Intrusive complexes at sources of Aksaut, Bol'shoy Zelenchuk and Laba rivers (Main Caucasus Range area)

Abstract

From studies carried out by the author (1954-1962), the metallogeny of the various groups of intrusive rocks of different ages, developed in the Laba-Teberda region of the Main Caucasus Range, emerges clearly. The oldest intrusions - serpentinized hyperbasites - appear totally unpromising metallogenically. Mid-Hercynian intrusions, a strongly differentiated complex, are exceedingly low in mineral content, perhaps because the parent magma was sterile originally. Granites of the late Hercynian are most numerous in the region. Only indication of the metal concentration in young Mesozoic intrusions is the small number of ore shows known to be associated with them in the region under consideration; most important of these are the garnet-magnetite skarns at the source of the Sancharo river, occurring at the contact between Paleozoic limestones and microdiorite dikes.—IGR Staff.