Siberian Traps and Pt-Cu-Ni Deposits in the Noril’sk Area

377 Pages·2016·26.7 MB·English

by  Nadezhda A. Krivolutskaya (auth.)

Nadezhda A. Krivolutskaya
Siberian Traps
and Pt-Cu-Ni
Deposits in the
Noril’sk Area
Siberian Traps and Pt-Cu-Ni Deposits
in the Noril’sk Area

Nadezhda A . K rivolutskaya
Siberian Traps and Pt-Cu-Ni
Deposits in the Noril’sk Area

With the special cooperation of Alexander Sobolev
Nadezhda A. Krivolutskaya
Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and
Analytical Chemistry
Russian Academy of Sciences
Moscow , Russia
The Work was fi rst published in 2014 by Russian Foundation for Basic Research with the following title:
Evolution of Trap Magmatism and Processes Producing PGE-Cu-Nimineralizationin the Noril’sk Area
ISBN 978-3-319-17204-0 ISBN 978-3-319-17205-7 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-17205-7
Library of Congress Control Number: 2015937605
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Foreword
This monograph presents a new detailed study of one of the pivotal problems now being
discussed by geologists. Siberian traps are unique in several aspects. First, this is the largest
magmatic province in the Earth’s continental lithosphere. Second, the origin of this province
is thought to have caused the greatest environmental catastrophe in the Earth’s history at the
boundary between the Permian and Triassic. Finally, the province is the location of uniquely
large Cu–Ni–Pt sulfi de deposits, whose characteristics have no analogs among deposits any-
where else worldwide. As a result, hundreds of studies have been devoted to these traps and to
the Permian–Triassic mass extinction, and a few dozen such papers are still published annu-
ally. Increadible as it is still possible to conduct and publish an extensive amount of research
focused on these problems based on extensive new data and presenting new ideas. The mono-
graph by N. Krivolutskaya is exactly such study.
This study is based on the author’s extensive fi eldwork in the Noril’sk district and presents
extensive new data regarding rock compositions (including their trace element compositions)
and the chemistries of their ore and silicate minerals. The analyses were conducted using state-
of-t he-art analytical techniques: inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, laser sam-
pling, and mineral analysis using a special ultraprecise electron microprobe methodic. The
monograph presents new data regarding the Pb, Nd, Sr, O, and S isotopic compositions of the
rocks and minerals.
Based on the analytical and geological data, N. Krivolutskaya arrives at several conclusions
that contradict traditional views regarding the genesis of both the ores and the basalts. This
aspect of the monograph is provocative and will stimulate discussion, which is undoubtedly
one of its merits.
B elow, I list the major disparities. In contrast to the current widespread viewpoint, the
author of the monograph denies direct genetic links between the lavas and ore-bearing bodies
and argues that the intrusive bodies were produced by individual magmatic pulses. She also
believes that the sulfur in the ore bodies was not of sedimentary origin but was rather derived
by magmas from a lower crust or from a specifi c mantle source. The traps are thought not to
be mantle products but rather to have been generated via the melting of the lower crust.
Although I do not fully share the viewpoint of the author, the fi ndings and conclusions pre-
sented in the monograph and in the latest publications coauthored by her attract serious atten-
tion to her work. For example, the new model for the interaction of a hot mantle plume enriched
in ancient recycled oceanic crustal with continental lithosphere (Sobolev et al. 2011) allows for
the extensive remelting of the lower continental crust and corresponding modifi cation of the
parental mantle magmas. Sulfi de minerals in this crust are likely to melt, precipitate, and be
accumulated in basaltic magmas. Therefore, their unusual sulfur isotopic composition could
indeed be inherited from either the ancient recycled crust or the lower continental crust.
I cannot agree with the author’s argument that the stable state of the Siberian craton was
unfavorable for the emplacement of ancient recycled crustal material during the trap magma-
tism. The point is that the recycled oceanic crust, whose traces were discerned in the mantle
source of the Siberian traps (Sobolev et al. 2007, 2009, 2011), was likely transported upward
by the hot mantle plume from the depth between lower mantle and upper core, where this
material could have accumulated for a long time independent of the geodynamics of the
v
vi Foreword
Siberian craton. This conclusion is based on the very high temperatures of the parental mag-
mas of the Siberian traps and alkaline rocks in the Maymecha-Kotuy province. Certain other
aspects of the study also provoke doubts, but it is well known that the truth ultimately emerges
from discussion. I therefore welcome this study and recommend it to those interested in mag-
matic ore-forming processes and the genesis of magmas and to geologists studying the Noril’sk
district.
Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry Alexander Sobolev
Russian Academy of Sciences
Moscow , Russia
Institute of Earth Sciences (ISTerre)
J. Fourier University
Grenoble , France
January 20, 2015
Pref ace
T his book contains my new data on the geology, geochemistry, and mineralogy of rocks and
ores from the Noril’sk region collected during the last 20 years. Majority of the reported data
was obtained personally by me and minority in collaboration with other researchers, i.e., A. V.
Sobolev, V. N. Mikhailov, D. V. Kuzmin, and A. A. Ariskin, during our joint fi eldworks, sam-
ple analysis, and computer modeling. The book also contains several novel unpublished geo-
logical large-scale maps that were kindly given by NorilskGeology Ltd.
I tried to examine magmatic rocks of trap formation in Noril’sk area including both lavas
and intrusions. The latter are represented by massifs of Talnakh and Noril’sk Troughs since
they are the most mineralized in the whole area. By analyzing geological relationships between
lavas and intrusions and their geochemistry, I came into conclusion that they should not be
considered as members of the same magmatic system. I have demonstrated limited scale of the
assimilation of surrounding rocks by magma inside crystallization chambers for the fi rst time.
That’s why assimilation had no signifi cant impact on the ore formation.
I have not tried to compile all materials accumulated during almost a century of study of the
Noril’sk deposits. The understanding of their origin is very ambitious and important task, and
it is still open for geologists who specialized in various fi elds, i.e., geophysiсs, stratigraphics,
mineralogy, etc.
N ote that this book comprises about 70 % of the materials from my monograph titled as
“Evolution of trap magmatism and processes producing Pt–Cu–Ni mineralization in the
Noril’sk area” published in Russian (2014). I preferred to use the nomenclature of rocks
common of Noril’sk geologists instead of international one, because it is being used by both
domestic and even some international geologists for the last 60 years.
I hope this book will be interesting for all researches of copper–nickel deposits across the
globe.
Moscow, Russia Nadezhda A. Krivolutskaya
March 20, 2015
vii

