C-depleted moissanites in subduction-related rocks: tracers of slab fluids in the Earth’s mantle and a new diamond exploration tool

A magnesian low-Ti shoshonite dike intruding Archean Norwegian Terrane includes numerous grains of black, blue and gray moissanite (SiC). Moissanite contains inclusions of native Si, Fe and Al, Fe-Cr carbides, Fe-Cr-Mn alloys and diamond. The range of observed δ13C values (-24.8 to -29.6‰) is similar to ophiolite-hosted SiC, lower mantle diamonds and slab-derived biogenic carbon. Norwegian moissanites may have been formed during interaction of Earth’s mantle with carbonaceous slab fluids under extremely reducing conditions as suggested by native metal and carbide inclusions. 13C-depleted moissanite can be used as a new exploration tool for sub-lithospheric diamonds in Archean to Phanerozoic accreted terranes and mobile belts

Gold, platinum and palladium enrichments in arcs: role of mantle wedge, arc crust and halogen-rich slab fluids

Arc-related magmas are frequently enriched in Au, Pt and Pd in respect to MORB and OIB igneous suites. Magmatic arcs commonly host large-scale hydrothermal Au and Au-Cu and PGE mineralization related to young volcanic systems and zoned ultramafic complexes respectively. Island-arc mantle xenoliths show Au, Pt, Pd enrichments related to mantle wedge metasomatism by slab-derived fluids. Long-lived plumbing systems in arc crust (arc magma chambers) show further enhancement of Au, Pt and Pd enrichments through subduction-related metamorphic and metasomatic processes in the presence of halogen-rich, aqueous fluids. We propose that Au-Pt-Pd enrichments in arcs are caused by mantle wedge-slab interactions followed by differentiation and metamorphism of magmatic conduits in arc crust

Paleomagnetism and Tectonics of the Kamchatka Region, Northeastern Russia: Implications for Development and Evolution of the Northwest Pacitic Basin

The Kamchatka Peninsula of northeastern Russia is located along the northwestern margin of the Bering Sea and consists of zones of complexly deformed accreted terranes. Along the northern portion of the peninsula, progressing from the northwestern Bering Sea inland the Olyutorskiy, Ukelayat, and Koryak superterranes are accreted to the Okhotsk-Chukotsk volcanic-plutonic belt in northern-most Kamchatka. A sedimentary sequence of Albian to Maastrichtian age overlap terranes and units of the Koryak superterrane and constrains their accretion time with this region of the North America plate. Ophiolite complexes, widespread within the Koryak superterrane, are associated with serpentinite melanges and some of the ophiolite terranes include large portions of weakly serpentinized hyperbasites, layered gabbro, sheeted dikes, and pillow basalts outcropping as internally coherent blocks within a sheared melange matrix. Interpretation of magnetic anomalies allow the correlation of the Ukelayat with the West Kamchatka and Sredinny Range superterranes. The Olyutorskiy composite terrane may be correlated with the central and southern Kamchatka Peninsula Litke, Eastern Ranges and Vetlov composite terranes. The most "out-board" of the central and southern Kamchatka Peninsula terranes is the Kronotsky composite terrane, well exposed along the Kamchatka, Kronotsky and Shipunsky Capes. Using regional geological constraints, paleomagnetism, and plate kinematic models for the Pacific basin a regional model can be proposed in which accretion of the Koryak composite terrane to the North America plate occurs during the Campanian-Maastrichtian, followed by the accretion of the Olyutorskiy composite terrane in the Middle Eocene, and the Late Oligocene-Early Miocene collision of the Kronotsky composite terrane. A revised age estimate of a key overlapping sedimentary sequence of the Koryak superterrane, calibrated with new Ar40/Ar39 data, supports its Late Cretaceous accretion age

Formation of Gold Alloys during Crustal Differentiation of Convergent Zone Magmas: Constraints from an AU-Rich Websterite in the Stanovoy Suture Zone (Russian Far East)

