GOLD PYRAMID GROUP The Wilson Cycle (Plate Tectonics)

Mining And Petroleum

The Classification of Igneous Rocks Into Suites

Fractionation Sequence
Komatiite Suit Tholeiite Suit Calcalkaline Suit Alkalic Suit
Over Saturated Under Saturated
Silica Saturation Over Saturated Over Saturated
56%-61% <61%

Iron Enrichment Low: Fe High: Ni, Mg, Cr Iron Enriched Not Iron Enriched Poor Iron

Alkali Index CaNa/K >1 >1 1 <1

Peridotite to Basalt or Diorite, Monzonite, Plagiogranite, Alkali basalt, Alkali granite,

Typical Rocks Andesite
Basalt
Rhyolite Syenite, Sodalite

Tectonic Location Archean Rifting centres Rifting Subduction Zones All Situations
An igneous suite distinguished by the presence of ultramafic lavas, including "noncumulate rocks ranging in composition from
K omatiite peridotite to basalt or andesite, and cumulate rocks ranging from peridotite to mafic gabbros. The lavas commonly exhibit
spinifex texture. All rocks of the series have low Ti and Fe/Fe+Mg, and high Mg, Ni, Cr.
Ultramafic komatiites are restricted to the Archean and are associated with rifting centers.

Tholetiite A silica-oversaturated basalt, characterized by the presence of low-calcium pyroxenes (orthopyroxene and/or pigeonite) in
addition to clinopyroxene and calcic plagioclase. In contrast to the calcalkaline suite these are iron enriched rocks.
Tholeiites are characteristic of rifting sites and have shown up as enormous volcanic outpourings of flood basalts.
Includes many intermediate rocks (monzodiorite, diorite, quartz monzonite, and quartz diorite, as well as many,
C alcalkaline but not all granites and rhyolites). Calcalkaline rocks differ from basaltic rocks in lacking a strong iron-enrichment.
Calcalkaline rocks are one of three series of volcanic rocks generated along subduction zones and emplaced in volcanic arcs.
Toward the trench they are replaced by tholeiitic rocks and away from the trench by alkaline rocks.
The alkali oxides (Na20+K20) exceeds that of Ca0. alkali basalts are the most important, but also including syenites,
nephaline syenites, and phonolites (silica undersaturated, alkali feldspar and feldspathoid-rich analogues of granites and
A lakalic Suite rhyolites). Alkaline suites occur in a wide variety of tectonic situations, including rifting centers (bimodal associations),
subduction zones (both continental margin and island arc), oceanic islands (including hot spots such as Hawaii; alkali
basalts), strike-slip (transform), and within Proterozoic (but not Archean) stable cratons independent of orogenic activity.
They appear to be late fractionation stages in the evolution of magmas.
WWW.GoldPyramidGroup.com
GOLD PYRAMID GROUP The Wilson Cycle (Plate Tectonics)
Mining And Petroleum

Tectonic Rock Cycle

✓ Observe the one that begins with the parent rock (komatiite Suite), goes through the tholeiite »calc-alkaline »alkaline suites, through
the sedimentary processes, through the Barrovian metamorphism (greenschist »amphibolite »granulite), and twisting back
toward the calcalkaline and alkaline suites.

