Phosphate and sulfate-phosphate mineralization in sillimanite-bearing rocks at the Kyakhta deposit, western Transbaikal region

Abstract

The phosphate and sulfate-phosphate minerals in the sillimanite-bearing rocks of the Kyakhta deposit are considered. The mineral assemblages of the high-Al rocks were formed during prograde and retrograde stages of metamorphism. The first stage is characterized by the formation of sillimanite, corundum, muscovite, quartz, rutile, titanohematite, magnetite, feldspar, biotite, lazulite, and wagnerite. The muscovite composition showed that sillimanite paragenesis was formed at temperatures above 510–600°C. According to oxygen isotope thermometry, the minimum metamorphic temperature for quartz and titanohematite is 690°C. Andalusite, diaspore, quartz, pyrophyllite, muscovite, and a wide range of phosphates and sulfate-phosphates crystallized during the retrograde stage. The decrease in temperature and increase in the water content led to the following sequence of mineral formation: Mg-Fe-Al-Ca-REE-rich phosphates (lazulite, scorzalite, augelite, apatite, and monazite) → Ca-Sr sulfate-phosphates (woodhouseite and svanbergite) → sulfate (barite) → Sr-Ca-Ba aluminophosphates (goyazite, crandallite, and gorceixite). The chemical compositions of phosphates and sulfate-phosphates minerals and their formation conditions are discussed.