Petrochemistry of the Soyeonpyeong titaniferous iron ore deposits, South Korea

소연평도 함티타늄 자철광상의 암석지구화학적 연구

Lens shaped titanomagnetite ore bodies in the Soyeonpyeong iron mine are embedded in amphibolites, which were intruded into Precambrian metasediments such as garnet-mica schist, marble, mica schist, and quartz schist. Mineral chemistry, K-Ar dating and hydrogen and oxygen stable isotopic analysis for the amphibolites and titanomagnetite ores were conducted to interpret petrogenesis of amphibolite and ore genesis of titanomagnetite iron ore deposits. Amphibolites of igneous origin have unusually high content of $TiO_2$, ranging from 0.94 to 6.39 wt.% with an average value of 4.05 wt.%. REE patterns of the different lithology of the amphibolite show the similar trend with an enrichment of LREE. Amphiboles of amphibolites are consist mainly of calcic amphiboles such as ferro-hornblende, tschermakite, ferroan pargasite, and ferroan pargasitic hornblende. K-Ar ages of hornblende from amphibolite and gneissic amphibolite were determined as $440.04{\pm}6.39Ma$ and $351.03{\pm}5.21Ma$, respectively. This indicates two metamorphic events of Paleozoic age in the Korean peninsula which are correlated with Altin orogeny in China. The titanomagnetite mineralization seems to have occurred before Cambrian age based on occurrence of orebodies and ages of host amphibolites. The Soyeonpyeong iron ores are composed mainly of titanomagnetite, ilmenite, and secondary minerals such as ilmenite and hercynite exsolved in titanomagnetite. The temperature and the oxygen fugacity estimated by the titanomagnetite-ilmenite geothermometer are $500{\sim}600^{\circ}C$ (ave. $550^{\circ}C$) and about $2{\pm}10^{-23}bar$, respectively. Hornblendes from ores and amphibolites which responsible for magnetite ore mineralization, have a relatively homogeneous isotopic composition ranging from +0.8 to +3.9 ‰ in ${\delta}^{18}O$ and from -87.8 to -113.3 ‰ in ${\delta}D$. The calculated oxygen and hydrogen isotopic compositions of the fluids which were in equilibrium with hornblende at $550^{\circ}C$, range from 2.8 to 5.9‰ in ${\delta}^{18}O_{H2O}$ and from -60.41 to -81.31 ‰ in ${\delta}D_{H2O}$. The ${\delta}^{18}O_{H2O}$ value of magnetite ore fluids are in between +6.4 to + 7.9 ‰. All of these values fall in the range of primary magmatic water. A slight oxygen shift means that $^{18}O$-depleted meteoric water be acted with basic fluids during immiscible processes between silicate and titaniferous oxide melt. Mineral chemistry, isotopic compositions, and occurences of amphibolites and orebodies, suggest that the titanomagnetite melt be separated immisciblely from the titaniferous basic magma.