I - Generation of Oceanic Magmatism

✓ The Wilson cycle assumes a rifting continent, but rift initiation need not involve a continental mass.
Intraoceanic rifting events are possible. The tectonic rock cycle assumes an unspecified intraoceanic
rifting of undefined origin.
✓ To understand these rocks we have to go back to the earth's origins. In the beginning the earth was a red-hot molten ball, rich in
ultramafic materials (the parent material), including large quantities of silica, iron, and calcium.
✓ Some of the magma escapes to the surface as volcanoes, and the magma chamber begins a cooling phase. During the cooling,
fractional crystallization occurs as geologic processes physically separate the various fractions into layered igneous rocks of
ultramafics, anorthosites, and mafic volcanics.
✓ In the ARCHAEAN, the earliest and oldest phase of earth history, the mafic parent was called the Komatiite Suite, and it generated an
oceanic lithosphere quite different from that generated today.
✓ Oceanic magmatism occurs in two distinct environments: at mid-ocean ridges and at off-ridge locations where ocean islands and
oceanic plateau are formed.
✓ by fractional melting of ultramafic parent magma at an oceanic divergent plate boundary (rift zone). Stage C and Stage D of Wilson
cycle, or at any Divergent Plate Boundary generating Ophiolite Suite.
✓ Ophiolites may form in back-arc spreading centers, in suprasubduction zone settings, or in mid-ocean spreading centers.
✓ There are two main basalt types, tholeiitic and alkalic. Both alkali basalts and tholeiites come from the same kind of source but they
represent melting at different pressures or different degrees of partial melting.
✓ The mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORB) is a tholeiitic basalt and is low in incompatible elements. As such, the rhyolites formed by
differentiation of these MORB are ferroan, metaluminous , and calc-alkalic to alkali-calcic and alkalic.
✓ The rocks erupted off-ridge are referred to as ocean island basalts (OIB), erupted in oceans away from tectonic plate boundaries, and
they include both tholeiitic and alkali basalts.
✓ Off-ridge magmatism falls into three broad categories: 1. Seamounts 2. Oceanic island volcanoes 3. Oceanic plateau.
✓ OIB igneous differentiation to produce a range of other volcanic rock types, for example, rhyolite, and phonolite and trachyte at the
intraplate volcano. Unlike mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORBs), which erupt at spreading centers (divergent plate boundaries), and volcanic
arc lavas, which erupt at subduction zones (convergent plate boundaries), ocean island basalts are the result of intraplate volcanism.
WWW.GoldPyramidGroup.com
GOLD PYRAMID GROUP The Wilson Cycle (Plate Tectonics)
Mining And Petroleum
ORE DEPOSITS IN OCEANIC CRUST
✓ Most ophiolites lack economic mineral deposits, but two types of important ore deposits are locally found in ophiolites: chromite and
copper-bearing, massive sulfide deposits.
✓ Chrome: Concentrations of chromite are common in the peridotite tectonite portion of an ophiolite. Because the peridotite and chromite
bodies within an ophiolite have been subjected to ductile deformation within the mantle, the ore bodies have a discontinuous, pod-like
shape. Hence they are called podiform chromite deposits to distinguish them from chromite deposits associated with layered mafic
intrusions, which are called stratiform chromite deposits.
✓ Although the stratiform deposits are much larger than podiform deposits, podiform deposits contain chromite much richer in chrome,
and are therefore valuable despite their smaller size. The chromite deposits of Kazakhstan and Turkey, the third and fourth largest chrome
producers in the world after South Africa and India, come from ophiolites.
✓ Copper: Associated with pillow basalts in some ophiolites are massive sulfide deposits consisting of
pyrite, pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, and sphalerite. How these deposits formed was a great mystery until the
discovery of “black smokers” on the sea floor. Geologists now recognize that the intrusion of gabbroic rocks
at a ridge crest drives circulation of hydrothermal fluid through the overlying basalts. As these fluids react with
the basaltic crust, they extract metals, mostly Fe, Cu, and Zn, as well as sulfur from the sulfides in the basalt.
When these fluids are expelled into the sea, the sulfides precipitate as “black smoke,” which cools and deposits
as volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposits. The most famous ophiolite-hosted VMS deposits are
associated with the Troodos ophiolite in Cyprus.

2- Convergent Margin Magmatism

✓ Subduction zones may form either intraoceanically (Wilson Stage E), or along continental edges
(cordilleran type; Wilson Stage G). Fractional Melting of the mantle material just above the subducting slab
producing magmas of intermediate composition.
✓ The initial melt may be mafic (tholeiitic suite) (the reason Gabbro/Basalt
appears at both Steps I and IIA), but evolves through time (and space) to
intermediate (Diorite/Andesite) and felsic (Plagiogranite/Rhyolite) rocks.
✓ Magma series erupted along continental margins are compositionally similar
to those erupted in island arcs, except that arcs erupting through continents
have a greater abundance of silica-rich rock types, such as dacite and rhyolite.
Much of this felsic material occurs as pyroclastic flow deposits.

WWW.GoldPyramidGroup.com
GOLD PYRAMID GROUP The Wilson Cycle (Plate Tectonics)
Mining And Petroleum
✓ Plutonic rocks are more commonly exposed in continental margin magmatic arcs than in island arcs. Rock types are generally
gabbro, diorite, tonalite , granodiorite , and granite. Tonalites, together with granodiorites, are characteristic of calc-alkaline batholiths
formed above subduction zones. As with most slowly cooled rocks, there is evidence of subsolidus growth of minerals such as biotite,
amphibole, and chlorite due to the interaction of solid rocks with high-temperature hydrothermal fluids.
✓ Granophyric intergrowths are characteristic of the most differentiated granitic rocks, which form from the most volatile-rich magmas..
Magnetite and ilmenite are the major opaque oxides .

