the basal dunite of the precambrian mafic-ultramafic … · 2021. 1. 14. · tnb have an average...

ORIGINAL PAPER

The basal dunite of the Precambrian mafic-ultramafic Näränkävaaraintrusion: Petrogenetic considerationsand implications to exploration

Ville Järvinen1 & Tapio Halkoaho2 & Jukka Konnunaho3 & Jussi S. Heinonen1 & O. Tapani Rämö1

Received: 17 March 2020 /Accepted: 16 September 2020# The Author(s) 2020

AbstractSeveral mafic-ultramafic layered intrusions were emplaced in the Fennoscandian Shield during wide-spread mantle-sourcedmagmatism at 2.5–2.4 Ga. The Näränkävaara intrusion (surface area 5 × 30 km2), northeastern Finland, contains a 1.5–2 km thickbasal dunite (not dated), and a 1.5 km thick layered series (2436 ± 5 Ma). A newly discovered marginal series between the basaldunite and the layered series indicates that the basal dunite is older, and highlights the need for further study on their relationship.Along its southern basement contact, the basal dunite contains a 200–300 m thick zone of olivine ortho- and mesocumulates, butthe bulk of it is composed of olivine adcumulates and lesser olivine-orthopyroxene heteradcumulates. Based on whole-rockgeochemistry, the basal dunite is divided into a low-Fe zone (average FeOt 10.2 wt% and Ni 2250 ppm) and a high-Fe zone(average FeOt 12.5 wt% and Ni 1700 ppm). Both zones have high MgO (32–47 wt%) and varying Cr (830–5160 ppm) andAl2O3/TiO2 (16–26). Textural and geochemical layering is similar along the 30 km strike of the basal dunite. A LREE-enrichedhigh-MgO basaltic parental magma composition (13–18 wt% MgO) is inferred for the basal dunite from olivine–melt mixingtrends in orthocumulates. The dunite exhibits at least two geochemical reversals as well as abundant low-porosity adcumulates,poikilitic chromite, and bimodal olivine, suggesting formation in a high-volume open magmatic system. Significant similarity inmajor and trace element compositions with the Näränkävaara layered series and the Burakovsky intrusion and Vetreny beltextrusives in RussianKarelia suggests that the basal dunite belongs to the Fennoscandian 2.5–2.4 Gamafic layered intrusions. AnArchean komatiitic origin for the dunite body cannot be completely ruled out, however. Distinct Ni-depletion in olivine is foundin the basal dunite from the low-Fe zone to the high-Fe zone (3200 versus 2200 ppm). This depletion does not correlate with Focontents, which suggests that it is not related to olivine fractionation. The basal dunite may thus have potential for Ni-(Cu-Co-PGE) sulfide mineralization.

Keywords Tonio-Näränkävaara belt . Näränkävaara . Layered intrusion . Dunite . Komatiite . Ni-criticality

Introduction

The Tornio-Näränkävaara intrusive belt (TNB) in north-ern Finland is critical for orthomagmatic PGE-Ni-Cu-Coand Cr-V-Ti-Fe deposits (Huhtelin 2015; Iljina et al.2015; Makkonen et al. 2017). The easternmost of these2.44 Ga layered intrusions (Iljina and Hanski 2005) isthe mafic-ultramafic Näränkävaara intrusion (Fig. 1).The geology and mineral potential of the Näränkävaaraintrusion is still relatively poorly known (Alapieti 1982;Järvinen et al. 2020). The presence of a large mass ofultramafic cumulates below the layered series of theNäränkävaara intrusion (Fig. 2a) has been known sincethe 1960’s (Auranen 1969), but the petrogenesis, miner-al potential, and relationship of this basal dunite with

Editorial handling: L. Nasdala

Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article(https://doi.org/10.1007/s00710-020-00725-9) contains supplementarymaterial, which is available to authorized users.

* Ville Jä[email protected]

1 Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki,Gustaf Hällströmin katu 2 (Physicum), P.O. Box 64,00014 Helsinki, Finland

2 Geological Survey of Finland, Neulaniementie 5, P.O. Box 1237,70211 Kuopio, Finland

3 Geological Survey of Finland, Lähteentie 2, P.O. Box 77,96101 Rovaniemi, Finland

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00710-020-00725-9

/ Published online: 10 November 2020

Mineralogy and Petrology (2021) 115:37–61

http://crossmark.crossref.org/dialog/?doi=10.1007/s00710-020-00725-9&domain=pdfhttp://orcid.org/0000-0002-1907-1680https://doi.org/10.1007/s00710-020-00725-9mailto:[email protected]

the neighboring layered series have not been resolved.More recent mineral exploration projects have reportedthe basal dunite to be composed of homogeneous,~2 km thick olivine adcumulate, and to be continuousfor the 30 km length of the intrusion (Fig. 2a) (Iljina2003; Vesanto 2003; Lahtinen 2005). The basal duniteexhibits several features commonly thought of askomatiitic, being mostly composed of tightly packedmonomineralic olivine adcumulate, sometimes with bi-modal olivine and poikilitic chromite (cf. Barnes andHill 1995). The recent discovery of a marginal seriesbetween the Näränkävaara layered series and the basaldunite indicates that the basal dunite must be at leastmarginally older (Järvinen et al. 2020).

Here, the Näränkävaara basal dunite is hypothesized torepresent either a feeder channel cumulate related to thesame Fennoscandian 2.5–2.4 Ga magmatism as the

2436 Ma Näränkävaara layered series (Fig. 2a) (Alapieti1982; Kulikov et al. 2010), or an older komatiitic wall-rock for the layered ser ie s ex tending in to theNäränkävaara area from the nearby Archean Takanen orSuomussalmi greenstone belts (Iljina 2003; Papunen et al.2009; Mikkola et al. 2011). Mantle-derived ultramafic cu-mulates are known to host orthomagmatic sulfide deposits(e.g. Begg et al. 2010; Barnes et al. 2016a); in the formercase it could have potential for magmatic sulfide mineral-izations linked to feeder channel cumulates, such as inJinchuan (Chai and Naldrett 1992), and in the latter casefor komatiite-hosted sulfide mineralizations (Konnunaho2016; Makkonen et al. 2017).

New drilling and mapping was conducted in theNäränkävaara basal dunite during 2017–2018 by theGeological Survey of Finland (GTK) (Halkoaho et al. 2019).Based on these new results and a compilation of pre-existing

Fig. 1 Map of 2.53–2.39 Ga mafic-ultramafic layered intrusions of theFennoscandian Shield. The Tornio-Näränkävaara belt is outlined with ared dashed line, and a white arrow points out Näränkävaara. TheKoillismaa complex includes the tectonically dismembered western

intrusions and Näränkävaara to the east, connected by a positive magneticand gravity anomaly presumed to be a “hidden dyke” (thin black dashedline) (map modified after Alapieti 1982)

38 V. Järvinen et al.

data (Alapieti 1982; Iljina 2003; Vesanto 2003; Lahtinen2005; Akkerman 2008; Telenvuo 2017; Järvinen et al.2020), we characterize the Näränkävaara basal dunite, modelits petrogenesis, and estimate its Ni-(Cu-Co-PGE) potential.

Geological background for the 2.5–2.4 Gamagmatism in the Fennoscandian shieldand the Tornio-Näränkävaara belt in Finland

The northern part of the Fennoscandian shield (mainly north-ern Finland and NW Russia) hosts 20–40 mafic-ultramaficlayered intrusions and associated dyke swarms with ages be-tween 2.53–2.39 Ga (Fig. 1) (Alapieti et al. 1990; Amelinet al. 1995; Iljina and Hanski 2005; Bayanova et al. 2009).These intrusions are located mainly along rif ted

intracontinental paleoplate boundaries in the ArcheanKarelia and Kola cratons (Bayanova et al. 2009; Kulikovet al. 2010; Tiira et al. 2014).

The five intrusions and intrusion complexes comprising theTNB have an average age of 2.44 Ga (Fig. 1) (Iljina andHanski 2005). They are typical layered intrusions with a lay-ered and marginal series, and are divided into three composi-tional groups: (1) mafic-ultramafic, which contain aperidotitic–pyroxenitic lower zone (Näränkävaara andKemi), (2) mafic, which are dominated by gabbronoriticrocks (Koillismaa), and (3) megacyclic (Penikat andPortimo), which are characterized by macrorhythmiccompositional reversals (Alapieti and Lahtinen 2002).Stratigraphically, the intrusions of the TNB are foundat the contacts of late Archean granitoids and overlyingPaleoproterozoic supracrustal rocks (Alapieti et al.

R10

R7

R8

R5R4

X’

?

?

??

?

?

?

?

High-Fe subzoneLow-Fe subzone

High-Fe subzone

Low-Fe subzone

BASAL DUNITE

LOW-FE ZONE HIGH-FE ZONE

HeteradcumulateAdcumulate

Adcumulate (low

-Mg#)

Adcumulate

(Ol)-O

rthopyroxeniteAdcumulate

Orthocum

ulate

Meso -- Adcum

ulate

High Ni

Variable Chr

Lobate Chr

Euhedral Chr

Variable Chr

Poikilitic Chr Lobate Chr

Euhedral Chr

Euhedral Chr

Harzburgite and Pyroxenite

??

?

MARGINALSERIES

Moderate Ni

R8 R5 R4 R2 R1

Low-Ni

R9

Hei

ght (

m)

300

0

-100

ADCUMULATE & HETERADCUMULATEORTHO- & MESOCUMULATE (BORDER ZONE)

Granite-gneiss

Plagioclase-websterite

LAYEREDSERIES

200

100

X X’

0 m 250 m 500 m

R3

R6Amphibolite

2 km

X

R1

R2

Granite-gneiss

BASAL DUNITE

LAYERED SERIES

Harzburgite, pyroxenite

Gabbronorite, gabbro

Plagioclase websteriteMARGINAL SERIES

Melagabbronorite

HIGH-FE ZONE

OrthopyroxeniteLOW-FE ZONE

High-NiOlivine ortho–mesocumulate

AmphiboliteARCHEAN BASEMENT

DiabasePROTEROZOIC DIKES

Granite-gneiss

Olivine ortho–mesocumulateModerate Ni

Olivine adcumulateLow Mg#

5 km

Takanen

FINSuomussalmi

RUSNäränkävaara

N

Hand-sampleDrill-hole and trace

1

2

Olivine adcumulateHigh-Ni3

Olivine adcumulateModerate-Ni4

5

Olivine adcumulate6

7

Olivine adcumulate8

10

9

1 23

45

6 78

9

10

1

2 3 5 6 7 8 9 10

c

b

a

2

Olivine-orthopyroxeneheteradcumulate

Russia

Poikilitic harzburgite

2.44 Ga Layered series, mafic zone

2.44 Ga Layered series, ultramafic zone

Archean greenstone belts

Basal dunite, Low-Fe zone

Basal dunite, Hi-Fe zone

Northern dunite

Granite-gneissbasement complex

NW block cross sectionfrom Järvinen et al. 2020

Fig. 2 a Simplified geological map of the Näränkävaara intrusion. Theintrusion continues about 2 km into Russia; b Geological map of the SEblock of the Näränkävaara basal dunite with locations of new drill holes(R1-R10) and surface samples (white triangles); c Cross-section X-X’along the Näränkävaara basal dunite, with the SW basement contact to

the left. Contacts are mostly unexposed and extrapolated from knowncontacts or inferred from geophysical measurements. Note that most geo-chemical diagrams in this paper are plotted with the same unit colors asare used here

39The basal dunite of the Precambrian mafic-ultramafic Näränkävaara intrusion: Petrogenetic considerations...

