Mineralization of chromite and ilmenite in Kurdistan ophiolite: An approach to determine the geotectonic setting

This is the first report on the presence of podiform chromititeLenses associated with the Marivan ophiolite. These ore deposits with granular massive fabric are hosted by dunite and harzburgite occurred in south Marivan city. Chemistry of chromian spinel in the chromite Lenses indicated that Cr#  for two ore occurrences is high (0.85) with very low TiO2, but for the other ore occurrence is lower (0.67) with higher TiO2 (0.05). The finding shows that the chromite ore Lenses and consequently their host ophiolite were developed in two different geotectonical settings. Geochemical data indicated that some of the studied ore deposits occurred during the opening of oceanic crust in a Mid Oceanic Ridge setting from a tholeiitic magma while the others were fractionated form a boninitic melt in a Supra Subduction Zone. Formation of these ore Lenses and the host rocks occurred in response to the very fast divergence and then convergence of Neo-Tethys oceanic crust. A wide range of gabbros including coarse-grained gabbro, melagabbro and microgabbro host ilmenite, magnetite and titanite in three regions at the northwest of Kamyaran (Yakhtekhan village), the east of Sarvabad (Mianeh village) and the south of Marivan (Dragashikhan-Vyseh villages). Ilmenite is found in all the three regions, but magnetite and titanite are only found in the east of Sarvabad. Plagioclase (andesine-labradorite) and diopside, the main rock-forming minerals with minor augite, olivine and amphibole are the minerals of the host rocks. The chemical composition of the ilmenites showed that the average concentration of TiO2 increases from Kamyaran (43.19 wt.%) to Sarvabad (46.09 wt.%) and then to Marivan (47.42 wt.%). These minerals occur as interstitial fine to medium grains (up to 1.5 mm) and often in the amoeboid, anhedral and to a lesser extent as subhedral forms. Based on textural and mineral chemistry evidence, mineralization of titanium occurred as the result of magma oxidation. The oxidation of magma resulted in the formation of iron-titanium immiscible liquid droplets, following the plagioclase crystallization.