ORE DEPOSITS IN ARCS Porphyry copper deposit (PCD)

✓ Arc magmas globally are H2O-Cl-S–rich and moderately oxidized

(ΔFMQ = +1 to +2) relative to most other mantle-derived magmas
(ΔFMQ ≤ 0). Their relatively high oxidation state limits the extent to
which sulfide phases separate from the magma, which would
otherwise tend to deplete the melt in chalcophile elements such as Cu
(highly siderophile elements such as Au and especially platinum-
group elements are depleted by even small amounts of sulfide
segregation).
✓ As these magmas rise into the crust and begin to crystallize, they will
reach volatile saturation, and a hydrous, saline, S-rich, moderately
oxidized fluid is released, into which chalcophile and any remaining
siderophile metals (as well as many other water-soluble elements) will
strongly partition. This magmatic-hydrothermal fluid phase has the
potential to form ore deposits (most commonly porphyry Cu ± Mo ± Au
deposits) if its metal load is precipitated in economic concentrations, but
there are many steps along the way that must be successfully negotiated
before this can occur.
✓ The cumulative probability of forming a large porphyry Cu deposit at
any given time in an arc magmatic system is estimated to be ~0.001%,
and less than 1/10 of these deposits will be uplifted and exposed at
shallow enough depths to mine economically (0.0001%).
✓ Continued uplift and erosion rapidly remove these upper-crustal
deposits from the geological record, such that the probability of finding
them in older arc systems decreases further with age, to the point that
porphyry Cu deposits are almost nonexistent in Precambrian rocks.
WWW.GoldPyramidGroup.com
GOLD PYRAMID GROUP The Wilson Cycle (Plate Tectonics)
Mining And Petroleum
✓ Porphyry copper deposits are associated with shallow intrusions in arc settings. There is no consistent relationship between porphyry
deposits and the composition of the host rocks, which may range from hornblende-biotite diorite to granodiorite in calc-alkaline and
from diorite to syenite in more alkalic suites. Intrusive, and tectonic breccias are present in most porphyry copper systems.
✓ IT is characterized by concentrations of Cu-Fe-sulfide minerals (mainly chalcopyrite, CuFeS2), along with pyrite (FeS2) and variable
quantities of molybdenite (MoS2), precipitated in quartz veins and as disseminations in hydrothermally altered wall rocks.
✓ Some PCD formed in post-subduction magmatic settings in both extensional and compressional environments. Magmas formed
in post-subduction settings tend to be small volume, spatially isolated, and mildly alkaline (high-K ± Na calc-alkaline) to strongly alkaline in
composition, although some of the world’s largest porphyry copper (gold) deposits are interpreted to have formed in this tectonic setting (for
example, Grasberg, Indonesia).
✓ PCD have formed throughout most of Earth’s history, but because they generally form in the upper crust (less than 5–10 km depth) in
tectonically unstable convergent plate margins and are prone to erosion, more than 90 percent of known deposits are Cenozoic or
Mesozoic in age.
✓ Major alteration types commonly present in porphyry copper deposits are (1) potassic, (2) sericite, (3) advanced argillic, (4) intermediate
argillic, (5) propylitic, (6) sodic-calcic and sodic, (7) greisen, and (8) skarn.
✓ Nearly all deposits contain exposures of “porphyry,” which is a strongly porphyritic hypabyssal intrusive rock with a characteristic aplitic
quartz-feldspar ground-mass (crystal sizes 0.02 to 0.3 mm).