1990). In contrast to other intrusions of the TNB, theNäränkävaara intrusion is completely surrounded by theArchean granite-gneiss basement complex (Fig. 1) (Hölttäet al. 2012). In addition, Näränkävaara is the only intrusionin the TNB associated with voluminous dunitic cumulates(Alapieti 1982; Järvinen et al. 2020).

The parental magmas of the Finnish 2.5–2.4 Gamafic layeredintrusions are thought to be (boninite-like) siliceous high-Mgbasalts (Alapieti et al. 1990; Iljina and Hanski 2005). Whole-rock and isotope geochemical systematics (average initial εNdof −2) point to crustal contamination of primitive magmas froma mantle plume source (Puchtel et al. 1997; Hanski et al. 2001;Vuollo and Huhma 2005; Yang et al. 2016; Rämö et al. 2017;Maier et al. 2018). Intrusive and extrusive formations with sim-ilar compositions are found in Russian Karelia, for example thekomatiitic basalts and dykes of the Vetreny belt, and the mafic-ultramafic Burakovsky layered intrusion (Fig. 1) (Puchtel et al.1997; Chistyakov and Sharkov 2008).

The Näränkävaara layered intrusion has been included as apart of the Koillismaa layered intrusion complex (KLIC)(Alapieti 1982). The KLIC comprises (1) the tectonically dis-membered western intrusion blocks of the Koillismaa layeredintrusion (Karinen 2010), (2) the eastern Näränkävaara intrusion,and (3) a strong positive gravity and magnetic anomalyconnecting the first two (dashed line in Fig. 1). Alapieti (1982)interpreted the Koillismaa and Näränkävaara intrusions to be co-genetic, with the Näränkävaara intrusion representing the lowestexposed stratigraphic level of the KLIC. The connecting geo-physical anomaly – hitherto not intersected in drilling – wasthought to be a magmatic conduit that fed the two intrusions.The recently discovered (likely Archean) Takanen schist belt(Fig. 2a) coincides with the geophysical anomaly (Iljina 2003;Salmirinne and Iljina 2003; Iljina et al. 2006).

Geology of the Näränkävaara intrusion

The mafic-ultramafic Näränkävaara intrusion (Fig. 2a) ismostly unexposed but shows as a strong positive magneticanomaly about 30 km long and 5 km wide, with the basaldunite also being highly and untypically conductive(Niskanen and Jokinen 2018). Gravimetric and magnetomet-ric measurements indicate that the intrusion extends to a depthof 5–10 km (Elo 1992; Salmirinne and Iljina 2003). A largeSW–NE trending fault separates the Näränkävaara intrusioninto two blocks (NW and SE block).

The intrusion comprises the following three distinct igne-ous bodies (or series) that are partly or dominantly composedof ultramafic cumulates (Fig. 2a): (1) The southernmost unitconsists of a 1–2 km thick basal dunite (not dated thus far) thatis composed of dunite and minor peridotite and pyroxenite(Vesanto 2003; Järvinen et al. 2020). This unit is in the focusof the present study. (2) The central, 2436 ± 5 Ma (2σ) old

Näränkävaara layered series is composed of a 700 m thickperidotitic–pyroxenitic ultramafic zone, and a 600 mgabbroic–dioritic mafic zone (Alapieti 1982). In the SE blockof the intrusion, a poorly developed 10 m thick gabbronoriticmarginal series was recently found in the contact between thebasal dunite and the layered series, grading into the layeredseries (Järvinen et al. 2020). (3) A series of smaller elongateintrusions runs parallel to the northern contact of the layeredseries and composed of poikilitic harzburgite (Alapieti et al.1979). These northern harzburgites have been drilled (Iljina2003) but have not been investigated in detail.

In the layered series, the dip of igneous layering in the NWblock is 20 ° to the NE, while in the SE block it is 5–15 ° to theSW (Fig. 2a) (Alapieti et al. 1979). In addition to the largefault splitting the intrusion, there are several strike-slip faultsalong the short axis of the body, and dip-slip faults with strikesalong the long axis. Apart from faulting the intrusion is mostlyundeformed. The layered series is relatively unaltered, where-as the basal dunite is thoroughly serpentinized.

One previous drilling profile located in the NW block ofthe intrusion intersects the basal dunite, but includes severalgaps up to 600 m in thickness. Järvinen et al. (2020) dividedthe basal dunite along this NW cross section into three olivinecumulate units (see Fig. S1 in electronic supplementarymaterial), from south to north: (1) a harzburgitic olivinemesocumulate transition zone in contact with the basementcomplex and characterized by distinctly higher contents ofincompatible elements compared to the other two units, (2) ahomogeneous olivine adcumulate center section characterizedby relatively low Cr contents (1000–1500 ppm Cr) comparedto the other two units (2000–4000 ppm Cr), and (3) an olivinead- to mesocumulate unit characterized by coarse poikiliticorthopyroxene, in contact with the layered series.Orientation of igneous layering in the NW block of the basaldunite is poorly constrained, but is assumed to be subverticalat the southern basement contact and to get shallower towardsthe north, being about 45 ° at the basal dunite–layered seriescontact. No gabbronoritic marginal series is found at this con-tact in the NW block, unlike in the SE block.

In addition to the previously mentioned cumulate units,600 m of homogeneous olivine adcumulate was intersectedin one drill hole on the northern side of the layered series in theSE block of the intrusion (indicated as ‘northern dunite’ inFig. 2a) (Akkerman 2008). This northern dunite has a muchlower Al2O3/TiO2 ratio than the main basal dunite body onsouth side of the layered series (average of 7 versus 21), andhas not been found elsewhere.

Materials and methods

The materials for this study were obtained during new drillingand mapping activities by the Geological Survey of Finland in


2017–2018 (Halkoaho et al. 2019). New drilling and sampling islocated in the SE block of the Näränkävaara intrusion, and com-prises 10 drill holes with 2380 m of drill core and 109 analyzedwhole-rock samples (drill holes R1-R10 in Fig. 2b), and 18 sur-face samples. Pre-existing data has been taken into considerationfor purposes of petrographical and geochemical correlations andinterpretations, but has generally not been plotted in diagrams forsake of clarity. All sample materials used, and sources used fordata compilation, are listed in Table S1.

Full whole-rock analysis results, method descriptions, detec-tion limits, and calibration materials used are listed in Table S2.Explanations of method codes and method descriptions canalso be found in the reference Labtium Oy (2015). Major andsomeminor elements were determined with a Panalytical AxiosPW 4400 X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometer from pressedpowder pellets (Labtium Oy method code 176X). Platinum, Pdand Au were determined by Pb-fire assay fusion followed bygraphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS;method code 704 U). For the rare-earth elements (REE) andsome trace elements, sample solutions were prepared by HF–HClO4 digestion and lithium metaborate–sodium perborate fu-sion, followed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrom-etry (ICP-MS) with a Thermo Electron iCAP Qc (method308 M), or optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) with aThermo Electron iCAP 6500 (method 308P), with final resultscalculated as an average of three replicate analyses. For allanalysis methods, duplicate analyses were made for 5% ofsamples, with a coefficient of variation generally below 5%.All results of whole-rock analyses presented in this study arenormalized to volatile-free 100 wt%.

For parental magma modeling, and for calculating whole-rock Mg# [Mg# =Mg/(Mg + Fe2+)], whole-rock Fe2O3/FeOratios have been calculated from total FeO (FeOt) accordingto the method of Barnes et al. (2007). This method was devel-oped for pure olivine adcumulates (komatiites) where Fe2O3contents is assumed to be zero, as Fe3+ is incompatible inolivine. A linear increase in whole-rock Fe2O3/FeO ratio from0 to 0.1 is calculated as a function of decreasing modal olivineand increasing liquid component. Olivine mode is proxiedusing whole-rock MgO contents, so that a Fe2O3/FeO ratioof 0.1 results at 50 wt%MgO, with a constant linear variation in the ratio in between(Barnes et al. 2007).

Petrography of 208 thin sections were examined with cross-polarised transmitted-light microscopy. Chemical compositionsof minerals from the SE block of the Näränkävaara body wereanalyzed bywavelength dispersive spectroscopywith a CamecaSX100 electron probe micro-analyzer (EPMA) (464 spot anal-yses from 225 mineral grains from 40 thin sections). Full resultsalong with analyzing conditions, X-ray lines analysed and cal-ibrationmaterials used are listed in Table S2. Standard deviationbased on repeated standard measurements is 93 vol%accumulated crystals, mesocumulate 93–75 vol%, andorthocumulate 75–50 vol%. In the basal dunite, adcumulatesare typically dunites and meso- and orthocumulates areharzburgites and lherzolites. A heteradcumulate is a cumulatewith a poikilitic texture and a very minor component of recog-nizable trapped intercumulus melt (Wager et al. 1960; Barneset al. 2016b). The presence of trapped intercumulus melt inolivine and orthopyroxene rich cumulates, like found inNäränkävaara, can usually be recognized from elevated contentsof incompatible elements (e.g., Al, Ti, P, Zr) in whole-rockanalysis. As such, adcumulate and heteradcumulate rocks tendto exhibit adcumulate chemistries poor in incompatible ele-ments, and orthocumulate rocks tend to exhibit orthocumulatechemistries relatively rich in incompatible elements.

