I. A. Andreeva

Evolution of the trachydacite and pantellerite magmas of the bimodal volcanic association of Dzarta-Khuduk, Central Mongolia: Investigation of inclusions in minerals

Using various methods of melt inclusion investigation, including electron and ion microprobe techniques, we estimated the composition, evolution, and formation conditions of melts producing the trachydacites and pantellerites of the Late Paleozoic bimodal volcanic association of Dzarta-Khuduk, Central Mongolia. Primary crystalline and melt inclusions were detected in anorthoclase from trachydacites and quartz from pantellerites and pantelleritic tuffs. Among the crystalline inclusions, we identified hedenbergite, fluorapatite, and pyrrhotite in the trachydacites and F-arfvedsonite, fluorite, ilmenite, and the rare REE diorthosilicate chevkinite in the pantellerites. Melt inclusions in anorthoclase from the trachydacites are composed of glass, a gas phase, and daughter minerals (F-arfvedsonite, fluorite, villiaumite, and anorthoclase rim on the inclusion wall). Melt inclusions in quartz from the pantellerites are composed of glass, a gas phase, and a fine-grained salt aggregate consisting of Li, Na, and Ca fluorides (griceite, villiaumite, and fluorite). Melt inclusions in quartz crystalloclasts from the pantelleritic tuffs are composed of homogeneous silicate glasses. The phenocrysts of the trachydacites and pantellerites crystallized at temperatures of 1060–1000°C. During thermometric experiments with quartz-hosted melt inclusions from the pantellerites, the formation of immiscible silicate and salt (fluoride) melts was observed at a temperature of 800°C. Homogeneous melt inclusions in anorthoclase from the trachydacites have both trachydacite and rhyolite compositions (wt %): 68–70 SiO2, 12–13 Al2O3, 0.34–0.74 TiO2, 5–7 FeO, 0.4–0.9 CaO, and 9–12 Na2O + K2O. The agpaitic index ranges from 0.92 to 1.24. The glasses of homogenized melt inclusions in quartz from the pantellerites and pantelleritic tuffs have rhyolitic compositions. Compared with the homogeneous glasses trapped in anorthoclase of the trachydacites, quartz-hosted inclusions from the pantellerites show higher SiO2 (72–78 wt %) and lower Al2O3 contents (7.8–10.0 wt %). They also contain 0.14–0.26 wt % TiO2, 2.5–4.9 wt % FeO, 9–11 wt % Na2O + K2O, and 0.9–0.15 wt % CaO and show an agpaitic index of 1.2–2.05. Homogeneous melt inclusions in quartz from the pantelleritic tuffs contain 69–72 wt % SiO2. The contents of other major components, including TiO2, Al2O3, FeO, and CaO, are close to those in the homogeneous glasses of quartzhosted melt inclusions in the pantellerites. The contents of Na2O + K2O are 4–10 wt %, and the agpaitic index is 1.0–1.6. The glasses of melt inclusions from each rock group show distinctive volatile compositions. The H2O content is up to 0.08 wt % in anorthoclase of the trachydacites, 0.4–1.4 wt % in quartz of the pantellerites, and up to 5 wt % in quartz of the pantelleritic tuffs. The content of F in the glasses of melt inclusions in the phenocrysts of the trachydacites is no higher than 0.67 wt %, and up to 1.4–2.8 wt % in quartz from the pantellerites. The Cl content is up to 0.2 wt % in the glasses of melt inclusions in the minerals of the trachydacites and up to 0.5 wt % in the glasses of quartz-hosted melt inclusions from the pantellerites. The investigation of trace elements in the homogenized glasses of melt inclusions in minerals showed that the trachydacites and pantellerites were formed from strongly evolved rare-metal alkaline silicate melts with high contents of Li, Zr, Rb, Y, Hf, Th, U, and REE. The analysis of the composition of homogeneous melt inclusions in the minerals of the above rocks allowed us to distinguish magmatic processes resulting in the enrichment of these rocks in trace and rare earth elements. The most important processes are the crystallization differentiation and immiscible separation of silicate and fluoride salt melts. It was also shown that all the melts studied evolved in spatially separated magma chambers. This caused the differences in the character of melt evolution between the trachydacites and pantellerites. During the final stages of differentiation, when the magmatic system was saturated with respect to ore elements, Na-Ca fluoride melts were separated and extracted considerable amounts of Li.

