Ya. A. Pakhomovsky

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.

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.

Corundum-group minerals in rocks of the Khibiny alkaline pluton, Kola Peninsula

Five minerals of the corundum group have been identified in the Khibiny pluton with certainty. Corundum proper and karelianite occur only in hornfels after volcanic and sedimentary rocks. Xenoliths of hornfels mark the ring faults that bound foidalite within the field of foyaite. Hematite occurs in hydrothermally altered nepheline syenite and crosscutting hydrothermal veins related to the ring faults. Minerals of the ilmenite-pyrophanite series are present in all rocks of the pluton, including veins. Accessory ilmenite in foyaite varies from the manganese variety and pyrophanite in the inner and outer parts of the pluton to manganese-free ilmenite in zone of the Main Ring Fault. In xenoliths of volcanic rocks and alkaline ultramafic rocks, ilmenite is enriched in magnesium. The zoning in distribution of the above-mentioned minerals and the character of variation in their compositions from margins of the pluton to its center are consistent with the petrochemical zoning formed as a result of foyaite alteration of near ring faults.

Rock-Forming feldspars of the Khibiny alkaline pluton, Kola Peninsula, Russia

This paper describes the structural-compositional zoning of the well-known Khibiny pluton in regard to rock-forming feldspars. The content of K-Na-feldspars increases inward and outward from the Main foidolite ring. The degree of coorientation of tabular K-Na-feldspar crystals sharply increases in the Main ring zone, and microcline-dominant foyaite turns into orthoclase-dominant foyaite. The composition of K-Na-feldspars in the center of the pluton and the Main ring zone is characterized by an enrichment in Al. This shift is compensated by a substitution of some K and Na with Ba (the Main ring zone) or by an addition of K and Na cations to the initially cation-deficient microcline (the central part of the pluton). Feldspars of volcanosedimentary rocks occurring as xenoliths in foyaite primarily corresponded to plagioclase An15–40, but high-temperature fenitization and formation of hornfels in the Main ring zone gave rise to the crystallization of anorthoclase subsequently transformed into orthoclase and albite due to cooling and further fenitization. Such a zoning is the result of filling the Main ring fault zone within the homogeneous foyaite pluton with a foidolite melt, which provided the heating and potassium metasomatism of foyaite and xenoliths of volcanosedimentary rocks therein. The process eventually led to the transformation of foyaite into rischorrite-lyavochorrite, while xenoliths were transformed into aluminum hornfels with anorthoclase, annite, andalusite, topaz, and sekaninaite.

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.

Loparite-(Ce) in rocks of the Lovozero layered complex at Mt. Karnasurt and Mt. Kedykvyrpakhk

Following from a mineralogical and petrographic study of loparite-bearing units I-4 at Mt. Karnasurt and II-4 at Mt. Kedykvyrpakhk, loparite-(Ce) is found to be concentrated in thin (10–40 cm) malignite-ijolite layers at the boundary between the underlying nepheline syenite and the overlying foidolite. Skeletal loparite-(Ce) metacrysts occur as inclusions in nepheline, sodalite, natrolite, aegirine, eudialyte, and lomonosovite or within the intergranular space between them. In turn, the characteristic segregations of skeletal loparite-(Ce) metacrysts contain inclusions of natrolite, lomonosovite, rhabdophane-(Ce), labuntsovite, and other relatively low-temperature minerals typical of pegmatites and hydrothermally altered rocks. The chemical composition of loparite-(Ce) varies within narrow limits (Lop59–70Per11–18Lue5–11Tsn4–7 due to an increase in Ca, Ln, Al, and Ti contents and a decrease in Na, Mn, Th, Sr, Fe, and Ta contents in the transitional zone between the underlying nepheline syenite, ore-bearing foidolite-malignite, and overlying ijoliteurtite. Variations in composition are also caused by the lateral isomorphic replacement of Na and Nb with Ln and Ti. The data obtained show that loparite mineralization is related to a pneumatolytic-hydrothermal alteration of foidolite and nepheline syenite along the contact between them.

