Abstract
A detailed Sr−Nd isotopic study of primary apatite, calcite and dolomite from phoscorites and carbonatites of the Kovdor massif (380 Ma), Kola peninsula, Russia, reveals a complicated evolutionary history. At least six types of phoscorites and five types of carbonatite have been identified from Kovdor by previous investigators based on relative ages and their major and accessory minerals. Isotopic data from apatite define at least two distinct groups of phoscorite and carbonatite. Apatite from the earlier phoscorites and carbonatites (group 1) are characterized by relatively low87Sr/86Sr (0.70330–0.70349) and143Nd/144Nd initial ratios (0.51230–0.51240) with F=2.01–2.23 wt%, Sr=2185–2975 ppm, Nd=275–660 ppm and Sm=31.7–96.2 ppm. Apatite from the second group has higher87Sr/86Sr (0.70350–0.70363) and143Nd/144Nd initial ratios (0.51240–0.51247) and higher F (2.63–3.16 wt%), Sr (4790–7500 ppm), Nd (457–1074 ppm) and Sm (68.7–147.6 ppm) contents. This group corresponds to the later phoscorites and carbonatites. One apatite sample from a carbonatite from the earlier group fits into neither of the two groups and is characterized by the highest initial87Sr/86Sr (0.70385) and lowest143Nd/144Nd (0.51229) of any of the apatites. Within both groups initial87Sr/86Sr and143Nd/144Nd ratios show negative correlations. Strontium isotope data from coexisting calcite and dolomite support the findings from the apatite study. The Sr and Nd isotopic similarities between carbonatites and phoscorites indicate a genetic relationship between the two rock types. Wide variations in Sr and Nd isotopic composition within some of the earlier carbonatites indicate several distinct intrusive phases. Oxygen isotopic data from calcite and dolomite (δ18O=+7.2 to +7.7‰ SMOW) indicate the absence of any low-temerature secondary processes in phoscorites and carbonatites, and are consistent with a mantle origin for their parental melts. Apatite data from both groups of phoscorite plot in the depleted quadrant of an εNd versus εSr diagram. Data for the earlier group lie along the Kola Carbonatite Line (KCL) as defined by Kramm (1993) and data from the later group plot above the KCL. The evolution of the phoscorites and carbonatites cannot be explained by simple magmatic differentiation assuming closed system conditions. The Sr−Nd data can best be explained by the mixing of three components. Two of these are similar to the end-members that define the Kola Carbonatite Line and these were involved in the genesis of the early phoscorites and carbonatites. An additional component is needed to explain the isotopic characteristics of the later group. Our study shows that apatite from rocks of different mineralogy and age is ideal for placing constraints on mantle sources and for monitoring the Sr−Nd evolution of carbonatites.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Basu NK, Mayila A (1986) Petrographic and chemical characteristics of the Panda Hill carbonatite complex. Tanzania. J Afr Earth Sci 5: 589–598.
Bayanova TB, Kirnarskii YuM, Gannibal LF, Kosheev, OA, Balashov YuA (1991) U-Pb dating of baddeleyite from Kovdor carbonatite complex (abstract in Russian). In: Methods of isotope geology Abstr St-Petersburg, 31.
Bell K, Blenkinsop J (1987) Nd and Sr isotopic compositions of East African carbonatites: implications for mantle heterogeneity. Geology 15: 99–102.
Bell K, Dawson JB (1995) Nd and Sr isotope systematics of the active carbonatite volcano, Oldoinyo Lengai. In: Bell K, Keller J (eds) Carbonatite volcanism: Oldoinyo Lengai and the petrogenesis of natrocarbonatites. (IAVCEI Proceedings in volcanology. no. 4) Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg New York, pp 100–112
Bell K, Peterson T (1991) Nd and Sr isotope systematics of Shombole volcano, East Africa, and the links between nephelinites, phonolites, and carbonatites. Geology 19: 582–585.
Bell K, Plenkinsop J, Cole TJS, Menagh DP (1982) Evidence from Sr isotopes for long-lived heterogeneities in the upper mantle. Nature 298: 251–253.