Variations in the Nd isotopic ratios and canonical ratios of concentrations of incompatible elements as an indication of mixing sources of alkali granitoids and basites in the Khaldzan-Buregtei massif and the Khaldzan-Buregtei rare-metal deposit in western Mongolia

The paper reports data on the Nd isotopic composition and the evaluated composition of the sources of magmatism that produced massifs of alkali and basic rocks of the Khaldzan-Buregtei group. The massifs were emplaced in the terminal Devonian at 392–395 Ma in the Ozernaya zone of western Mongolia. The host rocks of the massifs are ophiolites of the early Caledonian Ozernaya zone, which were dated at 545–522 Ma. The massifs were emplaced in the following succession (listed in order from older to younger): (1) nordmarkites and dolerites syngenetic with them; (2) alkali granites and syngenetic dolerites; (3) dike ekerites; (4) dike pantellerites; (5) rare-metal granitoids; (6) alkali and intermediate basites and quartz syenites; and (7) miarolitic rare-metal alkali granites. Our data on the Nd isotopic composition [ɛNd(T)] and conventionally used (canonical) ratios of incompatible elements (Nb/U, Zr/Nb, and La/Yb) in rocks from the alkaline massifs and their host ophiolites indicate that all of these rocks were derived mostly from mantle and mantle-crustal enriched sources like OIB, E-MORB, and IAB with a subordinate contribution of N-MORB (DM) and upper continental crustal material. The variations in the ɛNd(T) values in rocks of these massifs suggest multiple mixing of the sources or magmas derived from them when the massifs composing the Khaldzan-Buregtei group were produced. The OIB and E-MORB sources were mixed when the rocks with mantle signatures were formed. The occurrence of nordmarkites, alkali granites, and other rocks whose isotopic and geochemical signatures are intermediate between the values for mantle and crustal sources testifies to the mixing of mantle and crustal magmas. The crustal source itself, which consisted of rocks of the ophiolite complex, was obviously isotopically and geochemically heterogeneous, as also were the magmas derived from it. The model proposed for the genesis of alkali rocks of the Khaldzan-Buregtei massifs implies that the magmas were derived at two major depth levels: (1) mantle, at which the plume source mixed with an E-MORB source, and (2) crustal, at which the ophiolites were melted, and this gave rise to the parental magmas of the nordmarkites and alkali granites. The basites were derived immediately from the mantle. The mantle syenites, pantellerites, and rare-metal granitoids were produced either by the deep crystallization differentiation of basite magma or by the partial melting of the parental basites and the subsequent crystallization differentiation of the generated magmas. Differentiation likely took place in an intermediate chamber at depth levels close to the crustal (ophiolite) level of magma generation. Only such conditions could ensure the intense mixing of mantle and crustal magmas. The principal factor initiating magma generation in the region was the mantle plume that controlled within-plate magmatism in the Altai-Sayan area and the basite magmas related to this plume, which gave rise to small dikes and magmatic bodies in the group of intrusive massifs.