Cymrite as an indicator of high barium activity in the formation of hydrothermal rocks related to carbonatites of the Kola Peninsula

Cymrite, BaAl2Si2O8 · nH2O, is a rare mineral formed during low-grade dynamothermal metamorphism (T = 250–300°C, P = 1–3 kbar). Cymrite has been described from many metasedimentary ores and hydrothermal rocks. In carbonatites, it has been found for the first time. Cymrite has been identified in the Kovdor and Seblyavr massifs, Kola Peninsula. In Kovdor, this mineral has been described from one of the hydrothermal veins cutting the pyroxenite-melilitite-ijolite complex at the Phlogopite deposit; cymrite is associated with thomsonite, calcite, and stivensite. In the Seblyavr pluton, cymrite occurs in thin veins of calcite carbonatite that cut pyroxenite contacting with ijolite. Cymrite from the Seblyavr pluton is associated with calcite, natrolite, pyrite, and chalcopyrite. The mineral is optically negative and uniaxial, with extinction parallel to elongation; ω ∼ 1.607(1). According to X-ray diffraction data, cymrite from Seblyavr is monoclinic, space group P1m1; unit-cell dimensions are: a = 5.33, b = 36.96, c = 7.66 Å, β = 90°, V = 1510.55 Å3. According to the results of IR spectroscopy, in the series of samples from different massifs (in the running order Kovdor-Voishor-Seblyavr), the double-layer deformation is enhanced and accompanied by a decrease in the Si-O-Si angle and weakening of hydrogen bonds of interlayer water. The empirical formulas of cymrite calculated from electron microprobe analyses are Ba0.93–0.95Ca0.01–0.02K0.00–0.05Na0.02–0.04Al1.97–2.01Si1.99–2.03O8(H2O) and Ba1.00–1.02Ca0.00–0.01Sr0.00–0.01Fe0.00–0.01Al1.94–2.00Si1.98–2.03O8(H2O) at Seblyavr and Kovdor, respectively. Cymrite from the carbonatite massifs of the Kola Peninsula was formed under hydrothermal conditions at low temperature (200–300°C), high activity of Ba and Si, and high water pressure. At Kovdor, the mineral crystallized directly from the residual solution enriched in Ba. The sequence of mineral deposition is as follows: thomsonite-cymrite-calcite-stevensite. Cymrite from the Seblyavr pluton is a product of hydrothermal alteration of primary Na-K-Ba silicates of ijolite: nepheline, feldspar, and probably celsian. Natrolite replaces cymrite indicating high alkalinity of late hydrothermal fluids.

Typomorphism of fluorapatite in the Khibiny alkaline pluton, Kola Peninsula

The zoning of accessory and rock-forming fluorapatite in the Khibiny pluton is discussed in its content, morphology, and chemical composition. The concentrations of Na, REE, and Si impurities in fluorapatite decrease from the margin and center of the pluton to the Major Ring, composed of melteigiteurtite and rischorrite. Within this structure, the purest apatite is characteristic of the high-grade ore in large deposits, where it occurs free of Na, and REE, as well as Sr in place of Ca. The fractal dimension of fluorapatite aggregates in all textural types of apatite-nepheline rocks (ores) corresponds to the dimension of fractures. Along with mineralogy of apatite-nepheline rocks and zoning of host foidolite, this feature indicates the superimposed character of apatite mineralization.

Crystal Chemistry of Pyroaurite from the Kovdor Pluton, Kola Peninsula, Russia, and the Långban Fe–Mn deposit, Värmland, Sweden

Pyroaurite [Mg6Fe23+ (OH)16][(CO3)(H2O)] from the Kovdor Pluton on the Kola Peninsula, Russia, and the Långban deposit in Filipstad, Värmland, Sweden were studied with single crystal and powder X-ray diffraction, an electron microprobe, and Raman spectroscopy. Both samples are rhombohedral, space group R3̅m, a = 3.126(3), c = 23.52(2) Å (Kovdor), and a = 3.1007(9), c = 23.34(1) (Långban). The powder XRD revealed only the 3R polytype. The ratio of di- and trivalent cations M2+: M3+ was determined as ~3.1–3.2 (Kovdor) and ~3.0 (Långban). The Raman spectroscopy of the Kovdor sample verified hydroxyl groups and/or water molecules in the mineral (absorption bands in the region of 3600–3500 cm–1) and carbonate groups (absorption bands in the region of 1346–1058 cm–1). Based on the data obtained, the studied samples should be identified as pyroaurite-3R (hydrotalcite group).

Loparite-(Ce) from the Khibiny Alkaline Pluton, Kola Peninsula, Russia

Data on the occurrence, morphology, anatomy, composition, and formation conditions of loparite-(Ce) in the Khibiny alkaline pluton are given. Loparite-(Ce), (Na,Ce,Sr)(Ce,Th)(Ti,Nb)2O6, resulted from metasomatic alteration and assimilation of metamorphic host rocks at the contact with foyaite as well as foyaite on the contact with foidolite. This alteration was the highest in pegmatite, and albitite developed there. A decrease in temperature resulted in enrichment of the perovskite and tausonite endmembers in loparite-(Ce) owing to a decrease in the loparite and lueshite endmembers. La and Ce sharply predominate among rare earth elements in the composition of loparite-(Ce).