The Alteration and Mineralization Characteristics of Miocene Porphyry Cu-Au Deposits of Chagai Magmatic Belt, District Chagai, Balochistan, Pakistan

Subduction related Miocene porphyry type deposits are found in the east-west trending Chagai magmatic belt (CMB) in Pakistan's western margin, Balochistan. This arc exists on the west segment of the Tethyan metallogenic belt in the south-west of Pakistan. Tethyan metallogenic belt is widely spread over 12,000 km from east to west direction from Indochina, Tibet, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey and Alpine mountain range in Europe. During the last thirty to forty years several porphyry deposits have been reported in the Chagai magmatic arc, including the very large Reko Diq H14-H15, large Saindak, Tanjeel, H35, H8 and medium Dasht-e-Kain porphyry deposits and many small porphyry copper deposits. These porphyry deposits were developed within the phase of calc-alkaline type magmatism in the Chagai arc. Tonalite, quartz diorite, and monzonite host the porphyry deposits within the adjacent sedimentary wall rock units of Sinjrani Volcanic Group, Juzzak, Saindak, and Amalaf Formations. The concentric zonal pattern of hydrothermal alteration in these porphyry deposits of the Chagai magmatic arc follows the world's major porphyry deposits' alteration pattern. Zones of hydrothermal alteration from distal to proximal part includesa potassic alteration, sericitic-clay-chlorite alteration, sericitic alteration, argillic alteration and propylitic alteration. Major ore mineralization in these deposits is of copper, gold, silver, molybdenum, and minor constituents of other base metals that have been reported to occur within hydrothermal alteration zones in the Miocene porphyry Chagai magmatic ar

GEOLOGICAL AND PETROGRAPHICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SORAP MASSIF GABBROS, RAS-KOH OPHIOLITE, BALOCHISTAN, WESTERN PAKISTAN

This study discussed the Sorap Massif which is the ophiolitic fragment composed of the upper mantle and lower crustal section of an ophiolitic sequence. An ophiolitic sequence in Sorap Massif consists of harzburgite, dunite, large distant units of serpentinized wehrlite intrusion and outcrop of confined layered gabbro covered by the Quaternary sand dunes. The basal part of gabbroic intrusion is in contact with mantle rocks and the upper part is juxtaposed with the Kuchakki Volcanic Group. On outcrop-level and in hand specimen, the gabbros exhibit needle-like ferromagnesian minerals including hornblende associated with plagioclase and pyroxene. Petrographically the gabbros are classified into norite, gabbro norite and gabbro. The mineral constituents of norite are plagioclase, orthopyroxene and amphibole, gabbro norite is consists of equal constituents of orthopyroxene and clinopyroxene, plagioclase and amphibole and the gabbro is composed of clinopyroxene, plagioclase and amphibole. The high constituents of minerals such as pyroxene, amphibole and low constituents of olivine in the Sorap gabbros indicates that these gabbros are formed by the immature part of the oceanic plate with dehydration of the oceanic plate subduction

Geology, Petrographical Features and Ore Mineralization of Volcanic Hosted Iron Ore Deposit in the Mashki Chah Area Chagai District, Balochistan, Pakistan

