Browsing by Subject "carbonatite"

Siilinjärvi carbonatite in the eastern Finland is an Archaean intrusion. It is mined for the phosphorus bearing apatite used in fertilizers. Saarinen open pit is a satellite mine of the main Särkijärvi open pit. Siilinjärvi carbonatite is the lowest grade apatite ore in the world being excavated and the largest industrial mineral mine in Finland with approx. 11 Mt ore mined yearly making up almost 70 percent of the industrial minerals mined in Finland. The Siilinjärvi carbonatite is a north-south trending and nearly vertical intrusion within basement gneisses. The complex consists of a continuous rock series between end members of nearly pure glimmerite and carbonatite. During the intrusion, the glimmerite-dcarbonatite has metasomatically altered the adjacent country rocks resulting a fenite halo of varying thickness. The purpose of this M. Sc. thesis was to produce a geological map and study the petrography and geochemistry of the rock types of the complex in the Saarinen area. The bedrock surface of Saarinen open pit area was mapped in detail with a GNSS receiver and data was edited with LeapFrog, ArcMap and QGIS. 24 rock samples were collected and thin sections were prepared for petrographic analysis. ICP-MS analysis was made of 20 rock samples to obtain whole rock geochemical data. Sludge sampling was carried out which produced 299 samples from 51 drill holes down to maximum 24 metres from the surface. Sludge samples were analysed with ICP-OES. Geological mapping showed that the most carbonate rich rock types of the complex are located in the middle of the complex. The different rock types of the complex are oriented along the main direction of the formation. Fenite occurs on the edge of the complex and as xenoliths within the glimmerite-carbonatite series rocks. Petrography studies showed that nearly all of the samples shared the same mineral constitution, only the modal proportions of different minerals vary. The main minerals are phlogopite, calcite, richterite and apatite. Geochemical whole rock analysis indicated that the phosphorus content of the rocks studied is highest in the rock types containing 10-50% carbonates. The trace element and REE compositions of the samples differ from average carbonatite, especially Nb, La, Ce and Y contents are lower. The geochemical analysis of sludge samples showed that the rock types are not continuous across long depths.