A petrological and mineralogical study of peridotite and eclogite xenoliths from certain kimberlite pipes
- Authors: Whitfield, Gavin
- Date: 1972
- Subjects: Petrology Peridotite Mineralogy Kimberlite Igneous rocks -- Inclusions Eclogite
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:5044 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007690
- Description: Kimberlite, an ultrabasic diamond-bearing hypabyssal rock-type which has its origin in the Earth's upper mantle, characteristically contains rare, well-rounded xenoliths of peridotite and eclogite. These xenoliths, which undoubtedly originate from some considerable depth below the Earth's surface, possibly represent samples of upper mantle material. They have received much attention from earth scientists and numerous theories as to their origin have been proposed. Forty-two selected peridotite xenoliths from the Bultfontein, Wesselton, Dutoitspan and Roberts Victor kimberlite pipes of the Kimberley area, South Africa, and 24 eclogite xenoliths from the Roberts Victor pipe have been examined in detail using a variety of petrological and mineralogical techniques. The petrologic research comprises conventional petrographic studies, the determination of accurate modal compositions and the presentation of 22 new whole-rock chemical analyses, nine of which are of garnet peridotite, four of spinel peridotite and nine of eclogite, one being a diamondiferous specimen. Detailed mineralogical studies of the constituent minerals of the xenoliths comprises descriptive mineralogy, in most cases an estimation of the compositions of these minerals from the measurement of physical properties, X-ray powder diffraction data and the presentation of 21 new chemical analyses of pure mineral separates. This includes five analyses of clivine, five of orthopyroxene, eight of garnet, one of chrome diopside and two of omphacite. The results of the investigation have shown that the peridotites consist essentially of forsterite and enstatite with minor or trace amounts of one or more of pyrope-rich garnet, chrome diopside, chrome spinel, phlogopite and rarely graphite, and often exhibit features consistent with plastic movement and tectonic deformation. The peridotites are believed to be derived from an ultrabasic upper mantle, which is both chemioally and physically zoned. The eclogite xenoliths, which are composed mainly of pyrope-almandine garnet and omphacitic clinopyroxene and occasionally contain kyanite, corundum and diamond, are not samples of a primary eclogitic upper mantle nor the products of an eclogite fractionation related to kimberlite genesis. Chemically they are not typical of extrusive basalts and probably either represent pockets of partially fractionated basic magma trapped at mantle-level in an eclogite-stable environment or samples of high-grade crustal metamorphic eclogite accidentally incorporated into the Roberts Victor kimberlite.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1972
- Authors: Whitfield, Gavin
- Date: 1972
- Subjects: Petrology Peridotite Mineralogy Kimberlite Igneous rocks -- Inclusions Eclogite
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:5044 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007690
- Description: Kimberlite, an ultrabasic diamond-bearing hypabyssal rock-type which has its origin in the Earth's upper mantle, characteristically contains rare, well-rounded xenoliths of peridotite and eclogite. These xenoliths, which undoubtedly originate from some considerable depth below the Earth's surface, possibly represent samples of upper mantle material. They have received much attention from earth scientists and numerous theories as to their origin have been proposed. Forty-two selected peridotite xenoliths from the Bultfontein, Wesselton, Dutoitspan and Roberts Victor kimberlite pipes of the Kimberley area, South Africa, and 24 eclogite xenoliths from the Roberts Victor pipe have been examined in detail using a variety of petrological and mineralogical techniques. The petrologic research comprises conventional petrographic studies, the determination of accurate modal compositions and the presentation of 22 new whole-rock chemical analyses, nine of which are of garnet peridotite, four of spinel peridotite and nine of eclogite, one being a diamondiferous specimen. Detailed mineralogical studies of the constituent minerals of the xenoliths comprises descriptive mineralogy, in most cases an estimation of the compositions of these minerals from the measurement of physical properties, X-ray powder diffraction data and the presentation of 21 new chemical analyses of pure mineral separates. This includes five analyses of clivine, five of orthopyroxene, eight of garnet, one of chrome diopside and two of omphacite. The results of the investigation have shown that the peridotites consist essentially of forsterite and enstatite with minor or trace amounts of one or more of pyrope-rich garnet, chrome diopside, chrome spinel, phlogopite and rarely graphite, and often exhibit features consistent with plastic movement and tectonic deformation. The peridotites are believed to be derived from an ultrabasic upper mantle, which is both chemioally and physically zoned. The eclogite xenoliths, which are composed mainly of pyrope-almandine garnet and omphacitic clinopyroxene and occasionally contain kyanite, corundum and diamond, are not samples of a primary eclogitic upper mantle nor the products of an eclogite fractionation related to kimberlite genesis. Chemically they are not typical of extrusive basalts and probably either represent pockets of partially fractionated basic magma trapped at mantle-level in an eclogite-stable environment or samples of high-grade crustal metamorphic eclogite accidentally incorporated into the Roberts Victor kimberlite.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1972
The geology of a portion of the country between Witvlei and Omitara, South West Africa
- Fey, P
- Authors: Fey, P
- Date: 1972