Geochemical specifics of ongonites in the Ary-Bulak Massif, eastern Transbaikalia

A genetic model for magmatic rocks of the Ary-Bulak Massif is discussed based on a detailed geological map of the massif (prepared by the authors) and on original data of the authors on the petrography of the massif, its compositional zoning, trace-element geochemistry, physicochemical parameters of its crystallization, and melt inclusions in its minerals. The Ary-Bulak Massif was determined to be zonal, with the predominance (approximately 70% by area) of porphyritic topaz ongonites (central facies), which grade toward contacts into weakly porphyritic ongonites bearing topaz and, occasionally, fluorite (margin facies). Aphyric rocks with fluorite (inner-contact facies) occur as a stripe 50–80 m wide at the southwestern inner contact of the massif. Analysis of petrographic and geochemical data indicates that subvolcanic rocks of the Ary-Bulak Massif differ from typical elvanes (as they occur in the Cornwall province) but are similar to classic ongonites in the central and marginal facies of the massif. Rocks in the southwestern inner-contact zone are unusual high-F and high-Ca varieties, whose analogues have never been found in any rare-metal provinces with ongonites and which provide evidence of a complicated evolutionary history of the Ary-Bulak Massif. The geochemical evolution of this massif was determined to be characterized by the enrichment of the older inner-contact facies rocks in CaO, K2O, F, and Rb, Cs, B, Ba, Sr, Sn, and Ta, whose concentrations decrease in the ongonites of the central facies. The central-facies ongonites thereby have much higher Na2O and Li concentrations than those in the inner-contact facies rocks. It is demonstrated that the intense heating and melting of crustal material in this region at the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary could have been induced by subalkaline basaltic magma. The chemical composition of the rocks, which is unusual for typical ongonites in, for example, high Ca and Sr concentrations, could be caused by the possible assimilation by the magma of limestones, which occur in the territory at a certain depth in the Ust’-Borzya Formation that hosts the Ary-Bulak Massif. The genesis of most rocks in the massif was controlled by the magmatic differentiation of crustal granitic magma, with the residual melts forming Li-F granites enriched in several trace elements (Li, Rb, Cs, B, Ba, Sr, etc.) and ongonites as their subvolcanic analogues.

Compositions of Magmas, Formation Conditions, and Genesis of Carbonate-Bearing Ijolites and Carbonatites of the Belaya Zima Alkaline Carbonatite Complex, Eastern Sayan

Based on the investigation of melt inclusions using electron and ion microprobe analysis, we estimated the composition, evolution, and formation conditions of magmas responsible for the calcite-bearing ijolites and carbonatites of the Belaya Zima alkaline carbonatite complex (eastern Sayan, Russia). Primary melt and coexisting crystalline inclusions were found in the nepheline and calcite of these rocks. Diopside, amphibole (?), perovskite, potassium feldspar, apatite, calcite, pyrrhotite, and titanomagnetite were identified among the crystalline inclusions. The melt inclusions in nepheline from the ijolites are completely crystallized. The crystalline daughter phases of these inclusions are diopside, phlogopite, apatite, calcite, magnetite, and cuspidine. During thermometric experiments with melt inclusions in nepheline, the complete homogenization of the inclusions was attained through the dissolution of a gas bubble at temperatures of 1120–1130°C. The chemical analysis of glasses from the homogenized melt inclusions in nepheline of the ijolites revealed significant variations in the content of components: from 36 to 48 wt % SiO2, from 9 to 21 wt % Al2O3, from 8 to 25 wt % CaO, and from 0.6 to 7 wt % MgO. All the melts show very high contents of alkalis, especially sodium. According to the results of ion microprobe analysis, the average content of water in the melts is no higher than a few tenths of a percent. The most salient feature of the melt inclusions is the extremely high content of Nb and Zr. The glasses of melt inclusions are also enriched in Ta, Th, and light rare earth elements but depleted in Ti and Hf. Primary melt inclusions in calcite from the carbonatites contain a colorless glass and daughter phlogopite, garnet, and diopside. The silicate glass from the melt inclusions in calcite of the carbonatite is chemically similar to the glasses of homogenized melt inclusions in nepheline from the ijolites. An important feature of melt inclusions in calcite of the carbonatites is the presence in the glass of carbonate globules corresponding to calcite in composition. The investigation of melt inclusions in minerals of the ijolites and carbonatites and the analysis of the alkaline and ore-bearing rocks of the Belaya Zima Massif provided evidence for the contribution of crystallization differentiation and silicate-carbonate liquid immiscibility to the formation of these rocks. Using the obtained trace-element compositions of glasses of homogenized melt inclusions and various alkaline rocks and carbonatites, we determined to a first approximation the compositions of mantle sources responsible for the formation of the rock association of the Belaya Zima alkaline-carbonatite complex. The alkaline rocks and carbonatites were derived from the depleted mantle affected by extensive metasomatism. It is supposed that carbonate melts enriched in sodium and calcium were the main agents of mantle metasomatism.