Gold is typically transported by mafic and evolved magmas into the upper crust to be deposited in shallow oxidized porphyry and epithermal environments. However, the magmatic behavior of gold is still poorly understood and warrants further attention. Additional insights into the magmatic evolution of gold and other noble metals can be provided by investigations of primitive convergent zone magmas and products of their differentiation that contain primary-textured Au-alloys. One of the best examples of such Au-rich ultramafic cumulates is the Triassic (232–233 Ma) Ildeus intrusion, which was emplaced within the Mesozoic Stanovoy subduction zone in the Russian Far East. Some websterites from the Ildeus intrusion, representing cumulates crystallized from a primitive convergent zone magma, are enriched in Au (up to 596 ppm) and contain abundant Cu-Ag-Au micro-particles. Most of these Au-alloy micro-particles display compositions similar to those previously found in explosive pyroclastic rocks in the Lesser Khingan iron district, mantle wedge peridotites in Kamchatka and Cretaceous adakites in the Stanovoy suture zone. Textural and compositional characteristics suggest that Cu-Ag-Au alloys precipitated from a primitive calc-alkaline melt during its crustal differentiation in a Mesozoic paleo-subduction zone. Some large Cu-Ag-Au grains display an internal honeycomb-like structure with alternating Cu-rich and Cu-poor zones. Heating experiments under atmospheric conditions recorded a substantial loss of Cu from primary magmatic Cu-Ag-Au alloys, which appears to be a process characteristic of oxidized hydrothermal ore systems. We suggest that the later-stage hydrothermal alteration of differentiated igneous conduits containing magmatic gold alloys results in the formation of Cu-free gold mineralization comparable to the upper crustal porphyry and epithermal environments

Adakites, High-Nb Basalts and Copper–Gold Deposits in Magmatic Arcs and Collisional Orogens: An Overview

Adakites are Y- and Yb-depleted, SiO2- and Sr-enriched rocks with elevated Sr/Y and La/Yb ratios originally thought to represent partial melts of subducted metabasalt, based on their association with the subduction of young (<25 Ma) and hot oceanic crust. Later, adakites were found in arc segments associated with oblique, slow and flat subduction, arc–transform intersections, collision zones and post-collisional extensional environments. New models of adakite petrogenesis include the melting of thickened and delaminated mafic lower crust, basalt underplating of the continental crust and high-pressure fractionation (amphibole ± garnet) of mantle-derived, hydrous mafic melts. In some cases, adakites are associated with Nb-enriched (10 ppm < Nb < 20 ppm) and high-Nb (Nb > 20 ppm) arc basalts in ancient and modern subduction zones (HNBs). Two types of HNBs are recognized on the basis of their geochemistry. Type I HNBs (Kamchatka, Honduras) share N-MORB-like isotopic and OIB-like trace element characteristics and most probably originate from adakite-contaminated mantle sources. Type II HNBs (Sulu arc, Jamaica) display high-field strength element enrichments in respect to island-arc basalts coupled with enriched, OIB-like isotopic signatures, suggesting derivation from asthenospheric mantle sources in arcs. Adakites and, to a lesser extent, HNBs are associated with Cu–Au porphyry and epithermal deposits in Cenozoic magmatic arcs (Kamchatka, Phlippines, Indonesia, Andean margin) and Paleozoic-Mesozoic (Central Asian and Tethyan) collisional orogens. This association is believed to be not just temporal and structural but also genetic due to the hydrous (common presence of amphibole and biotite), highly oxidized (>ΔFMQ > +2) and S-rich (anhydrite in modern Pinatubo and El Chichon adakite eruptions) nature of adakite magmas. Cretaceous adakites from the Stanovoy Suture Zone in Far East Russia contain Cu–Ag–Au and Cu–Zn–Mo–Ag alloys, native Au and Pt, cupriferous Ag in association witn barite and Ag-chloride. Stanovoy adakites also have systematically higher Au contents in comparison with volcanic arc magmas, suggesting that ore-forming hydrothermal fluids responsible for Cu–Au(Mo–Ag) porphyry and epithermal mineralization in upper crustal environments could have been exsolved from metal-saturated, H2O–S–Cl-rich adakite magmas. The interaction between depleted mantle peridotites and metal-rich adakites appears to be capable of producing (under a certain set of conditions) fertile sources for HNB melts connected with some epithermal Au (Porgera) and porphyry Cu–Au–Mo (Tibet, Iran) mineralized systems in modern and ancient subduction zones

