Murun
and other Aldan localities
Thanks
to the authors of the article mentioned below and to László
Horváth for his help with the list, as to Peter G.Seroka for
the Kogarko/Woolley book.
Murun is an alkaline massive of
180 km² (plus 2 small massifs of 6 and 8 km²) in eastern
Siberia/Yakutia (between Irkutsk and Chitinsk on the continental
divide between the rivers Chara and Tokko on the Olekminsk plateau),
which belongs to the upper mesozoic complex of the Aldansk plate.
About 200 mio years ago the first alkaline magmas rose, a period
which lasted for a about 100 mio years. The massif consists of rocks
like potassium basaltoides to alkaline granites and carbonatites. The
geology is rather complicated, as 7 different phases can be
distinguished, some of them even to be split up further:
- 1: alkaline shonkinites, dark
augitic syenites
- 2a: alkaline syenites of the
main phase
- 2b: nepheline syenites of the
main phase
- 3a: synnyrite, melanosynnyrite,
fergusite - ring intrusion
- 3b: kalsilite-syenites,
jakutites
- 4a: agpaitic alkaline syenites
- 4b: agpaitic nepheline syenite
and pegmatites
- 4c: veins and breccia of
ijolites and urtites
- 5a: lavas, tuffs, leucite
porphyres, trachytes, phonolites
- 5b: potassium basaltoides
5c: inclusion complex with
leucite porphyres, potassium-alkaline minettes
6: alkaline granosyenites,
granites, selvsbergites, grorudites
7: torgolites, carbonatites
and charoitites
The stocks of phase-1-rocks are
crisscrossed by the type-4-rocks, often accompanied by
magnesium-skarns and marbles. Phase-3a-rocks form a ring zone
together with phase 3b. Jakutites are a new rock type of kalsilite
and aegirine without any feldspar. Phase 4c is also to be found in
the ring zone, whereas phase 5a is restricted to the NW of the
massive as remnants of an ancient volcano. Phase-6-rocks are
restricted to the rim of the massiv, mainly the Kedrovy massive 6 km
SE. They contain a different mineralisation, Phase-7-rocks occur in
an area of 1x5 km in the southern part of the intrusion. It should be
mentioned, that Murun is the world´s only occurrence of
barium-strontium-carbonatites. Altogether there are more than 200
minerals described from here (which means that my list very
incomplete and urgently needs upgrading!)
Mineral list (bold=type
locality, italics=variety):
- Aegirine
- Aegirine-augite
- Agrellite
- Agrellite-Sr
- Albite
- Anatase
- Ancylite-(Ce)
- Banalsite
- Barite
- Barytocalcite
- Barytolamprophyllite
- Batisite-K
- Benstonite
- Brookite
- Brucite
- Calcite
- Canasite
- Chalcopyrite
- Chalcosite
- Charoite
- Clinohumite
- Copper
- Covellite
- Dalyite
- Davanite
- Denisovite
- Digenite
- Diopside (var. Fassaite)
- Djerfisherite
- Ekanite (probably
wrong - steacyite)
- Elpidite
- Epididymite
- Eudialyte
- Fedorite
- „Feldspar-group“
- Ferroclinoholmquistite
- Fluorite
- Frankamenite
- Froodite
- Galena
- Geikielite
- Gold
- Idaite
- Ilmenite
- Kalsilite
- Labuntsovite
- Labuntsovite-K
- Lamprophyllite
- Leucite
- Leucosphenite
- Loparite-(Ce)
- Lorenzenite
- Magnesioarfvedsonite
- Microcline
- Miserite
- Monticellite
- Mosandrite
- Murunskite
- Muscovite
- Narsarsukite
- Nepheline
- Odintsovite
- Olekminskite
- Paralsonite
- Pectolite
- Periclase
- Perlialite
- Phlogopite
- Quartz
- Richterite-Mg-Sr-K
- Rosenbuschite
- Rutile
- Serandite
- Silver
- Sobolevskite
- Sperrylite
- Sphalerite
- Spinel
- Steacyite
- Strontianite
- Taeniolite
- Tausonite
- Thalcusite
- Thorosteenstrupine
- Tinaksite
- Titanite
- Tokkoite
- Vishnevite
- Wadeite
- Witherite-Sr
- Wollastonite
Xonotlit
Yuksporite
Zircon
&Suggested
reading:
Kogarko,L.N., V.A.Kononova,
M.P.Orlova, A.R.Woolley: Alkaline Rocks and Carbonatites of the
World. Part 2: Former USSR. Chapman and Hall, London, 1995.
Konev,A.A., E.I.Vorobjov,
A.Bulach: Charoite - der Schmuckstein aus Sibirien und seine seltenen
Begleitminerale. LAPIS 4(93), pp.13-20 (in German)
_______________________________________________
In the area of Aldan there are
many other alkaline localities - some you will still find on the
Aldan
page, meaning that I don´t know enough about
them. But here is:
Inagli
- Ingalia is an alkaline complex
30 km NW of the town of Aldan in Siberia/Yakutia - for siberian
distances close to Murun (200 W of Aldan). It is a ring complex of
30km² and consists of 5 structures: a central zone of dunites
with layers of wehrlites, a surrounding zone of phlogopitized
dunites and wehrlites (metamorphosed), an inner ring zone of
pyroxenite/missourite/shonkinite, an outer ring zone of
shonkinite/pulaskite/syenite, and ring zones of metasomatic rocks
and pegmatites. The age of the complex is ahbout 110-130 Ma.
- Sorry, but the mineral list
seems to be incomplete.
- Mineral list (bold=type
locality):
- Aegirine
- Albite
- Arfvedsonite
- Batisite
- Cr-Diopside
(mining for jewellry)
- Erlichmanite
- Eudialyte
- Fluorapatite
- Inaglyite
- Innelite
- Isoferriplatinum
- Lamprophyllite
- Leucosphenite
- Lorenzenite
- Magnesioarfvedsonite
- Nepheline
- Olivine
- Orthoclase
- Phlogopite
- Strontiumapatite
- Uranothorite
- Vermiculite
- Vinogradovite
- &Suggested
reading:
- Kogarko,L.N., V.A.Kononova,
M.P.Orlova, A.R.Woolley: Alkaline Rocks and Carbonatites of the
World. Part 2: Former USSR. Chapman and Hall, London, 1995.
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