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Footwall Porphyry Nodules of the Kiirunavaara and Luossavaara

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Footwall Porphyry Nodules of the Kiirunavaara and Luossavaara UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG Department of Earth Sciences Geovetarcentrum/Earth Science Centre Footwall porphyry nodules of the Kiirunavaara and Luossavaara apatite-iron ores: Mineralogy and mineral chemistry of magnetite, amphibole and mica Puck Palm ISSN 1400-3821 B849 Bachelor of Science thesis Göteborg 2015 Mailing address Address Telephone Telefax Geovetarcentrum Geovetarcentrum Geovetarcentrum 031-786 19 56 031-786 19 86 Göteborg University S 405 30 Göteborg Guldhedsgatan 5A S-405 30 Göteborg SWEDEN Abstract Kiirunavaara is one of the world’s largest known iron ore deposits and represents the type area of what has come to be called AIO (Apatite-Iron Ore) or Kiruna-type ore deposits. The footwall of the Kirunavaara and smaller Luossavaara ores consists mainly of porphyritic rocks of which the top-most part carries nodules – often rounded in shape, containing minerals of larger grain sizes than in the matrix and mostly holding several different types of minerals. The footwall porphyry is not only a potential low grade ore in itself as it is often rich in magnetite but may also be of importance for understanding of the genesis of the Kiruna ores. The footwall porphyry nodules thus comprise a relevant area of study within the ongoing debate on the origin of the Kiruna ores. In this study, the overall mineralogy, textures and microstructures of the nodules have been documented and the mineral chemistry of representative nodule magnetites, amphiboles and micas have been analysed. Magnetites were studied with regard to minor and trace element chemistry, amphiboles primarily with regard to the major elements and micas were analysed mainly for the purpose of classification. Finally, the mineral chemistry composition of the nodule magnetites, amphiboles and micas were compared to data from the Kiirunavaara ore body. This investigation has found that a descriptive classification of nodular porphyry based on colour may be useful as the “red”, “dark” and “white-pink” groups appear to represent slightly different mineral assemblages and microstructures in nodules. Mineral chemistry results from the nodules show a similarity to data from the Kiirunavaara and other AIO ore deposits and may indicate a cogenetic origin of the footwall porphyry nodules and the Kiruna ore bodies. 2 Index Abstract _________________________________________________________________________ 2 1.0 INTRODUCTION _____________________________________________________________ 4 2.0 BACKGROUND ______________________________________________________________ 5 2.1 Regional geology ____________________________________________________________ 6 2.2 Characteristics of the Kiirunavaara-Luossvaara ores and the nodular porphyry of their footwall ___________________________________________________________________ 7 2.3 The debate on the connection of the Porphyry Group to the Kiirunavaara-Luossavaara ore bodies and their genesis ______________________________________________________ 9 3.0 METHODS ________________________________________________________________ 11 3.1 Selection of samples ________________________________________________________ 11 3.2 Microscopical description ____________________________________________________ 12 3.3 SEM-EDS _________________________________________________________________ 12 3.4 LA-ICPMS _________________________________________________________________ 13 3.5 Presentation of data ________________________________________________________ 13 4.0 RESULTS __________________________________________________________________ 15 4.1 Macroscopic and microscopic description _______________________________________ 15 4.1.1 Red nodular porphyries __________________________________________________ 17 4.1.2 Dark nodular porphyries _________________________________________________ 21 4.1.3 White-pink nodular porphyries ____________________________________________ 25 4.2 Mineral chemistry __________________________________________________________ 28 4.2.1 Magnetite ____________________________________________________________ 28 4.2.3 Dark mica _____________________________________________________________ 40 5.0 DISCUSSION _______________________________________________________________ 42 5.1 Macroscopic and microscopic characteristics of the nodular porphyry _________________ 42 5.2 Minor and trace element chemistry of nodule magnetite ___________________________ 42 5.3 Mineral chemistry of nodule amphibole and mica _________________________________ 44 6.0 CONCLUSIONS _____________________________________________________________ 45 6.0 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ______________________________________________________ 46 7.0 REFERENCES ______________________________________________________________ 47 APPENDIX I – SAMPLE IMAGES 3 1.0 INTRODUCTION Northern Norrbotten is a region known for its wealth of iron and copper deposits. Comprising more than 2000 megatonnes of ore, Kiirunavaara is one of the world’s largest known iron ore deposits. The deposit represents the type area of what has come to be called AIO (Apatite-Iron Ore) or Kiruna-type ore deposits. These are apatite-iron ores with an iron content of 30-70 % and a phosphorous content of 0,05-5 %. There are about 40 smaller apatite-iron ore deposits in northern Norrbotten (Bergman et al., 2001). The Kiirunavaara outcrop was discovered in 1696 and mining operations commenced in 1900. This tabular ore body reaches a depth of at least 1890 metres from the former top of Kiirunavaara, is 50- 150 metres thick and 4-5 kilometres in length (LKAB, personal communication). The smaller Luossavaara ore body is situated in the same stratigraphic position to the north of Kiirunavaara. Today, the Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara (LK) ores and the apatite-iron ore deposits at Malmberget and Gruvberget are mined by LKAB, which contributes 90 percent of the iron ore production of Western Europe (LKAB). The apatite-iron ores usually occur within rocks of the so called Porphyry or Porphyrite Groups (Bergman et al., 2001). The footwall of the LK ores consists mainly of porphyritic rocks that were probably originally trachyandesitic lavas. The top-most part closest to the LK ore bodies carries nodules – often rounded in shape, containing minerals of larger grain sizes than in the matrix and mostly holding several different types of minerals (e.g. Geijer, 1910; Andersson, 2013). These nodule- carrying porphyry rocks are intimately associated with the ore bodies and often occur in direct contact with the ore itself or with a zone of magnetite dominated slivers and veins in between. The footwall porphyry is not only a potential low grade ore in itself as it is often rich in magnetite but may also be of importance for understanding of the genesis of the Kiruna ores. The origin of these nodules, as well as that of the ore bodies, is still incompletely understood. The dominant silicate in the ore is actinolite (Nordstrand, 2012; Nordstrand and Andersson, 2013). Actinolite is also a common mineral in the nodules of the footwall, as is magnetite. There may be a connection between the origin of the ore and that of these nodules (Lundberg and Smellie, 1979; Andersson, 2013), and the composition of the latter is thus a relevant area of study within the ongoing debate on the origin of the Kiruna ores. The nature of some aspects of these unusual footwall nodules is therefore the focus of this study. The general aim to examine the characteristics of the nodules is delimited in this study into an aim that is fourfold: 1. First, to document the overall mineralogy, textures and microstructures of the nodules and observe how these parameters vary between different types of nodular porphyry. 2. Secondly, to study the mineral chemistry of amphiboles in terms of primarily the major elements in representative nodules. Micas will also be analysed for the purpose of classification. 3. Thirdly, to study the minor and trace element chemistry of nodule magnetite grains. 4. Fourthly, the mineral chemistry composition of the nodule amphiboles, micas and magnetites will be compared to data from the ore body itself. 4 2.0 BACKGROUND Figure 1. Geological map of the Kiruna area. Modified from Forsell and Parák (1972). 5 2.1 Regional geology The rocks of the Kiruna area are part of the Fennoscandian Shield, which has a complex geological history comprising a variety of tectonic and metamorphic episodes that have created a diversity of rock types. The Archean basement rocks, consisting primarily of granitoids and found in outcrop north of Kiruna, are thought to have different magmatic origins related to oceanic and later more continental arc-settings (Bergman et al., 2001). These rocks range in age between 2.83 to 2.7 Ga. (Martinsson, 2004). They used to be part of the Archean craton which broke up around 2.45-2.1 Ga, resulting in an ocean and the formation of a passive margin (Storey et al., 2007). Overlying the Archean basement is a Paleoproterozoic series beginning at the bottom with a 2.5 to 2.0 Ga Karelian unit starting with the rift-related Kovo Group; a basal quartzite and conglomerate overlain by andesitic and basaltic volcanic rocks and volcaniclastic sediments. A second rifting event around 2.1 Ga produced the overlying Kiruna Greenstone Group comprising a few kilometres of basalts, tuffites and intercalations of evaporites, graphitic schist and carbonate rocks as well as MOR- type pillow lava (Martinsson, 2004). The Kurravaara conglomerate, also of MORB origin, marks the first Svecofennian unit1. Subduction of the oceanic crust subsequently commenced and a juvenile arc
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