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    Park 1961

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    Harold G. Velasquez Sanchez
    This document describes magnetite and hematite deposits found in northern Chile that resemble volcanic lava flows. The deposits contain large gas bubbles and escape tubes, suggesting they solidified from a magma composed mostly of iron oxides and gas. The magnetite-hematite bodies have ropy and bubbly surfaces resembling lava flows. They appear to have been intruded as shallow magmatic injections that broke the surface in places and flowed over the land. The unique nature and origin of these deposits warrants further detailed study and potential exploration below the surface.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Park 1961

    Uploaded by

    Harold G. Velasquez Sanchez
    26 views6 pages
    This document describes magnetite and hematite deposits found in northern Chile that resemble volcanic lava flows. The deposits contain large gas bubbles and escape tubes, suggesting they solidified from a magma composed mostly of iron oxides and gas. The magnetite-hematite bodies have ropy and bubbly surfaces resembling lava flows. They appear to have been intruded as shallow magmatic injections that broke the surface in places and flowed over the land. The unique nature and origin of these deposits warrants further detailed study and potential exploration below the surface.

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    Park-1961

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    This document describes magnetite and hematite deposits found in northern Chile that resemble volcanic lava flows. The deposits contain large gas bubbles and escape tubes, suggesting they solidified from a magma composed mostly of iron oxides and gas. The magnetite-hematite bodies have ropy and bubbly surfaces resembling lava flows. They appear to have been intruded as shallow magmatic injections that broke the surface in places and flowed over the land. The unique nature and origin of these deposits warrants further detailed study and potential exploration below the surface.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    26 views6 pages

    Park 1961

    Uploaded by

    Harold G. Velasquez Sanchez
    This document describes magnetite and hematite deposits found in northern Chile that resemble volcanic lava flows. The deposits contain large gas bubbles and escape tubes, suggesting they solidified from a magma composed mostly of iron oxides and gas. The magnetite-hematite bodies have ropy and bubbly surfaces resembling lava flows. They appear to have been intruded as shallow magmatic injections that broke the surface in places and flowed over the land. The unique nature and origin of these deposits warrants further detailed study and potential exploration below the surface.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    of 6

    EconomicGeology

    VoL 56, 1961, pp. 431-441

    SCIENTIFIC

    COMMUNICATIONS

    A MAGNETITE

    "FLOW"
    CHARLES

    IN

    NORTHERN
    JR.

    CHILE

    F. PARK,

    This short note is written as the result of a recenttrip into the Laco area of the highlands of northernChileto examinereportediron ore deposits. The
    area lies at an altitude of about 15,000 feet, and is about 180 miles from the

    coastat Antofagasta(Fig. 1). The Laco area has been visited by several geologists since the iron ore was first reportedin 1958. A smallamountof trenching and tunneling has beendone,but almostnothingis available concerning the natureof the deposits below the surface. Becauseof their unusual physical characteristics, the deposits have exciteda great deal of comment and discussion. The 6res

    ICOPILLA !

    FIG.

    1.

    Index map of the Province of Antofagasta,showingthe locationof Laco.

    are principallymagnetite and hematite,the only impuritiesare tiny needles of apatiteand a few smallblebs and patches of silica. Four areasof outcrop
    of the ox. ides are known within an airline distanceof about three kilometers.

    These outcrops are on the side of a range of mountains that contains several activevolcanoes, and that appearsto be made up entirely of volcanicmaterials. Many of the rocksare of recentage, and probablymost are no older than Tertiary. The mostcommon materialnear the magnetite-hematite seems to be a light coloredtuff, probablynear dacite in composition, though no microscopic studyof it has beenmade. The deposits of magnetiteresemble basaltflows,and if they were composed of basaltinstead, of magnetite, their
    431

    Fit:. 2.

    Stirface of magnetite-henmtite body, Laco Norte.

    :
    .. ..

    - *'it ..1.;'-.

    :. . :' ...:
    .. :.a ..... ; :
    4.
    .:

    ....
    :
    .

    ff .ff ',,.: .

    '

    :."..

    ' ..: ff
    ' 'L
    .

    :.

    -.

    -.

    .....:

    .'..; '

    !,

    o
    Fit;. 3.

    surfaceon fragment of magnetite. From surfaceat Laco Sur.


    432

    -.

    , ...... : .,:.. ...........

    ......................................

    FIG. 4. Blister of magnetite-hematite from the surface at Laco Norte. FIG. 5. A magnetite-hematite bubble, from the surface at Laco Sur.

