The Jacupiranga carbonatite (Brazil) was investigated to better understand how modal proportions and mineral chemistry control the fO2 recorded by a natural carbonatite rock.
Mineral compositions were determined using SEM-EDS, EPMA-WDS and Raman microspectroscopy building upon detailed petrography.
Based on magnetite-ilmenite oxythermobarometry, rock-forming temperatures range from 505 to 732 °C, with a wide span of fO2 values (∆FMQ –1.21 to +4.56). In each sample, ilmenite grains and lamellae are distinguishable, with the latter recording higher temperature–fO2 conditions. Consistently, independently determined homogenization temperatures of apatite-hosted fluid inclusions show a similar range between 550 and 685 °C. From the wall-rock contact toward the carbonatite body, samples exhibit a decrease in the modal abundance of olivine, phlogopite, magnetite, ilmenite, and dolomite, alongside an increase in Mg-calcite. Over the same spatial gradient, temperature, fO2, and the magnesioferrite (in magnetite) and geikielite (in ilmenite) components decrease. During the antiskarn reaction, silica and mafic components (Mg, FeT, Al, and Ti) derived from the ultramafic wall-rock were incorporated into olivine, phlogopite, magnetite-ilmenite, and dolomite. Calcite-rich samples, which were less influenced by the wall-rock, preserved ephemeral alkali components of the carbonatite melts within burbankite. Apatite-hosted fluid inclusions represent coeval fluid modified by antiskarn reactions. Adjacent to equilibrium magnetite-ilmenite pairs, olivine and phlogopite exhibit high mg# (93–97 and 88–95, respectively).
Despite the broad span of ∆FMQ values recorded by the oxide pairs, we found only a weak positive correlation between the recorded fO2 and mg#. Consequently, we suggest that the high mg# (>88–90) of carbonatitic olivine is primarily controlled by the low (<0.2) 〖K_D〗_(Fe^(2+)-Mg)^(olivine-carbonatite melt) (Fe2+/Mg exchange partition coefficient between olivine and the carbonatite melt) at crustal conditions. The exceptionally high mg# of olivine and phlogopite, compared to the adjacent dunite cumulates (mg# 84–88), combined with their negligible Ni and Cr contents, indicate an in situ antiskarn process.
This study demonstrates that carbonatite systems can be characterized by dynamic redox conditions, spanning the range from Fe3O4 ̶ Fe2O3 to Fe2SiO4 ̶ Fe3O4 ̶ SiO2 during their evolution and emplacement.
The Upper Cretaceous Salitre intrusion, subdivided into Salitre I and Salitre II and dated to ~86-82 Ma by Sonoki and Garda (1988), is part of the Alto Paranaíba Igneous Province (APIP, Fig. 1) in Brazil, which is one of the largest ultrapotassic / carbonatitic / kimberlitic provinces in the world. The intrusion is characterized by the presence of lamproites, carbonatites and one lamprophyre (analyzed here), as well as along with a variety of intrusive cumulitic rocks.
Among the Salitre studied samples, this alkaline lamprophyre is characterized by low SiO2 (35.6 wt%), ultrapotassic (K2O/Na2O = 5; K2O = 4.4 wt%) and peralkaline (PI = 1.3). It exhibits variable MgO content (14 wt%) and is enriched in REEs (∑REE=~1,300 ppm) and other trace elements (Nb, Ta, Zr, Hf, Sr, Ba). This lamprophyre is characterized by olivine and phlogopite phenocrysts set in a fine-grained groundmass of clinopyroxene, apatite, phlogopite, magnetite, chromite, and perovskite, with rare titanite and garnet; kalsilite is absent.
Analyzing the trace elements of the main minerals in this lamprophyre helped us learn more about the origin and evolution of these magmas, as well as their possible genetic link with the other Salitre rocks. This analysis also provided important information about their enrichment in rare earth elements (REEs) and high field strength elements (HFSEs).
This publication results from work conducted under the transnational access/national open access action at Mass spectrometry la-icp laboratory (IGG-CNR, Italy) supported by WP3 ILGE - MEET project, PNRR - EU Next Generation Europe program, MUR grant number D53C22001400005.
The Drilling the Ivrea-Verbano zonE (DIVE) project, run as ICDP expedition 5071, aims at studying the lower continental crust (LCC) towards and across the Moho transition zone. The study area provides unique access to a section of the LCC with well-preserved structural relationships. Two drilling targets were selected from this zone for scientific investigations, which, in combination, reveal significant aspects of its geologic history. The goals of the project are primarily petrological-geochemical, geophysical, structural, microbiological, and focusing on natural gases. Two boreholes have been successfully drilled in project DIVE 1: first 5071_1_B near Ornavasso in 2022, then 5071_1_A in Megolo in 2023-2024.
This data publication provides the operational dataset of the ICDP project DIVE (ICDP 5071). The dataset is documented by the Explanatory Remarks (https://doi.org/10.48440/ICDP.5071.002).