Geology and Geophysics, 2004, V 45, N 10, October.


 
PETROLOGY, GEOCHEMISTRY, AND MINERALOGY

Gold and silver in ores of volcanogenic hydrothermal and hydrothermal-sedimentary pyrite- polymetallic deposits of Siberia. K.R. Kovalev, E.G. Distanov, G.N. Anoshin, I.V. Gas'kov, V.A. Akimtsev, and M.V. Baulina 1121 Silver and antimony in hydrothermal solutions of Ag-Sb deposits. G.G. Pavlova, L.V. Gushchina, A.A. Borovikov, A.S. Borisenko, and A.A. Obolensky 1136 Magnetites from magnesian skarns at dolerite-rock salt contacts. M.P. Mazurov, S.N. Grishina, and A.T. Titov 1149 Effect of temperature regime on crystallization of leucite from orendite melt (from experimental data). E.I. Petrushin, L.Sh. Bazarov, V.V. Sharygin, V.I. Gordeeva, and N.V. Vladykin 1159 Raman spectroscopic study of the structure and composition of basaltic glasses. V.A. Akimtsev, A.M. Pugachev, N.V. Surovtsev, and A.P. Shebanin. 1167 Lithological and geomorphological parameters of distribution of artificial radionuclides in the Yenisei floodplain landscapes. V.G. Linnik, V.V. Surkov, V.N. Potapov, A.G. Volosov, E.M. Korobova, A. Borghuis, and J.E. Brown. 1172
TECTONICS

Fault pattern and stress field in the western Tunka rift (southwestern flank of the Baikal rift system). O.V. Lunina and A.S. Gladkov 1188
GEOPHYSICS

Regional isostatic gravity anomalies and mantle plumes in southern East Siberia (Russia) and Central Mongolia. Yu.A. Zorin and E.Kh. Turutanov. 1200 Fast transient electrochemical processes in ore minerals. A.P. Karasev, V.V. Olenchenko, and E.Yu. Yuditskikh. 1210
GOLD AND SILVER IN ORES OF VOLCANOGENIC HYDROTHERMAL AND HYDROTHERMAL-SEDIMENTARY PYRITE-POLYMETALLIC DEPOSITS OF SIBERIA K.R. Kovalev, E.G. Distanov, G.N. Anoshin, I.V. Gas'kov, V.A. Akimtsev, and M.V. Baulina Institute of Geology, Siberian Branch of RAS, 3 prosp. Akad. Koptyuga, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia Volcanogenic hydrothermal and submarine hydrothermal-sedimentary pyrite-polymetallic deposits are known from the Asian part of Russia. They form in island-arc and rifting continental-margin structures and are related to basaltoid or differentiated basaltoid volcanism. The sulfide ores of the recognized groups of deposits are characterized by a sufficiently close composition but differ in contents of gold and silver. The ores of volcanogenic deposits contain 1.0-1.5 ppm Au and 15-30 ppm Ag, with gold and silver distributed rather irregularly. The maximum contents of gold (up to 7-8 ppm) occur in high-temperature chalcopyrite-pyrite ores of the root zones and in higher-temperature barite-polymetallic ores of subsurface deposition. A correlation between gold and silver has been established. The ores of large-scale volcanogenic hydrothermal-sedimentary deposits contain 0.09-0.16 ppm Au on average. The content of silver in them reaches 80 ppm, averaging 15-35 ppm. There is no principal difference in levels of gold accumulation in the ores from tuffaceous-terrigene-carbonate rocks and in the ores from pyrrhotite-bearing carbon-carbonate-silica schists. Mineralization systems that form both hydrothermal and hydrothermal-sedimentary pyrite-polymetallic deposits of massive sulfide ores of close composition are genetically related to occurrences of submarine basaltoid volcanism of different geodynamic settings, and it is unlikely that initially they had radically different contents of gold and silver. Significant differences in sulfur isotopic composition of sulfides are established between volcanogenic hydrothermal and hydrothermal-sedimentary types of massive sulfide ores. Sulfur isotopic composition of volcanogenic hydrothermal deposits is close to the mantle values, whereas sulfur of volcanogenic hydrothermal-sedimentary deposits is of mixed mantle-crustal nature because the sulfates of sea water are involved into hydrothermal system. Low contents of gold in the ores of hydrothermal-sedimentary deposits can be explained either by its partial deposition in deep zones where hydrothermal solutions and sea waters mix or by the fact that, being dissolved in sea water, gold migrated to more distal facies of the basin of ore deposition. Contents of silver in ores of both groups of deposits are kept approximately at the same level, though in some hydrothermal-sedimentary deposits the ores are enriched in silver. The volcanogenic hydrothermal deposits show close patterns of distribution of gold and silver in ores of ancient and recent sulfide mineralization systems. Massive sulfide polymetallic ores, volcanogenic hydrothermal and hydrothermal-sedimentary deposits, gold, silver