Petrography of the basal dunite

Ortho- and mesocumulates of the SW border zone

A 200–400 m thick border zone composed of olivine ortho-and mesocumulates and minor adcumulates (units #1–2 in


Table1

Mainpetrographicalandgeochemicalcharacteristicsof

lithologicalu

nitsof

theNäränkävaarabasald

unite

Petrography

Geochem

icalzone

(Subzone)

Unit

#Height(m)Petrography

Geochem

istry

Mg#

1Fo

inolivine

(mol%)

Parentalmagma

MgO

3(w

t%)

Fo 9

0Fo 9

1

KD

KD

EPMA

Inferred

20.30

0.33

0.30

0.33

Contact

(0–20)

Strongly

alteredcontactzoneof

meta-peridotite,trem

olite-rock,

soapstone

Orthocumulateandmesocum

ulate

Low

-Fe(H

igh-Ni)

10–250

Oliv

ineorthocum

ulategradinginto

mesocum

ulatewith

distance

from

contact;intercum

ulus

consistsof

pyroxenes,minor

plagioclase,

biotite,trace

chromite,sulfides;

euhedral-subhedralchromite

Orthocumulatechem

istry

(incom

patib

leelem

entrich);

olivine-meltm

ixes;h

ighNi(aver-

age2500

ppm)

89.1

88.04

89.8

14.7

16.1

16.4

18.1

Orthocumulateandmesocum

ulate

Low

-Fe(M

oderate-Ni)

2Orthocumulatechem

istry;

olivine-melt

mixes;m

oderateNi(average

2000

ppm)

87.3

87.8

8913.0

14.5

14.8

16.5

Adcum

ulate

Low

-Fe(H

igh-Ni)

3250–550

‘Extreme’

olivineadcumulate,very

minor

intercum

ulus;1

–2vol%

fine-grained

euhedral-subhedral

chromite

Adcum

ulatechem

istry(incom

patible

elem

entp

oor);h

ighNi

Adcum

ulate

Low

-Fe(M

oderate-Ni)

4Adcum

ulatechem

istry;

moderateNi,

high

Cr(average

4000

ppm)

89.5

86.9

Orthopyroxene

adcumulate

Low

-Fe(?)

5550–625

Orthopyroxene

adcumulate(<5vol%

olivine)

Adcum

ulatechem

istry

88.5

Adcum

ulate

High-Fe

6625–725

‘Extreme’

olivineadcumulate,very

minor

intercum

ulus;lobateand

poikilitic

chromite

Adcum

ulatechem

istry;

lowNi

(average

1700

ppm)andCr

(average

1200

ppm)

87.2

86.3

Adcum

ulate

High-Fe

7725–750

Adcum

ulatechem

istry;

lowMgO

and

Mg#

forolivineadcumulate

85.7

85.1

Adcum

ulate

High-Fe

8750–1900?

Adcum

ulatechem

istry,lowNiand

Cr87

87.7

87.3

Oliv

ine-orthopyroxene

heteradcum

ulate

High-Fe

91900?–2500

Olivineheteradcum

ulatewith

sparse

cm-scaleorthopyroxeneoikocrysts

(about

5–20

vol%

dependingon

in-

tersection);p

oikiliticchromite

(low

erhalf)andeuhedral-subhedral

chromite

(upper

half)

Adcum

ulatechem

istry;

olivine-orthopyroxenemixes;

low-N

i;about2000ppmincrease

inCrassociated

with

change

from

poikilitic

toeuhedral-subhedral

chromite

86.6

87.6

87.3

Harzburgitead-andmesocum

ulateHigh-Fe

102275–2325

Interlayersof

texturally

variable

harzburgiticto

orthopyroxenitic

adcumulateandpoikilitic

mesocum

ulate

86.4

87.0

86.5

1Average

Mg#

forunitfrom

whole-rockXRFanalyses;Mg#

=Mg/(M

g+Fe

2+);FeO/Fe 2O3ratio

calculated

accordingto

Barnesetal.(2007),seetext;2Oliv

inecompositio

ndeterm

ined

from

linear

regression

ofwhole-rockMg/Alvs.Fe/Al(seeMakkonenetal.2017);3

Intersectio

non

aMgO

-FeO

diagram

ofawhole-rocksampleregression

lineandamodelliq

uidcompositio

ninequilib

rium

with

highestF

oolivinefound;

Param

etersFo 9

1–90andKD0.30–0.33wereused

tocalculatecompositio

nsof

differentequilibrium

liquids

(see

text

andFig.5);

4Fo

88.6from

boulder;EPMA=electron

probe

micro-analyzer,KD=Oliv

ine-meltM

g-Fe

exchange

coefficient


Fig. 2 and Table 1) is found all along the SW contact betweenthe basal dunite and the Archean basement complex. Thebasement contact is subvertical or dips steeply to the NE(75–90 °). The granite-gneiss basement is hornfelsed for adepth of at least 0.5 m, and leached and broken for up to5 m from the contact. The immediate contact zone is

#3–10 in Fig. 2 and Table 1). It is composed of olivineadcumulates and minor orthopyroxenites in the SW (units #3–8), followed by olivine-orthopyroxene heteradcumulate and mi-nor orthopyroxenites in the NE (units #9–10). Olivineadcumulate textures range from subhedral (Fig. 3c) to tightlypacked polygonal (lower half of Fig. 3d). Olivine is typicallyequigranularwith grain size between 0.5–3mm, but rare bimodalolivine is also found in the NW block of the dunite (Fig. 3f). Theorthocumulate border zone (units #1–2) most likely grades intothe adcumulates, but this boundary is only intersected in one drillhole (R5), where it coincides with a 1 m thick olivine-pegmatoidal layer, composed of loosely packed cm-sizedsubhedral olivine pseudomorphs in a fine grained serpentinegroundmass. No other magmatic layering has been identified inthe adcumulates, and for the most part the inner structure of theSE block of the basal dunite is poorly constrained.

A < 200 m thick unit of fresh (olivine) orthopyroxeneadcumulate (unit #5 in Fig. 2 and Table 1) is foundsandwiched between two olivine adcumulate units. Thisorthopyroxenite unit is notable in two ways. First, it marksthe border between the geochemically defined low-Fe andhigh-Fe zones, as discussed later. Second, a change in chro-mite textures seems to be associated with the stratigraphiclevel of this unit. It has been argued that all chromites inultramafic cumulates are cumulus in origin, i.e., a liquidusphase, regardless of their crystal habit (Barnes 1998; Godelet al. 2013), and thus the terms cumulus and intercumulus areavoided for describing chromite textures. In this study, chro-mites have been classified as euhedral-subhedral (upper grainin Fig. 4b), interstitial (weakly growing between cumulus

grains; lower grain in Fig. 4b, also Fig. 3c), lobate (moreextensive fingering between cumulus grains; Fig. 4c), andpoikilitic (completely enclosing adjacent grains; Fig. 4d). Aslabeled in Fig. 2c, below the orthopyroxenite unit (in units #1–4) chromite textures are fine grained euhedral or interstitial,whereas above the orthopyroxenite (in units #6–9) chromitetextures are typically lobate or poikilitic. These systematicscontinue up to the middle of unit #9, where chromite texturechanges back to euhedral. In the basal dunite, olivine cumu-lates with most abundant chromite (up to 1–2 vol%) alwaysshow euhedral-subhedral chromite textures. Poikilitic chro-mite is notably coarser (up to 2 mm) compared to euhedralchromite, but appears in much lower total modal quantities.Units 7–9# contain the coarsest lobate and poikilitic chromitesin the basal dunite (Fig. 4c and d).

The heteradcumulate unit (unit #9 in Fig. 2 and Table 1),found along the basal dunite–layered series contact, has adistinct poikilitic texture with sparse pseudomorphicorthopyroxene grains 2–5 cm in diameter enclosing olivinegrains (Fig. 3d), but otherwise its petrography is similar tothe regular olivine adcumulates. Midway up through the unit,chromite texture changes from coarse poikilitic to more abun-dant fine-grained euhedral, and continues like this until thelayered series contact (Fig. 2c). A relatively heterogeneous50 m thick unit (unit #10) comprising 0.5–5 m thick inter-layers of variable-textured harzburgitic to orthopyroxeniticadcumulates and mesocumulates (Fig. 3e) is found withinthe heteradcumulate unit, about 100 m before the layered se-ries contact. The change from poikilitic to cumulusorthopyroxene (and also chromite) observed from unit #9 to

Chro

mite

satu

ratio

n su

rface

s

Opx

Ol

FQMFQ

M -1

.5

Cpx

LobatePoikilitic

EuhedralChromite texture

Ol + Melt + (Chr)

Ol+Chr-cotecticadcumulates

Ol + (Chr)adcumulates

Ol+Opx+Chrperitecticcumulates

MS

700 um

500 um

2000 um

MgO (wt%)

Cr (

ppm

)

15 20 25 30 35 40 45

5000

4500

4000

3500

3000

2500

2000

1500

1000

500

0

Vetren

y

KellojärviModel PM

Euhedral

Lobate

Poikilitic

Marginal series (R1 173 m)

Layered seriesBase of Ultramafic zone (unit Peridotite-1)

Unit 1 - Olivine ortho- and mesocumulate, high-NiUnit 2 - Olivine ortho- and mesocumulate, moderate-NiUnit 3 - Olivine adcumulate, high-NiUnit 4 - Olivine adcumulate, moderate-Ni

Basal dunite - Low-Fe ZoneUnit 5 - Orthopyroxenite

Basal dunite - High-Fe zone

Unit 6 - Olivine adcumulateUnit 7 - Olivine adcumulate (low-Mg#)Unit 8 - Olivine adcumulateUnit 9 - Olivine-orthopyroxene heteradcumulateUnit 10 - Harburgite and bronzitite

a

c

b

d

Fig. 4 aWhole-rockMgOversus Cr compositions of Näränkävaara basaldunite samples. Olivine adcumulate samples (units #3, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 9)represent either olivine cumulates or olivine chromite cumulates, whereasthe SW border zone ortho- and mesocumulate samples (units #1, 2) rep-resent olivine–melt mixes (±chromite) (Barnes 1998). Labeled fieldsshow (1) modeled basal dunite parental magma composition (“ModelPM”), and (2) comparisons to whole-rock compositions from the

komatiitic basalts of the Vetreny Belt (Puchtel et al. 1997) and thekomatiitic Kellojärvi ultramafic cumulate complex (Papunen et al.2009). Colored fields indicate texture of chromites in thin section (seelegend); b–c Back-scattered electron images of chromites with thinchromian magnetite rims, number indicates length of picture bottomedge; b lower grain euhedral, upper grain interstitial (sample JSN-87), clobate (sample JSN-89), d poikilitic (sample VJJA-81)


unit #10 is in line with the common observation that poikiliticphases precede the appearance of that phase as cumulus(Campbell 1987).

A subvertical tectonized contact between the olivineheteradcumulate (unit #9) and the Näränkävaara layeredseries is intersected in drill hole R1 at a depth of~170 m. The contact includes a 10 m thick non-cumulus textured melagabbronoritic marginal series de-veloped on the side of the layered series (bright red inFig. 2c) (Järvinen et al. 2020).

