Three Types of Apatite in Norilsk Sulfide Ores

Abstract

Apatite is a concentrator of F and Cl, which play a significant role in the formation of minerals of platinum-group elements of pneumatolitic origin. There are three apatite generations in Norilsk magmatic sulfide ores. Apatite I occurs in sulfide bodies and rims of fluid alteration above sulfide droplets in disseminated ores. Its composition evolved from hydroxyl-chlorapatite to chlorapatite. Apatite I associates with Tiрbiotite, titanomagnetite, ilmenite with baddeleyite lamellae, anhydrite, Ti-poor kaersutite, Cl-bearing hastingsite and edenite, djerfisherite, bartonite, and minerals of the Pt and Au groups. Apatite I contains up to 2.3 wt % lanthanides, primarily Ce, La, and Nd. Apatite I is overgrown and replaced by apatite II, the composition of which evolved from hydroxyl-chlor-fluorapatite to fluorapatite. Apatite II often occurs also as individual crystals in massive sulfides and contains up to 0.9 wt % lanthanides. The pneumatolitic chlorapatite and fluorapatite contain ~0.5 wt % SiO₂. The composition of apatite indicates discrete evolution of fluids released during the crystallization of Norilsk sulfide melts: from water–chloride to chloride at the first state, and from water–chlorite–fluoride to essentially fluoride at the second stage. The lanthanides released during the replacement of chlorapatite I by fluorapatite II were probably incorporated in pneumatolitic zoned orthite-(Ce). In the areas affected by prehnite–pumpellyite metamorphism, apatite I and apatite II within metamorphosed sulfide ores are partly or completely replaced by apatite III, which varies in composition from hydroxyl-chlorapatite to hydroxylapatite poor in fluorine and lanthanides. The lanthanides released during the replacement of apatite I and II by metamorphic hydroxylapatite III were probably incorporated in metamorphic unzoned orthite-(Ce).