The Mashki Chah iron ore deposits are located in the western Chagai magmatic belt and hosted withinandesitic rock units in the Late Cretaceous Sinjrani Volcanic Group. Geometry, morphology, and structure of iron orehave massive, thin to thick-bedded and veins type of iron. The major ore type including magnetite as primarymineralization of iron ore and hematite, siderite, goethite, and limonite are secondary mineralization of iron ore.Petrographically, the iron ore is hosted within the basic to the intermediate type of units (Basaltic Andesite, Andesite,and Dacite) within the Late Cretaceous Sinjrani Volcanic Group. Major constituents of basaltic andesitic units arecomposed of clinopyroxene and amphibole with minor constituents of quartz. Andesitic units consist of plagioclase,hornblende, k-feldspar, quartz and biotite. The dacitic unit is comprised of quartz, albite, k-feldspar, biotite, andmuscovite. SEM-EDX and BSE analysis of ore mineralization of iron ore to identify the mineral crystal structure,texture, and elemental composition of iron ore. BSE images indicate the crystal morphology of magnetite and hematitehave well-developed cubic and octahedron crystal shapes with a coarse grain texture. Elemental composition isidentified by the EDX graph that is indicated the high peaks of Fe and O elements associated with the high peak rockforming minerals elements Si and O with sub-peaks of Al, Na, K, and Ca and as well as have sub-peaks of ore-formingmineral elements are include a Cu, Ag, Ti, and Sn. The total iron reserve in the deposit area is approximately about 45to 50 million tons and an average percentage of magnetite is 86.16% and hematite is about 69.40 %. These ore deposithas significant value for economic purpose and as well as economically the Mashki Chah iron ore deposit is viable foriron ore mining

A Case Study on Distribution of Gemstone in Bela Ophiolite, District Khuzdar, Balochistan

Bela Ophiolite and suture zone host several types of gemstones in the underlain and overlain rocks such as garnet (demantoid and almandine), quartz, brucite, malachite, chrysocolla, azurite, calcite, natrolite, green chert, jasper, serpentine, agate, epidote, augite and prehnite. However, the rare gemstones including demantoid garnet are found as dodecahedron green crystals associated with the altered peridotite rocks such as serpentinite. Brucite is found in the botryoidal habit in the ultramafic rocks of Bela Ophiolite associated with the chromite mines in the Baran Lak and Amorzai area of Wadh in the host rock dunite. The serpentine is found in several locations associated with the altered ultramafic rocks formed after the serpentinization of peridotite. Furthermore, one of the rare gemstones such as petroleum and diamond quartz is formed due to the hydrothermal intrusion in the sedimentary rocks such as limestone; calcite also occurs in limestone as dogtooth crystals. While azurite, malachite and chrysocolla are formed as secondary deposits in the oxidized zone of copper and sulphide mines in the Manjawi, Nal and Sonaro associated adjacent to basalt. Moreover, epidote is found as green crystals having porphyritic texture in the host rock granite mainly in the Bakhalo area, Wadh. Agate, jasper, green chert and several other kinds of chert are found associated with the basalt chert unit in the mélange and gossan. In addition to that natrolite is found in the Nal ophiolite mainly in the Hazarghanji town found associated with the cracks and vugs of dolerite dykes as fibrous and cylindrical crystals. In metamorphic sole rocks of Bela Ophiolite in the Sonaro area, marble and quartzite are associated with the metamorphic rocks such as greenschist and amphibolite facies that are formed during the e volution period of the ophiolite. In pegmatite gabbro, the elongated and prismatic black crystals of augite are found in the host rock gabbro near the Ornach cross area, and the prehnite gemstone is found associated with the basalt and gabbroic rocks transition zone in the Ornach area

PETROGRAPHIC AND SEM-EDX CHARACTERIZATION OF MAFIC-FELSIC PLUTONIC ROCKS OF WASHAPI KAUR WESTERN RASKOH ARC, PAKISTAN

The Washapi Kaur plutonic rocks is located at the western part of the Ras-Koh arc, Pakistan, and intruded in the Cretaceous to Paleocene rock sequences. This complex consists of two main magma series, mafic to intermediate, forming small gabbro and diorite intrusions and felsic comprising granitic rock units. Gabbro consists of clinopyroxene, plagioclase, amphibole, and biotite and displays in-equigranular poikilitic texture. Diorites present porphyritic texture and mainly composed of plagioclase, K-feldspar, amphibole, quartz, and biotite with minor constituents of clinopyroxene. Granites are comprised of quartz, K-feldspar, plagioclase, biotite and muscovite. The field features, petrographic and SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy) suggest that the magmatic activity in the Washapi Kaur formed as the initial mantle-melt magma derived from mafic to the intermediate source. Later, the melt interacted with slab-derived hydrous fluids in a continental arc setting

