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Evolution of borate minerals from contact metamorphic to hydrothermal stages: Ludwigite-group minerals and szaibélyite from the Vysoká – Zlatno skarn, Slovakia

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Abstract

Borate minerals of the ludwigite group (LGM) and szaibélyite in association with hydroxylclinohumite, clinochlore, a serpentine mineral, magnesian magnetite, spinel, magnesite, dolomite and sulphide minerals, occur in a magnesian exoskarn in the R-20 borehole located in the Vysoká – Zlatno Cu-Au porphyry-skarn deposit, located within the Štiavnica Neogene stratovolcano, Western Carpathians, central Slovakia. The skarn is developed along the contact of Miocene granodiorite to quartz-diorite porphyry and a Middle-Upper Triassic dolomite-shale-psammite-anhydrite sedimentary sequence. The boron minerals were investigated by electron probe micro-analyser (EPMA) and micro-Raman techniques. The source of boron could have been from the granodiorite/quartz diorite intrusion; however some supply of B from adjacent evaporite-bearing sediments is also possible. Based on textural and compositional data, the minerals originated during two stages. (1) An early high-temperature, contact-metamorphic and metasomatic stage comprises coarse-crystalline aggregate of LGM (types 1 to 3) in association with hydroxylclinohumite, magnetite, and rarely spinel inclusions in LGM. Compositional variations of LGM show a crystallization sequence from early azoproite [≤17 wt% TiO2; ~0.40 atoms pre formula unit (apfu) Ti, which correspond to ≤79 mol% of the Mg2(Mg0.5Ti0.5)O2(BO3) end-member], Ti-Al-rich members of LGM, “aluminoludwigite “[≤14 wt% Al2O3; ≤0.53 apfu, ≤53 mol% of Mg2AlO2(BO3) end-member] and Al-rich ludwigite in the central zone of crystals, to Ti-Al-poor ludwigite in outer parts of crystals. (2) Minerals of the late retrograde serpentinization and hydrothermal stage form irregular veinlets and aggregates, including partial alteration of hydroxylclinohumite to the serpentine-group mineral and clinochlore, replacement of LGM by szaibélyite, formation of the latest generation of Fe-rich, Ti-Al poor ludwigite in veinlets (type 4), and precipitation of dolomite, magnesite and sulphide minerals (valleriite, sphalerite, chalcopyrite). The distinct compositional zoning of the LGM documents a complex evolution of the skarn beginning with a high-temperature stage 1 and ending with a low-temperature overprint, stage 2.

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Acknowledgements

Authors thank Ľ. Rojkovičová for mineral samples, and P. Konečný and V. Kollárová for their assistance during the EPMA analytical work. We also acknowledge reviews of Edward S. Grew and Evgeny Galuskin as well as comments of guest editor Ray Macdonald and editor-in-chief Lutz Nasdala, which greatly improved the manuscript. The present work was supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency under the projects APVV-0537-10 and APVV-15-0050, as well as the VEGA-1/0560/15 project of Ministry of Education, Slovak Republic.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mineralogy and Petrology, Comenius University, Ilkovičova 6, 842 15, Bratislava, Slovakia

    Vladimír Bilohuščin, Pavel Uher & Peter Bačík

  2. Department of Mineral Deposits, Comenius University, Ilkovičova 6, 842 15, Bratislava, Slovakia

    Peter Koděra

  3. Earth Science Institute, Banská Bystrica branch, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Ďumbierska 1, 975 01, Banská Bystrica, Slovakia

    Stanislava Milovská & Tomáš Mikuš

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  1. Vladimír Bilohuščin
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Correspondence to Pavel Uher.

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Editorial handling: R. Macdonald

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Bilohuščin, V., Uher, P., Koděra, P. et al. Evolution of borate minerals from contact metamorphic to hydrothermal stages: Ludwigite-group minerals and szaibélyite from the Vysoká – Zlatno skarn, Slovakia. Miner Petrol 111, 643–658 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00710-017-0518-y

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