Whole-rock chemical compositions

Main results

Results of representative whole-rock analyses of theNäränkävaara basal dunite are presented in Table 2. All sam-ples are MgO-rich (24–47 wt%). Olivine adcumulates contain45–47.7 wt% MgO, with the exception of one low-Mg#adcumulate unit with only 42 wt% MgO (unit #6 in Table 1and Fig. 2). In the adcumulates, FeOt ranges between 9.0–13.2 wt%, and increases with decreasing MgO (Mg# 84.4–90.4; Fig. 5). Mesocumulates contain 39–45.5 wt% MgO andorthocumulates 31–38 wt%MgO, but values down to 24 wt%are found in heavily altered (olivine-pyroxenitic?) samplesclosest to the basement contact. The heteradcumulates in drillholes R1 and R2 (unit #9) typically contain 42–45 wt%MgO,grading down to 32–34wt% in the orthopyroxenite interlayers(unti #10). On Pearce element ratio plots of (Mg + Fe)/Al ver-sus Si/Al, all olivine cumulate and heteradcumulate units ploton straight lines with slopes of 1.7–2.0. This indicates strongolivine control of whole-rock compositions as pure olivineplots on a slope of 2.0.

Based on olivine-compatible element concentrations inwhole-rock samples, the basal dunite can be divided intotwo zones with overlapping MgO contents (Fig. 6a): (1) amore primitive low-Fe zone (units #1–5; downward-triangles in all diagrams), characterized by relatively lowFeOt (average 10.2 wt%) and high Ni (average 2250 ppm),with MgO between 32 and 47.3 wt% (Mg# 85.3–90.4); and(2) a more fractionated high-Fe zone (units #6–10; upward-triangles in all diagrams) characterized by relatively high FeOt(average 12.5 wt%) and low Ni (average 1700 ppm), withMgO between 40 and 46.0 (Mg# 85.7–88.6). The low-Fe zonecan be further subdivided into a high-Ni subzone with anaverage of 2500 ppm Ni (units #1 and #3; pink in Fig. 6eand all other diagrams), and a moderate-Ni subzone (units#2 and #4; red in Fig. 6e and all other diagrams) with anaverage of 2000 ppm Ni. Average Al2O3/TiO2 is slightlyhigher in the low-Fe zone (22) compared to the high-Fe zone(19), ranging 16–26.

As shown in Figs. 2 and 7, the low-Fe zone (units #1–5)encompasses the ortho- and mesocumulate border zone, the

lowermost olivine adcumulates, and the lowermostorthopyroxenite unit. The high-Fe zone (units #6–10) encom-passes the rest of the basal dunite up to the layered seriescontact. The high-Ni subzone of the low-Fe zone has onlybeen intersected in drill holes R6, R7, and R9, and thus doesnot appear in the geochemical profile in Fig. 7.

The low-Fe and high-Fe zones both have variable Cr concen-trations. Chromite texture roughly correlates with whole-rock Crcontents (Fig. 4): poikilitic and lobate chromite is found in high-MgO low-Cr cumulates, and euhedral-subhedral chromite in high-Cr cumulates. Similar MgO-Cr systematics have been describedfrom komatiites (Barnes and Hill 1995; Barnes 1998). In the basaldunite, highestCr contents (2000–5160 ppm) are found in sampleswith euhedral and/or weakly interstitial chromite (Fig. 4). LowerCr contents (

Table 2 Representative results of whole-rock chemical analyses from the Näränkävaara basal dunite, with a modeled parental magma composition forthe basal dunite and comparison to the Näränkävaara marginal series gabbronorite

Zone (subzone) Low-Fe (high-Ni) Low-Fe (moderate-Ni) High-Fe Marginal Series1 Modeledparental magma2

Rocktype3 Per Serp Dun Dun Dun Dun Dun Hzb Mgbnor

Cumulus4 oMCba? obMCa*? oACba? oAC oAC oAC oMC(b*) obAC(a*) abMCpf

Unit # 1 2 2 4 7 8 9 10

Sample5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Major oxides (wt%)

SiO2 45.15 46.44 42.23 41.60 43.50 41.44 41.49 46.43 54.28 50.70

TiO2 0.14 0.34 0.03 0.02 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.04 0.52 0.54

Al2O3 2.77 8.29 0.78 0.34 0.21 0.16 0.22 0.65 11.34 12.24

FeOt 9.85 9.65 11.49 9.99 13.46 12.29 12.46 11.34 9.42 9.23*

MnO 0.14 0.21 0.17 0.13 0.20 0.17 0.18 0.18 0.17 n.a.

MgO 41.61 28.83 45.16 47.69 42.58 45.49 45.13 40.49 13.79 15.59

CaO 0.14 5.99 0.10 0.20 0.05 0.44 0.45 0.86 7.20 8.82

Na2O 0.08 0.07

the trend lines coincide with measured olivine andorthopyroxene compositions, and these units can be modeledas linear mixtures of olivine and orthopyroxene. They are thusinterpreted as heteradcumulates with no (or only minor)trapped intercumulus melt (e.g. Barnes et al. 2016b).

Rare earth element compositions

Chondrite-normalized REE and primitive-mantle-normalized trace element patterns for the basal dunitesamples are presented in Fig. 9. All adcumulates andheteradcumulates (units #3–10) are very REE-poor, withLa between 0.5–1 times chondritic and most HREE belowde t ec t i on l im i t s . The bo rde r zone o r tho - andmesocumulates (units #1–2) are LREE-enriched with La-values approximately 2–20 times chondritic. Negative Euand Sr anomalies are likely related to Ca-mobility duringserpentinization. Total REE-abundances increase with de-creasing MgO, which together with the parallel REE-patterns suggests olivine control (dilution) of REE. TheREE patterns are interpreted to mainly reflect the amountand composition of the trapped intercumulus melt.

Chalcophile elements

Concentrations of chalcophile elements are generally low inthe basal dunite, except for Ni, which must be almost entirelyhosted by olivine judging from the overall low concentrationsof sulfur (Table 2). In the adcumulates and heteradcumulates(units #3–10), Cu, Pd, Pt, and S are mostly below detectionlimits. The border zone cumulates (units #1–2) contain onaverage 480 ppm S (highest 1300 ppm). Most Cu and abouthalf of Pd and Pt analysis results are below detection limits;

highest measured Cu is 170 ppm, Pd is 5.7 ppb, and Pt is10.8 ppb.

Mineral chemistry

Chromite

Results of representative EPMA mineral analyses arelisted in Table 3. All analyzed spinels from the basaldunite (39 samples, 119 grains, 453 analyses) are classi-fied as chromites after the most abundant trivalent ion(Fig. 10), except for two samples that contain three grainsclassified as spinels. Chromites have compositions with(average in parentheses): Mg# 0.12–0.5 (0.32), Cr#0.45–0.80 (0.63), Fe3+# 0.03–0.51 (0.12), NiO 0.03–0.22 wt% (0.1 wt%), and ZnO 0.08–1.43 wt%(0.4 wt%) [where Cr# = Cr/(Cr + Al) and Fe3+# = Fe3+/(Cr + Al + Fe3+)]. There is large overlap in compositions,but generally the ortho- and mesocumulates (units #1–2)contain more chromian and ferrian chromites, while theadcumulates (units #3–10) contain more aluminian chro-mites (Fig. 10). Chromite core compositions are igneousbased on constraints of Barnes and Roeder (2001).Chromite compositions overlap with the compositionalfields of both layered intrusions and komatiites (Fig. 10)(Barnes and Roeder 2001). No systematic compositionalvariations between euhedral and lobate–poikilitic chro-mite grains were found.

Chromites from ortho- and mesocumulates (units #1–2) exhibit a wider range of Fe2O3 compositions (5–21.5 wt%) compared to those from other units (average5.8 wt%) (Fig. 10a and c). In back-scattered electron(BSE) imaging, the chromites do not exhibit magmatic

Table 2 (continued)

Zone (subzone) Low-Fe (high-Ni) Low-Fe (moderate-Ni) High-Fe Marginal Series1 Modeledparental magma2

Rocktype3 Per Serp Dun Dun Dun Dun Dun Hzb Mgbnor

V n.a. 89.9 n.a. n.a. n.a. 7.40 9.2 n.a. 150.0 151.1

Co n.a. 91.5 n.a. n.a. n.a. 140.00 138.0 n.a. 58.0 78.9

Au (ppb)

zoning, but thin chromian magnetite rims with Fe2O3replacing Al2O3 are commonly found (Fig. 4b–d) espe-cially in the orthocumulate samples. The orthocumulate

chromites also have higher contents of e.g. Mn, V, Zn,and Ni, with abundances of these elements increasingwith decreasing whole-rock MgO. Barnes (1998)interpreted similar compositional trends in komatiitic cu-mulates as post-cumulus equilibration between chromiteand trapped intercumulus melt during slow cooling.Compositional variations in chromites along the X-X’cross-section (Fig. 2) are illustrated in Fig. S2.

Olivine

Fresh olivine in the Näränkävaara basal dunite was foundin only 13 samples. Relatively abundant fresh olivine isfound in some less-altered ortho- and mesocumulate sam-p l e s ( u n i t s # 1–2 ) , a nd a l s o i n t h e ( o l i v i n e )orthopyroxenites (units #5 and 10). In the adcumulatesand heteradcumulates olivine has only been found intwo samples as smal l re l ic t cores in otherwiseserpentinized pseudomorphs (units #8–9).

The analyzed olivine compositions range betweenFo87–88.6, with two orthocumulate samples extendingdown to Fo84.5 (see Tables 1 and 3). Highest measuredfors ter i t e conten t of Fo88 . 6 i s f rom an ol iv inemesocumulate boulder (unit #1); the second highest ofFo88.5 is found in the lowermost orthopyroxenite (unit#5). Analyzed olivines exhibit three different levels ofNi concentrations (Fig. 11): (1) high-Ni from 0.40–0.37 wt% NiO; (2) moderate-Ni from 0.30–0.28 wt%NiO; and (3) low-Ni from 0.28–0.21 wt% NiO. Theselevels mirror whole-rock Ni values and the geochemicalsubdivision presented earlier (Fig. 6e). Compared to astatistical analysis of komatiitic olivine compositions byBarnes and Fiorentini (2012), the Ni-richest olivines fromthe low-Fe zone (unit #1) can be classified as both” min-eralized komatiites” and “barren units in mineralized do-mains”, while all other olivine analysis results fall in thefield of “fresh olivine in unmineralized komatiites”.

