Platinum-group minerals from the Troodos ophiolite, Cyprus

Abstract

Platinum-group minerals have been identified in chromitites from the Troodos ophiolitic complex of Cyprus. The host chromitites occur as podiform bodies within the basal harzburgite of the ophiolite, as occasional discontinuous layers in the dunites at the base of the overlying cumulate sequence and rarely as minor schlieren in clinopyroxene dunites at higher levels. Podiform chromitites are generally highly deformed and frequently brecciated while those from the cumulate sequence are well-preserved and display cumulate textures. Chromite grains from bodies at all levels host a broad and mineralogically complex assemblage of inclusions including silicates, platinum-group minerals, base metal sulphides and fluid inclusions, all of which have been studied in detail. The platinum-group minerals (PGM) and base metal sulphides (BMS), which are described here, are modally much less abundant than the silicate inclusions and generally small in size (< 50 µm). PGM comprise sulphides and alloys and are dominated by laurite (RuS2). Other sulphides are Ru-poor. Alloys include iridosmine, osmian ruthenium and Ru-Fe alloys. Two generations of PGM are believed to be present, the first having been trapped during chromite formation, the second (including most of the alloys) having been formed during serpentinization. The base metal sulphides include common small Ni-Fe sulphides, sometimes associated with silicate inclusions, and larger Cu-rich inclusions, some of which are almost pure chalcopyrite. The origin of the latter is of genetic significance.