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PGE geochemistry and platinum-group minerals in chromitites from Indus Suture Zone ophiolite, northwest Himalaya, India

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Abstract

Podiform chromitites, a part of Nidar ophiolite complex from the Indus Suture Zone (ISZ), southeast Ladakh, host significant platinum-group elements (PGE) and platinum-group of minerals. These high Cr chromitites are found to be enveloped within the dunite rocks in the form of massive, semi-massive and stringers and as disseminated grains in all the ultramafic rocks. The PGE mineralization in these chromitites exhibits wide ranges (1487–4431 ppb). The Nidar ophiolite chromitites are rich in laurites (RuS2) and IPGE phases. The predominance of laurite phases in these chromitite samples is a distinctive feature of PGE mineralization, indicating their formation with interaction in an S-saturated tholeiitic magma and depleted harzburgites. The predominance of IPGE sulfides specifies a high sulfur fugacity in the melt. The higher content of PGE in the high Cr chromitites of Nidar ophiolite is not only a function of the degree of partial melting, but is related to the interaction between melt and harzburgite during the formation of chromitites.

Research highlights

  • A new set of PGE geochemistry of Nidar ophiolite chromitite is presented

  • Laurite and millerite are common PGM and BMM in the chromitites

  • The higher content of PGE is indicative of high degree of partial melting

  • The PGE mineralization in these chromitites is due to the high sulfur fugacity

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Acknowledgements

RN acknowledges the financial support from the Science Education and Research Board (SERB) and the Department of Science and Technology (DST) Govt. of India as a research grant in DST Fast Track Young Scientist Scheme (Grant No. SR/FTP/Es-60/2014). The author is grateful to Mr Durgesh and Prof Shushanta Sarangi (Dept. Of Applied Geology, IIT (ISM) Dhanbad) for the EPM analyses of the chromitites. We are thankful to the anonymous reviewers of the journal for improving the quality of the manuscript. Finally, we express our gratitude to Prof Somnath Dasgupta for his valuable comments and editorial handling of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Geology, Adama Science and Technology University, Adama, Ethiopia

    Ranjit Nayak

  2. Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, India

    Ranjit Nayak & Debasis Pal

  3. Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India

    Debasis Pal & Sakthi Saravanan Chinnasamy

  4. Geochemistry Division, CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad, India

    Manavalan Satyanarayanan

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  2. Debasis Pal
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  3. Sakthi Saravanan Chinnasamy
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  4. Manavalan Satyanarayanan
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Contributions

Fieldwork, data collection, conceptualization, methodology, validation, writing, representation, analyzing the data and drafting of the manuscript by Ranjit Nayak, data curation, editing and software by Debasis Pal; review and editing by Sakthi S Chinnasamy and Manavalan Satyanarayanan.

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Correspondence to Ranjit Nayak.

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Communicated by Somnath Dasgupta

Corresponding editor: Somnath Dasgupta

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Nayak, R., Pal, D., Chinnasamy, S.S. et al. PGE geochemistry and platinum-group minerals in chromitites from Indus Suture Zone ophiolite, northwest Himalaya, India. J Earth Syst Sci 132, 122 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-023-02135-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-023-02135-9

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