Borodin LS, Lapin AV, Kharchenkov AG (1973) Rare-metal camaforites (in Russian). Nauka, Moscow
Bulakh AG, Ivanikov VV (1984) Problems of mineralogy and petrology of carbonatites (in Russian). Leningrad Univ, Leningrad
Clarke LB, Le Bas MJ, Spiro B (1994) Rare earth, trace element and stable isotope fractionation of carbonatites at Kruidfontein, Transvaal, S Africa. In: Kimberlite, related rocks and mantle xenoliths, In: Meyer HOA, Leonardos OH (eds) Proc 5th Kimberlite Conf, vol 1, CPRM, Rio de Janeiro, pp 236–251
Davies KA (1947) The phosphate deposits of the eastern province, Uganda. Econ Geol 42: 137–146.
Deines P (1989) Stable isotope variations in carbonatites. In: Bell K (ed) Carbonatites: genesis and evolution., Unwin Hyman, London, pp 301–359.
Deines P, Gold DP (1973) The isotopic composition of carbonatite and kimberlite carbonates and their bearing on the isotopic composition of deep-seated carbon. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 37: 1709–1733
Deines P, Harris, JW, Gurney JJ (1987) Carbon isotopic composition, nitrogen content and inclusion composition of diamonds from the Roberts, Victor kimberlife, South Africa. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 51: 1227–1243
Dudkin OB, Minakov FV, Kravchenko MP, Kravchenko EV, Kulakov AN, Polezhaeva LI, Pripachkin VA, Pushkarev YuD, Rungenen GI (1984) Khbina carbonatites, (in Russian). Kola branch USSR Acad of Sci, Apatity
Egorov LS (1984) Rare-earth element and fluorine contents of apatite as reflecting formation conditions alteration, and potential mineralization for rocks of the phoscorite-carbonatite group in ijolite-carbonatite complexes. Int Geol Rev 26: 93–107
Egorov LS (1993) Phoscorites of the Maymecha-Kotuy ijolite-carbonatite association. Int Geol Rev 35: 346–358
Epshteyn YeM, Danilchenko NA (1988) A spatial-genetic model of the Kovdor apatite-magnetite deposit, a carbonatite complex of the ultramafic, ijolite and carbonatite rock association. Int Geol Rev. 30: 981–993.
Eriksson SC (1989) Phalaborwa: a saga of magmatism, metasomatism and miscibility. In: Bell K (ed) Carbonatites: genesis and evolution. Unwin Hyman, London, pp 221–254
Hart SR, Gerlach DC, White WM (1986) A possible new Sr-Nd-Pb mantle array and consequences for mantle mixing. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 50: 1551–1557
Henriquez F, Martin RF (1978) Crystal-growth textures in magnetite flows and feeder dykes, El Laco, Chile. Can Mineral 16: 581–589
Hoefs J (1987) Stable isotope geochemistry. Springer Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg New York
Hogarth DD (1989) Pyrochlore, apatite and amphibole: distinctive minerals in carbonatites. In: Bell K (ed) Carbonatites: genesis and evolution. Unwin Hyman, London, pp 105–148
Johnson RL (1966) The Shawa and Dorowa carbonatite complexes, Rhodesia. In: Tuttle OF, Gittins J (eds) Carbonatites Wiley, New York, pp 205–224
Kapustin YuL (1980) Mineralogy of carbonatites. Amerind Publishing, New Delhi
Keller, J, Hoefs J (1995) Stable isotope characteristics of recent natrocarbonatites from Oldoinyo Lengai. In: Bell K, Keller J (eds) Carbonatite volcanism: Oldoinyo Lengai and the petrogenesis of natrocarbonatites. (IAVCEI Proceedings in volcanology, no 4) Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg New York pp 113–123
Kharlamov YeS, Kudryavtseva GP, Garanin VK, Korennova NG, Moskalyuk AA, Sandomirskaya SM, Shugurova NA (1981) Origin of carbonatites of the Kovdor deposit. Int Geol Rev 23: 865–880
Kramm U (1993) Mantle components of carbonatites from the Kola Alkali Province. Russia, and Finland: a Nd-Sr study. Eur J Mineral 5: 985–989
Kramm U, Kogarko LN, Kononova VA, Vartiainen H (1993) The Kola Alkaline Province of the CIS and Finland: precise Rb-Sr ages define 380–360 Ma age range for all magmatism. Lithos 30: 33–44
Krasnova NI, Kopylova LN (1988) The geologic basis for mineral-technological mapping at the Kovdor ore deposit. Int Geol Rev 30: 307–319
Kukharenko AA, Orlova MP, Boulakh AG, Bagdasarov EA, Rimskaya-Korsakova OM, Nefedov EI, Ilinsky GA, Sergeev AS, Abakumova NB (1965) The Caledonian complexes of ultrabasic-alkaline and carbonatite rocks on Kola peninsula and in Northern Karelia (geology, petrology, mineralogy and geochemistry) (in Russian). Nedra, Moscow
Kyser TK (1986) Stable isotope variations in the mantle. In: Valley JW et al. (eds) Stable isotopes in high temperature geological processes. (Rev in mineralogy 16) Mineral Soc Am, Washington, DC, pp 141–164
Lapin AV (1979) Mineral parageneses of apatite ores and carbonatites of the Seblyavr massif. Int Geol Rev 21: 1043–1052
Lapin AV (1982) Carbonatite differentiation processes. Int Geol Rev 24: 1079–1089
Lapin AV, Vartiainen H (1983) Orbicular and spherulitic carbonatites from Sokli and Vuorijarvi. Lithos 16: 53–60
Le Maitre RW (ed) (1989) A classification of igneous rocks and glossary of terms recommendations of the IUGS Subcommission on the systematics of igneous rocks. Blackwell, Oxford.
