The Pancarli nickel-copper sulfide mineralization, eastern Turkey

Abstract

The Pancarli Ni-Cu mineralization is located in the metamorphic sequence of the Bitlis massif consisting of biotite gneiss, quartz-feldspar gneiss, amphibolite, and metagranitic rocks. The rocks are probably Precambrian in age and have been affected by regional amphibolite-facies metamorphism and by a later cataclasis. There is also evidence of an earlier eclogite-facies metamorphism. The Ni-Cu mineralization occurs as massive sulfide lenses aligned parallel to the penetrative foliation along various levels. The lenses are up to 3 m in length and 2 m in width. The host rock in the immediate vicinity of the orebodies is generally quartz-feldspar gneiss or more rarely quartz-feldspar gneiss and amphibolite. The mineral paragenesis of the ore consisting of pyrrhotite, pentlandite, and chalcopyrite and the low As and Co contents of the ore indicate an orhomagmatic origin of the mineraliza tion. The textures and chemistry of the spinel minerals in the Pancarli deposit together with Cu/(Cu+Ni) ratio of 0.29 of the ore suggest that the mineralization is genetically related to a basic magma. The only mafic rocks in the area are amphibolites that are characterized by a tholeiitic basaltic chemical composition. However, no imprignation and network ores are present in any of the amphibolite bodies. A model based on the segregation of a sulfide melt fraction from a basaltic magma in a magma chamber has been proposed. The subsequent and independent intrusions of the two fractions into the country rocks account for the absence of the impregnation and network ores in the amphibolites, and explain the similarities in geologic setting of the ore and amphibolites as well as their observed field relationships. Structural and textural features of the ores indicate that they have been subjected to regional metamorphism and the later cataclastic deformation that affected the country rocks. The author believes that the ores probably formed during the Pan-African orogenic development of the Bitlis massif in Late Precambrian time. In their present state, the Pancarli ores exhibit varying degrees of weathering with supergene assemblages.