    , !

    O
    Fit;. 6.

    Interior of the same 1)ubbleas shown in Fig. 5.


    433

    434

    SCIENTIFIC

    C03IM [ 'NI C.qTIONS

    origin as flowswouldprobablygo tinquestioned.They showso manycharacteristics of shallov intrusions and flows that they are consideredto have solidified from a magmacomposed ahnostentirelyof iron oxidesand abundant gas. This "ore magma"appears to have intrudedthe tuff at shallowdepths, and in placesto have brokenout and flowed, over the stirface. The surfacesof the magnetite-henmtite bodies resemble in places the surfaces of aa flows of basalt (Fig. 2). lint elsewhere ropy surfaces are more

    of the pahoehoe type (Fig. 3). The uppersurfaces showmanylargebubbles or blistersof magnetite-hematite (Figs. 4, 5, 6). and manv interesting hollov

    7.

    Vertical section in the Laco Sur magnetite-hematitedeposit. showing gas

    tubes. The uppersurfaceof the depositis about 1 m abovethe hamn]er.

    tubes thatareinterl)reted t() 1)e gasescape tul)es. In places these tul)es extend
    for at leastseveral metersdowninto the magnetite-hematite.Figure 7 shows

    thegastubes in a vertical section of the magnetite-hematite rockat I,aco Stir.


    In detail the tul)es are lined with well-formedmagnetitecrystals,generally

    lessthan 1 Clll in h)ngest (iimensi()n, thoughexcel)tional crystals5 cm or morein lengthare fOUlS(1. The Imlk of the lnagnetite aroundthe tul)esis

    fine-grained. and lroken sections of the rock showalmond-sbal)ed vesicles (Fig. 8). Partsof the wailsof the tubes are extrelnely porous and spongy, with uI) to nearlyfifty percent of wilds(Fig. 9).

    SCIENTIFIC

    COMMI/NICATIOAr.''

    435

    The contacts 1)etween the magnetite-hematite and the tuff are poorly exposedand they yielded no information of interest. The processof replacement, if active at all, is extremely minor, and diligent searchrevealedonly a few small patches where rel)lacement was even suggested. I.ikewise, no evidencewas found that would point to an exhalative origin.

    . .

    .'-

    ..

    . .

    ...

    .y,.

    .%.

    F]. 8. Photogral)hof a broken gas tuhe i1 magnetite. showilig the crystalline character of the lining and the finer-grained magnetite in the walls. Note the vesiclesin the lower right hand corner of the specimen.

    A moreprecise statement of the natureand originof the l.aco deposits


    must await detailedstudies and possibly explorationat depth. So far as is known. no flow of magnetite-hematite has ever beendescribed. thoughmagmatic injection del)ositsof magnetiteare widely recognized. and some are thought to havebeenintruded at comparatively shallow or at moderate depths (1). A flcw of magnetite-hematite wouldappear to be a possilfility, prcvi,,led

    436

    SCIEN 7'!FIC COMM UXIt T!ONS

    Fn;. 9. Photograph of a thin section along the border of a gas tube. Note the large areomit of voids in the maguetite. Larger crystals on the edge of the tube suggestrecrystallizationof magnetiteby gases.

    its temperature was approxiniately1.500 C or niore (2). The large aniounts of gas indicatedby texturesand structnres may well have loweredthe melting temperature appreciably. The accompanying laboratorypliotogral>hs were taken liy Ruperto Laniz. and his patienceand excellentskill are deeply appreciated.
    REFERENCES

    1. Daly,

    R. A., 1933, Igneous rocks and the depths of the Earth:

    McGraw-Hill

    Company,

    p. 561.

    2. Kracek. F. C.. 1942, Handbook of physical constants: Geol. Soc. America, Special Paper No. 36, p. 143.

    STANFORD UNIVERSITY, CALIFORNIA,

    Dec. 14, 1960

    RAI)IO,4CT! BLACK"

    VI'/'Y IN MON..tZI TE, ZIRCON, ,.iN!) "R,41)!0.4 CTI lie GRAIN6 IN BL,4UK6AND6 OF RO6ETT,4. EGYPT
    AMIN R. GINDY

    Becauseof the contrastingprovenances drained by the upper reachesof the Nile, more than 50 different heavy minerals are known to occur in the Egyptian Nile deposits(7). Small scaleconcentrations of theseheavy minerals form on the present beachesof the Nile ddta of which the most
    in11iortantoccur near the Rosetta mouth of the Nile. The mechanism of

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