- Subjects: Petrology -- Namibia , Stratigraphy -- Namibia , Mineralogy -- Namibia , Geology -- Namibia
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:5052 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011821
- Description: A brief account of the location and physical aspects of the region is followed by descriptions of mapping and laboratory techniques employed. Recent ideas on regional stratigraphical correlation in South West Africa are critically reviewed. Strata lying southeast of the farm Losberg 105 have, on the basis of lithology and copper mineralisation, been correlated with the Tsumis Formation. The Hasib Formation, of predominantly marine character, has on structural grounds been excluded from the Damara System. The latter here has a greater thickness than elsewhere in South West Africa, unless isoclinal folding is much more prevalent than has been assumed. The occurrence on Eintracht 118 of a pebble conglomerate, tentatively equated with the Chuos Tillite, makes possible a subdivision of the Damara strata into the various series established in the literature. It has been found possible to differentiate between Kamtsas and Damara quartzites on petrological grounds. Further, it is concluded that the bulk of Hakos carbonate rocks originated as dolomites and have subsequently been dedolomitized to a greater or lesser extent. The area contains both ortho- and para-amphibolites, as well as one occurrence of intrusive granite. Evidence is given for at least three periods of deformation. It is oonsidered that, if the Hosib Formation was involved in a pre-Damara orogenic episode, later folding must have been co-axial with this. Sedimentation and metamorphism are treated in broad outline. There appears to have been a deepening of the basin of deposition from Hasib to Damara times. Cyclicity in sedimentation is evidenced by lithological associations in the Damara strata. The entire area falls into the greenschist facies of regional metamorphism. Superficial deposits include river gravel and, silt, quartzite- and vein quartz-rubble, calcrete and Kalahari sand. The economic geology is described with special reference to the widespread copper mineralisation.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1972
- Authors: Fey, P
- Date: 1972
- Subjects: Petrology -- Namibia , Stratigraphy -- Namibia , Mineralogy -- Namibia , Geology -- Namibia
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:5052 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011821
- Description: A brief account of the location and physical aspects of the region is followed by descriptions of mapping and laboratory techniques employed. Recent ideas on regional stratigraphical correlation in South West Africa are critically reviewed. Strata lying southeast of the farm Losberg 105 have, on the basis of lithology and copper mineralisation, been correlated with the Tsumis Formation. The Hasib Formation, of predominantly marine character, has on structural grounds been excluded from the Damara System. The latter here has a greater thickness than elsewhere in South West Africa, unless isoclinal folding is much more prevalent than has been assumed. The occurrence on Eintracht 118 of a pebble conglomerate, tentatively equated with the Chuos Tillite, makes possible a subdivision of the Damara strata into the various series established in the literature. It has been found possible to differentiate between Kamtsas and Damara quartzites on petrological grounds. Further, it is concluded that the bulk of Hakos carbonate rocks originated as dolomites and have subsequently been dedolomitized to a greater or lesser extent. The area contains both ortho- and para-amphibolites, as well as one occurrence of intrusive granite. Evidence is given for at least three periods of deformation. It is oonsidered that, if the Hosib Formation was involved in a pre-Damara orogenic episode, later folding must have been co-axial with this. Sedimentation and metamorphism are treated in broad outline. There appears to have been a deepening of the basin of deposition from Hasib to Damara times. Cyclicity in sedimentation is evidenced by lithological associations in the Damara strata. The entire area falls into the greenschist facies of regional metamorphism. Superficial deposits include river gravel and, silt, quartzite- and vein quartz-rubble, calcrete and Kalahari sand. The economic geology is described with special reference to the widespread copper mineralisation.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1972
The geology of the Shamrocke Mine and surrounding area, Rhodesia
- Authors: Kyle, Derek Lyndon
- Date: 1972
- Subjects: Shamrocke Mine -- Zimbabwe , Copper mines and mining -- Zimbabwe , Copper ores -- Zimbabwe , Formations (Geology) -- Zimbabwe , Petrology -- Zimbabwe , Geology -- Zimbabwe , Mineralogy -- Zimbabwe
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:5070 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013473
- Description: The geology of the Shamrocke area is described relative to its regional setting and position within the stratigraphic succession of the Lomagundi System. The stratigraphy in the immediate vicinity of the Shamrocke Mine is detailed and discussed relative to the work of others south of the project area and in other regions. The petrography of the rocks of the Shamrocke Mine area is described and the results of a great deal of mineralogical work recorded. Maps of the project area are presented at various scales from field and photogeological evidence. The thesis area is situated on the South Zambezi Escarpment of Rhodesia, and the geology described included the basaI succession of the Lomagundi System and the pre-Lomagundi Escarpment Series. The Shamrocke Mine is located on a copper orebody associated with a granulite or granofels zone within the Dolomite Series of the Lomagundi System. This ore zone granulite appears to be a metasomatised calcareous grit some 1000 feet above the upper contact of the Deweras Series (basal Lomagundi) and, within the graphitic schist and phyllite, below a dolomitic