Mineralogical, geochemical, and age characteristics of the rocks of the Inagli dunite–clinopyroxenite–shonkinite massif with platinum–chromite and Cr-diopside mineralization (Aldan Shield)

Abstract

Abstract We consider the mineralogical and geochemical features of the rocks of the Inagli dunite–clinopyroxenite–shonkinite massif with platinum–chromite and unique jewelry Cr-diopside mineralization, which is a reference object of concentric zonal complexes. The massif rocks, from dunites to pulaskites, including peridotites, clinopyroxenites, shonkinites, and melanocratic alkali syenites, form a single continuous comagmatic series. This is confirmed by a clear dependence of the compositions of olivine, pyroxene, phlogopites, and Cr-spinels on the MgO content of the rocks and on the behavior of trace elements in them. The similar compositions of pyroxenes and trace-element patterns of clinopyroxenite rocks and Cr-diopsidite veins indicate a genetic similarity of these rocks. The age and mineralogical and geochemical compositions of the rocks and the geologic and morphological features of the intrusion prove that the Inagli massif formed from high-K picritoid melts, which underwent gradual decompression solidification during the ascent and formed a cylindrical diapir-like body at the subsurface level in the Early Cretaceous. The new portions of differentiates supplied from the lower horizons of the magma column determined the complex composition of the massif: It has a concentric zonal structure cut by numerous radial-circular vein bodies of pegmatites and pure anchimonomineral rocks (Cr-diopsidites), in places, of jewelry quality.