Petrostructural typification of the kanskiy greenstone belt ultramafites

Two types of ultramafites have been distinguished in the Kanskiy greenstone belt (NW of the Eastern Sayan): magmatic of the dunite-wehrlite-picrite composition and restitic of the dunite-harzburgite composition. They are united into Kingashskiy and Idarskiy complexes, correspondingl

The structural evolution of dunite and chromite ore from the Kharcheruz massif, the Polar Urals

The Kharcheruz block of the Syumkeu ultramafic massif is a southern fragment of the Khadata ophiolitic belt, which closes the ophiolites of the Polar Urals in the north. The block, striking in the latitudinal direction, is sheetlike in shape and primarily composed of dunite with nearly latitudinal zones of chromite mineralization. The dunites are subject to ductile deformation various in intensity, and this variability is displayed in their heterogeneous structure and texture. The following microstructural types are distinguished by the variety and intensity of their deformation: protogranular → mesogranular → porphyroclastic → porphyrolath → mosaic. The petrostructural patterns of olivines pertaining to the above types reflect conditions of ductile deformation. Protogranular dunite is formed as a product of pyroxene decomposition in mantle harzburgite accompanied by annealing recrystallization at a temperature above 1000°C. Mesogranular dunite is formed as a product of high-temperature plastic flow by means of translation sliding in olivine and diffuse creep at a temperature dropping from 1000 to 650°C and at a low rate (10–6 s–1). Dunite is deformed by means of syntectonic recrystallization and subordinate translation gliding. Linear zones of disseminated mineralization undergo destruction thereby, with the formation of lenticular chromitite bodies from which ductile olivine is squeezed out with the formation of densely impregnated and massive ores

New ore minerals from the Kingash ultramafic massif, Northwestern Eastern Sayan

The paper discusses earlier poorly studied mineralized rocks of the Kingash ultramafic complex in the Kan Block of the Eastern Sayan, including the large Cu–Ni–PGE deposit of the same name. Despite many researchers' increased interest in the Kingash massif, a number of questions related to the petrology, formation mechanism, and localization of Cu–Ni–PGE ore remain controversial. Along with already known ore minerals, we have identified and described a number of new mineral species: argentite, Fe-enriched sperrylite, a bismuth variety of merenskyite, gersdorffite, cobaltite, and thorianite. The ore minerals are distinguished by a higher relative amount of Fe, and this makes the Kingash deposits close to other Paleoproterozoic Cu–Ni deposits, e.g., the Jinchuan in China, Pechenga in Russia, Ungava in Canada, Mt. Scholl in Australia, etc

Plastically deformed ultramafites of the Ergaksky chromite-bearing massif (Western Sayan)

Dunites and harzburgites of Ergaksky massif constantly show signs of plastic deformation of olivine and enstatite as inhomogeneous extinction, bands of plastic fracture and sintectonic recrystallization. At level of the upper mantle dunites and harzburgites have undergone plastic deformation by translational sliding in olivine at high temperature and low speed. As a result, ultramafic with medium-grained, meso-granular texture formed. In the process of movement in the Earth's crust plastic deformation occurs mostly as sintectonic recrystallization at subordinate role of translational sliding in conditions of decreasing temperatures and growing speed of plastic flow. This has contributed to the formation of porphyroclastic textures, while translational sliding promoted the distortion of crystal structure and the emergence of non-homogeneous extinction and bands of plastic fracture. Olivinites appeared as a result of secondary recrystallization of annealing under influence of high-temperature fluids on ultramafites

Application of multivariate statistical analysis for delineation of prospective geochemical anomalies in Providenskaya Area (Chukotka, Russia)

The secondary geochemical field structure was modelled on the basis of the lithogeochemical dispersion trains of the Providenskaya Area of the Chukotka Peninsula. The factor and cluster analysis were applied to interpret the nature of geochemical anomalies. It was proved that a range of anomalies were prospective for gold-silver, polymetallic, tin, and tungsten deposit allocation

Polar and non-polar structures of NH4TiOF3

Ammonium oxo­fluoro­titanate, NH4TiOF3, is probably the best known precursor for the synthesis of anatase mesocrystals. Transformation of NH4TiOF3 into TiO2 through thermal decomposition, accompanied by hydrolysis, preserves some structural features of the precursor. Currently, any discussion of the mechanism of this transformation is difficult, as the exact crystal structure of the starting compound is not available and no intermediate structures are known. This article describes the outcome of single-crystal and powder X-ray diffraction studies, revealing the existence of two polymorphs of the parent NH4TiOF3 at different temperatures. A second-order phase transition from the polar Pca21 α phase (1), stable at room temperature, to the Pma2 β phase (2) above ∼433 K has been demonstrated. The direction of the pseudo-fourfold axis in NH4TiOF3 coincides with the orientation of the fourfold axis of anatase mesocrystals, consistent with a topotactical transformation