Browsing by Subject "basal contact"

The mafic-ultramafic Kevitsa intrusion, located within the Central Lapland Greenstone Belt in Northern Finland, hosts a disseminated Ni-Cu-PGE deposit. Drillhole KVX018 penetrates through the intrusion, intersecting its bottom contact at 1772 meters and is associated with relatively low resistivity at the bottom of the intrusion. The KVX018 drillhole is the deepest drilled into the intrusion so far and the observed low resistivity zone is unique for the study area. Previous studies have shown the bottom contact of the Kevitsa intrusion to be associated with seismic reflections and possible mineralization. This paper studies the characteristics of the bottom contact of the Kevitsa intrusion from the drill core KVX018 and interprets the origin of the low resistivity and its relationship with mineralogy. From geochemical and petrophysical characteristics, four layers with different characteristics were observed within the studied section: footwall, contact zone, lower cumulates and upper cumulates. The lower cumulates were found to be strongly contaminated by elements associated to hydrothermal fluids from country rocks. The contamination was observed for 125 meters upwards from the basal contact as elevated concentrations of e.g. lithium, lanthanum, rubidium and potassium, and footwall rocks close to the contact were found to be depleted in these elements. The contact zone was found to be strongly altered by silicification and albitization. Hydrothermal fluid activity at the bottom contact was also observed by epidote alteration of plagioclase feldspar. Contact zone mineralization was observed and it was found to be false ore type with Ni tenor of 2.28 %. Upwards from contact mineralization, the mineralization was found first to change into local low-grade Ni-PGE ore and then into normal ore on top part of the studied drill core section. Ultramafic intrusive rocks were observed to be pervasively altered by amphibole alteration locally into a degree where in many rocks, alteration had overprinted the primary mineralogy and textures to be undistinguishable. Alteration intensity was found to increase downwards within the lowermost part of the intrusion. Salt minerals were observed by eye on the surface of some samples and by X-Ray Diffraction in one sample. XRD studies indicated nitratine and sylvite minerals present in the studied sample. These salt minerals are presented commonly in evaporites and their presence indicates an evaporitic source. Resistivity of rocks is generally affected by e.g. sulfide content, salinity, porosity and alteration. Resistivity and chargeability were found to be correlative, indicating resistivity to correlate also with presence of sulfide minerals. However, after depth of 680 meters, resistivity decreases without a correlating trend in other petrophysical properties. This paper concludes that the observed low resistivity is resulted from a presence of salt and sulfide minerals as well as alteration intensity.