ALBERT

Notes: Abstract The SEM investigations on some chromite crystals show significant morphological differences between cumulate chromites (from stratiform complexes and from ophiolites) and chromites from podiform deposits (ophiolites). The later exhibit a rounded habit and abundant pits which are both the result of dissolution processes. Accordingly, the interpretation of the silicate inclusions within these chromites and the interpretration of the trace-elements distribution need great care. The nodules, a typical structure of the podiform chromites, are explained by a magmatic growth followed by a progressive recrystallization. The accessory chromites which define the mineral lineation in the tectonite peridotites from ophiolites have been deformed by processes of intracrystalline gliding, stretching and dissolution. In the harzburgites, the orthopyroxene has progressively exsolved at sub-solidus (symplektites) vermicular to massive chromite displaying euhedral forms. In the dunitic lenses, the idiomorphic chromites which are aligned parallel to the lineation may have also recrystallized in a solid state.

Notes: Abstract The Alous deposit (from 4 to 6 Mt at 0.8% Cu) is apparently a rare example of copper deposit in ignimbrite volcanos. The volcano from which it comes belongs to a post-orogenic volcanic formation of late Proterozoic age (Anti-Atlas, Morocco). The copper sulphides (chalcocite, bornite with accessory chalcopyrite and pyrite) and associated minerals (chlorites, sericite, albite, epidote, quartz) crystallized during the cooling of the ignimbrite and were included in pyromeride textures. The mineralization is distributed along radial faults and displays, outwards from the volcano center, a decrease of sulphides Cu/Fe ratio and chlorites Mg/Fe ratio. A model of small-scale hydrothermal circulations linked to the volcanic activity is proposed: copper was leached from the underlaying basic lavas then redeposited along radial faults during the ignimbrite cooling.

Notes: Abstract The chromite orbicules, a typical ore from chromite pods of ophiolites, are described. These are considered as magmatic concretions having suffered deformations at the end of the crystallization state, during the plastic deformation of olivine. Other ore textures display a pull-apart plane marked by lenticular olivine sheets. Later joint planes, with serpentine filling up, are developped. Our observations are in good agreement with the hypothesis of the generation of the chromite pods within magmatic pipes in the mantle peridotites.

Notes: Abstract The Amesmessa gold prospect is located along a vertical N-S-trending crustal-scale ductile shear zone; stretching lineations are subhorizontal. This major shear zone is a Late Pan African dextral strike-slip fault of the Pharusian Belt of the Tuareg Shield (Algeria). The Amesmessa shear zone is asymmetric: strong thermal and deformational gradients are present along its western border where biotitic ultramylonites are in contact with a rigid Archean complex (In Ouzzal block), whereas there is a progressive gradation, through mylonite then protomylonite, to the Proterozoic gneiss of the Eastern block which displays co-axial Pan African structures. The Amesmessa shear zone is characterized by the presence of a felsic dike complex emplaced during shearing, and forming the most important parent material for ultramylonites. Basic magmas and carbonatites also intruded within the shear zone. The gold-rich quartz veins are located within the ultramylonitic western part of the shear zone. These N-S-trending laminated quartz veins formed during the late increments of shearing (plastic/brittle transition), by repeated syntectonic hydraulic fracturing along zones of rheological contrast parallel to foliation. The ore mineral association (pyrite, galena, native gold, sphalerite) crystallized in the deformed quartz matrix along late shear planes. Undeformed E-W trending banded quartz veins are present in the mylonitic eastern part of the shear zone; their gold content is low and no native gold has been observed. A strong hydrothermal alteration resulted in the development (along the walls of the N-S gold-bearing quartz veins) of a 5-m-wide carbonate-sericite-albite-pyrite secondary mineral association which implies an important CO2 supply and moderate temperature conditions. There is no alteration halo around the E-W quartz veins. Ultramylonites, hydrothermally altered rocks and quartz veins display similar REE patterns characterized by strong LREE enrichments. Shear-related fluids could be likely parental fluids for the Amesmessa gold mineralization and the associated hydrothermal alteration. Hydrothermal fluids were drawn into dilation zones and filled opening fractures along the main planar discontinuity of the most deformed rocks. The supply of CO2 may come from a deep-seated source as suggested by the presence of carbonatite dikes in the shear zones and the existence of CO2-H2O-rich fluid inclusions in quartz. The location of the gold-bearing quartz veins in the western part of the shear zone can be explained by the presence of strong thermal and rheological gradients.