The structural evolution of dunite and chromite ore from the Kharcheruz Massif, the Polar Urals

Abstract

The Kharcheruz block of the Syumkeu ultramafic massif is a southern fragment of the Khadata ophiolitic belt, which closes the ophiolites of the Polar Urals in the north. The block, striking in the latitudinal direction, is sheetlike in shape and primarily composed of dunite with nearly latitudinal zones of chromite mineralization. The dunites are subject to ductile deformation various in intensity, and this variability is displayed in their heterogeneous structure and texture. The following microstructural types are distinguished by the variety and intensity of their deformation: protogranular → mesogranular → porphyroclastic → porphyrolath → mosaic. The petrostructural patterns of olivines pertaining to the above types reflect conditions of ductile deformation. Protogranular dunite is formed as a product of pyroxene decomposition in mantle harzburgite accompanied by annealing recrystallization at a temperature above 1000°C. Mesogranular dunite is formed as a product of high-temperature plastic flow by means of translation sliding in olivine and diffuse creep at a temperature dropping from 1000 to 650°C and at a low rate (<10^–6 s^–1). Cr-spinel segregates into linear zones of disseminated chromite mineralization within zones of bedding-plane plastic flow. Porphyroclastic and mosaic dunites are formed under conditions of intense deformation at a temperature of 500–750°C and at a significant rate (>10^–6 s^–1). Dunite is deformed by means of syntectonic recrystallization and subordinate translation gliding. Linear zones of disseminated mineralization undergo destruction thereby, with the formation of lenticular chromitite bodies from which ductile olivine is squeezed out with the formation of densely impregnated and massive ores.