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Granophyre Norites and Diorites of the Jarva-Varaka Massif (Monchegorsk Ore Area, Kola Region, Russia): Geology, Petrography, Geochemistry, Geochronology and Origin

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Abstract

The results of geological, geochemical, and geochronological studies of granophyre rocks from the Jarva-Varaka Massif (Kola region) are presented. The 2-km section of the massif is composed of mafic and felsic norites, hypersthene diorite, pigeonite-augitic diorite, quartz diorite, and granodiorite. All these rocks contain a variable amount of granophyre (micropegmatite), from ~10% in norites that compose the lower part of the massif, to ~45% in quartz diorite and granodiorite of the upper part. The Sudbury Igneous Complex (SIC) is the only known case of a similar 2-km thick section of granophyre rocks whose composition varies from mafic at the bottom to felsic at the top. The SIC has an impact origin, which suggests a similar formation mechanism for the Jarva-Varaka Massif. The norites contain micro-xenoliths of the host high-alumina gneisses, which were transformed to rocks of the high-grade hornfels facies. Such gneisses are absent among the country rocks of other mafic intrusions in the area, and it suggests that the parental melt for mafic norites could have assimilated the host rocks. Given the relatively small size of the massif, the formation of hornfelses could have occurred if the xenoliths would be entrained by a melt under near-surface conditions, and the melt was hot enough to cause the formation of hornfelses. Spinifex-like structures in the diorites of the very marginal contact zone of the Jarva-Varaka Massif indicate very rapid cooling of a high-temperature melt, which is typical of near-surface conditions. A pseudotachylitic breccia, planar deformations in quartz, kink-bands in biotite and clinozoisite, zircon and inclusions of sillimanite and plagioclase all transformed into diaplectic glasses detected in the host rocks of the Jarva-Varaka Massif are interpreted as distinct signs of shock metamorphism. Geophysical data show no signs that beneath the Jarva-Varaka Massif there exists a large mafic intrusion that could have contaminated large volumes of crustal material, and magmatic differentiation of which could have produced a large volume of enriched melt whose crystallization could resulted in the formation of granophyre rocks from the bottom to the top of the magma chamber. All of the aforementioned data indicate that the impact origin of the 2.5 Ga Jarva-Varaka Massif is very likely.

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Notes

  1. The mineral abbreviations are after (Whitney and Evans, 2010).

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors greatly apprecciate the help and valuable advices from M.V. Naumov, N.P. Vinogradova, and L.I. Konstantinova. The authors are also very grateful to V.V. Balagansky and the anonymous reviewer, for their considerate reading of the manuscript and numerous insightful comments.

Funding

This work was carried out within the framework of the state assignment No. AAAA-A19-119100290148-4, FMEZ-2022-0025.

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  1. Geological Institute, Kola Science Centre Russian Academy of Sciences, 184209, Apatity, Murmansk oblast, Russia

    L. I. Nerovich, T. V. Kaulina, T. B. Bayanova, V. L. Il’chenko, M. A. Gannibal, E. L. Kunakkuzin, A. V. Bazai, S. V. Mudruk, E. S. Borisenko & M. A. Sosnovskaya

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Nerovich, L.I., Kaulina, T.V., Bayanova, T.B. et al. Granophyre Norites and Diorites of the Jarva-Varaka Massif (Monchegorsk Ore Area, Kola Region, Russia): Geology, Petrography, Geochemistry, Geochronology and Origin. Geochem. Int. 61, 572–592 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0016702923060071

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