A Special Issue (Part-II): Mafic-ultramafic rocks andalkaline-carbonatitic magmatism and associated hydrothermalmineralization - dedication to Lia Nikolaevna Kogarko

Abstract

This is the second part of a two-volumespecial issueof Open Geoscience (formerly Central European Journalof Geosciences) that aims to be instrumental in providingan update of Mafic-Ultramafic Rocks and Alkaline-Carbonatitic Magmatism and Associated HydrothermalMineralization. Together, these two volumes provide a detailedand comprehensive coverage of the subjects thatare relevant to the research work of P.Comin-Chiaramonti(Italy) and LiaN. Kogarko (Russia) towhomPart-I and Part-II have been respectively dedicated.To a significant extent, the development of advanced samplingtechnologies related to alkaline and carbonatiticmagmatism by Lia N. Kogarko, has allowed geoscientiststo measure and sample the deep crust of the planet notonly for the exploration for the mineral deposits, but alsoto answer basic scientific questions about the origin andevolution of alkaline rocks (kimberlites, lamproites and relatedrocks associated with carbonatites). The papers presentedin this Part-II of the special issue cover the petrologyand geochemistry of the rocks collected from the surfaceand penetrated by drilling. Lia Kogarko proposed anew theory for the evolution of alkaline magmatism in thegeological history of the Earth – that the appearance of alkalinemagmatism at the Archaean-Proterozoic boundary(~2.5 – 2.7 Ga), and its growing intensity, was related tochanges in the geodynamic regime of the Earth and oxidationof the mantle due to mantle-crust interaction.