Coronas in olivine gabbros and iron ores from Susimäki and Riuttamaa, Finland

Abstract

Coronas have been studied by petrographie and microprobe techniques in metamorphosed olivine gabbros and associated iron ores from Susimaki and Riuttamaa in Southwest Finland. Three types of coronas are distinguished occurring between the following primary minerals: (1) olivine-plagioclase, (2) opaque oxides-plagioclase, (3) opaque oxides-clinopy-roxene. Secondary corona minerals are, in order of decreasing abundance, hornblende, orthopyroxene, spinel, olivine, ilmenite, and magnetite. This is the first reported occurrence of coexisting primary and secondary olivines in coronas. Quantitative approximations of the corona-producing reactions are given by chemical equations of the analyzed reactant and product mineral phases. Individual coronas of all three types developed essentially as allochemical systems open to mass transfer by an intergranular fluid phase. The overall corona formation within the volume of a handspecimen likely involved only a net gain of water and a loss of Na.