
Secondary multiphase inclusions were studied in olivine from olivine-pyrochlore varieties of calcite carbonatites of the Belaya Zima alkaline complex, Eastern Sayan, Siberia, Russia. The inclusions ...form trails cross-cutting the host olivine. Their composition varies from carbonate to silicate-carbonate species. Multiphase silicate-carbonate inclusions contain Na-Ca-carbonates (shortite, nyerereite), Na-Mg-carbonates (northupite, eitelite, bradleyite), common carbonates (calcite, dolomite), Ba-Sr-rich carbonates (olekminskite, burbankite, strontianite), tetraferriphlogopite, magnetite, humite-clinohumite and other mineral phases. Na-Ca-carbonates, tetraferriphlogopite, humiteclinohumite and magnetite are omnipresent and dominant phases within the inclusions. The phase composition of secondary olivinehosted inclusions seems to reflect evolutionary features for the Belaya Zima carbonatites at their late stages of formation. During crystallization calciocarbonatite melt gradually evolved toward enrichment in alkalis (mainly, in sodium) and volatile components (Cl, F and H
2
O).
The Ust-Chulman apatite ore body is situated within the Nimnyrskaya apatite zone at the Aldan shield in Russia. The latest data confirm the carbonatitic origin of the Seligdar apatite deposit ...(Prokopyev et al. in Ore Geol Rev 81:296–308, 2017). The results of our investigations demonstrate that the magnetite-apatite-dolomitic rocks of the Ust-Chulman are highly similar to Seligdar-type dolomitic carbonatites in terms of the mineralogy and the fluid regime of formation. The ilmenite and spinel mineral phases occur as solid solutions with magnetite, and support the magmatic origin of the Ust-Chulman ores. The chemical composition of REE- and SO
3
-bearing apatite crystals and, specifically, monazite-(Ce) mineralisation and the formation of Nb-rutile, late hydrothermal sulphate minerals (barite, anhydrite) and haematite are typical for carbonatite complexes. The fluid inclusions study revealed similarities to the evolutionary trend of the Seligdar carbonatites that included changes of the hydrothermal solutions from highly concentrated chloride to medium–low concentrated chloride-sulphate and oxidized carbonate-ferrous.
The N-S trending Central-Aldan magnesiocarbonatite province is located in the Aldan-Stanovoy shield (South Yakutia, Russia). Several apatite-dolomitic carbonatite occurrences were studied: Seligdar, ...Muostalaah, Ust-Chulman and Birikeen. Mineralogical and petrographic investigations indicate intense hydrothermal-metasomatic alteration and metamorphism, which are reflected in the evolution of the mineral parageneses. The primary minerals are fluorapatite, magnetite, ilmenite, dolomite, K-feldspar, phlogopite and accessory zircon, titanite, baddeleyite and thorite. The hydrothermal-metasomatic minerals are quartz, calcite and siderite aggregates with haematite, monazite-(Ce), xenotime-(Y), rutile-(Nb), barite-(Sr), anhydrite, ancylite-(Ce) and rare sulphide mineral phases. Alkaline rocks associated with the Muostalaah complex, were also studied. The following U-Pb ages have been obtained (Ma): 1930 ± 7 for Muostalaah alkaline basic rocks, 1906 ± 6 for Muostalaah carbonatites, and 1880 ± 13 and 1878 ± 17 for Seligdar and Ust-Chulman carbonatites, respectively.
The nature of petrogenetic links between carbonatites and associated silicate rocks is a matter of discussion for several decades and still remains controversial among igneous petrologists. The ...Belaya Zima plutonic complex in southern Siberia is a typical intrusion, in which carbonatites are spatially and temporally associated with the ijolite series rocks and nepheline syenites. In this study we use whole-rock compositions and trace element characteristics of the major and accessory minerals for reconstructing the magmatic evolution of the complex and clarifying the origin of carbonatites. We conclude that the observed gradual increase of Zr, Nb and REE concentrations in the magma is consistent with the process of extensive fractional crystallization and gradual transition from silicate rocks to carbonatites, and inconsistent with the formation of carbonatites by liquid immiscibility. Magma differentiation by fractional crystallization continued during the carbonatite formation. The textural and analytical evidence indicates that the early calcitic carbonatites evolved to dolomitic and ankeritic carbonatites. In addition, maximum Nb and Zr concentrations occur in the calcitic carbonatite, whereas the REE content increases in the dolomitic and ankeritic facies.
•Сarbonatites are enriched in Zr, Nb and REE in comparison to alkaline silicate rocks.•Alkaline silicate rocks and carbonatites are related by simple fractional crystallization.•Fractional crystallization was continued during the carbonatite formation.