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Geochemistry and Petrology of Protosulfide Melts in an Ore-Bearing Apophysis of the Yoko-Dovyren Intrusion

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Abstract—

The paper presents results of petrological and geochemical studies of sulfide-bearing rocks from a bottom apophysis in the central part of the Yoko-Dovyren massif, northern Transbaikalia, Russia. It is composed of plagioperidotite and was sampled in a bulge up to 300 m thick throughout the whole vertical section, from its upper to lower contact. The observed diversity of sulfide-bearing rocks is subdivided into four types: (1) picrodolerite with droplet-shaped sulfides, (2) olivine gabbronorite with sulfides varying from droplet-shaped to irregular globules, (3) olivine gabbronorite with larger globules and patchy net-textured domains, and (4) net-textured ores. These varieties occur in the basal zone of the apophysis, in the interval up to 30 m inward from the lower contact. Petrographic features of these rocks correspond to olivine ortho- and mesocumulates, with the only exception of the quenched picrodolerite with an ophitic groundmass. The association of sulfides (pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, pentlandite, and cubanite) has a pretty little varying composition, except only a relative decrease in the proportion of chalcopyrite in samples with more than 5% sulfides. The results of X-ray computed tomography show an increase in the sulfide connectivity in the rocks (from 25 to 95%) with increasing sulfide abundance. These characteristics, supported by visualized 3D models, allowed us to identify a morpho-structural trend tended from the rocks with sulfide droplets to the net-textured ores. The first ever data were obtained on the chemostratigraphy (PGE and tellurium) of rocks composing this apophysis. Covariations of Au, Pt and Pd with S and Te indicate that the precious metals have a single sulfide precursor. The 100%-sulfide compositions calculated for these rocks indicate that the most primitive and PGE rich sulfides correspond to droplets it the lowerest part of the apophysis, whereas the net-textured ores are depleted in these elements. The geochemical estimates are supported with COMAGMAT-5 modeling which made it possible to calculate the average Au, PGE, and Te contents in the protosulfide melt (in ppm): 2.9 Au, 14.4 Pt, 25.1 Pd, and 44.3 Te. Results of the geochemical studies of different fragments of the net-textured ores reveal a heterogeneity in the form of domains relatively enriched in copper, PGE, and tellurium, whose characteristic size is a few dozen centimeters. This can be considered as a signature of the porous migration and accumulation of the crystallization products of the original sulfide liquid at the subsolidus stage of cooling down the ore-bearing cumulates.

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Notes

  1. An is Ca/(Ca + Na + K) × 100.

  2. mg# = Mg/(Mg + Fetot) × 100.

  3. cr# = Cr/(Cr + Fetot) × 100.

  4. \(D_{i}^{{{{Sf} \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {{Sf} {Melt}}} \right. \kern-0em} {Melt}}}}\) = 1000 (Cu), 5/36 × 105 (Pd), 1/56 × 106 (Pt), 1.12 × 105 (Au), and 9000 (Te).

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors thank E.M Spiridonov for help with the fieldwork and consultations on the mineralogical study. A.N. Khomyak is thanked for practical recommendations on processing CT data. The composition of mineral phases was studied at the Laboratory for Analysis of Materials at a High Spatial Resolution at the Department of Petrology, Moscow State University (analysts V.O. Yapaskurt and N.N. Korotaeva). Special thanks are due to M.A. Yudovskaya (Institute of the Geology of Ore Deposits, Petrography, Mineralogy, and Geochemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences) and O.A. Lukanin (Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences) for valuable comments on the content of the manuscript.

Funding

Samples for the mineralogical study were prepared under a government-financed research project for Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences. This study was financially supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, project no. 16-17-10129.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geological Faculty, Moscow State University, 119991, Moscow, Russia

    I. V. Pshenitsyn, A. A. Ariskin, D. V. Korost, V. O. Yapaskurt & S. N. Sobolev

  2. Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119991, Moscow, Russia

    I. V. Pshenitsyn, A. A. Ariskin, G. S. Nikolaev, S. N. Sobolev, I. V. Kubrakova & O. A. Tyutyunnik

  3. Geological Institute, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, 670047, Ulan-Ude, Russia

    E. V. Kislov

  4. Banzarov Buryat State University, 670000, Ulan-Ude, Russia

    E. V. Kislov

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  1. I. V. Pshenitsyn
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Pshenitsyn, I.V., Ariskin, A.A., Nikolaev, G.S. et al. Geochemistry and Petrology of Protosulfide Melts in an Ore-Bearing Apophysis of the Yoko-Dovyren Intrusion. Geochem. Int. 60, 235–255 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0016702922030065

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