Abstract:The main platinum-group element (PGE) occurrence in the Great Dyke of Zimbabwe, the Main Sulfide Zone (MSZ), is a tabular stratabound layer hosted in pyroxenites. A petrographic and silicate composition study across the MSZ at Unki Mine in the Shurugwi Subchamber was conducted to help place some constrains on the origin of the mineralization. The PGE-enriched zone at Unki Mine is a~10 m thick package of rocks ranging from gabbronorites, a chromitite stringer, plagioclase websterite, plagioclase pyroxenite (pegmatitic in one narrow zone), a base metal sulfide zone and it is largely located below the contact of the Mafic and Ultramafic Sequences. Pyroxenes have been partially hydrothermally altered to amphibole and chlorite in most lithologies. In addition, sulfides tend to occur as cumulus phases or as inclusions in all the silicate phases. Two generations of sulfide mineralization likely occurred at Unki Mine with primary sulfides occurring in association with cumulus phases, and the relatively finer-grained, often lath-like, sulfides that occur in association with alteration phases of chlorite and amphibole that were likely formed later during hydrothermal alteration. Chlorite thermometry yields temperatures ranging from 241 to 390 • C, and from 491 to 640 • C, and they are interpreted to be temperatures recording the hydrothermal event(s) of magmatic origin which affected the mineralization at Unki Mine. Two-pyroxene thermometry yields temperatures that range from 850 to 981 • C, and these temperatures are interpreted to indicate a hydrothermal imprint on the minerals that constitute the MSZ.
The Lower Mafic Succession of the Great Dyke is a 700 m thick sequence of gabbroic rocks which shows remarkably regular mineral compositional trends and trace element contents in whole rocks. Such chemical trends are strongly indicative of undisturbed fractionation having taken place within the magma chamber and contrast with the major development of cyclic units which characterize the underlying Ultramafic Sequence of the Great Dyke. The style of fractionation is quite different to that in the equivalent Main Zone of the Bushveld Complex with the latter possibly reflecting a ‘leaky’ input system, whereas in the Great Dyke the magma chamber was sealed. Major compositional reversals at the interface between the websterite layer (the topmost unit of the Ultramafic Sequence) and the base of the Lower Mafic Succession indicate a change in crystallization conditions at this level. Modal percentages of plagioclase and Al2O3 content of pyroxenes show the same trends indicating a strong control by temperature and magma composition.Modelling of the fractionation processes and the influence of trapped liquid was carried out for Mg#, Cr2O3, and NiO in pyroxenes and for Zr in whole rock. The lowermost gabbroic rocks are adcumulates with effectively zero trapped liquid which contrasts with 10–15% trapped liquid in the underlying websterite There is a gradual rise in the amount of trapped liquid upwards in the Lower Mafic Succession. These results have implications for the mechanisms by which porosity is reduced in mafic cumulates. An injection of a small amount (10%) of new magma at the interface of the Ultramafic-Mafic Sequences of the Great Dyke was of a composition slightly different to that which gave rise to the cyclic units of the Ultramafic Sequence.
ABSTRACTSeveral models have been proposed to explain the origin of a chromitite stringer located at the contact between the Mafic and Ultramafic Sequences in the Unki Mine area of the Shurugwi Subchamber of the Great Dyke, Zimbabwe. A petrographic and geochemical study of this chromitite stringer was undertaken with the aim of constraining its origin. Forty-three chromite compositions were obtained from the studied chromitite stringer, which is characterized by a chromium number between 59.9 and 62.8 and a magnesium number which ranges from 37.8 to 46.4. The chromites at the contact zone in the Unki Mine commonly contains inclusions of sulfides, orthopyroxene, plagioclase, and/or amphiboles. The chromites likely formed early in the crystallization history of the Mafic Sequence, as they are commonly partially rimmed by sulfides and they occur as inclusions in plagioclase crystals. Unlike chromites from underlying Ultramafic Sequence chromitite layers, chromites at the contact zone contain low Cr2O3 contents which range from 39.4 to 42.6 wt.%. Furthermore, these chromites are enriched in Fe compared to most Great Dyke chromitites, which is interpreted to be a consequence of subsolidus exchange of Mg into orthopyroxene and Fe into the chromite. The absence of zoning in the chromites at this contact zone, and their low Mn, Fe contents, is consistent with attainment of equilibrium because the altered chromites often contain Cr-bearing magnetite rims. Two possible models for the formation of this chromitite stringer are mixing of relatively primitive and evolved magmas (i.e., ultramafic and anorthositic magma), possibly of different oxygen fugacities, and chemical diffusion across the contact between the Mafic and the Ultramafic sequences which resulted in melting at and below this boundary. The latter would have caused preferential loss of orthopyroxene from the underlying P1 Pyroxenite Layer, accompanied by re-precipitation of chromite at this contact.
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