3A- Intracontinental Volcanism 2- Continental Rift

✓ Although continental intraplate magmatism produces only a small proportion of the igneous rocks
erupted on Earth, it produces the largest variety of rock types, as a result from various combinations of
mantle, continental lithosphere, and crustal sources.
✓ Intracontinental volcanism is typically associated with mantle plumes or
Active Continental rifts to form Volcanic Centers.
✓ 1. Flood basalts are most often quartz tholeiites rather than Olivine
tholeiite that characteristics rock of mid-ocean ridges.
✓ Continental flood basalt provinces, together with oceanic plateau, are
sometimes referred to as large igneous provinces (LIPs). Many tholeiitic
volcanoes in rifts erupt rhyolite as well as basalt (2. Bimodal volcanism).
✓ Small volumes of alkaline volcanic and intrusive rocks occur in
intracontinental settings. 3. Alkaline rocks are so named because they
have relatively high abundances of (Na + K). Three broad classes of alkaline
rocks exist. 1. Metaluminous 2- & Peralkaline Nepheline-bearing
rocks. 2. Peralkaline Quartz bearing rocks & and Carbonatites
WWW.GoldPyramidGroup.com
GOLD PYRAMID GROUP The Wilson Cycle (Plate Tectonics)
Mining And Petroleum
✓ Alkali and nepheline basalts. These basalts typically contain plagioclase, olivine, and augite rich in titanium and sodium. The absence of
orthopyroxene in the groundmass allows one to distinguish alkali basalt from tholeiite. These rocks include basanite, where olivine is present
with nepheline, and tephrite, where olivine is absent.
✓ Trachyte. The primary mineral in trachyte is alkali feldspar, and trachyte can be either quartz bearing or nepheline bearing. And Phonolite
is a felsic volcanic rock that contains nepheline and alkali feldspar.
✓ Peralkaline rhyolites contain alkali feldspar and quartz as the main phenocryst phase.
✓ Carbonatites usually occur as small plugs within zoned alkalic intrusive complexes, or as dikes, sills, breccias, and veins. It contain at least
50% carbonate minerals, mostly calcite.
4. Potassic Alkaline Volcanism kimberlites and lamproites, forms small bodies (often a kilometer or less across) that are important as
hosts of diamonds. They typically erupting through Precambrian crust Lamproites occur mainly as dikes , minor intrusions, and flows.
Lamproites may contain diamonds, but the diamonds tend to be much smaller than those found in kimberlites.

3B- Intracontinental Plutonism

✓ Intracontinental magmatism also produces a variety of plutonic rocks, including 1.Layered mafic intrusions, 2.Archean and
massif anorthosites, 3.Alkaline intrusions, and 4.Ferroan granites that are compositionally distinct from in arc environments.
1. Layered mafic intrusions (LMIs) are some of the most important types of igneous bodies; some
LMIs host chrome, nickel, and platinum deposits. Although most LMI are Precambrian in age.
2
Layering is also found in oceanic gabbros and in gabbroic and ultramafic intrusions associated with arc
volcanoes. The base of many layered intrusions is marked by ultramafic horizons rich in olivine,
pyroxene, and locally chromite. Ex: The Bushveld Intrusion. The Great Dyke of Zimbabwe.
✓ The expansive, iron-rich granitic rocks that cap the LIMs, these granitic rocks are markedly
anhydrous, which means biotite and hornblende are rare, and they commonly contain fayalite.
2. Anorthosites and Related Rocks: A) Archean Anorthosite is a rock composed of 90 percent or
more plagioclase. Anorthosite layers up to several meters thick. They generally form small dike- and
sill-like bodies, but the largest, such as Fiskenæsset outcrop over areas of more than 100 km. The
stratigraphy consists of dunite → peridotite → pyroxenite → gabbro → leucogabbro →
anorthosite. B) Massif anorthosite intrusions are batholith-sized plutons composed almost 1
entirely of plagioclase. These differ from Archean anorthosites in that they are composed almost
entirely of relatively sodic plagioc. These anorthosite bodies have been emplaced as domed
intrusions that may cover an area thousands of km2.
3. Ferroan Granites (Anorogenic granites): Anorthosite massifs are commonly associated, both in
time and space, with distinctive, Fe-rich granites it’s iron rich and usually contain much more
potassium feldspar than plagioclase, giving them a distinctly pink color.
WWW.GoldPyramidGroup.com
GOLD PYRAMID GROUP The Wilson Cycle (Plate Tectonics)
Mining And Petroleum
✓ A-type granites have a broad range of geochemical characteristics yet are united by their iron-rich compositions, But Ferron granite is
indicated mineralogically by the common presence of fayalite, the fact that magnetite is rare or absent in these rocks, and that ilmenite is the
main Fe-Ti oxide. They are ferroan, and alkalic to alkali-calcic.
4. Alkaline Complexes. Alkaline intrusions make up an extremely small volume compared to other rocks. REEs are concentrated in alkaline
intrusions and as a result, economic geologists now study alkaline intrusions as sources for these metals. AC are found in ancient rifts.