SILVER AND ANTIMONY IN HYDROTHERMAL SOLUTIONS OF Ag-Sb DEPOSITS G.G. Pavlova, L.V. Gushchina, A.A. Borovikov, A.S. Borisenko, and A.A. Obolensky Institute of Geology, Siberian Branch of the RAS, 3 prosp. Akad. Koptyuga, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia Thermodynamic computer modeling of the Ag and Sb behavior in hydrothermal process at Ag-Sb deposits has been performed. Parameters of ore-forming fluids, obtained by studying fluid inclusions in minerals of igneous rocks and ores of Sn and Ag deposits, were used as original data for the modeling. Calculations intimate that Ag and Sb occur in concentrated high-temperature acid chloride solutions mainly as chloride species. Computer modeling showed high metal-bearing capacity of natural chloride solutions and their capability for transport of large amounts of Ag and Sb. Temperature regime is the most important factor for ore formation, which controls the deposition of various parageneses at different levels of hydrothermal ore-forming system as temperature decreases. Ag and Sb deposits, Ag and Sb species, fluid inclusions, thermodynamic modeling, ore-forming systems, mineral composition
MAGNETITES FROM MAGNESIAN SKARNS AT DOLERITE-ROCK SALT CONTACTS M.P. Mazurov, S.N. Grishina, and A.T. Titov United Institute of Geology, Geophysics and Mineralogy, Siberian Branch of RAS, 3 prosp. Akad. Koptyuga, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia Methods of scanning and transmission electron microscopy and electron microprobe analysis were used to study magnetites from dolerite-rock salt contacts. It has been established that the first generation of magnetite was formed in the interval 750-800 °C with participation of supersaline brines (salt melts) and is closely associated with magnesian skarns of postmagmatic stage. This magnetite was an iron oxide solid solution, which concentrated Ti, Mg, Al, Mn, Zn, and V impurities coextracted with iron from dolerites. Succession and mechanism of exsolution and phase composition of products of stage-by-stage decomposition of first-generation magnetite are close to those of magnetites from the magnesian skarns at dolerite-dolomite contacts. A significant difference is abundance and structural diversity of ilmenite lamellae. The impurities extracted by the decomposition of solid solutions formed inter- and intragranular particles of ilmenite and spinel, and were also components of titanite, phlogopite, and other silicates. The second generation of magnetite contains no isomorphous impurities and is associated with mineral assemblages of altered magnesian skarns, sulfides, and hydrothermal rock salt. The revealed characteristics of composition and microstructure of magnetites are indicative of the development of mineralization and ore-element extraction; they show that one of the typical features of dolerite-rock-salt interaction is abnormally high mobility of Ti. Magnetite, dolerite, rock salt, extraction, partitioning
EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE REGIME ON CRYSTALLIZATION OF LEUCITE FROM ORENDITE MELT (from experimental data) E.I. Petrushin, L.Sh. Bazarov, V.V. Sharygin, V.I. Gordeeva, and N.V. Vladykin* Institute of Mineralogy and Petrography, Siberian Branch of the RAS, 3 prosp. Koptyuga, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia * Vinogradov Institute of Geochemistry, Siberian Branch of the RAS, 1a ul. Favorskogo, Irkutsk, 664033, Russia A series of experiments on melting and crystallization of orendite from the Leucite Hills province (Wyoming, USA) was carried out at atmospheric pressure in air. The liquidus temperature of the melt has been determined, 1300 ± 10 °C; leucite is the first phase to crystallize. Most leucite forms in the temperature range 1250-1150 °C. At 1150 ± 10 °C, clinopyroxene of diopside composition cocrystallizes with leucite. Study was also given to the dependence of leucite crystal morphology on the melt supercooling and to the trapping of melt inclusions during the crystal growth. Experimental petrography, leucite, crystallization, lamproite, Leucite Hills
RAMAN SPECTROSCOPIC STUDY OF THE STRUCTURE AND COMPOSITION OF BASALTIC GLASSES V.A. Akimtsev, A.M. Pugachev*, N.V. Surovtsev*, and A.P. Shebanin United Institute of Geology, Geophysics and Mineralogy, Siberian Branch of the RAS, 3 prosp. Koptyuga, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia * Institute of Automatics and Electrometry, Siberian Branch of the RAS, 1 prosp. Koptyuga, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia Using Raman spectroscopy, quenching crusts from mid-ocean ridges have been studied. This experimental method permits identification of the crystalline or amorphous state of a substance. It has been revealed that a decrease in the efficient rate of quenching of matter from periphery to core of a sample leads to the appearance of a disseminated crystalline phase. The characteristic size of the glass structural inhomogeneities, ~2 nm, has been estimated by low-frequency Raman scattering. Basaltic glass, Raman scattering
