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The Vysotskite holotype: Metamorphogenic–Hydrothermal Vysotskite (Pd,Ni)S from the Noril’sk-1 Deposit

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Abstract

Vysotskite is widespread in the Noril’sk-I deposit of Co–Ni–Cu sulfide massive and disseminated (“amygdaloid”) ores affected by posttrap low-grade metamorphism under conditions of prehnite–pumpellyite and zeolite (lomontite) facies, in association with ferruginous chlorite, babingtonite, ilvaite, greenalite, millerite, cummingtonite, grunerite, prehnite, pumpellyite, corrensite, polydymite, galena, and chalcopyrite. This metamorphosed sulfide ores facies formed at a low oxygen potential and the relatively increased fugacity of sulfide sulfur. Vysotskite here is extremely poor in platinum, but is enriched in nickel and partly in iron. Its average composition (wt %, n = 17): Pd 65.65 is Pt, 0.12; Rh, traces; Ni, 8.25; Fe, 0.95; Cu, 0.32; Co, 0.03; S, 25.03; and As 0.03; the sum is 100.38; the formula of this vysotskite is (Pd0.79Ni0.18Fe0.02Cu0.01)1S1. In terms of mineral associations and chemical composition it corresponds to the Vysotskite discovered by A.D. Genkin and O.E. Zvyagintsev (1962). Thus, the vysotskite holotype is a metamorphogenic–hydrothermal vysotskite of the Noril’sk-I deposit with the composition (Pd, Ni)S.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author is grateful to E.A. Kulagov for his help in sample collecting and to N.N. Korotaeva for the high quality microprobe analyses.

Funding

This work is supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (project no. 19-05-00490), using the equipment purchased in the framework of the Moscow State University Development Program.

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  1. Department of Geology, Moscow State University, 119991, Moscow, Russia

    E. M. Spiridonov

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Correspondence to E. M. Spiridonov.

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Translated by M. Nickolsky

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Spiridonov, E.M. The Vysotskite holotype: Metamorphogenic–Hydrothermal Vysotskite (Pd,Ni)S from the Noril’sk-1 Deposit. Moscow Univ. Geol. Bull. 76, 316–324 (2021). https://doi.org/10.3103/S0145875221030121

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