Composition, crystallization conditions and genesis of sulfide-saturated parental melts of olivine-phyric rocks from Kamchatsky Mys (Kamchatka, Russia)

Highlights • Parental melts of sulfide-bearing KM rocks have near primary MORB-like composition. • Crystallization of these S-saturated melts occurred in near-surface conditions. • Extensive fractionation and crustal assimilation are not the causes of S-saturation. • S content in melts can be restored by accounting for daughter sulfide globules. Abstract Sulfide liquids that immiscibly separate from silicate melts in different magmatic processes accumulate chalcophile metals and may represent important sources of the metals in Earth's crust for the formation of ore deposits. Sulfide phases commonly found in some primitive mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORB) may support the occurrence of sulfide immiscibility in the crust without requiring magma contamination and/or extensive fractionation. However, the records of incipient sulfide melts in equilibrium with primitive high-Mg olivine and Cr-spinel are scarce. Sulfide globules in olivine phenocrysts in picritic rocks of MORB-affinity at Kamchatsky Mys (Eastern Kamchatka, Russia) represent a well-documented example of natural immiscibility in primitive oceanic magmas. Our study examines the conditions of silicate-sulfide immiscibility in these magmas by reporting high precision data on the compositions of Cr-spinel and silicate melt inclusions, hosted in Mg-rich olivine (86.9–90 mol% Fo), which also contain globules of magmatic sulfide melt. Major and trace element contents of reconstructed parental silicate melts, redox conditions (ΔQFM = +0.1 ± 0.16 (1σ) log. units) and crystallization temperature (1200–1285 °C), as well as mantle potential temperatures (~1350 °C), correspond to typical MORB values. We show that nearly 50% of sulfur could be captured in daughter sulfide globules even in reheated melt inclusions, which could lead to a significant underestimation of sulfur content in reconstructed silicate melts. The saturation of these melts in sulfur appears to be unrelated to the effects of melt crystallization and crustal assimilation, so we discuss the reasons for the S variations in reconstructed melts and the influence of pressure and other parameters on the SCSS (Sulfur Content at Sulfide Saturation)

High-grade regional metamorphism of ultramafic and mafic rocks from the Archaean Sargur terrane, Karnataka, South India

Deformed and metamorphic ultramafic to mafic rocks emplaced into the Archaean Sargur supracrustal series (>3.0 Ga) in Karnataka, southern India, represent layered igneous bodies. The terrane has been affected by several episodes of deformation and metamorphism in the time span from 3.4 to 2.5 Ga ago. During the regional metamorphism about 2.5 Ga ago the igneous bodies re-equilibrated partly or completely at conditions of the upper amphibolite to granulite facies. The development of sagvandites with enstatite + magnesite and anthophyllite + magnesite-bearing assemblages, and of mafic garnet-pyroxene charnockites indicates the presence of CO2-rich intergranular fluids (XCO2 ≥ 0.5) in these rocks during metamorphism. The physical conditions of metamorphism have been estimated by applying methods of geothermobarometry to the recrystallized ultramafic assemblages with olivine, pyroxenes and spinel and to the charnockitic assemblages with garnet, pyroxenes, plagioclase and quartz. A best temperature estimate of 700 ± 30°C was derived with the geothermometers of Evans and Frost (Ol-Spi), Fabriès (Ol-Spi), Wells (Opx-Cpx), Powell (Opx-Cpx), Ellis and Green (Gra-Cpx), Lal and Raith (Gra-Opx), and Danckwerth and Newton (Al2O3-content in opx). A mean pressure estimate of 8.6 ± 0.8 kbar has been obtained with the models of Perkins and Newton (Gar-Opx/Cpx-Plag-Qtz). The P-T data indicate a minimum crustal thickness of about 35 km at c. 2.5 Ga in this part of the South Indian Archaean craton