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Isotope geochemistry and geochronology of the gabbro of the Volkovsky Massif, Urals

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Abstract

40Ar-39Ar, Sm-Nd, U-Pb, and Lu-Hf isotope data are reported on the gabbro of the Volkovsky Massif, the only massif of the Uralian Platinum Belt wherein economic copper-iron-vanadium and high-grade gold-palladium mineralization is present. The massif is made up of gabbro blocks with concentrically zoned structure and diorite intrusions in its core. In the northeast and southwest, the gabbro is cut by syenite of the Kushva Massif. Gabbro blocks mainly consist of the olivine-anorthite gabbro, while labradorite two- pyroxene gabbro intersects both olivine-anorthite gabbro and Ti-magnetite and copper-PGE mineralization developed in them. The study of both gabbro types by Sm-Nd isochron and U-Pb (SHRIMP II) zircon methods with subsequent REE and Lu-Hf isotope analysis of zircon made it possible to date reliably (428 ± 7 Ma (SHRIMP) and 436 ± 21 Ma (Sm-Nd)) postore labradorite gabbro and, correspondingly, the upper age limit of the mineralization of the Volkovsky Massif. Ore-bearing olivine-anorthite gabbro contain four different-age zircon populations: 2682 ± 37–972 ± 18 Ma, 655 ± 15 to 565 ± 9 Ma; 450 ± 12 Ma, and 343 ± 8 Ma. Hf-Nd isotope systematics showed that zircon with an age of 450 ± 12 Ma presumably marks the formation age of the rocks, the older zircon was trapped, while zircon with an age of 343 ± 8 Ma was formed during low-temperature transformation of the rock and sometimes contains excess radiogenic Hf. Proterozoic xenogenic zircon was inherited from diverse rocks of ancient crust, while the oldest grain with an age of 2065 Ma was possibly formed in a deep mantle source. Vendian zircon was presumably also entrapped, and its morphology and geochemistry point to the crystallization from a basaltic melt. The abundance of pre-Paleozoic zircon in the olivine-anorthite gabbro suggests significant contribution of ancient material in their petrogenesis. This material could serve as source of ore components (metals and sulfur) for unique copper-sulfide gold-PGE mineralization of the Volkovsky Massif.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. A.N. Zavaritsky Institute of Geology and Geochemistry, Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pochtovyi per. 7, Yekaterinburg, 620075, Russia

    E. V. Anikina, A. A. Krasnobaev, Yu. L. Ronkin, A. V. Alexeev & S. V. Busharina

  2. A.P. Karpinsky Russian Geological Research Institute, Srednii pr. 74, St. Petersburg, 199106, Russia

    I. N. Kapitonov

  3. St. Petersburg State University, Universitetskaya nab. 7/9, St. Petersburg, 199034, Russia

    K. I. Lokhov

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  1. E. V. Anikina
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Original Russian Text © E.V. Anikina, A.A. Krasnobaev, Yu.L. Ronkin, A.V. Alexeev, S.V. Busharina, I.N. Kapitonov, K.I. Lokhov, 2014, published in Geokhimiya, 2014, Vol. 52, No. 2, pp. 99–123.

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Anikina, E.V., Krasnobaev, A.A., Ronkin, Y.L. et al. Isotope geochemistry and geochronology of the gabbro of the Volkovsky Massif, Urals. Geochem. Int. 52, 89–110 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0016702914020025

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