ORE DEPOSITS IN CONTINENTAL RIFTS associated to Layered Mafic Intrusion

✓ Chrome: Layered mafic intrusions host important deposits of Cr, Ni, Co, and platinum group elements (PGEs: Pt, Pd, Ru, Rh, Os, Ir).
✓ Chrome deposits are found in the ultramafic portions of a layered mafic intrusion where chromite-rich layers may be more than five meters
thick. In some LMIs, these chromite deposits extend for kilometers and are called stratiform chromite deposits to distinguish them from
podiform chromite deposits found in ophiolites
✓ Platinum Group Elements: In the process of differentiation, the basaltic magma in the magma chamber of a layered intrusion becomes
saturated in sulfur, causing a separate sulfide melt to form along with the silicate melt. The Bushveld, Great Dyke, and Stillwater intrusions.
✓ Nickel sulfide ore bodies are only found in intrusions where
sulfur saturation occurred before significant olivine crystallized.
✓ Iron, Titanium, and Vanadium: Ferric iron, titanium, and
vanadium behave as incompatible elements during early
crystallization of mafic igneous intrusions until magnetite and
ilmenite begin crystallizing.
✓ Fe-Ti oxides, Nickel, Copper, and Cobalt: These deposits are
associated to anorthosite intrusion.
✓ REE: Alkaline intrusions are a major source for many of these
metals. For example, the Ilimaussaq intrusion hosts one of the
richest REE deposits in the world.
Interpretation of Granitic Rocks
✓ Granitic rocks are the most abundant rocks in continental crust
and geologists have developed many ways to classify them.
✓ 1) The geochemical classification of Frost and colleagues Throughout the differentiation process the mantle melts may interact with
(2001). 2) the mineralogical classification, 3) a crustal melts. Small degrees of melting of crustal rocks may produce ferroan
classification based on the presence or absence of magnetite, granite. Alternatively, assimilation of crustal melts by syenitic melts produced
and 4) an “alphabet” classification based on the inferred origin by differentiation of tholeiites may also make ferroan granite. Mixing of crustal
of the granites. melts with nepheline syenite melts can produce peralkaline granites.
WWW.GoldPyramidGroup.com
GOLD PYRAMID GROUP The Wilson Cycle (Plate Tectonics)
Mining And Petroleum
1. The mineralogical classification is the simplest of the classifications for granitic rocks, is based on modal proportions of quartz,
plagioclase, and alkali feldspars. The advantage of this classification is that it can be readily applied in the field and it is simple to use.
2. A second classification is based on the presence of magnetite (Ishihara, 1977 ). Most granites contain magnetite but some do not.
✓ Magnetite granites Fe+3 are relatively oxidized granites that contain magnetite and ilmenite as the major oxides, whereas ilmenite
granites are relatively reduced and contain ilmenite as the only Fe-Ti oxide.
✓ One reason granites may lack magnetite relates to the composition of the magma source. Partial melting of pelitic rocks produces magma
that crystallizes peraluminous , ilmenite granites. Since pelitic rocks contain graphite, and graphite is a reducing agent , magnetite will not
be stable in these magmas. It can be measured by their magnetic susceptibility and aeromagnetic survey maps.
✓ The disadvantage is that the classification scheme telescopes the whole range of granite compositions into two categories.
3. There are 3 major types of the granites in the classification of its origin.
✓ I– type (I= igneous): Metaluminous granites that are typically magnetite bearing. I-type granites are produced by differentiation of
andesite or partial melting of an igneous source. Subduction zone continental margin. High Ca and Na Hornblende-rich inclusions.
✓ S – type (S= sedimentary): These peraluminous granites are typically magnetite free. These are inferred to be produced by partial
melting of pelitic rocks. Alkali-feldspars are typically white in color (rather than pink) with grey quartz, muscovite, and black biotite.
Occur in regional metamorphic terranes. Alteration in S-type granites can produce, in order of abundance, chlorite, white mica, clay
minerals, epidote, and sericite. High Al but contain no hornblende, High Rb in source rocks.
✓ A – type (A= Anorogenic or Anhydrous): They dominantly form within continental intraplate rifting or uplifting or at regional
post-orogeny uplift or collapse, being almost exclusively ferroan and higher in K, REEs, and Zr . They are inferred to be produced by
partial melting or fractional crystallization of mafic rocks. High in SiO2, up to 77%
✓ M-type granite (M= Mafic or Mantle): those granites that were clearly sourced from crystallized mafic magmas, generally sourced from
the mantle. Although the fractional crystallisation of basaltic melts can yield small amounts of granites, which are sometimes found in
island arcs, such granites must occur together with large amounts of basaltic rocks. Forms tonalites. Low Rb, Th, U.
