Petrographic and geochemical evidence of calc-silicate xenolith – magma interaction in the western Bushveld Complex, South Africa

Abstract

Underground workings at Rowland Shaft, Lonmin Platinum, near Marikana have exposed a large (>7 x 5 m) calc-silicate xenolith in mottled anorthosite ~20 m below the UG 1 chromitite of the upper Critical Zone. The xenolith comprises a monticellite + forsterite + spinel assemblage that is consistent with a metamorphic Tmax of ≥975°C being reached at P ~1 kbar and XCO2 ~1. Internal variations in the modal proportions of these phases are interpreted as an artefact of sedimentary layering in the xenolith. The xenolith is flanked by a 20 to 30 cm wide magmatic skarn that contains several small, cm- to dm-scale, calc-silicate fragments displaying the same peak assemblage as the main xenolith, as well as a dm-scale chromitite autolith and mm- to dm-scale lenses and stringer-like masses of fine-grained uvarovite. The skarn matrix is mineralogically zoned, with an up to 10 cm wide clinopyroxenite layer proximal to the xenolith contact and calc-silicate fragments grading outwards into a gabbroic, plagioclase-clinopyroxene assemblage in which plagioclase becomes progressively more dominant distally. Notwithstanding its pseudo-ophitic texture, the distal skarn matrix displays a range of features consistent with crystallisation of magma contaminated by Ca from the decomposing xenolith under elevated fO2 conditions, including: (a) the unusual mineral compositions (zoned aluminian-ferrian diopside and anorthite, An>99), (b) the presence of calcite as inclusions in plagioclase and as a minor interstitial phase, (c) corroded wollastonite inclusions in clinopyroxene, and (d) thin grossular reaction rims between clinopyroxene and plagioclase. This chemical evolution is further substantiated by zoned spinel grains comprising Cr-rich cores and Al-enriched rims, which are, in turn, enclosed in garnet aggregates that grade outwards from uvarovite to grossular. Local development of grossular-vesuvianite symplectite indicates limited retrograde hydrous (XCO2 <0.1) fluid influx under subsolidus conditions (T <750°C). Bedding in the xenolith displays a steep westerly dip, approximately orthogonal to the magmatic layering. This, together with evidence in the skarn of both plastic shear strain and out-of-sequence magmatic autoliths, suggests that the xenolith underwent density-driven foundering within the RLS magma from an initial location above the UG 1 chromitite layer.