Home – Home – Jornals – Russian Geology and Geophysics 2013 number 11

Based on new data on the age, mineralogy, and geochemistry of ultramafic–mafic complexes in the Precambrian structures of the southern periphery of the Siberian Platform, the East Siberian metallogenic (PGE–Cu–Ni) province is recognized. It includes the Yenisei Ridge, Precambrian Kan uplift, Alkhadyr terrane with the adjacent structures of the Biryusa block, and northern Baikal region (Yoko-Dovyren and other massifs of the Baikal–Patom basin). We have established that the U–Pb and Ar–Ar ages of ore-bearing complexes of dunite–peridotite–pyroxenite–gabbro association correspond to the Late Riphean (728–710 Ma). The mineralogical and geochemical similarity of ore-bearing complexes in different areas testifies to their genetic entity. All parental melts were similar in composition to picrites. The calculation results and the PGE enrichment of rocks and ores show high degrees of melting of the mantle source, which agrees with the plume model of formation of the ore-magmatic system. The recognized province is similar in the type of magmatism and time of its occurrence to the Franklin LIP in northern Canada. It is one of the highly promising ore districts of East Siberia.

The Tomino–Bereznyaki ore field lies in the western part of the East Urals volcanic megazone (20–30 km southwest of Chelyabinsk). The commercial Tomino porphyry (Mo, Au)–Cu deposit is localized in the east of the field, within a small mesoabyssal intrusion of quartz–diorite composition. The epithermal Au–Ag Bereznyaki deposit is confined to subvolcanic dioritic porphyrites in the west of the field. The western and eastern parts of the ore field have a tectonic boundary. Granitoids belong to a single volcanoplutonic complex of K–Na-quartz–diorite composition. The U–Pb concordant age of zircons from the ore-bearing dioritic porphyrite of the Tomino and Bereznyaki deposits is 428 ± 3 Ma (MSWD = 0.9) and 427 ± 6 Ma (MSWD = 1.1), respectively. A Silurian absolute age has been established for the Urals porphyry Cu ore-magmatic system for the first time. The diorites and acid metasomatites of both deposits contain a unique three-mica assemblage (Mu, Pa, and Mu0.36Pa0.64). The metasomatized diorites are of similar isotope-petrogeochemical compositions; they have close total REE contents (24–52 ppm) and REE patterns. Their Zr–Hf, Nb–Ta, and La–Ce diagrams show similar trends. The obtained data indicate the close time of formation of the porphyry and epithermal deposits and their probable genetic entity. The vertical evolution of the porphyry Cu column from meso- and hypabyssal to subvolcanic level includes the isotope (Sr, S, and O) crust–mantle interaction. The deposits formed at different depths expose on the modern surface as a result of the block tectonic processes in the ore field.

Geological observations and petrological and geochemical criteria are used to detect hybrid rocks at the endocontact of a dolerite dike. The hybrid rocks were produced when the material of a mafic intrusion mixed with a felsic melt. The latter was produced by the melting of the metamorphic rocks making up the Goloustnaya basement inlier of the Siberian craton, under the thermal effect of the intruded dike. Two age groups of zircons have been identified in the hybrid rock by SHRIMP analysis. The Paleoproterozoic age of inherited zircon (1902, 1864, 1859, and 1855 Ma) reflects the contribution of ancient sources to the hybrid-rock composition. The young, primary-magmatic, zircon grains, produced by melting at the endocontact of the mafic intrusion (494 ± 5 Ma), are coeval with the hybrid rocks, and their age indicates when the mafic rocks intruded the metamorphic framework. Dikes of close age, with similar geochemical characteristics, are present on the southern margin of the Siberian craton — from Goloustnaya to Biryusa salients.