LITHOLOGICAL AND GEOMORPHOLOGICAL PARAMETERS OF DISTRIBUTION OF ARTIFICIAL RADIONUCLIDES IN THE YENISEI FLOODPLAIN LANDSCAPES V.G. Linnik, V.V. Surkov*, V.N. Potapov**, A.G. Volosov, E.M. Korobova, A. Borghuis***, and J.E. Brown*** Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry of RAS, 19 ul. Kosygina, Moscow, 117975, Russia * Lomonosov Moscow State University, Geography Department, Moscow, 119992, Russia ** Russian Scientific Center «Kurchatov's Insitute», 1 pl. Kurchatova, Moscow, 123182, Russia *** Norway Agency on Radiation Protection, POB 55, N-1332, Osteres, Norway In August 2000, an internatonal expedition participating in the COPERNICUS project «STREAM» explored two floodplain localities on the Yenisei River (Balchug and Kazachinskoe stations) to estimate the contribution of the Krasnoyarsk Mining Chemical Plant to the radioactive contamination of the floodplain. It has revealed zones of maximum 137Cs contamination (up to 1000 kBq/m2) in the low-level floodplain made up of fine- and very fine-grained sands with loam partings, in the bottom of breachways overlain by thin beds of peat, and in depressions at the back of the medium-level floodplain with sandy silt deposition. The densities of 60Co and 152,154Eu contamination reach their maximum (up to 188 kBq/m2) in silty, peaty, and sandy loam parts of the low-level floodplain. Traces of 60Co and 152,154Eu radionuclides were also found in the medium-level floodplain (Balchug station). The high-level floodplain, up to 5.5 m above low-water line, composed of medium- and fine-grained sands is subject to 16-fold 137Cs contamination against the background. The medium-level floodplain near the Kazachinskoe station, made up of fine-grained sands, is contaminated by 137Cs at 250-280 kBq/m2, with the maximum value, 504 kBq/m2, detected on the barrier beach. Landscape, floodplain lithology, field radiometry, radionuclides, Yenisei River
FAULT PATTERN AND STRESS FIELD IN THE WESTERN TUNKA RIFT (southwestern flank of the Baikal rift system) O.V. Lunina and A.S. Gladkov Institute of the Earth's Crust, Siberian Branch of the RAS, 128, ul. Lermontova, Irkutsk, 664033, Russia New structural and tectonophysical data provide more details on the fault pattern and the stress field of the western Tunka rift in the southwestern flank of the Baikal rift system. The rift valley is controlled mostly by W-E and NE faults, and the rift ridges and basin links are dominated by NW and N-S faults. The fault pattern shows good correlation with the distribution of M; 3.3 earthquakes. Stress fields reconstructed from fracture measurements and correlated to the available earthquake mechanisms show that the rift currently evolves in a transtension environment. Faults, fractures, stress field, earthquakes, earthquake mechanisms, Tunka rift
REGIONAL ISOSTATIC GRAVITY ANOMALIES AND MANTLE PLUMES IN SOUTHERN EAST SIBERIA (Russia) AND CENTRAL MONGOLIA Yu.A. Zorin and E.Kh. Turutanov Institute of the Earth's Crust, Siberian Branch of the RAS, 128 ul. Lermontova, Irkutsk, 664033, Russia Isostatic gravity anomalies were inverted under the assumption that compensation of topographic loads is only partly provided by Moho depth variations but is to a large extent due to the geometry of the lithosphere/asthenosphere boundary. This approach allowed us to reveal regional (long-wavelength) gravity lows possibly associated with Late Cenozoic mantle plumes beneath the Baikal rift and mountains in Central Mongolia. The plume tails were simulated in several 3D gravity versions. The position of plumes predicted from gravity inversion is consistent with zones of low seismic velocities in the mantle and with azimuthal anisotropy as the plumes control mantle flow above their tails. The position of most plumes does not contradict the pattern of Late Cenozoic flood volcanism known from geological evidence. Distribution of compensating mass, isostatic gravity anomalies, mantle plumes, seismic velocities, seismic anisotropy, volcanics
FAST TRANSIENT ELECTROCHEMICAL PROCESSES IN ORE MINERALS A.P. Karasev, V.V. Olenchenko*, and E.Yu. Yuditskikh** Chita Institute of Natural Resources, Siberian Branch of the RAS, 26 ul. Butina, Chita, 672090, Russia * Chita Laboratory of Engineering Geocryology, Institute of Permafrost, Siberian Branch of the RAS, 54 ul. Lenina, Chita, 672010, Russia ** Chita State Technological University, 30 ul. Alekzavodskaya, Chita, 672039, Russia Laboratory experiments on transient electrochemical processes in synthetic and natural ore minerals revealed correlation of their potential response with electrochemistry. The shapes of potential curves correlate with electrochemistry in metals and with stoichiometry and contents of isomorphic impurities in synthetic galena. The geometric diversity of anode and cathode curves for natural minerals is controlled by their composition and physicochemical conditions of formation. Time-dependent polarizability functions record the compositional and electrochemical homogeneity of laboratory samples and in situ orebodies. The transient response of impurity-bearing polarizable conductors contains delays in potential or voltage buildup which produce peaks in polarization curves. Transient electrochemical process, potential, potential response, relaxation time, polarizability, electrical prospecting setup