The composition and sources of magmas of Changbaishan Tianchi volcano (China-North Korea)

The Changbaishan Tianchi volcano is the greatest stratovolcano within the bounds of the Late Cenozoic intraplate volcanic province of East Asia. Changbaishan Tianchi volcanic cone consists mostly of trachytes and pantellerites. It was found that the lavas composing the shield platform of Changbaishan Tianchi volcano are weakly differentiated basic rocks whose geochemical characteristics are generally similar. All the alkaline salic rocks composing the cone of the volcano are characterized by conformable normalized trace element patterns. The concentrations of rare-earth elements in these rocks are high and amount up to 1000 ppm. The character of the distribution of trace elements in the basic rocks of Changbaishan Tianchi volcano is close to that in the OIB-type basalts. Within the series from basalts to pantellerites, the rocks are enriched in REE and zirconium, but depleted in barium, strontium, and europium. According to the obtained geochemical data, it was shown that the rock series of Changbaishan Tianchi volcano, varying from basalts to trachytes and pantellerites comprises compositions geochemically interrelated by the processes of crystal fractionation. The parental magma for the rocks of the volcano was derived from plume sources of the same type as those of OIB and sources of the Late Cenozoic intraplate province of East Asia.

Carbonatitic melts in olivine and magnetite from rare-metal carbonatite of the Belaya Zima alkaline carbonatite complex (East Sayan, Russia)

The problem of the origin of carbonatite is still a priority in Russian and foreign publications. Attention to these rocks is mostly explained by their raremetal specialization and links of Nb, Ta, Zr, Sr, Ba, and REE deposits to them. In addition to the hypothesis of the magmatic origin of carbonatites, currently some authors consider these rocks as products of hydrother� mal-metasomatic activity. This contradiction may be solved by study of the inclusions of mineralforming media in minerals, which provide direct evidence for natural melts or fluids captured in host minerals. In spite of the active investigation of melt inclu� sions in minerals from rocks of the alkaline carbonatite complexes over the last decade, there are still some data including the quantitative characteristics of the chemical composition of melts for carbonatites, as well as on other associated nonsilicate (fluorite, apa� tite, etc.) rocks (1-6). Only a few publications con� cern carbonatites properly (3, 5, 6). However, estima� tion of the role of melts and their compositions is of great importance for understanding of the origin of alkaline carbonatite complexes including the pro� cesses and conditions of accumulation of commercial minerals in them. In this paper, we report the results of the study of the melt and crystalline inclusions coexisting in min� erals of orebearing forsterite-calcite carbonatite from the Belaya Zima massif (East Sayan), which allowed us to distinguish the carbonatitic melts responsible for the formation of these rocks for the first time. A number of complex (Nb, Ta, REE, U, Pb, Zn, and P) deposits including the largest Belaya Zima nio� bium deposit related to the carbonatite massif of the same name are distinguished within the East Sayan province of ultrabasic alkaline rocks and carbonatites. Based on the data of geochronological U-Pb study of zircons, the age of this deposit is 643 Ma (7). The Belaya Zima (Nizhnesayanskii) massif is located in the northern foothill of East Sayan, in the upper reaches of the Belaya Zima River. The massif occurs in the zone of large faults of northwestern orientation, in the area of the junction of the Siberian Platform and folded complexes of East Sayan. In plan, it has a pearlike shape and spreads to the northwest for 8.5 km includ� ing a branch elongated in the same direction (8). The central part is composed of carbonatites of various types. Ultrabasic alkaline rocks form a semiring zone surrounding the stock along the periphery.