Diagnosis of Faulty Sensors in Antenna Array using Hybrid Differential Evolution based Compressed Sensing Technique

In this work, differential evolution based compressive sensing technique for detection of faulty sensors in linear arrays has been presented. This algorithm starts from taking the linear measurements of the power pattern generated by the array under test. The difference between the collected compressive measurements and measured healthy array field pattern is minimized using a hybrid differential evolution (DE). In the proposed method, the slow convergence of DE based compressed sensing technique is accelerated with the help of parallel coordinate decent algorithm (PCD). The combination of DE with PCD makes the  minimization faster and precise. Simulation results validate the performance to detect faulty sensors from a small number of measurements

Geology, Petrography, and Mineralization of Sedimentary Hosted Strata-Bounded Barite Deposit at Gunga, Khuzdar District Balochistan, Pakistan

Gunga deposit is a type of sedimentary exhalative (SEDEX) deposit located in the northwest of Khuzdar Knot within the Kirthar Fold Belt (KFB) in the south-west of Khuzdar city. This deposit is formed during the late TriassicJurassic period due to rifting of the Gondwana supercontinent. being hosted with the Anjira Member of Jurassic Shirinab Formation, hosted the Strata bounded barite mineralization in these deposits contact with the siliceous and iron-rich gossan zones. The Baritic zone indicates the complex replacement of silica with the continuous silicification which is followed by massive to brecciated type Barite. Petrographically, barite has a very fine to coarse grain texture, anhedral to euhedral crystal shape, and forms dendritic crystal structure In the Back Scattered Electron (BSE) images, the crystal morphology of Barite exhibits well-developed elongated crystal structures with medium to coarse grain texture. Energy Dispersive X-rays (EDX) graphs indicates the high peaks of Ba, S, and O elements associated with sub-peaks rockforming mineral elements (Si, Al, Na, K, and Ca) along with sub-peaks of ore-forming mineral elements (Pb, Zn, Fe, P, and Ni

Ethnomedicine use in the war affected region of northwest Pakistan

BACKGROUND: North-West of Pakistan is bestowed with medicinal plant resources due to diverse geographical and habitat conditions. The traditional use of plants for curing various diseases forms an important part of the region’s cultural heritage. The study was carried out to document medicinal plants used in Frontier Region (FR) Bannu, an area affected by the “War on Terror”. METHODS: Fieldwork was carried out in four different seasons (spring, autumn, summer and winter) from March 2012 to February 2013. Data on medicinal plants was collected using structured and semi-structured questionnaires from 250 respondents. The voucher specimens were collected, processed and identified following standard methods. RESULTS: Of the 107 species of ethnomedicinal plants reported, fifty percent species are herbaceous. The majority of the reported species were wild (55%) but a substantial proportion are cultivated (29%). For most of the plant species (34%), leaves are the most commonly used part in the preparation of ethnomedicines. The most common use of species is for carminative purposes (14 species), with the next most common use being for blood purification (11 species). The main methods used in the preparation of ethnomedicinal recipes involves grinding and boiling, and nearly all the remedies are taken orally along with ingredients such as water, milk or honey for ease of ingestion. Traditional healers prepare plant remedies using one or more plants. There was a significant correlation (r(2) = 0.95) between the age of local people and the number of plants known to them, which indicates that in the coming 20 years, an approximate decrease of 75% in the indigenous knowledge may be expected. CONCLUSION: Traditional medicines are important to the livelihoods of rural communities in the region affected by the Global war on Terrorism. The medicinal recipes are indigenous; however, there is a threat to their future use on account of rapid modernization and terrorist activities. Documentation of medicinal plants and recipes may help in the conservation of the regional indigenous medicinal knowledge for future generations and to provide a baseline for further studies