Yu. V. Danilova

Hydrothermal Activity in the Baikal Rift Zone: Recent Hot Springs and Deposits of Paleothermal Waters

ISSN 1028-334X, Doklady Earth Sciences, 2007, Vol. 412, No. 1, pp. 101–105.

New carbonatite complex in the western Baikal area, southern Siberian craton: Mineralogy, age, geochemistry, and petrogenesis

A dike–vein complex of potassic type of alkalinity recently discovered in the Baikal ledge, western Baikal area, southern Siberian craton, includes calcite and dolomite–ankerite carbonatites, silicate-bearing carbonatite, phlogopite metapicrite, and phoscorite. The most reliable 40Ar–39Ar dating of the rocks on magnesioriebeckite from alkaline metasomatite at contact with carbonatite yields a statistically significant plateau age of 1017.4 ± 3.2 Ma. The carbonatite is characterized by elevated SiO2 concentrations and is rich in K2O (K2O/Na2O ratio is 21 on average for the calcite carbonatite and 2.5 for the dolomite–ankerite carbonatite), TiO2, P2O5 (up to 9 wt %), REE (up to 3300 ppm), Nb (up to 400 ppm), Zr (up to 800 ppm), Fe, Cr, V, Ni, and Co at relatively low Sr concentrations. Both the metapicrite and the carbonatite are hundreds of times or even more enriched in Ta, Nb, K, and LREE relative to the mantle and are tens of times richer in Rb, Ba, Zr, Hf, and Ti. The high (Gd/Yb)CN ratios of the metapicrite (4.5–11) and carbonatite (4.5–17) testify that their source contained residual garnet, and the high K2O/Na2O ratios of the metapicrite (9–15) and carbonatite suggest that the source also contained phlogopite. The Nd isotopic ratios of the carbonatite suggest that the mantle source of the carbonatite was mildly depleted and similar to an average OIB source. The carbonatites of various mineral composition are believed to be formed via the crystallization differentiation of ferrocarbonatite melt, which segregated from ultramafic alkaline melt.

Conditions and formation mechanism of carbon phases in late quarternary geyzerites and travertines of Ol???khon area and Ol???khon Island (Baikal rift zone)

Late Quaternary geyserite and travertine in Ol’khon Area and Ol’khon Island contain a recently discovered high-temperature association of hydrocarbon and carbonaceous phases, including highly crystalline graphite, α-carbyne, and bitumen, which were produced at temperatures no lower than 400°C. A carbon modification α-carbyne, which was previously found only among experimental products, was first identified in geyserite from the Ol’khon area. Nanometer-sized morphostructures and crystallites were detected on the surface of highly crystalline graphite from the geyserite and travertine. No such structures and crystallites have ever been found on graphite of magmatic, metamorphic, metasomatic, or pneumatolytic origin. The newly formed nanometer-sized morphostructures and crystallites should be regarded as typomorphic features of carbonaceous phases in high-temperature hydrothermal rocks. Graphite was likely produced in the geyserite and travertine by low-pressure polycondenssation of hydrocarbons, at free growth in open space from oversaturated solutions and/or a gas phase.

Mineralogical and geochemical features of graphitized rocks in the Chernorudka-Barakchin Tectonic Zone

The morphological and structural characteristics of graphite from the deep Chernorudka-Barakchin Fault Zone, Western Baikal region, are described. A complex of mineralogical investigations shows that graphite varieties of the Baikal region are characterized by a perfect structure. The most crystallographically regular samples are composed only of sp2-carbon, whereas the virtually amorphous varieties are formed by sp2-and sp3-carbons as well. The characteristic features of the graphite varieties distinguish them from carbonaceous matter of metamorphic rocks. High concentrations of Co, Ni, Cr, Cu, Ti, Zn, Sc, V, S, Nb, Zr, Sr, Ba, Y, Nd, and La were detected while analyzing the microcomponent composition of the graphitized rocks. The majority of these elements are contained in microinclusions hosted in graphite. The elevated noble metal contents were established in graphitized metasomatic rocks, granitoids, and particularly, in graphite concentrates extracted from these rocks. Sulfides, native metals, and intermetallic compounds were detected in microinclusions. It is suggested that the inflow of reduced high-carbonaceous fluids was responsible for the transfer of chemical elements.

Carbonatite magmatism of the southern Siberian Craton 1 Ga ago: Evidence for the beginning of breakup of Laurasia in the early Neoproterozoic

Apatite and biotite from dolomite‒ankerite and calcite‒dolomite carbonatite dikes emplaced into the Paleoproterozoic metamorphic rock complex in the southern part of the Siberian Craton are dated by the U–Pb (LA-ICP-MS) and 40Ar–39Ar methods, respectively. Proceeding from the lower intercept of discordia with concordia, the age of apatite from calcite‒dolomite carbonatite is estimated to be 972 ± 21 Ma and that for apatite from dolomite‒ankerite carbonatite, as 929 ± 37 Ma. Values derived from their upper intercept have no geological sense. The ages obtained for biotite by the 40Ar–39Ar method are 965 ± 9 and 975 ± 14 Ma. It means that the formation of carbonatites reflects the earliest phases of the Neoproterozoic stage in extension of the continental lithosphere.