✓ However, it turns out that peraluminous granites don’t only come from melting of sedimentary rocks; they can form from small degrees of
melting of a tonalite. Similarly, melting of an immature greywacke can form granite that is compositionally “I-type.” For these reasons the
alphabetic classification of granites is slowly falling out of favor.
4. Geochemical Classification. four geochemical indices to classify granitic rocks.
1) Fe-index: This index measures the iron-magnesium ratio of the ferromagnesian silicates. Ferroan rocks have either undergone
extensive fractional crystallization of olivine and pyroxene and minor magnetite fractionation or formed by minor melting of crustal rocks.
Magnesian rocks have undergone early crystallization of magnetite, which suppressed iron enrichment.
2) Modified Alkali-Lime Index (MALI) (Na2O+K2O-CaO): This index monitors the compositions of the feldspars in the rock. and
involves four classes. In order of increasing alkalinity these are calcic, calcalkalic, alkali-calcic, and alkalic.
3) Aluminum saturation index (ASI) (molecular Al/ ((Ca-1.67*P)+Na+K): This index compares the amount of Al, Ca, Na, and K in the
rock to the amounts needed to make feldspars. This index determines whether a rock is metaluminous or peraluminous.
WWW.GoldPyramidGroup.com
GOLD PYRAMID GROUP The Wilson Cycle (Plate Tectonics)
Mining And Petroleum
4) Alkalinity Index (AI) (molecular Al – Na + K): This index determines the balance between aluminum and alkalis (Na + K). A rock
that contains excess Al may be metaluminous or peraluminous (see the ASI index). A rock with excess Na + K is peralkaline and will
contain Na-pyroxene and Na-amphibole.
✓ Using these four indices, Frost and colleagues ( 2001 ) described fourteen chemical varieties of granitic rocks, which fall into four
distinct tectonic environments.
1) Cordilleran-type granites (volcanic arc granites): Perhaps the most abundant granitoids on Earth are those form in arc
environments (island arc and continental arc granitoids) and are characterized by magnesian compositions dictated by early
crystallization of magnetite and amphibole-bearing calc-alkalic granites. Most of the rocks of this group are considered to be part of
the I-type granitoids. Most of the rocks that have <70 wt % SiO2 are magnesian.
2) Ferroan granites (most type of A-Type): They are characteristic of rifting environments, where they form by partial melting or
extreme differentiation of basaltic magma Or Partial melting of tonalitic to granodioritic crust.
✓ We recognize eight types of ferroan granitoid that can be distinguished on the basis of major element chemistry. These include alkalic
granitoids that may be metaluminous or peralkaline, alkali-calcic granitoids that may be metaluminous, peraluminous or peralkaline,
calc-alkalic granitoids that may be metaluminous or peraluminous, and rare calcic ferroan granitoids.
✓ They are high Fe/(Fe + Mg), high K2O and K2O/Na2O, high incompatible trace element contents (including REE, Zr, Nb and Ta),
and low concentrations of trace elements compatible in mafic silicates and feldspars.
✓ These granites are enriched repositories of Fe, REE, U and other incompatible elements, and if suitably metasomatised, can provide
important constituents for ore deposits. Metasomatised ferroan granites are, therefore, known worldwide to be closely associated, in space
and time, with iron oxide–copper–gold (IOCG), U and REE mineral deposits.
3) Peraluminous Leucogranites (S-Type, syn-collisional): These rocks are muscovite-bearing, high-silica granites that occur as
isolated plutons in the cores of overthickened metamorphic belts. They are distinctive in that they typically are not associated with more
mafic rocks. Produced from a high degree of partial melting of metagrey-wackes or metapelites at temperatures above 800 °C.
✓ These granites are silica rich and are composed mostly of quartz (above 70 %) and feldspars (and hence are leucocratic) with only a small
amount of muscovite, garnet, or biotite, represents a major U, Sn, W, and Au.
4) Caledonian (Post Orogenic) granitoids: A fourth major type of granitic rocks consists of high-K alkali–calcic granitoids typified by the
post-tectonic. Predominantly alkali–calcic and magnesian, although at silica abundances >70% some of these granitoids are calc-alkalic.
✓ They are distinctive in their high potassium content and their lack of iron enrichment. the Caledonian granites tend to form small, isolated
plutons rather than coalescing into the giant batholiths, like the Cordilleran granites.
➢ Tonalite–trondhjemite–granodiorite (TTG) rocks are intrusive rocks with typical granitic composition (quartz and feldspar) but
containing only a small portion of potassium feldspar. They often occur together in geological records, indicating similar petrogenetic
processes. Post Archean (after 2.5 Ga) TTG rocks are present in arc-related batholiths, as well as in ophiolites (although of a small
proportion), while Archean TTG rocks are major components of Archean cratons.

