Abstract
The results of studying nitrate mineralization in rodingites of the Bazhenovsk ophiolite complex located on the eastern slope of the Middle Urals are presented. Rodingites are metasomatic rocks of garnet-pyroxene composition that replace gabbroid and diorite dikes that cut across the Bazhenovsk ultramafic massif. Some apogabber and apodiorite rodingites have in turn been altered by hydrothermal fluids, probably generated by an underlying granite intrusion. Chalcocite is the main sulfide mineral in hydrothermally altered rodingites. It forms clusters of irregular shape, up to 1 cm in size. Visually, chalcocite is often covered with greenish and bluish films, which, upon detailed study, turned out to be an aggregate of chrysocolla, dolerophanite, langite, connellite, and mitscherlichite with the presence of nitrate mineralization. Copper nitrates are represented by gerhardtite and likasite, the latter mineral apparently developing after the former. For both minerals, the data of X-ray electron probe analysis and IR spectroscopy are given, and the morphology of their aggregates and individuals is also shown. In addition, X-ray diffraction data for gerhardtite are given, since it has a dimorphic analogue – rouaite. The formation of nitrate mineralization, in our opinion, is of natural origin, since mantle rocks are a source of nitrogen.
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