Generalized Classification

Ores in U. mafic / Mafic Association

Crystal fractionation Carbonatite Liquid fractionation

Association
i)Diamond in REE, Nb, Ta, P, Sr, i)Oxide liquid imm
kimberlite Ba, Zr and Cu ii)Sulfide liquid imm
ii) Cr ores (Layered
and Alpine types)
iii) Fe-Ti-Oxides
Two broad mechanisms: crystal and liquid fractionations
Inclusion of carbonatites: generation of carbonatitic melt can be
either due to (i) liq. Imm. from phonolitic/nephelinitic/kimberlitic
melt (Le Bas, 1987) or (ii) by direct melting of fertile mantle
peridotite at P > 21 kbar (Wallace and Green, 1988)
 Podiform chromite
Chromite Deposits

Stratiform chromite
 LAYERED ALPINE
Age Pre-Camb to Paleozoic to Tertiary
lower Paleozoic
Bushveld Igneous Complex (SA) Urals, Philippines,
Sukinda-Baula-Nuasahi (India) Turkey, Cuba
Skaergaard, Greenland Pakistan
Great dyke, Zimbabwe
Muskox, NWT, Canada
Rock Peridotite at the base and Dunite to gabbro
Comp. Granite at the top (Average: gabbroic) (Average: peridotitic)
Morphology Saucer Shaped Elongated pod shaped
(inches to 100’ thick) (inches to a foot thick)
Chromite MgO/FeO = 0.6 -1.0 1.0 – 2.3
Comp. Fe2O3 low (< 8 wt %) high (10 – 24 wt %)
Cr/ΣFe = high (1.5- 4.5) low (0.75 – 1.75)
Al2O3 - Cr2O3 reciprocal relation scattered
Assoc. of Ni as sulfides and arsenides Ni in olivine
Po- pentlandite- gersdorfite etc.
Crystal settling, convective fluid flow,
and diffusion-related chemical
segregation across density stratified
layers give rise to the characteristically
sub-horizontal, well ordered layering in
most layered mafic intrusions.

Monomineralic layers of chromite or

magnetite (V-rich) cannot however be
produced by these processes. Nor do
they explain the formation of the
massive pods of chromitite in ophiolite
complexes.

One way of forcing a magma

composition off its cotectic
crystallization path into the stability
field of chromite is to contaminate the
magma with foreign material rich in
SiO2.
The Irvine model
Sulfide Liquid Immiscibility and Ni ores
Crystallization from Melt 1 ( 92% silicate+ 5% Mt + 3% Po)
 Sil. Melt 2 and Sulfide Melt 3. Continued silicate
crystallization  residual liq. from pt. 5 to pt.6 
crystallization of Mt and silicate. Finally, liq. comp. reaches
pt.7, the ternary eutectic (90% pyrrhotite + 8% magnetite
+ < 5% silicate). Trace Ni (say about 400 ppm) in the initial
melt (pt.1) would give rise to a magmatic Ni-sulfide deposit
formed due to liq. immiscibility

A liq. 8 with higher Fe3+/ Fe2+ ratio (because

of higher fO2 compared to that at pt.1) 
pt.9 (NO LIQ. IMMISC)  pt. 7 (a pyrrhotite-
magnetite deposit evoid of Ni will form. Early
strong partitioning of Ni into olivine and other
early formed silicates along the cotectic.
These Ni-olivines serve as protore which on
weathering forms Ni-laterites.
 One seldom finds economically viable concentrations of
PGEs in layered mafic complexes: (1) original
PGE deposits concentrations of PGE in magmatic reservoirs are very
low; (2) even in magmas where immiscible globules of
sulfide do form, the concentration mechanism may be
diminished because sulfides are not able to communicate
with the entire magma reservoir.

Because the partition coefficients of PGEs are very high,

and their abundances in the parental magma is very low,
only the very first formed sulfide fraction will be
enriched in the PGEs.
Only a sulfide globule interacting with an infinite reservoir of magma is likely to get the fullest possible PGE
concentration. So along with original abundance and D the “R” factor (silicate/sulfide liquid mass ratio) is
important.

Csul = CoD (R + 1)/(R + D)

Variations in the R factor have real implications

for the grades of sulfide phases within individual
mafic intrusions.
The stratigraphic level in the layered
intrusion where plagioclase first appears
as a cumulus phase divides ore horizons
which tend to be less PGE enriched below
it from those above it, which tend to be
both more enriched and more substantial.

Relatively early sulfide saturation during the crystallization of an intrusion is advantageous for the development
of a wide range of magmatic sulfide deposits.
Ni-Cu ores are restricted to footwall embayments created by komatiitic lavas in several deposits of Kambalda
(Western Australia), Zimbabwe and Canada.

The Bushveld Complex and the Stillwater Complex contain chromite deposits and PGE-enriched base metal ores
associated with a sulfide-rich layer (the Merensky reef in the Bushveld and the J-M reef at Stillwater). In both,
periodic injections of new, less differentiated magma took place during their crystallization that coincided with
the development of PGE-enriched sulfide horizons. Rb-Sr and Re-Os isotopic measurements indicate the new
magma to be more radiogenic (perhaps due to crustal contamination) but less differentiated than the magma
remaining in the chamber at the time of injection.
Sulfide saturation is
promoted by mixing of new
and residual magmas.