Adakites, High-Nb Basalts and Copper–Gold Deposits in Magmatic Arcs and Collisional Orogens: An Overview

Adakites are Y- and Yb-depleted, SiO2- and Sr-enriched rocks with elevated Sr/Y and La/Yb ratios originally thought to represent partial melts of subducted metabasalt, based on their association with the subduction of young ( 20 ppm) arc basalts in ancient and modern subduction zones (HNBs). Two types of HNBs are recognized on the basis of their geochemistry. Type I HNBs (Kamchatka, Honduras) share N-MORB-like isotopic and OIB-like trace element characteristics and most probably originate from adakite-contaminated mantle sources. Type II HNBs (Sulu arc, Jamaica) display high-field strength element enrichments in respect to island-arc basalts coupled with enriched, OIB-like isotopic signatures, suggesting derivation from asthenospheric mantle sources in arcs. Adakites and, to a lesser extent, HNBs are associated with Cu–Au porphyry and epithermal deposits in Cenozoic magmatic arcs (Kamchatka, Phlippines, Indonesia, Andean margin) and Paleozoic-Mesozoic (Central Asian and Tethyan) collisional orogens. This association is believed to be not just temporal and structural but also genetic due to the hydrous (common presence of amphibole and biotite), highly oxidized (>ΔFMQ > +2) and S-rich (anhydrite in modern Pinatubo and El Chichon adakite eruptions) nature of adakite magmas. Cretaceous adakites from the Stanovoy Suture Zone in Far East Russia contain Cu–Ag–Au and Cu–Zn–Mo–Ag alloys, native Au and Pt, cupriferous Ag in association witn barite and Ag-chloride. Stanovoy adakites also have systematically higher Au contents in comparison with volcanic arc magmas, suggesting that ore-forming hydrothermal fluids responsible for Cu–Au(Mo–Ag) porphyry and epithermal mineralization in upper crustal environments could have been exsolved from metal-saturated, H2O–S–Cl-rich adakite magmas. The interaction between depleted mantle peridotites and metal-rich adakites appears to be capable of producing (under a certain set of conditions) fertile sources for HNB melts connected with some epithermal Au (Porgera) and porphyry Cu–Au–Mo (Tibet, Iran) mineralized systems in modern and ancient subduction zones

Formation of Gold Alloys during Crustal Differentiation of Convergent Zone Magmas: Constraints from an AU-Rich Websterite in the Stanovoy Suture Zone (Russian Far East)

Gold is typically transported by mafic and evolved magmas into the upper crust to be deposited in shallow oxidized porphyry and epithermal environments. However, the magmatic behavior of gold is still poorly understood and warrants further attention. Additional insights into the magmatic evolution of gold and other noble metals can be provided by investigations of primitive convergent zone magmas and products of their differentiation that contain primary-textured Au-alloys. One of the best examples of such Au-rich ultramafic cumulates is the Triassic (232–233 Ma) Ildeus intrusion, which was emplaced within the Mesozoic Stanovoy subduction zone in the Russian Far East. Some websterites from the Ildeus intrusion, representing cumulates crystallized from a primitive convergent zone magma, are enriched in Au (up to 596 ppm) and contain abundant Cu-Ag-Au micro-particles. Most of these Au-alloy micro-particles display compositions similar to those previously found in explosive pyroclastic rocks in the Lesser Khingan iron district, mantle wedge peridotites in Kamchatka and Cretaceous adakites in the Stanovoy suture zone. Textural and compositional characteristics suggest that Cu-Ag-Au alloys precipitated from a primitive calc-alkaline melt during its crustal differentiation in a Mesozoic paleo-subduction zone. Some large Cu-Ag-Au grains display an internal honeycomb-like structure with alternating Cu-rich and Cu-poor zones. Heating experiments under atmospheric conditions recorded a substantial loss of Cu from primary magmatic Cu-Ag-Au alloys, which appears to be a process characteristic of oxidized hydrothermal ore systems. We suggest that the later-stage hydrothermal alteration of differentiated igneous conduits containing magmatic gold alloys results in the formation of Cu-free gold mineralization comparable to the upper crustal porphyry and epithermal environments