A structural approach to the genesis of chrome ores within the Vourinos ophiolite (Greece): Significance of ductile and brittle deformation processes in the formation of economic ore bodies in oceanic upper mantle peridotites

Abstract

The understanding of ophiolites as hosts to economic–scale chromitite ore deposits requires the integration of research relating their geochemical metallogenesis with studies of the mode and nature of their lithospheric-scale deformation. The Neotethyan Vourinos ophiolite in Northern Greece represents a well-preserved ophiolite complete with sheeted dikes, an in-situ Moho transition zone, and a nearly 8-km-thick upper mantle sequence. Chromitite bodies and sub-economic chrome ores occur throughout its ultramafic section, and above and below the petrological Moho; but, economic concentrations of chromitite are restricted to a region referred to as the “metalliferous zone” within the upper mantle domain. Ductile deformation, which developed synchronously with mineral re-equilibration and late magmatic activity, re-concentrated chromite grains in mesoscopic fold noses and created massive-textured ore bodies. Re-equilibration of chromite and chromite–olivine grains on microscopic–scale during this ductile deformation produced geochemical patterns that are compatible with strain distribution. Whether re-equilibration varied with strain rate in the mantle lithosphere due to regional heterogeneous conditions, or whether the change in deformation–induced modal distribution of the mineral aggregate more strongly affected the process of re-equilibration is yet to be determined. The richest ore bodies in Vourinos are represented by the schlieren ores of the Xerolivado Mine, and occur as extensive lenses of mylonitic chromitite, marking the highest degree of deformation within the complex. These textures display patterns of re-equilibration geochemical halos and transition from ductile into brittle deformation conditions.