Pyroxenes

Orthopyroxene was analyzed from nine samples andc l inopyroxene f rom seven samples (Tab le 3) .Orthopyroxene compositions range between En83.7–87.0,Fs9.7–12.2, and Wo2.4–4.5; with Cr2O3 between 0.5–0.7 wt%and NiO between 0.05–0.11 wt%. Clinopyroxenes rangebetween En46.7–52.1, Fs5.8–7.2, and Wo39.5–44.9; withCr2O3 between 0.65–1.30 wt% and NiO between 0.03–0.06 wt%. Pyroxenes from the low-Fe zone contain uni-formly higher NiO compared to those of the high-Fezone (e.g. average of 0.048 versus 0.035 wt% NiO inclinopyroxene).

Model PM

89 90 91

Mod

el e

quilib

rium

liqu

ids

Fo91

Fo90

Fo89

Fo88

Fo87

Fo86

10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50MgO (wt%)

FeO

** (w

t%)

13

12

11

10

9

8

7

6

MS




Basal dunite - Low-Fe Zone


Unit 5 - Orthopyroxenite


Fig. 5 Whole-rock MgO versus FeO** compositions of Näränkävaarabasal dunite samples; FeO** is FeO calculated from total FeO accordingto Barnes et al. (2007). Pure olivine compositions Fo86–91 are plotted onthe right, and model liquids in equilibrium with Fo89–91 olivines witholivine-liquid Fe-Mg exchange coefficient (KD) values of 0.30 (solidblack lines) and 0.33 (dashed black lines) (Roeder and Emslie 1970) areplotted on the left. Figure illustrates modeling of the Näränkävaara basaldunite parental magma composition: Units #1 and #2 are interpreted to becomposed of olivine-melt mixtures; regression lines fitted through theseunits (dashed pink line for unit#1 and red for unit #2) intersect with Fo90equilibrium liquid compositions with KD 0.30–0.33 at 13–16.1 wt%MgO (black bar on x-axis). Field labeled “Model PM” shows the rangeof modeled parental magma compositions that results for units #1 and #2using a liquid composition in equilibrium with Fo90 olivine at KD values0.30 and 0.33; note that this field has been plotted in all other variationdiagrams in this paper. Black dashed line connects compositions of oliv-ine and liquid in equilibrium with the Näränkävaara marginal seriesgabbronorite composition (Järvinen et al. 2020)


Olivin

e, Lo

w-Fe s

ubzon

e

Olivine,High-Fesubzone

Opx MS

Ni (

ppm

)

FeO (wt%)t7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

2750

2500

2250

2000

1750

1500

1250

1000

750

500

Low-FeHigh-Ni

High-FeLow-Ni

a



Unit 1 - Olivine ortho- and mesocumulate,high-Ni

Unit 2 - Olivine ortho- and mesocumulate,moderate-Ni

Unit 3 - Olivine adcumulate, high-NiUnit 4 - Olivine adcumulate, moderate-Ni

Basal dunite - Low-Fe ZoneUnit 5 - Orthopyroxenite


Unit 6 - Olivine adcumulateUnit 7 - Olivine adcumulate (low-Mg#)Unit 8 - Olivine adcumulate

Unit 9 - Olivine-orthopyroxeneheteradcumulate

Unit 10 - Harburgite and bronzitite

15 20 25 30 35 40 45

c

Opx

Vetre

ny

e

MS

Mod

el P

M

MgO (wt%)

2500

2000

1500

1000

500

Ni (

ppm

)

Opx

MgO (wt%)15 20 25 30 35 40 45

0.50

0.45

0.40

0.35

0.30

0.25

0.20

0.15

0.10

0.05

0

Vetreny

Kellojärvi

Cpx

Cpx

Opx

Ol

MS

MgO (wt%)

11

10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

TiO

(wt%

)2

b

AlO

(wt%

)2

3

d

Vetreny

Kellojärvi

1213

15 20 25 30 35 40 45

0.55Model PM

Model PM

Ol

MS

Cpx

Norma

l olivin

e

Kellojä

rvi

Ol

Model

PM

CaO

(wt%

)

MgO (wt%)15 20 25 30 35 40 45

17.5

15.0

12.5

10.0

7.5

5.0

2.5

0.0

Model PM

Vetreny

Kellojärvi

Cpx

Opx

MS

Ol

Fig. 6 a–eWhole-rock compositions of Näränkävaara basal dunite sam-ples on variation diagrams; a Dashed line shows the main geochemicaldivision of basal dunite samples into low-Fe and high-Fe zones. Fieldlabeled “Model PM” shows the range of modeled basal dunite parentalmagma compositions. Note that the trend of the border zone ortho- andmesocumulate samples (units #1–2) coincides with the marginal series

gabbronorite of the layered series (labeled “MS”), suggesting these rocksare mixtures of cumulus olivine and melt approximately of the marginalseries composition. Other labeled fields show measured mineral compo-sitions (Ol, Opx, Cpx) and comparisons to whole-rock compositions fromthe komatiitic basalts of the Vetreny Belt (Puchtel et al. 1997) and thekomatiitic Kellojärvi ultramafic cumulate complex (Papunen et al. 2009)


Discussion

General remarks

Twomajor research questions concern the Näränkävaara basaldunite. First is related to its age and relationship with theneighboring layered series. In the SE-block of theNäränkävaara intrusion, a marginal series gabbronorite sepa-rates the dunite from the layered series (Fig. 2). Unless thecurrent structural configuration is fully the result of post-emplacement faulting, this means there has to be an age dif-ference between the two. The basal dunite could either be (1)comagmatic with the Fennoscandian 2.5–2.4 Ga layered se-ries magmatism, with a long enough hiatus in magmatism toallow for the cooling needed for the subsequent formation ofthe marginal series, or (2) represent an Archean komatiiticwall-rock to the Proterozoic layered series magmatism.Since isotope dating methods have thus far proven unsuccess-ful, here we aim to constrain the petrogenesis of the basaldunite by studying its parental magma composition and dif-ferentiation, and compare our findings to the neighboring lay-ered series and to nearby komatiites. The second major re-search question is related to the orthomagmatic Ni-potentialof the basal dunite as, in any event, it must have formed from a

large volume of mantle derived primitive magma(s). Someobservations related to the Ni-potential of the basal duniteare discussed at the end of this section.

Parental magma

One way to study a possible comagmatic relationship betweenthe Näränkävaara basal dunite and the layered series is to com-pare their parental magma compositions. The Näränkävaara lay-ered series parental magma has been inferred from a marginalseries gabbronorite intersected in drill hole R1 (Fig. 2) (Järvinenet al. 2020). As the composition of the basal dunite parentalmagma cannot be directly inferred from a chilled margin orspinifex textured rock, instead the parental magma compositionhas beenmodeled here using results of whole-rock analyses fromorthocumulates. The methods used here have been outlined indetail by e.g. Bickle (1982) and Chai and Naldrett (1992), andare based on the assumption that olivine orthocumulate rocks area mixture of cumulus olivine and melt in equilibrium with thisolivine. First, the Mg# of a melt in equilibrium with the mostprimitive olivine found in the basal dunite was calculated byusing the olivine-melt Mg-Fe exchange coefficient (KD) ofRoeder and Emslie (1970). Then, the MgO and FeO contentsof the parental magma were calculated from the intersection

0 m100200300400500600700800900

1000110012001300140015001600170018001900200021002200230024002500

Cr (ppm)0 2500 5000

Ni (ppm)Chromite0 1000 2000 3000

Ni (ppm)Olivine0 1000 2000 3000

X

X’

Ni (ppm)0 1000 2000 30005025 30 35 40 45

MgO (wt%)80 82.5 85 87.5 90

Mg#

Whole-rock Mineral

Marginal series (R1 173 m)Layered series


Unit 2 - Olivine ortho- and mesocumulate, moderate-NiUnit 4 - Olivine adcumulate, moderate-NiUnit 5 - Orthopyroxenite



Unit

2

4 56

8

9

7

10

a b c d e f

Lobate andpoikilitic chromite

9

Fig. 7 a–dWhole-rock and e–f mineral chemical variations with height (m) in the X-X’ cross section in the SE block of the Näränkävaara intrusion inFig. 2, with 0 m marking the SW contact between the basement complex and the basal dunite. Horizontal lines show unit division according to Table 1



Layered series

Unit 1 - Olivine ortho- and mesocumulate,

high-Ni

Unit 2 - Olivine ortho- and mesocumulate,

moderate-Ni

Unit 4 - Olivine adcumulate, moderate-Ni




Unit 6 - Olivine adcumulate


Unit 9 - Olivine-orthopyroxene

heteradcumulate

Gd

/ Y

b

Ce / Sm

MS

Kellojärvi

Närä

nkä

vaara

Vetreny

Model PM

Zr / Y

Al2O3 / TiO2

MS

Kellojärvi

När

änkä

vaar

a

Vetr

eny

Model PM

TiO2 (wt%)

Zr (p

pm

)

MS

Kel

lojä

rvi

Närä

nkävaara

Vetreny

Model PMY

/ A

l2O

3

Zr / TiO2

MS

Kel

lojä

rvi

Näränkävaara

Vetreny

Model PM

MS

Kello

järv

i

Närä

nkävaara

Vetreny

Model PM

Y (p

pm

)

Zr (ppm)

a

d

b

e

c

Fig. 8 a–e Whole-rock trace element compositions and ratios of basaldunite samples. Field labeled “Model PM” shows the range of modeledbasal dunite parental magma compositions; other labeled fields showcomparisons to whole-rock compositions from the Näränkävaara layeredseries (Järvinen et al. 2020), komatiitic basalts of the Vetreny Belt

(Puchtel et al. 1997), and the komatiitic Kellojärvi ultramafic cumulatecomplex (Papunen et al. 2009). Error bars show 1σ relative errors forelement ratios, samples with 1σ errors larger than the ratio have beenomitted


between this equilibrium-melt composition and a regression linefitted through samples composed of olivine-melt mixtures, asillustrated in Fig. 5. As the border zone ortho- andmesocumulates (units #1–2) are interpreted to representolivine-melt mixtures, they were used for calculating these re-gression lines. Concentrations of other elements in the parentalmagma were then estimated in a similar fashion, by fitting re-gression lines through the ortho- and mesocumulate units andcalculating the value of each element at the previously obtainedMgO value. Samples taken from immediate contacts with base-ment or xenoliths were omitted from modeling to reduce scatterinwhole-rock sample regression lines, as these near-contact sam-ples show distinctly stronger LREE-enrichment indicative of in-situ contamination (not shown).

