Procesos hidrotermales con enriquecimiento en REE en las carbonatitas de Fuerteventura: evidencias en minerales accesorios

Abstract

Carbonatitic dykes that crop out in the central western part of Fuerteventura Basal Complex (Ajuy, Punta de la Nao), were affected by the Miocene intrusive event responsible for contact metamorphism and partial melting of part of the alkaline-carbonatitic complex. Textural characteristics, monazite enriched in LREE (La, Ce, Nd) formation processes in microfractures that affect zircon crystals, show carbonatite interactions with hydrothermal fluids and partial REE remobilization. Pyrochlore is the main mineral carrier of rare earth elements (sum REE=216694 ppm), with high LREE (LaN=185816 and CeN=165209) with respect to HREE (YbN=2589 and LuN=1814) with a rather steep pattern (La/Yb)N=72 in REE diagram. The mineral paragenesis represented by the interstratified illite/smectite, chlorite and vermiculite allows to frame the hydrothermal event in zeolite facies (T° ≈ 100-200 °C).