Sulfides of Argysuksky gabbro massif (Northwest of Eastern Sayan)

Abstract

The relevance of the work is caused by the need in detailed petrological studies of numerous potentially mineralized mafic-ultramafic massifs of the Kan block of the Eastern Sayan to improve the correlation of regional schemes, and to identify Pt-Cu-Ni mineralization in them. The main aim of the research is a complex study of sulfide mineralization of gabbroides of the Argysuksky massif in order to assess the degree of potential prospect of intrusion for detecting commercial copper-nickel mineralization in it. The methods: study of ore mineralization in polished sections using a polarizing microscope AxioScope Carl Zeiss; determination of chemical composition of ore mineralization by the method of X-ray spectrum microanalysis using scanning electron microscope Tescan Vega II LMU, equipped with energy-dispersive spectrometry (with a semiconductor Si (Li) detector INCA x-sight) INCA Energy 450 and wave-dispersive spectrometer INCA Wave 700. The results. The detailed diagnosis of sulfide mineralization was carried out in gabbroides of Argysuksky massif. The miniralization increased to 12 mineral varieties. The studied mineralization shows high similarity on specialization, mineral recruitment and chemistry with sulfides from gabbros of Talazhinsky massif, which further confirms the earlier assumption made about the high similarity of these objects and their assignment to a single formation type. Typomorphic and chemical features of sulphides indicate that their crystallization in gabbros occurred from the original high-iron sulfide melt at high sulfur fugacity and significant role of copper in ore system. The results obtained, along with petrological features, point out on great promise of the test massif for detection of Cu-Ni ores.

Keywords

• Argysuksky massif
• gabbroides
• sulfides
• chemistry
• genesis
• potentially ore-bearing