Themost primitive olivines (Fo88–88.6) are found in the olivineortho- and mesocumulates of the low-Fe zone (units #1–2).During post-cumulus processes, olivine compositions tend toprogressively re-equilibrate towards lower Fo contents as modalintercumulus increases (e.g. unit #2 in Fig. 11) (Barnes 1986). Itis thus unlikely that the olivines analyzed from the relativelyintercumulus-rich ortho- and mesocumulates represent originalcompositions. It is also possible that the most primitive olivineshave simply been destroyed during serpentinization. Therefore,average olivine compositions have also been inferred fromwhole-rock compositions. For the adcumulate units, olivine Focontents can be directly inferred from whole-rock Mg#. Thehighest whole-rock Mg# of 90.4 is found in the lowermost oliv-ine adcumulates of the low-Fe zone (unit #4 in Fig. 7a andTable 1). A slightly higher Fo content can be inferred from theMgO versus FeO plot in Fig. 5, where these samples plot close topure Fo91 olivine. In addition, average Fo contents were inferredfrom molecular ratios of whole-rock Mg/Al and Fe2+/Al (seeMakkonen et al. 2017), with results listed in Table 1. Using thislatter method, results for the high-Ni subzone (unit #1) are be-tween Fo89–90 and for the moderate-Ni subzone (unit #2)

between Fo87–89, depending on the drill hole. Results of thismethod indicate similar olivine Fo contents as regression lineson variation diagrams intersecting pure model olivine composi-tions (e.g. Figure 5), with the added benefit of the method alsobeing applicable to intercumulus-poor olivine adcumulate units.The most primitive olivine inferred from the basal dunite is thusin the range Fo90–91.

Parental magma compositions have been modeled separate-ly for the high-Ni and moderate-Ni ortho- and mesocumulates(units #1–2) with a liquid composition in equilibrium withFo90–91, using a KD of 0.30 and 0.33 (Roeder and Emslie1970; Toplis 2005). Resulting parental magma MgO variesbetween 13 and 18 wt% (average 15.6 wt%), depending onthe unit used for regression and the parameters used to calcu-late the equilibrium liquid (Fig. 5 and Table 1). The high-Niortho- and mesocumulates (unit #1 in Table 1) always result ina higher parental magma MgO estimate compared to themoderate-Ni ortho- and mesocumulates (unit #2 in Table 1).This difference is related to the slopes of trend lines on theMgO-FeO diagram in Fig. 5, with unit #1 having slightly in-creasing FeO with decreasing MgO resulting in a higher MgOintercept. As the high-Ni subzone is Ni-richer and also appearsto contain slightly more forsteritic olivine (Table 1), it is plau-sible that it has formed from a slightly more primitive magmacompared to the moderate-Ni subzone. An “average” parentalmagma composition for these two units has been modeledusing a Fo90 equilibrium liquid and KD of both 0.30 and 0.33(see Fig. 5) – the four resulting parental magma compositionsare plotted as the corners of the “Model PM” field in variationdiagrams in Figs. 4, 5, 6 and 8; with REE and trace elementdiagrams in Figs. 8 and 9. An average model parental magmacomposition is also listed in Table 2.

Overall, the modeled parental magma composition is thatof an LREE-enriched high-MgO basalt, highly similar to themarginal series gabbronorite of the Näränkävaara layered

La Pr Pm Eu Tb Ho Tm Lu

Ce Nd Sm Gd Dy Er Yb

100

10

1

0.1

Ch

on

drite

(N

aka

mu

ra

19

74

)

a

Heteradcumulate (Unit 9)

Adcumulate (Units 6, 8, 9)

Orthopyroxenite (Unit 5)

Basal dunite - Adcumulate zone

Unit 2, moderate-Ni

Unit 1, high-Ni

Basal dunite - Border zone ortho- and

mesocumulates


Modeled parental magma

Possible parental magmas

Vetreny belt

Kellojärvi komatiite complex

Comparisons

Ba U Ta Ce Sr Nd Sm Ti Y Lu

Rb Th Nb La Pr P Zr Eu Dy Yb

100

10

1

0.1

Prim

itiv

e m

an

tle

(M

acD

on

ou

gh

& S

un

19

95

) b

Fig. 9 a Chondrite-normalized whole-rock REE-diagram and bprimitive-mantle-normalized trace element diagram for Näränkävaarabasal dunite samples; normalization values from Nakamura (1974) andMcDonough and Sun (1995), respectively. Also plotted is the averagemodeled basal dunite parental magma composition, for which verticalbars in a (for La, Sm, Yb) show variation in model results based on

regression of either unit #1 (high-Ni) or unit #2 (moderate-Ni) samples;note the similarity of modeled parental magma to the Näränkävaara mar-ginal series gabbronorite. Grey and green filled fields show comparisonsto whole-rock compositions from komatiitic basalts of the Vetreny Belt(Kirichi and Vinela localities from Puchtel et al. 1997), and the komatiiticKellojärvi ultramafic cumulate complex (Papunen et al. 2009)


Table 3 Representative results of EPMA chemical analyses and calculated cation fractions

Chromites

Zone Low-Fe Low-Fe Low-Fe High-Fe High-Fe High-Fe High-Fe

Unit # 1 2 4 6 7 8 9

Rock type Peridotite Lherzolite Dunite Dunite Dunite Dunite Dunite

Cumulus* oMCb? oOCb*a*(pf) oAC oAC oAC oCA oMC(b*)

Sample1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Major oxides (wt%)

SiO2 0.06 0.34 0.06 0.00 0.05 0.10 0.10

TiO2 0.52 0.46 0.51 0.42 0.58 0.51 0.43

V2O5 0.15 0.50 0.13 0.19 0.18 0.20 0.26

A12O3 16.34 10.82 17.68 14.24 19.63 22.26 22.68

Cr2O3 45.01 38.84 46.82 50.09 44.49 41.55 42.99

FeOt 30.76 42.48 26.34 28.36 27.49 26.57 23.80

MnO 0.41 0.34 0.23 0.18 0.34 0.35 0.12

MgO 5.26 4.04 7.50 5.36 6.53 7.51 9.23

NiO 0.09 0.16 0.12 0.03 0.07 0.08 0.08

ZnO 0.73 0.33 0.21 0.52 0.33 0.70 0.22

Total 99.33 98.30 99.59 99.42 99.69 99.84 99.92

Calculated cation fractions (apfu)2

Fe3+/∑trivalent 0 10 0 31 0 10 0 05 0 05 0 06 0 04Cr/∑ trivalent 0.59 0.49 0.58 0.66 0.57 0.52 0.54Al/∑ trivalent 0.32 0.20 0.32 0.28 0.38 0.42 0.42Mg# 0.26 0.19 0.34 0.27 0.32 0.36 0.43

Cr# 0.65 0.71 0.64 0.70 0.60 0.56 0.56

Olivines

Zone Low-Fe Low-Fe High-Fe High-Fe

Unit # 1 2 8 9

Rockname Peridotite Peridotite Serpentinite Dunite

Cumulus* oOCba? o(c)OCb*(a*) oAC oMC(b*c*)

Sample3 1 2 3 4

Major oxides (wt%)

SiO2 41.21 40.43 40.48 40.63

Al2O3 0.009 0.013 0.022 0.007

Cr2O3 0.015 0.019 0.025 0.021

FeOt 11.85 11.87 11.87 11.95

MnO 0.204 0.186 0.187 0.185

MgO 46.74 47.39 47.37 47.27

CaO 0.030 0.072 0.078 0.059

NiO 0.405 0.309 0.278 0.245

CoO 0.016 0.016 0.018 0.020

Total 100.48 100.31 100.32 100.39

Mg# 87.55 87.68 87.68 87.58

Pyroxenes

Zone Low-Fe Low-Fe High-Fe High-Fe

Unit # 2 2 5 8

Rockname Peridotite Peridotite Bronzitite Dunite

Cumulus* o(c)OCb*(a*) o(c)OCb*(a*) bAC oAC

Sample4 1 1 2 3

Mineral5 Opx Cpx Opx Cpx


a b


Unit 5 - OrthopyroxeniteUnit 6 - Olivine adcumulateUnit 7 - Olivine adcumulate (low-Mg#)Unit 8 - Olivine adcumulateUnit 9 - Olivine-orthopyroxene heteradcumulateUnit 10 - Harburgite and bronzitite



Previous analyses (Alapieti 1982, Telenvuo 2017)Other

Great Dyke

ForrestaniaKomatiite

Kellojärvikomatiite

MtKeithKomatiite

Burakovsky

KoillismaaWestern Intrusions

Mg#

Cr#

Great DykeForrestaniaKomatiite


MtKeithKomatiite

Burakovsky


Mg#

3+Fe

#

Great Dyke ForrestaniaKomatiite


MtKeithKomatiite

Burakovsky


Al 3+Fe

Cr c

Fig. 10 a-c Chromite compositions in the Näränkävaara basal dunite, withgrey circles showing previous results (Alapieti 1982; Telenvuo 2017).Labeled fields show comparisons to chromites in komatiites in green(Barnes et al. 1996) and to mafic-ultramafic layered intrusions in red

(Wilson 1982; Chistyakov and Sharkov 2008; Karinen 2010; Bailly et al.2011). Results of chromite analyses have been recalculated assuming stoi-chiometry to an ideal XY2O4 formula according to Barnes (1998); Mg# =Mg/(Mg + Fe2+); Cr# =Cr/(Cr +Mg); Fe3+# = Fe3+/(Fe3++Mg +Cr)

Table 3 (continued)

Major oxides (wt%)SiO2 55.97 51.59 55.80 52.53TiO2 0.08 0.71 0.07 0.37Al2O3 1.52 3.03 1.08 3.91FeOt 7.59 4.27 7.29 3.51MnO 0.18 0.15 0.20 0.11MgO 33.05 18.30 33.74 16.85CaO 1.88 20.17 1.41 20.84Na2O 0.00 0.44 0.00 0.72Cr2O3 0.69 1.05 0.60 1.03NiO 0.09 0.04 0.07 0.03Total 101.15 100.00 100.36 100.00

Calculated cation fractions (apfu)6

Mg# 0.89 0.88 0.89 0.90En 85.31 51.07 86.67 48.43Fs 11.20 6.87 10.72 5.83Wo 3.50 40.46 2.60 43.05

FeOt = total FeO

* Cumulus nomenclature after Irvine (1982), with exceptions that intercumulus phases marked as suffix, minerals

series (Figs. 8 and 9, and Table 2; marginal series plotted as astar in all variation diagrams) (Järvinen et al. 2020). The mar-ginal series gabbronorite has a Mg# of 74 and thus is in equi-librium with Fo90–90.6 olivine (KD 0.30–0.33), similar to themost primitive olivine inferred from the basal dunite (Fig. 5).These results suggest a comagmatic origin for the basal duniteand the Näränkävaara layered series.

Large uncertainty to the model results presented here iscaused by scatter in whole-rock MgO and FeO contents(Fig. 5). Some of this may be related to iron mobility duringserpentinization, as secondary magnetite veinlets are relativelycommon in drill core. Several other significant sources of errorare also related to the methods used here, discussed in moredetail in e.g. Arndt et al. (2008).