horizon in the Dolomite Series. The Lomagundi succession in the Mine area unconformably overlies the pre-Lomagundi gneiss and meta-arkose of the older, metamorphosed and deformed Escarpment Series. The basal meta-arkose, meta-quartzite and coarse schist of the Deweras Series ascends southwards through the Dolomite Series (graphitic phyllite and schist, granulite, calcareous grit, dolomite, limestone), and the Argillaceous Series (schist, phyllite, quartzite), the beds dipping steeply to the south at an angle of between 50º and 70º. Post-Lomagundi plagioclase amphibolite (altered, intrusive meta-diabase) forms Iarge semi-concordant and transgressive sills throughout the area, particularly along the contact between the Deweras and Dolomite Series. The Shamrocke Mine is on the northern limb of a large synclinal structure, the Rusere Syncline, which forms a large embayment of Lomagundi rocks into the pre-Lomagundi gneisses and granodiorites northeast from the Mine. The fold is overturned to the east and southeast. The copper mineralisation within the area and in the areas to the south is considered to be invariably associated with the basal rocks of the Lomagundi System. It occurs within both the Deweras and Dolomite Series rocks and more often than not Iies close to the contact between these two Series. The sulphide mineralisation of the Shamrocke orebody is considered, from the results of the present study, to be metasomatically emplaced during carbonate metasomatism, either from an extraneous source or from within the ore zone rock itself. The present writer favours the origin of the copper sulphide to be original syngenetic sulphide of the basal rocks of the Lomagundi depository, which has been mobilised and metasomatically relocated, possibly by the effects of regional metamorphism related to intense deformation. It is perhaps not fortuitous that the majority of the copper occurrences in the area occur where the basaI beds of the succession have been cross-folded. The copper ore comprises a simple suite of minerals, the main constituents being chalcopyrite, cubanite and pyrrhotite. The deposit is compared relative to the other copper deposits of the Lomagundi System.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1972
- Authors: Kyle, Derek Lyndon
- Date: 1972
- Subjects: Shamrocke Mine -- Zimbabwe , Copper mines and mining -- Zimbabwe , Copper ores -- Zimbabwe , Formations (Geology) -- Zimbabwe , Petrology -- Zimbabwe , Geology -- Zimbabwe , Mineralogy -- Zimbabwe
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:5070 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013473
- Description: The geology of the Shamrocke area is described relative to its regional setting and position within the stratigraphic succession of the Lomagundi System. The stratigraphy in the immediate vicinity of the Shamrocke Mine is detailed and discussed relative to the work of others south of the project area and in other regions. The petrography of the rocks of the Shamrocke Mine area is described and the results of a great deal of mineralogical work recorded. Maps of the project area are presented at various scales from field and photogeological evidence. The thesis area is situated on the South Zambezi Escarpment of Rhodesia, and the geology described included the basaI succession of the Lomagundi System and the pre-Lomagundi Escarpment Series. The Shamrocke Mine is located on a copper orebody associated with a granulite or granofels zone within the Dolomite Series of the Lomagundi System. This ore zone granulite appears to be a metasomatised calcareous grit some 1000 feet above the upper contact of the Deweras Series (basal Lomagundi) and, within the graphitic schist and phyllite, below a dolomitic horizon in the Dolomite Series. The Lomagundi succession in the Mine area unconformably overlies the pre-Lomagundi gneiss and meta-arkose of the older, metamorphosed and deformed Escarpment Series. The basal meta-arkose, meta-quartzite and coarse schist of the Deweras Series ascends southwards through the Dolomite Series (graphitic phyllite and schist, granulite, calcareous grit, dolomite, limestone), and the Argillaceous Series (schist, phyllite, quartzite), the beds dipping steeply to the south at an angle of between 50º and 70º. Post-Lomagundi plagioclase amphibolite (altered, intrusive meta-diabase) forms Iarge semi-concordant and transgressive sills throughout the area, particularly along the contact between the Deweras and Dolomite Series. The Shamrocke Mine is on the northern limb of a large synclinal structure, the Rusere Syncline, which forms a large embayment of Lomagundi rocks into the pre-Lomagundi gneisses and granodiorites northeast from the Mine. The fold is overturned to the east and southeast. The copper mineralisation within the area and in the areas to the south is considered to be invariably associated with the basal rocks of the Lomagundi System. It occurs within both the Deweras and Dolomite Series rocks and more often than not Iies close to the contact between these two Series. The sulphide mineralisation of the Shamrocke orebody is considered, from the results of the present study, to be metasomatically emplaced during carbonate metasomatism, either from an extraneous source or from within the ore zone rock itself. The present writer favours the origin of the copper sulphide to be original syngenetic sulphide of the basal rocks of the Lomagundi depository, which has been mobilised and metasomatically relocated, possibly by the effects of regional metamorphism related to intense deformation. It is perhaps not fortuitous that the majority of the copper occurrences in the area occur where the basaI beds of the succession have been cross-folded. The copper ore comprises a simple suite of minerals, the main constituents being chalcopyrite, cubanite and pyrrhotite. The deposit is compared relative to the other copper deposits of the Lomagundi System.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1972
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