"Nioboloparite"; a re-investigation and discreditation
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A study of nioboloparite samples from the Khibina massif, Kola Peninsula, Russia, demonstrates that the majority is merely calcian niobian loparite-(Ce), niobian calcian loparite-(Ce) or niobian loparite-(Ce). The minerals do not differ in structure or significantly, with respect to their composition, from common loparite-(Ce) that occurs as a primary mineral throughout the Khibina complex. They differ from common loparite-(Ce) in that they are zoned from a Nb-enriched core to a margin enriched in rare-earth elements and depleted in Nb. This zonation trend is the opposite of that developed during crystallization of primary loparite and is considered to reflect reaction of primary relatively Nb-rich loparite with late-stage REE-enriched fluids. One sample of nioboloparite from a pegmatite vein in ijolite-urtite is a lanthanian lueshite characterized by enrichment of La over Ce. The term nioboloparite does not correspond to a distinct mineral species and must be discredited.Keywords:
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Kola peninsula
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Abstract Carbonatites from the Khibina Alkaline Massif (360–380 Ma), Kola Peninsula, Russia, contain one of the most diverse assemblages of REE minerals described thus far from carbonatites and provide an excellent opportunity to track the evolution of late-stage carbonatites and their sub-solidus (secondary) changes. Twelve rare earth minerals have been analysed in detail and compared with literature analyses. These minerals include some common to carbonatites (e.g. Ca-rare-earth fluocarbonates and ancylite-(Ce)) plus burbankite and carbocernaite and some very rare Ba, REE fluocarbonates. Overall the REE patterns change from light rare earth-enriched in the earliest carbonatites to heavy rare earth-enriched in the late carbonate-zeolite veins, an evolution which is thought to reflect the increasing ‘carbohydrothermal’ nature of the rock-forming fluid. Many of the carbonatites have been subject to sub-solidus metasomatic processes whose products include hexagonal prismatic pseudomorphs of ancylite-(Ce) or synchysite-(Ce), strontianite and baryte after burbankite and carbocernaite. The metasomatic processes cause little change in the rare earth patterns and it is thought that they took place soon after emplacement.
Carbonatite
Kola peninsula
Paragenesis
Metasomatism
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Nepheline syenite
Nepheline
Sodalite
Aegirine
Pegmatite
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Aegirine
Nepheline
Pegmatite
Sanidine
Nepheline syenite
Carbonatite
Diopside
Pyroxene
Oxonium ion
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Perovskite-group minerals from the Lovozero peralkaline complex, on the Kola Peninsula, Russia, are primarily loparite-rich members of the perovskite-lueshite-loparite-(Ce) solid-solution series. From early-forming poikilitic nepheline syenite to late eudialyte lujavrite, loparite compositions evolve by enrichment in Na, Sr, and Nb, and depletion in Ca, Ti and light rare-earth elements. The evolutionary trend is from calcian niobian loparite-(Ce) in the poikilitic nepheline syenite and rocks of the differentiated complex through niobian calcian loparite-(Ce) in the differentiated complex and eudialyte lujavrite to cerian lueshite in eudialyte lujavrite. This trend coincides with the proposed order of crystallization of the major intrusive series of the massif. Intra- and intergrain compositional variation and diverse patterns of core-to-rim zonation exhibited by loparite grains from the same sample are characteristic of most parageneses and may result from a combination of re-equilibration phenomena and late-stage metasomatic processes.