Inner structure and differentiation of the basal dunite

Layered structure

The same succession of cumulates and geochemical variationsare found in both the SE and NWblocks of the basal dunite, intwo separate cross-sections 25 km apart (Fig. 2a) (this studyand Järvinen et al. 2020). In cross-section in both blocks, fromSW to NE, ortho- and mesocumulates are followed byadcumula tes and f ina l ly o l iv ine or thopyroxeneheteradcumulates before the layered series contact.Geochemically, both begin with a low-Fe zone followed bya high-Fe zone, with whole-rock and olivine compositionsshowing decrease in Mg# and Ni contents towards the layeredseries (Figs. 7a and c; see also Fig. S1). The sequence of high-and low-Cr cumulates (Fig. 7d), reflecting the amount ofeuhedral (cumulus) chromite, is also the same on both blocks.These observations indicate that the structure of the basal du-nite is at least somewhat layered and remains similar over the30 km strike length of the intrusion.

Ortho- and mesocumulates of the border zone

Olivine orthocumulates are found in both komatiite flows andmafic-ultramafic layered intrusions (Campbell 1987; Hill et al.1995). Orthocumulate units of similar thickness as in the basaldunite (Fig. 2c) are common along the margins of komatiiteflows, with modal olivine increasing inwards with distance fromthewall-rock contact (Gole andBarnes 2020). In comparison, theAganozero-block of the ~2.44 Ga Burakovsky layered intrusionin Russian Karelia (Fig. 1; Amelin et al. 1995) contains a 100–200 m thick olivine orthocumulatic marginal sequenceinterpreted as a marginal series for the intrusion (Nikolaev andAriskin 2005), with similar modal and geochemical variation asfound in the Näränkävaara ortho- and mesocumulates. As thelow-Fe zone represents the most primitive part of theNäränkävaara basal dunite – and as the orthocumulates of thelow-Fe zone can bemodeled as mixtures between themost prim-itive olivine found and a trapped melt in equilibrium with thisolivine – we suggest that the ortho- and mesocumulate borderzone (units# 1–2) represents a marginal series of sorts similar tothe referred examples. Orthocumulate textures have likely devel-oped by relatively rapid cooling of olivine-bearing magmaagainst a cool wall-rock leading to early crystallization ofintercumulus minerals (Campbell 1987).

Adcumulates and heteradcumulates

Over 90% of the ~1.5–2.5 km thick Näränkävaara basal duniteconsists of olivine adcumulates (Fig. 2c). Olivine adcumulatesare thought to be formed by in-situ crystallization on thecrystal-liquid interface, with continuous low-porosity crystalgrowth facilitated either by diffusion combined with

High-Fe zone

Low-Fe zone

Unit 1 - Olivine ortho- and mesocumulate, high-Ni

Unit 2 - Olivine ortho- and mesocumulate, moderate-Ni



Unit 9 - Olivine-orthopyroxene heteradcumulate

Unit 10 - Harzburgite and orthopyroxenite

NiO

(w

t%

)O

livin

e

Fo (mol%)

80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 89 9088

0.45

0.40

0.35

0.30

0.25

0.20

0.15

Boulder

1

2

3

Fig. 11 Olivine Fo versus NiO compositions in the Näränkävaara basaldunite. The three compositional groups in olivines (high-, moderate-, andlow-Ni) reflect whole-rock MgO versus Ni compositions (see Fig. 6e),with Ni-richest olivines found in the border zone ortho- andmesocumulates (units #1–2). Post-cumulus re-equilibration of olivinewith trapped liquid typically results in trends of decreasing Fo as shownby unit #2 (Barnes 1986). Olivine fractional crystallization models shownin dashed black lines (modeled with COMAGMAT 5.5.2; Fe2O3 of 0.1 ×FeO; oxygen fugacity buffered at quartz-magnetite-fayalite; Ariskin andBarmina 2004) for average modeled parental magma compositions of (1)unit #1 of the basal dunite, (2) unit #2 of the basal dunite; and for the (3)marginal series gabbronorite of the Näränkävaara layered series (Järvinenet al. 2020)


convective extraction of solute in near-equilibrium low-heatflux conditions (e.g., slow-cooling magma chamber)(Campbell 1987; Walker et al. 1988) or by turbulent flow oflow-viscosity magma flushing away the depleted solute fromthe crystal-melt interface (e.g., komatiite flow) (Hill et al.1995).

The adcumulate units of the Näränkävaara basal dunite exhib-it some features typically described from high-volume turbulentkomatiite flows. In the low-Fe zone, adcumulates contain smoothsinusoidal fluctuations inMg#with height (Fig. 7a, see unit #4 at350–550 m). Similar fluctuations in komatiitic cumulates havebeen interpreted as evidence of crystallization in an open systemwith continuous influx of magmas with variable MgO content(Arndt et al. 2008). In addition, the high-Fe zone adcumulatescommonly contain poikilitic chromite (Fig. 4c-d), and rarely alsobimodal olivine (Fig. 3f). Both are thought to form in opensystem turbulent flows in komatiite settings (Barnes 1998; Goleand Barnes 2020). Poikilitic chromite in adcumulates cannotform from trapped intercumulus liquid alone, as the solubilityof Cr in basaltic and komatiitic magmas is low (~3000 ppm).Rather, poikilitic chromite is thought to crystallize competitivelywith olivine in conditions of chromite supersaturation butinhibited nucleation (Godel et al. 2013). Such conditions mayexist in freely convecting magma chambers or channels underconditions of low supercooling, where chromite supersaturationis reached only locally and transiently; e.g. in hot turbulentkomatiite flows (Barnes 1998). In contrast, euhedral chromite istypically found in more static settings with low cooling rates, e.g.in differentiated flows (Barnes 1998) and in layered intrusions. InArchean komatiites, poikilitic chromite is typically found inadcumulates with Fo92–93 and euhedral chromite below Fo91,with the high Fo contents associated with poikilitic chromiteindicating high crystallization temperatures close to chromiteliquidus (Barnes 1998). Here, those Fo limits seem to have beenshifted down about 3 mol% (Table 1). As far as we know, theseare the lowest Fo rocks where poikilitic chromite has been re-ported. An additional complication is that, unlike in komatiites,poikilitic chromite in Näränkävaara appears to be associated withthe lowest Fo olivine adcumulates rather than the highest(Table 1), implying that some other factor than temperature hasinhibited chromite nucleation. Also, althoughmodeling indicatesa relatively high liquidus temperature between 1300 and 1415 °Cfor the basal dunite parental magma (COMAGMAT 5.5.2 withoxygen fugacity buffered at quartz-fayalite-magnetite; Ariskinand Barmina 2004), that is close to or above chromite liquidus(~1350 °C; Murck and Campbell 1986), it is not clear whethersuch a dynamic turbulently flowingmagma system as prescribedby Barnes (1998) could exist in an intrusive environment. In anintrusive setting, poikilitic chromite has only been described fromthe Dumont sill in Canada (Duke 1986). Resolving how thepoikilitic chromite in Näränkävaara formed is outside the scopeof this paper, but its ubiquitous presence in the high-Fe zoneadcumulates in association with bimodal olivine suggests the

possibility that these adcumulates were at least partly formed ina high flow-through environment.

Whether the adcumulates of the basal dunite were formed in ahigh-volume system or not, the composition of the in-situ formedolivine should reflect the composition and differentiation of themelt from which it formed. Generally, whole-rock Mg# and Ni(as well as olivine and chromite Ni) decrease from SW to NEtowards the layered series contact (Fig. 7), suggesting differenti-ation by olivine fractionation from Fo90–91 down to Fo87–86.There are, however, at least two distinct breaks or reversals indi-cated by Mg#. The first break is marked by the lowermostorthopyroxenite unit that separates the low-Fe and high-Fe zones(unit #5 in Fig. 7a), and the second by a relatively low-Mg#adcumulate in the high-Fe zone (unit #7 in Fig. 7a). At leastthe latter is likely related to an influx of more primitive magma.

Difference in average compositions between the low-Fe andhigh-Fe zones is quite large in regard toMgO, FeOt, and Ni (Fig.6a and e). The olivine Fo-content at the beginning oforthopyroxene crystallization also differs between the two zones.Orthopyroxene first appears on the liquidus in the low-Fe zone atFo89 (orthopyroxenite unit #5 in Fig. 7a), and a second time inthe high-Fe zone at Fo87.5 (heteradcumulate unit #9). This indi-cates slightly different liquid lines of descent, and suggests amore significant change in parental magma composition betweenthe low-Fe and high-Fe zones (fractionation in staging cham-ber?). The low-Fe zonemay represent a single magmatic system,beginning with formation of the border zone orthocumulates(units #1–2), followed by possible open system flow andformation of adcumulates (units #3–4), and ending inclosed system pooling, fractionation, and formation ofthe lowermost orthopyroxenite (unit #5).

Similar olivine orthopyroxene heteradcumulates as in unit #9(Fig. 2c) are found in a similar position (preceding the layeredseries contact) in the NW block of the intrusion, 25 km to theNW (Järvinen et al. 2020). In the NW block, theheteradcumulates are in contact with, or grade into, the basalharzburgite of the Näränkävaara layered series. These NW con-tact zone heteradcumulates and layered series basal harzburgitecompositions are plotted as grey crosses in variation diagrams inFigs. 4, 5 and 6. These compositions closely match those of units#9 and #10 in the SE block. At least for the high-Fe zone, thissuggests the basal dunite and layered series magmas were fol-lowing identical liquid lines of descent, having been locked-in tothe same olivine-orthopyroxene-(chromite?) peritectic at an oliv-ine composition of approximately Fo87.5.

Archean or Proterozoic origin?

The parental magma composition and liquid line of descent ofthe Näränkävaara basal dunite seem to be strikingly similar tothat of the neighboring 2.44 Ga mafic-ultramafic layered se-ries. However, the basal dunite exhibits many features typicalof Archean komatiitic cumulates, except with distinctly lower-


Fo olivine as noted above. As the Näränkävaara intrusion islocated between the Takanen and Suomussalmi greenstonebelts (Fig. 2a), both containing Archean komatiites (Iljina2003; Lehtonen et al. 2017), the hypothesis that the dunitebody could represent an older komatiitic wall-rock for thelayered series must also be considered.