Evolution of melts of the Changbaishan Tianchi volcano (China–North Korea) as a model of ore–magmatic system formation: Data from melt inclusions studies

The composition and evolution of the melts of trachytes from the volcano were studied based on examining the inclusions of mineral-forming media by means of X-ray and ion microanalysis. A correlation was shown between the degree of enrichment of these melts in rare elements and the processes of magmatic differentiation. It was found that trachytes of the volcano were generated in highly differentiated alkaline melts enriched in Hf, Nb, Zr, Ta, U, Th, Rb, Y, and REEs under 1020–1060°C. The evolution of melts was determined by the processes of crystal fractionation. The main volatile components in the melts are water, fluorine, and chlorine with the concentrations of 0.1–0.5, 0.2–0.5, and 0.2–0.3 wt %, respectively. The melt crystallization was accompanied by degassing caused by the decrease in the outer pressure. The low concentrations of water and fluorine represent the melt composition by these components exclusively at the time of the melt movement towards the Earth’s surface just before the eruption.

Genesis and mechanisms of formation of rare-metal peralkaline granites of the Khaldzan Buregtey massif, Mongolia: Evidence from melt inclusions

Melt inclusions were studied by various methods, including electron and ion microprobe analysis, to determine the compositions of melts and mechanisms of formation of rare-metal peralkaline granites of the Khaldzan Buregtey massif in Mongolia. Primary crystalline and coexisting melt inclusions were found in quartz from the rare-metal granites of intrusive phase V. Among the crystalline inclusions, we identified potassium feldspar, albite, tuhualite, titanite, fluorite, and diverse rare-metal phases, including minerals of zirconium (zircon and gittinsite), niobium (pyrochlore), and rare earth elements (parisite). The observed crystalline inclusions reproduce almost the whole suite of major and accessory minerals of the rare-metal granites, which supports the possibility of their crystallization from a magmatic melt. Melt inclusions in quartz from these rocks are completely crystallized. Their daughter mineral assemblage includes quartz, microcline, aegirine, arfvedsonite, polylithionite, a zirconosilicate, pyrochlore, and a rare-earth fluorocarbonate. The melt inclusions were homogenized in an internally heated gas vessel at a temperature of 850°C and a pressure of 3 kbar. After the experiments, many inclusions were homogeneous and consisted of silicate glass. In addition to silicate glass, some inclusions contained tiny quench zircon crystals confined to the boundary of inclusions, which indicates that the melts were saturated in zircon. In a few inclusions, glass coexisted with a CO2 phase. This allowed us to estimate the content of CO2 in the inclusion as 1.5 wt %. The composition of glasses from the homogeneous melt inclusions is similar to the composition of the rare-metal granites, in particular, with respect to SiO2 (68–74 wt %), TiO2 (0.5–0.9 wt %), FeO (2.2–4.6 wt %), MgO (0.02 wt %), and Na2O + K2O (up to 8.5 wt %). On the other hand, the glasses of melt inclusions appeared to be strongly depleted compared with the rocks in CaO (0.22 and 4 wt %, respectively) and Al2O3 (5.5–7.0 and 9.6 wt %, respectively). The agpaitic index is 1.1–1.7. The melts contain up to 3 wt % H2O and 2–4 wt % F. The trace element analysis of glasses from homogenized melt inclusions in quartz showed that the rare-metal granites were formed from extensively evolved rare-metal alkaline melts with high contents of Zr, Nb, Th, U, Ta, Hf, Rb, Pb, Y, and REE, which reflects the metallogenic signature of the Khaldzan Buregtey deposit. The development of unique rare metal Zr–Nb–REE mineralization in these rocks is related to the prolonged crystallization differentiation of melts and assimilation of enclosing carbonate rocks.