To Several Generations of Russian Geologists Who Did the Unique Noril’sk
Metallogenic Province in Very Severe Conditions
Organization of Geological W orks in the Noril’sk Trough
(Noril’sk 1 deposit)
1919–1959
N.N. Urvantsev N.M. Fedorovsky A.E. Nelyubin
A.E. Vorontsov I.A. Korovyakov M.F. Smirnov
B.N. Rozhkov Yu.M. Sheiman A.I. Koreshkov
M.N. Godlevsky N.S. Zontov V.S. Domarev
V.K. Kotulsky G.G. Moor V.N. Egorov
Discovery of Deposits in the Talnakh Trough
(Talnakh and Oktyabr’skoe deposits)
1960–1965
Laureates of the top USSR decorations (Lenin Prize winners, Heroes of Socialist Labor, Order of Lenin)
Talnakh — 1960 Oktyabr’skoe — 1965
V.F. Kravtsov G.D. Maslov
V.S. Nesterovsky V.F. Kravtsov
G.D. Maslov V.A. Lul’ko
Yu.N. Sedykh G.I. Saprykin
Yu.D. Kuznetsov L.L. Vaulin
E.N. Sukhanova F.A. Starshinov
V.N. Egorov
1970–2015
V.S. Staroseltsev V.V. Kurgin I.A. Tushentsova
V.F. Pzhevsky O.N. Siminov L.I. Trofi mova
N.E. Kunilov V.A. Fedorenko K.K. Shad’ko
Yu.N. Amosov O.A. Dyuzhikov N.I. Kokorin
M.I. Savushkin I.A. Matveev V.A. Teteryuk
E.V. Sereda V.N. Mikhailov V.A. Rad’ko
+ many, many other geologists
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