Composition of minerals from the skarn deposits Väster Silvberg (Sweden) and Tumurtijn-ovoo (Mongolia): Indications of different element supply in submarine hydrothermal-sedimentary ore genesis

Abstract

We compare chemical compositions of the main minerals from two submarine exhalative sulfide-bearing manganiferous iron-ore deposits, i.e.Väster Silvberg in Sweden (VS) and Tumurtijn-ovoo in Mongolia (TO). At VS, much Al is present in garnet (Fe-spessartine) and biotite, whereas at TO the ore-associated garnets are Al-poor (andradite) and minerals not associated with ore minerals are Al-rich (grossular, vesuvianite). The low-Al of andradite at TO agrees with the low-Al of volcanic ore-forming solutions from the modern oceans. The Al-rich minerals at both TO and VS indicate the assimilation of Al-rich volcanic material in both deposits. The elements Ca and Mg show opposite distributions: at VS much Mg is incorporated in kutnahorite, knebelite, biotite, and Mn-actinolite, Mg-rich minerals are absent at TO; in contrast, the garnets at TO contain more Ca than the garnets at VS. We explain these differences by the different carbonate minerals constituting the accompanying carbonate rocks at the two deposits, namely calcite and dolomite at VS, and only calcite at TO. These minerals primarily resulted from evaporation of seawater. Also during times, when they did not form massive carbonate rocks, they settled to the seafloor in minor amounts. There, they were partially combined with volcaniclastic Al-rich input. When the ore solutions spread on the seafloor and percolated through the bottomset they mixed with the seafloor mud producing ore-bearing sediments as precursors of Al-rich, Mg-rich skarn ores at VS and Al-poor, Mg-poor, Ca-rich skarn ores at TO. As a result, three sources supplied elements for the skarn-ore formation at the investigated deposits: volcanic ore solutions, Al-rich volcanic material and evaporitic carbonates of different composition.