Metallic and glass spherules in the loose deposits of the Put river head (Middle Urals)

Abstract

Research subject. The article examines exotic mineral formations - spherules (balls) of various composition and structure, found in the Neogene sediments of the interfluve of the Put-Bisert rivers within the eastern wing of the Yurizan-Sylva de-pression.Materials and methods. The work was carried out using the authors' research results, the available data on similar formations both from the modern soil-vegetation layer, including peat and technogenic formations, and from more ancient Phanerozoic sedimentary, magmatic and ore complexes. The article uses the results of studies obtained by a scanning electron microscope “EVO MA 15” from ZEISS with an energy-dispersive attachment EDS “X-MAX 80” at the JSC “Mekhanobr” analytical laboratory.Results. A detailed study of the surface morphology, dimensions, chemical and mineral composition of three types of spherules - magnetite, iron-chromium composition and barium and titanium oxide, similar to the stoichiometric formula of sanbornite - was carried out. The surface of the balls of the second type is heterogeneous in structure and contains growths, some of which have the form of a flat, flattened, square, skeletal crystal of a sectorial structure. The inner surface of the crystal has a fine-mesh structure. The cells have a complex, elongated structure. At the periphery of the crystal, the cells transform into hollow channels, indicating growth from the gas phase. In composition, the sectoral crystal corresponds to a solid solution between magnesio-chromite and herzenite with an admixture of nickel, calcium and silicon. The internal microstructure of iron-chromium spherules has a myrmekite, two-phase structure.Conclusions. The obtained data indicate that such heterogeneous formations can be formed only in specific deep fluid-saturated high-temperature magmatic systems and delivered to the surface by hydrothermal fluids along weakened tectonic zones. The detection of these formations in the overlying sediments of the western wing of the Artinskaya anticline may indicate the proximity of large fluid-supplying deep structures that control the Bukharovskoye gas show.