• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.77-95
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• 2022

The Gonamsan gabbroic complex in the Pocheon area, northwestern region of South Korea consists of a variety types of gabbroic rocks and associated Fe-Ti oxide deposits caused by magmatic differentiation. Post-magmatic intrusions (i.e., gabbroic pegmatite and pyroxene-apatite-zircon rocks) partly intruded into the gabbroic rocks. The gabbroic pegmatite occurs in monzodiorite and oxide gabbro of the complex, intimately and spatially associated with high-grade lenticular Fe-Ti oxide mineralization. The pegmatite can be subdivided into plagioclase-amphibole and pyroxene-olivine pegmatite, in which the contact surface is sharp. The plagioclase-amphibole pegmatite comprises plagioclase and amphibole, with lesser amount of pyroxene, ilmenite, sphene, apatite, and biotite. The pegmatite shows plagioclase-amphibole intergranular texture, in which the open space formed by large plagioclase laths (An_2-26Ab_72-98Or_0-2) are infilled by amphibole. The pyroxene-olivine pegmatite is dark gray to black in color and also contains magnetite, ilmenite, spinel, apatite, and calcite as a minor component. The pyroxene (En_35-36Fs_8-9Wo₅₅) and olivine (Fo_84-85Fa_15-16) partly show a poikilitic texture defined by smaller euhedral olivine enclosed by coarser clinopyroxene. Fe-Ti oxide minerals consist mainly of magnetite and ilmenite that are found interstitially to earlier formed silicates. Subsequently, they are encompassed by reaction rim (almost of amphibole and biotite) along the boundary with surrounding silicate minerals. Under the microscope, magnetite contains a lot of oxyexsolved ilmenite (trellis type) and spinel, and thereby is weakly enriched in magnetite-compatible elements such as Ti, Al, Mg, and V. The structure and textures at the contact zone as well as mineralogical disequilibrium between gabbroic pegmatite and the host gabbroic rocks suggest that the pegmatite may form as a result of accumulation from Fe-rich melt (or liquid) that occurred somewhere rather than in situ form from the host gabbroic rock during the magmatic differentiation. Consequently, the preliminary study suggests that further study on the post-magmatic activities can not only help us improve our understanding on magmatic fractionation but also provide critical information on Fe-Ti oxide mineralization in gabbroic rocks resulting from the magmatic differentiation.