Ore deposits associated with mafic magmas in the Kaapvaal craton

Abstract

Mafic and ultramafic magmatism played an important role in the 3.5 Ga long history of the Kaapvaal craton. The oldest (3.5 Ga) greenstone belts contain mafic and ultramafic volcanics that erupted in an oceanic environment, probably in oceanic plateaus. Then followed a series of continental flood basalts, from the ∼3.4 Ga old Commondale and Nondweni sequences, to the 180 Ma Karoo basalts. The history was dominated, however, by the emplacement, 2.1 Ga ago, of the Bushveld complex, an enormous layered ultramafic-mafic-felsic intrusion. Three types of ore deposits might be found in such a sequence: Ni-Cu-Fe sulfides in komatiites of the greenstone belts; “Noril'sk-type” Ni-Cu-PGE deposits in the Karoo and other flood basalts; and deposits of Cr, platinum-group elements (PGE) and V in the Bushveld and other layered intrusions. Only the latter are present. It is tempting to attribute the absence of komatiite-hosted deposits to the specific character of the ultramafic rocks in Kaapvaal greenstone belts, which are older that the 2.7 Ga komatiites that host deposits in Australia, Canada and Zimbabwe, and are of the less-common “Al-depleted” type. However, a review of mantle melting processes found no obvious connection between the character of the mantle melts and their capacity to form ore deposits. The lack of this type of deposit may be due to differences in the volcanic environment, or it may be fortuitous (the Barberton and other belts are small and could fit into deposit-free parts of the much larger Australian or Canadian belts). Still more puzzling is the absence of Noril'sk-type deposits. The Karoo and older flood basalt sequences appear to contain all the important elements of the volcanic sequences that host the Siberian deposits. It is now recognised that these deposits formed through the segregation of sulfide from magma flowing rapidly through conduits en route from deeper magma chambers to the surface. An exploration approach aimed at understanding the fluid dynamics of such systems seems warranted. Although the Bushveld intrusion has been studied for decades and its deposits are taken as type examples of magmatic mineralisation, the origin of its PGE deposits remains unclear. Opinion is divided on the relative importance of sulfide segregation from magma filling a large chamber at the time of emplacement, and the scavanging of PGE from fluids circulating through cumulates at a late magmatic stage. Answers to these questions may come from studies designed to gain a better understanding of the mechanisms through which the magma chamber filled and solidified.