The nearby Suomussalmi and Takanen komatiites are rela-tively thin olivine±clinopyroxene cumulates and flows with av-erage Al2O3/TiO2 ratios of 17–19. Chondrite-normalized REE-patters are flat or LREE-depleted (Papunen et al. 2009; V.Järvinen unpublished data), except for the Vaara locality whichshows roughly similar LREE-enriched patterns as theNäränkävaara basal dunite (Konnunaho et al. 2013). Vaara isthe only nearby komatiite body with similar high-Mg and low-Cr olivine adcumulates as found in Näränkävaara (see Fig. 4),but it is significantly smaller in volume. The uniformity of theinner structure of the Näränäkävaara basal dunite along a strikelength of 30 km would only be expected in proximal conduit orlarge scale channel facies komatiite flows (Gole and Barnes2020). The 2.79 Ga Kellojärvi ultramafic cumulate complex,located about 100 km south of Näränkävaara in the Kuhmogreenstone belt of the Suomussalmi-Kuhmo-Tipasjärvi green-stone complex, is the closest comparison of komatiitic origin tothe basal dunite (Papunen et al. 2009; Lehtonen et al. 2016). TheKellojärvi complex is 3–5 km thick and primarily composed ofmetamorphosed olivine ortho-, meso-, and adcumulates withsimilar petrography as in Näränkävaara, with the exception ofclinopyroxene being the primary pyroxene instead oforthopyroxene. The general lithology of the Kellojärvi complexis also similar, with a < 50 m thick border zone composed ofolivine orthocumulate and minor pyroxenites (with basementxenoliths), grading into dunite towards the center of the body(Tulenheimo 1999; Papunen et al. 2009). Highest measured ig-neous olivine Fo contents (Fo82–89) (Tulenheimo 1999) andwhole-rock geochemistry are quite similar to Näränkävaara(Fig. 6). Kellojärvi parental magma composition has been in-ferred from whole-rock compositions to have 23 wt% MgO(Makkonen et al. 2017), and the highest Fo content inferred fromwhole-rock Mg#‘s is about Fo92, which are both somewhathigher compared to the estimates from Näränkävaara presentedhere. These differences, aswell as the differences in trace elementratios (Figs. 8 and 9), could be explained by Näränkävaara hav-ing formed from a more strongly differentiated and crustallycontaminated komatiitic magma.

One observation against a komatiitic origin is that com-pared to typical komatiitic olivine (Arndt et al. 2008) the ol-ivines from the Näränkävaara basal dunite have distinctly low-er Cr2O3 (

with a uniform origin. Näränkävaara may have acted as amagmatic feeder channel related to the Koillismaa layeredintrusion complex and the “Hidden dyke” (Fig. 1) as sug-gested by Alapieti (1982), and more generally as a magmaticcenter related to the Fennoscandian LIPs as suggested byKulikov et al. (2010). In terms of their composition, volcanicrocks found in the Saari-Kiekki greenstone belt in easternFinland (Luukkonen 1989) could be viewed as differentiatesof the Näränkävaara basal dunite and layered series parentalmagmas (Järvinen et al. 2020; this study). Although thesevolcanic rocks have not been precisely dated, they may rep-resent extrusive equivalents of the Finnish 2.44 Ga layeredintrusions. Nevertheless, extrusive rocks of this age grouphave not been definitively identified from Finland, so it ispossible that either (1) the magmatic systems never vented,(2) they have been eroded away, or (3) the lavas all flowedinto the Karelia-Kola rift now located in Russian Karelia.

Although we prefer the origin of the Näränkävaara basaldunite in relation to the layered series in the light of the pre-sented evidence and discussion, we emphasize that its petro-genesis is not settled in the absence of absolute age or otherisotopic data, which have proven difficult to acquire from theserpentinized ultramafic rocks.

Mineral potential for orthomagmatic Ni-(Cu-Co-PGE)deposits

The Näränkävaara basal dunite represents a large volume ofultramafic cumulates derived from a mantle plume source in anarea with large trans-crustal structures, and its mineral potentialfor Ni-(Cu-Co-PGE) is of great interest (Barnes et al. 2016a).Similar Cr-poor olivine cumulates as found in Näränkävaara(Fig. 4) have been found prospective for komatiite-hosted Ni-Cu-PGE deposits in Finland (Konnunaho 2016).

There is a distinct difference in average whole-rock Nicontents between the low-Fe zone (2200 ppm Ni) and thehigh-Fe zone (1780 ppm Ni) (Fig. 6e). This Ni-depletion isreflected in olivine compositions (Fig. 11; 3200 ppm versus2150 ppm Ni), chromite (1500 ppm versus 390 ppm Ni), andto a lesser extent also in pyroxenes. Because the Ni-depletionappears in samples with the sameMg# and forsterite contents,it cannot be related to simple fractionation of olivine, even ifthe trapped liquid shift to lower Fo contents is taken intoaccount (Fig. 10) (Barnes 1986). Rather, this suggests eithera more Ni-rich parental magma for the low-Fe zone comparedto the high-Fe zone, or that the Ni-depletion is caused bysulfide saturation and segregation at some stratigraphic level.

No significant amounts of magmatic sulfides have beenfound in the Näränkävaara area. Trace sulfides are commonlyfound in the NW border zone olivine ortho- andmesocumulates. A basaltic magma becomes sulfur-saturatedat approximately 1000 ppm S (Li and Ripley 2005).Assuming total incompatibility of sulfur in olivine, an olivine

cumulate with 10 vol% trapped intercumulus melt (and90 vol% olivine) would, at sulfur saturation, contain approx-imately 0.10 × 1000 = 100 ppm S. Of the border zone samples(units #1–2), 62 out of 69 are above the detection limit of100 ppm S, containing between 100 and 1200 ppm S (averageof 480 ppm). These samples contain about 75–95 vol% cu-mulus olivine, suggesting that the trapped intercumulus meltcontained in the samples may have been sulfur saturated at thetime of emplacement. However, Cu, Pd, and Pt do not corre-late with increasing S contents, suggesting that these sulfidesequilibrated with a small volume of magma and possiblyformed after emplacement.

Pt, and to a lesser extent Pd, behave similarly to otherincompatible elements with their concentrations increasingwith decreasing cumulus olivine (Fig. 12). Only 8 samples,all from the moderate-Ni orthocumulate (unit #2), are abovedetection limit for Cu and Pd, with Cu/Pd ratios between 8000and 40,000 (Fig. 12d). These are above primitive mantle ratioor about 8000 (McDonough and Sun 1995) which suggestssulfur saturation before emplacement. Ratios of Pd/TiO2 andPt/TiO2 in the basal dunite are generally below primitive man-tle ratio (Fig. 12c), also suggesting either previous sufide sat-uration or sulfide retention in the source. Few samples fromthe high-Ni border zone orthocumulates (unit #1) show ratiosabove primitive mantle, which together with the generallymore primitive nature of this unit suggests that it may haveformed from a less PGE-depleted magma compared to unit #2.However, as most assays are below or close to detection limitswith high relative errors, more precise analyses are required toassess the sulfide saturation history of the basal dunite in moredetail.

Conclusions

The Näränkävaara basal dunite is a 1.5–2 km thick series ofultramafic cumulates stratigraphically below the 2.44 GaNäränkävaara layered series. It contains a 200–300 m thick bor-der zone along the southern basement contact composed of oliv-ine meso- and orthocumulates, but is otherwise composed ofolivine adcumulates with lesser poikilitic olivine-orthopyroxeneheteradcumulates andminor orthopyroxenites. Textural and geo-chemical layering in the basal dunite remains similar for the30 km strike length of the body. Geochemically, the dunite iscomposed of a more primitive low-Fe zone along the basementcontact (average FeOt of 10.2 wt% and Ni of 2250 ppm withMg# 85.3–90.4), and a more evolved high-Fe zone in contactwith the layered series (average FeOt of 12.5 wt% and Ni of1700 ppm with Mg# 85.2–87.7). A distinct Ni-depletion in oliv-ine is found in the low-Fe zone to the high-Fe zone (3200 versus2200 ppm Ni). This depletion does not correlate with olivine Focontents, suggesting it is not related to olivine fractionation.


Hence the basal dunite may have potential for Ni-(Cu-Co-PGE)sulfide mineralization.

The basal dunite parental magma composition has beenmodeled based on olivine–melt mixing lines inferred fromthe border zone ortho- and mesocumulates. It is an LREE-enriched high-MgO (13–18 wt.%) basalt that exhibits highlysimilar major and trace element composition with the parentalmagma of the neighboring layered series.

The presence of abundant low-porosity adcumulates,sometimes with poikilitic chromite and bimodal olivine, to-gether with pyroxenitic interlayers and at least two composi-tional reversals, suggests formation in a dynamic magmaticsetting with high flow-through of picritic magma, interruptedby periods of pooling and differentiation. Differences in com-positions of the low-Fe and high-Fe zones imply a change inparental magma composition with time.

The presence of a marginal series between the basal duniteand the layered series indicates that the basal dunite is older

than the layered series. The basal dunite is suggested to haveformed in an early magmatic feeder channel related to thesame Fennoscandian plume-related magmatism that producedthe 2436 Ma Näränkävaara layered series and the other lay-ered intrusions of the terrane. However, an alternative originas an Archean komatiitic wall-rock cannot be ruled out.

Acknowledgements The Ni-Cu-Co-PGE projects of the GeologicalSurvey of Finland are thanked for providing the materials and analysesrequired for this study. All new whole-rock analyses have been made atEurofins LabtiumOy laboratories, Kuopio, Finland, and EPMAmeasure-ments were made at the Finnish Geosciences Research Laboratory,Espoo, Finland. Lassi Pakkanen is thanked for his diligent work on themineral analyses used in this study. Three anonymous reviewers andeditor Lutz Nasdala are thanked for their very helpful comments thatgreatly improved the manuscript. V.J. is indebted to the K.H. Renlundfoundation for providing a PhD grant. J.S.H. was supported by Academyof Finland Grant 295129.

Funding Open access funding provided byUniversity of Helsinki includ-ing Helsinki University Central Hospital.

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Layered seriesMarginal series (R1 173 m)


Basal dunite - Low-Fe ZoneUnit 5 - OrthopyroxeniteUnit 2 - Olivine ortho- and mesocumulate, moderate-NiUnit 1 - Olivine ortho- and mesocumulate, high-Ni

Unit 9 - Olivine-orthopyroxene heteradcumulateUnit 6 - Olivine adcumulate

Pt (p

pb)

TiO (wt%)2

Cu

/Pd

Pd (ppb)

Pt/T

iO2

MgO (wt%)

PM

PM

1 2 3 4 5 10

15 20 25 30 35 40 45 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5

1110

987654321

510

410

310

a b

Pt (ppb)1 2 3 4 5 10

Pt/T

iO2

210

10

d

210

10

PM

c

Fig. 12 a-d Whole-rock chalcophile element diagrams of

the basal dunite of the precambrian mafic-ultramafic … · 2021. 1. 14. · tnb have an average...

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