Kizilcaoren ore-bearing complex with carbonatites (northwestern Anatolia, Turkey): Formation time and mineralogy of rocks

Abstract

The results of isotope-geochronological and mineralogical studies of the rocks making up the Kizilcaoren fluorite-barite-REE deposit, northwestern Anatolia, Turkey are discussed in the paper. The ore is a constituent of the subvolcanic complex localized in a large fault zone. The complex combines (from earlier to later rocks): (1) phonolite and trachyte stocks, (2) carbonatite and carbonate-silicate dikelike bodies; and (3) fluorite-barite-bastnaesite ore in the form of thick homogeneous veins and cement in breccia. The K-Ar dating of silicate igneous rocks and carbonatites shows that they were formed in the Chattian Age of the Oligocene 25-24 Ma ago. Mineralogical observations show that the ore is the youngest constituent in the rock complex. Supergene alteration deeply transformed ore-bearing rocks, in particular, resulting in leaching of primary minerals, presumably Ca-Mn-Fe carbonates, and in cementation of the residual bastnaesitefluorite framework by Fe and Mn hydroxides. Most of the studied rocks contain pyrochlore, LREE fluorocarbonates, Nb-bearing rutile, Fe-Mg micas, and K-feldspar. The genetic features of the deposit have been considered. In general, the ore-bearing rock complex is compared in the set of rocks and their mineralogy and geochemistry with deposits of the Gallinas Mountains in the United States, the Arshan and Khalyuta deposits in the western Transbaikalia region, and Mushugai-Khuduk deposit in Mongolia. The Kizilcaoren deposit represents a variant of postmagmatic mineralization closely related to carbonatite magmatism associated with alkaline and subalkaline intermediate rocks.