WWW.GoldPyramidGroup.com
GOLD PYRAMID GROUP The Wilson Cycle (Plate Tectonics)
Mining And Petroleum
ORE DEPOSITS IN GRANITES
Tin: cassiterite, the major ore for tin (Sn) is present in biotite and muscovite as a trace element in abundances up to 1,000 ppm. Because Sn is
present as a minor component in magnetite and sphene, it will be disseminated rather than building up in the magma to ore concentrations.
✓ Both magnetite and sphene are destabilized by reducing conditions. Thus tin granites are typically peraluminous granites formed by
melting of aluminous metasedimentary rocks. Can form in arc settings, may also form in rift settings.
Tungsten: wolframite (W) like tin deposits, are found in granites formed from melting of W-bearing sedimentary rocks. Although some
deposits occur as veins within granites, the richest deposits occur in skarns, reaction zones between granite and surrounding carbonates.
Gold (Au): deposits in granite include Bonanza-type epithermal deposits. These deposits, as exemplified by the high-grade vein deposits
associated with the Comstock Lode in Nevada, are deposited by low-temperature (at 50–200°C) hydrothermal fluids associated with shallow-
level granitic plutons. During circulation of hydrothermal fluids, gold is leached from the country rock (commonly rhyolitic or dacitic lavas) and
is deposited when the fluids boil.
✓ These deposits, mainly in the form of discrete veins, but also as disseminated ore, are not restricted to any given plate tectonic
environment, but can occur in both rifting and arc environments.
Pegmatite dykes
GRANITE PEGMATITES

✓ A pegmatite is an igneous rock showing a very coarse texture, with large

interlocking crystals usually greater in size than 1cm and sometimes
greater than 1 meter, usually have a granitic composition. They may take
the form of veins or dikes in the intrusion itself, but more commonly,
they extend into the surrounding country rock, especially above the
intrusion.
✓ Pegmatites are enriched in volatile and incompatible elements,
consistent with their likely origin as the final melt fraction of a
crystallizing body of magma. Most pegmatites have a simple
composition, often being composed entirely of minerals common
in granite, such as feldspar, mica, and quartz. The feldspar and
quartz often show graphic texture.
✓ These complex pegmatites are mined for lithium, beryllium,
boron, fluorine, tin, tantalum, niobium, rare earth elements,
uranium, and other valuable commodities.

WWW.GoldPyramidGroup.com
GOLD PYRAMID GROUP The Wilson Cycle (Plate Tectonics)
Mining And Petroleum
A geochemical classification scheme for granitoids

WWW.GoldPyramidGroup.com
GOLD PYRAMID GROUP
Mining And Petroleum Igneous activity & Ores in relation to tectonic setting
Orogenic Settings Transitional Within plate margins (Anorogenic)
Tectonic
Oceanic island arc Continental arc Continental Post orogenic Continental rift & Mid-ocean ridge
Settings collision uplift Hotspot & Hotspot Plume

Complete suite of Calc-alkaline Intracontinental Plutonism

Island-arc tholeiitic & Calc-alkaline Tholeiitic M-type
tholeiitic to calc- I-type, S- (A) type
Geochemistry calc-alkaline, M-type
alkaline igneous I-
S-type Granitoid
Metalu. To
1. Layered Mafic Metaluminous
Metaluminous rocks peraluminous rocks Intrusions. rocks
type rocks peraluminous rocks 2. Anorthite complex.
Granodiorite, 3. Ferron Granites.
Granitoid Qz-diorite to gabbro Migmatites and bimodal granodiorite 4. Alkaline intrusion.
tonalite and diorite > Plagiogranite
Rocks in mature arcs
granite or gabbro
Leucogranite +diorite - gabbro

