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carbonate (calcite, CaCO3) and minerals of the carbonate class. Calcium carbonate
is typically burned out of igneous materials by intense heat; the preponderance of
calcite found in carbonatite therefore makes it a very unusual type of igneous
formation. Carbonatite deposits may form as plugs, dikes, sills, or veins when
carbonatite magma intrudes into host rock formations. Carbonatites are only
observed to occur in continental plates and do not occur in oceanic plates or at
plate boundaries.
Carbonatite magma differs greatly from the more prevalent silicate magma, and
the two different types of magma are immiscible. Carbonatite rarely contains more
than 10% silica by mass and may contain much less. Such magmas possess a
very low viscosity because the lack of silica prevents extensive silicate
polymerization. It has been shown experimentally that at a temperature of around
600 Celsius a magma possessing a high carbon dioxide ( CO2) content will divide
into separate, immiscible silicate and carbonatite magmas.
One possible method of carbonatite formation is that a parent magma
originating in the mantle underneath a continental crust rises until it reaches the
boundary between crust and mantle. The magma may then be of a higher density
than the crustal plate and may be detained. Ferromagnesic silicates may crystallize
out at these high temperatures although non ferromagnesic silicates remain liquid.
Portions of the crustal plate, which contains plentiful carbonates, may also melt
and be incorporated into the magma. When the ferromagnesic silicates are
removed from the magma its density decreases due to the newly lessened relative
concentration of iron and magnesium. The magma may then rise into the crust until
it reaches zones of lower temperature (around 600 Celsius) where it may separate
into silicate and carbonatite magmas.
Carbonatites contain atypically high concentrations of rare earth elements such
as titanium (Ti), vanadium (V), manganese (Mn), iron (Fe), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn),
yttrium (Y), zirconium (Zr), niobium (Nb), molybdenum (Mo), barium (Ba), lanthanum
(La), cesium (Ce), samarium (Sm), europium (Eu), lead (Pb), thorium (Th), and
uranium (U). The elements sulfur (S), phosphorous (P), and fluorine (F) are also
frequently present. High concentrations of magnetic materials may result in
observations of unusual magnetic phenomena; atypically high concentrations of
radioactive elements may produce unusual levels of radioactivity in the vicinity of a
carbonatite.
Calcite (CaCO3), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2), and ankerite (CaFe(CO3)2) are the most
common minerals found in carbonatites. The carbonates strontianite ( SrCO3), and
magnesite (MgCO3); the sulfides pyrite (FeS2), molybdenite (MoS2), galena (PbS),
chalcopyrite (CuFeS2), and sphalerite (ZnS); the oxides ilmenite (FeTiO3), hematite
(Fe2O3), rutile (TiO2), and zircon (ZrSiO4); the sulfate barite (BaSO4); the phosphates
monazite ((Ce,La)PO4), and fluorapatite (Ca5F(PO4)3); and the halide fluorite (CaF2) are
other species which are often present.
Genesis
direct generation by very low degree partial melts in the mantle and melt
differentiation
Evidence for each process exists, but the key is that these are unusual
phenomena. Historically, carbonatites were thought to form by melting of limestone
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