Nelson DR, Chivas AR, Chappel BW, McCulloch MT (1988) Geochemical and isotopic systematics in carbonatites and implication for the evolution of ocean-island sources. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 52: 1–17
Park CF (1961) A magnetite “flow” in Northern Chile. Econ Geol 56: 431–436
Philpotts AR (1967) Origin of certain iron-titanium oxide and apatite rocks. Econ Geol 62: 303–315
Platt RG, Woolley AR (1990) The carbonatites and fenites of Chipman Lake, Ontario. Can Mineral 28: 241–250
Pouliot G (1970) Study of carbonatitic calcites from Oka, Quebec. Can Mineral 10: 511–540
Richard P, Shimizu N, Allègre CJ (1976)143Nd/146Nd, a natural tracer: an application to oceanic basalts. Earth Planet Sci Lett 31: 269–278
Rimskaya-Korsakova OM, Krasnova NI, Kopylova LN (1979) Typochimic special features of apatite from Kovdor complex deposit (in Russian). Mineral Geochem 6: 58–70
Russell HD, Hiemstra SA, Groeneveld D (1954) The mineralogy and petrology of the carbonatite at Loolekop, Eastern Transvaal. Trans Geol Soc S Afr 57: 197–208
Simonetti A, Bell K (1994) Nd, Pb and Sr isotopic data from the Napak carbonatite-nephelinite centre, eastern Uganda: an example of open-system crystal fractionation. Contrib Mineral Petrol 115: 356–366
Sokolov SV (1983) The genetic unity of the apatite-magnetite ores and carbonatites in alkali-ultrabasic intrusions. Geochem. Int 20: 86–98
Sokolov SV (1985) Carbonates in ultramafic, alkali-rock and carbonatite intrusions. Geochem Int 22: 150–166
Taylor HP, Frechen J, Degens ET (1967) Oxygen and carbon isotope studies of carbonatites from the Laacher See district, West Germany and the Alno district, Sweden. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 31: 407–430
Tilton GR, Kwon ST (1990) Isotopic evidence for crust-mantle evolution with emphasis on the Canadian Shield. Chem Geol 83: 149–163
van Straaten P (1989) Nature and structural relationships of carbonatites from Southwest and West Tanzania. In: Bell K (ed) Carbonatites: genesis and evolution. Unwin Hyman, London, pp 177–199
Verwoerd WJ (1993) Update on carbonatites of South Africa and Namibia. S Afr J Geol 96(3): 75–95
Zaitsev A, Polezhaeva L (1994) Dolomite-calcite textures in early carbonatites of the Kovdor ore deposit, Kola peninsula, Russia: their genesis and application for calcite dolomite geothermometry. Contrib Mineral Petrol 115: 339–344
Zhabin AG (1971) Primary textural-structural features of carbonatites and their metamorphic evolution. Int Geol Rev 13: 1087–1096
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Editorial responsibility: W. Schreyer
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zaitsev, A., Bell, K. Sr and Nd isotope data of apatite, calcite and dolomite as indicators of source, and the relationships of phoscorites and carbonatites from the Kovdor massif, Kola peninsula, Russia. Contr. Mineral. and Petrol. 121, 324–335 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02688247
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02688247