Intracontinental Volcanism Mid-ocean ridge

basalts (MORB).
Boninite, island arc Phenocryst basalt, 1. Continental Flood Ophiolite
Associated ophiolites in Basalt. Sequence.
basalt to Mg-rich andesite, dacite great Basalt & Rhyolite
Volcanism andesite volume, and rhyolite
mélanges 2. Bimodal Volcanism Oceanic Island
(Basalt + Rhyolite). Basalt (OIB)
3. Alkaline Volcanism.
>>>
The PM of the A. Alkaline Nepheline
Patrial melting of The PM of the The PM of the lower basalt.
oceanic slab
Origin mantle-derived mafic
contaminated by the
recycled crustal and mid crust and B. Trachyte. Hydrothermal
underplate material. mantle C. Phonolite. vents fueled by
continental crust. magmatic and
D. Peralkaline rhyolite.
Here the mantle melts and forms magma at E. Carbonatites. volcanic heat are a
The result is the common feature
Tectonic depth under the overriding plate. The magma Crustal heat and
formation of a new at oceanic
ascends to form an arc of volcanoes parallel to mantle heat (Rising 4. Potassic Alkaline >>
Mechanism the subduction zone. Mountains are formed
mountain belt
asthenic magma A. Kimberlites. spreading centers.
abducted ophiolite
instead of islands(island arcs). B. Lamproites

Continental Arc Himalayan-Tibetan

Solomon islands and late Caledonian Macquarie Island
Examples Papua new guinea
(Cordilleran) Plateau, Alpine
plutonic
E-Africa, Yellowstone
& Oman ophiolite
Batholith orogen area. Great Dyke

Sources for chrome,

MVT Pb-Zn and orogenic gold Chromite and
Associated Porphyry Cu–Mo–Au, & Epithermal Au–Ag.
Back-arc basin (ophiolites) Carline style Au.
deposits. (REE), porphyry Cu-Mo. potential
nickel, cobalt, and other
platinum group,
copper-bearing,
Ores VMS Cu- Au- Pb _ Zn.
Be, Nb-Ta and Sn mineralization in S-type
granites
Diamond
massive sulfide
deposits.
GOLD PYRAMID GROUP The Wilson Cycle (Plate Tectonics)
Mining And Petroleum
ORE DEPOSITS IN GRANITES
Tin: cassiterite, the major ore for tin (Sn) is present in biotite and muscovite as a trace element in abundances up to 1,000 ppm. Because Sn is
present as a minor component in magnetite and sphene, it will be disseminated rather than building up in the magma to ore concentrations.
✓ Both magnetite and sphene are destabilized by reducing conditions. Thus tin granites are typically peraluminous granites formed by
melting of aluminous metasedimentary rocks. Can form in arc settings, may also form in rift settings.
Tungsten: wolframite (W) like tin deposits, are found in granites formed from melting of W-bearing sedimentary rocks. Although some
deposits occur as veins within granites, the richest deposits occur in skarns, reaction zones between granite and surrounding carbonates.
Gold (Au): deposits in granite include Bonanza-type epithermal deposits. These deposits, as exemplified by the high-grade vein deposits
associated with the Comstock Lode in Nevada, are deposited by low-temperature (at 50–200°C) hydrothermal fluids associated with shallow-
level granitic plutons. During circulation of hydrothermal fluids, gold is leached from the country rock (commonly rhyolitic or dacitic lavas) and
is deposited when the fluids boil.
✓ These deposits, mainly in the form of discrete veins, but also as disseminated ore, are not restricted to any given plate tectonic
environment, but can occur in both rifting and arc environments.

4- Generation of Metamorphic Rocks Schematic of the plate tectonic settings where metamorphism is occurring around the world

✓ Metamorphic petrologists use the minerals present in a

metamorphic rock to determine what its parent was (i.e., the
protolith) and to estimate the conditions of metamorphism. The
ability to identify and be familiar with the wide variety of minerals
and textures of sedimentary and igneous rocks is a general
requirement for any budding metamorphic geologist.
✓ The metamorphism processes are commonly associated with
deformation, a keen understanding of structural geology and
tectonics is also needed.
✓ In most instances, recrystallization of rocks within the crust
involves deformation, because deformation enhances mineral
reactions by introducing strain energy and by opening pathways
for fluid movement. As such, metamorphic petrology overlaps
with the field of structural geology.
✓ The map-scale distribution of metamorphic rocks can reveal
the processes that formed them.

WWW.GoldPyramidGroup.com