Nepheline syenite
Peralkaline rock
Nepheline
Kola peninsula
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Pegmatite
Metasomatism
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Kola peninsula
Alkaline earth metal
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The silico‑carbonatite dykes of the Huanglongpu area, Lesser Qinling, China, are unusual in that they are quartz-bearing, Mo-mineralised and enriched in the heavy rare earth elements (HREE) relative to typical carbonatites. The textures of REE minerals indicate crystallisation of monazite-(Ce), bastnäsite-(Ce), parisite-(Ce) and aeschynite-(Ce) as magmatic phases. Burbankite was also potentially an early crystallising phase. Monazite-(Ce) was subsequently altered to produce a second generation of apatite, which was in turn replaced and overgrown by britholite-(Ce), accompanied by the formation of allanite-(Ce). Bastnäsite and parisite where replaced by synchysite-(Ce) and röntgenite-(Ce). Aeschynite-(Ce) was altered to uranopyrochlore and then pyrochlore with uraninite inclusions. The mineralogical evolution reflects the evolution from magmatic carbonatite, to more silica-rich conditions during early hydrothermal processes, to fully hydrothermal conditions accompanied by the formation of sulphate minerals. Each alteration stage resulted in the preferential leaching of the LREE and enrichment in the HREE. Mass balance considerations indicate hydrothermal fluids must have contributed HREE to the mineralisation. The evolution of the fluorcarbonate mineral assemblage requires an increase in aCa2+ and aCO32− in the metasomatic fluid (where a is activity), and breakdown of HREE-enriched calcite may have been the HREE source. Leaching in the presence of strong, LREE-selective ligands (Cl−) may account for the depletion in late stage minerals in the LREE, but cannot account for subsequent preferential HREE addition. Fluid inclusion data indicate the presence of sulphate-rich brines during alteration, and hence sulphate complexation may have been important for preferential HREE transport. Alongside HREE-enriched magmatic sources, and enrichment during magmatic processes, late stage alteration with non-LREE-selective ligands may be critical in forming HREE-enriched carbonatites.
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Allanite
Rare-earth element
Metasomatism
Uraninite
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Abstract Chevkinite-(Ce) in a mineralized quartz-epidote metasomatite from the Keivy massif, Kola Peninsula, Russia, underwent at least two stages of low-temperature alteration. In the first, it interacted with hydrothermal fluids, with loss of Ca, Fe, LREE and Si and strong enrichment in Ti. The altered chevkinite was then rimmed and partially replaced by a zone of ferriallanite-(Ce) and davidite-(La), in turn rimmed by a zone of allanite-(Ce) richer in the epidote component. The allanite zone was in turn partially replaced by rutile-titanite-quartz assemblages, the formation of titanite postdating that of rutile. Aeschynite-(Y), aeschynite-(Ce) and REE -carbonates are accessory phases in all zones. The hydrothermal fluids were alkaline, with significant proportions of CO 2 and F. At various alteration stages, the Ca, Si ± Al activities in the fluid were high. Formation of the aeschynite is discussed in relation to its stability in broadly similar parageneses; it was a primary phase in the unaltered chevkinite zone whereas in other zones it formed from Nb, Ti, REE and Th released from the major phases.
Titanite
Kola peninsula
Allanite
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Rutile
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Peralkaline rock
Kola peninsula
Nepheline
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The results are presented of a textural and mineral chemical study of a previously undescribed type of hydrothermal alteration of chevkinite-(Ce) which occurs in a syenitic pegmatite from the Vishnevye Mountains, Urals Region, Russia. The progressive alteration of the chevkinite to a bastnäsite-(Ce)-ilmenite-columbite-(Fe) assemblage through a series of texturally complex intermediate stages is described and electron microprobe analyses are given of all the major phases. Unusual Nb ± Th-rich phases formed late in the alteration sequence provide evidence of local Nb mobility. The main compositional fluxes are traced, especially of the REE, HFSE, Th and U. It appears that almost all elements, with the exception of La, released from the chevkinite-(Ce) were reincorporated into later phases, such that they did not leave the alteration crust in significant amounts. The hydrothermal fluids are inferred to have been F- and CO2-rich, with variable levels of Ca activity, and with fO2 mainly between the nickel-nickel oxide and magnetite-hematite buffers. This occurrence represents a new paragenesis for a columbite-group mineral.
Columbite
Pegmatite
Ilmenite
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Metasomatism
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Carbonatite
Allanite
Rare-earth element
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