The new petrological and geochrological data are used to constrain the nature of garnet-clinopyroxene and lawsonite-bearing rocks, which contain a rare variety of Fe-Ca-rich garnets. These rocks associated with antigorite serpentinites have no equivalents in the other units of the Maksyutov eclogite-glaucophane schist complex and, thus, can be regarded as a separate “mafic-ultramafic” unit. Based on their mineral and chemical composition, the garnet-clinopyroxene and lawsonite-bearing rocks can be interpreted as HP associations formed within a deep continental rifting setting. They experienced a series of metasomatic alterations during decompression exhumation and were accreted to the Maksyutov Complex as a result of the arc-continent collision. The U–Pb zircon data indicate that a Late Riphean–Lower Paleozoic age (824 and 440–470 Ma) was a crystallization age of garnet-clinopyroxene rocks and Ar–Ar white mica age (341 ± 2 Ma) represents the timing of the final accretion of all structural unit to the Maksyutov Complex.

We consider the rare graphic textures of the cinnabar–stibnite and cinnabar–chalcopyrite pairs from the Khaidarkan Sb–Hg deposit (Kyrgyzstan) and the Idermeg–Bayan-Khan-Ula polysulfide–fluorite complex deposit (Mongolia). They resemble the ridge pattern on finger skin. Typical signs suggest the formation of the cinnabar–stibnite graphic texture in two stages of hypogene mineralization: (1) interstitial replacement of granulated stibnite by cinnabar and (2) local recrystallization of combined aggregates during the dynamic metamorphism of the ores with partial migration of substance and the formation of “ordered” graphic textures. This texture is named “the graphic texture of hypogene recrystallization.” The formation of the cinnabar–chalcopyrite graphic texture, which has been observed for the first time, is attributed to direct hypogene replacement of cinnabar by chalcopyrite. Chalcopyrite crystallization along the contacts of cinnabar grains is accompanied by the growth of the replacement area. It is proposed to name this texture “the graphic texture of hypogene replacement.” The causes of the selective replacement of cinnabar by chalcopyrite, which gave rise to this peculiar texture, remain uncertain.

The paleogeography of the Earth, including the East European Platform, is very inaccurately defined for the interval 500–700 Ma. The quantity and quality of Late Precambrian–Cambrian paleomagnetic data on this platform are absolutely insufficient for reliable paleogeographical or paleotectonic reconstructions. Since there are almost no unstudied objects in the platform that could be used for paleomagnetic studies, it seems reasonable to consider the deformed platform margins. Of particular interest is the Bashkir anticlinorium (South Urals) with numerous Ediacaran sedimentary sections, some of which contain tuff beds suitable for isotope dating. We present paleomagnetic and geochronological data on the Upper Ediacaran Zigan Formation, sampled in the western part of the western limb of the Bashkir anticlinorium. The East European Platform must have been at near-equatorial latitudes at ~550 Ma.

The relative paleointensity of sedimentation is studied for sediments stripped by deep-water drilling in Lake Baikal (BDP-99 borehole). Two intervals are considered: 0–420 ka (Brunhes chron) and 1.05–1.09 Ma (before, during, and after the Matuyama–Jaramillo reversal). For these intervals, curves of the ideal magnetization of samples are plotted. The paleointensity data obtained along the borehole section reveal four excursions for the Baikal sediments whose identification on the inclination—depth curve is complicated. The lower part of the section (Matuyama–Jaramillo subzones) shows a paleointensity decrease by a factor of five or more relative to periods of invariable polarity.

Algorithms and software for numerical modeling and inversion of electromagnetic logs in the wells drilled with biopolymer and oil-based mud are developed. The algorithms are based on linearized solutions of the forward and inverse problems of electromagnetic logging and permit fast modeling of induction logs and efficient recovery of electric conductivity around the well. Mathematical modeling is based on numerical-analytical solution of 2D forward problem taking into account high conductivity contrast between the well and the formation. Linear inversion is based on SVD-decomposition of information matrix. The results of numerical modeling and inversion of synthetic and field logs at the intervals of fluid-saturated terrigenous and carbonate formations drilled using biopolymer and oil-based mud are given.