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The Bir Tuluha ophiolite is one of the most famous chromitite-bearing occurrences in the Arabian Shield of Saudi Arabia, where chromitite bodies are widely distributed as lensoidal pods of variable sizes surrounded by dunite envelopes, and are both enclosed within the harzburgite host. The bulk-rock geochemistry of harzburgites and dunites is predominately characterized by extreme depletion in compatible trace elements that are not fluid mobile (e.g., Sr, Nb, Ta, Hf, Zr and heavy REE), but variable enrichment in the fluid-mobile elements (Rb and Ba). Harzburgites and dunites are also enriched in elements that have strong affinity for Mg and Cr such as Ni, Co and V. Chromian spinels in all the studied chromitite pods are of high-Cr variety; Cr-ratio (Cr/(Cr + Al) atomic ratio) show restricted range between 0.73 and 0.81. Chromian spinels of the dunite envelopes also show high Cr-ratio, but slightly lower than those in the chromitite pods (0.73–0.78). Chromian spinels in the harzburgite host show fairly lower Cr-ratio (0.49–0.57) than those in dunites and chromitites. Platinum-group elements (PGE) in chromitite pods generally exhibit steep negative slopes of typical ophiolitic chromitite PGE patterns; showing enrichment in IPGE (Os, Ir and Ru), over PPGE (Rh, Pt and Pd). The Bir Tuluha ophiolite is a unimodal type in terms of the presence of Ru-rich laurite, as the sole primary platinum-group minerals (PGM) in chromitite pods. These petrological features indicates that the Bir Tuluha ophiolite was initially generated from a mid-ocean ridge environment that produced the moderately refractory harzburgite, thereafter covered by a widespread homogeneous boninitic melt above supra-subduction zone setting, that produced the high-Cr chromitites and associated dunite envelopes. The Bir Tuluha ophiolite belt is mostly similar to the mantle section of the Proterozoic and Phanerozoic ophiolites, but it is a “unimodal” type in terms of high-Cr chromitites and PGE-PGM distribution.

Reaction products between hydrothermal fluids and uppermost mantle harzburgite-lowermost crustal gabbro have been reported along Wadi Fizh, northern Oman ophiolite. They are named mantle diopsidite (MD) or crustal diopsidite (CD) depending on the stratigraphic level. They construct network-like dikes crosscutting structures of the surrounding harzburgite or gabbro. The MD is mainly composed of diopsidic clinopyroxene, whereas the CD is of diopsidic clinopyroxene and anorthitic plagioclase. Here, we report a new reaction product, crustal anorthosite (CA), from the lowermost crustal section. The CA is always placed in the center of the CD network, and mainly consists of anorthitic plagioclase with minor titanite and chromian minerals such as chromite and uvarovite. Aqueous fluid inclusions forming negative crystals are evenly distributed in minerals of the CA. The fluid inclusions contain angular-shaped or rounded daughter minerals as calcite or calcite-anhydrite composite, which were identified by Raman spectroscopic analysis. We estimated their captured temperature at 530 °C at least by conducting microthermometric analysis of the fluid inclusions. Furthermore, we examined their chemical characteristics by direct laser-shot sampling conducted by laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometer (LA-ICP-MS). The results indicate that the trapped aqueous fluids contain an appreciable amount of Na, but no K and Cr. Hydrothermal fluids involved in the CA formation transported Cr, which was probably taken up from chromite seams in the uppermost mantle section. Cr got soluble by forming complexes with anions as SO 4 2– , CO 3 2– and Cl – . In addition, these hydrothermal fluids transported Fe, Mg and trace elements (Ti, Sr, Y, Zr and rare-earth elements) governing whole-rock chemical compositions of the MDs, CDs and CAs. Our estimation for the condition of CA formation yielded rather low temperatures (530–600 °C), which indicates a later stage production of the CA than the MD and CD (~ 800 °C). A series of high-temperature hydrothermal events had been significantly contributed to the chemical flux occurring around the Moho , boundary between the mantle and crustal sections.

The role of water-rich solutions in the formation of chromitites has been the matter of controversy. We found small chromite concentrations (chromitites) in diopsidites, precipitated from high-temperature hydrothermal fluids, in the mantle to the crust of the Oman ophiolite. Here, we present petrologic characteristics of the hydrothermal chromitites to understand their genesis. In the chromitites, the chromite is associated with uvarovite in the crust and diopside + grossular in the mantle. They are discriminated from the magmatic podiform chromitite by dominance of the Ca-Al silicates in the matrix. The fluids responsible for chromite precipitation are possibly saline, being derived from the seawater circulated into the mantle through the crust. The saline fluids precipitate chromite to form chromite upon decompression and cooling, and transport platinum-group elements (especially Pt and Pd). The fluids obtain Ca and Al from the crustal rocks and Cr from the mantle rocks during circulation. Saline fluids are also supplied from the slab to the mantle wedge, and can metasomatically precipitate chromite and pyroxenes within peridotites. They re-distribute Cr and chromite in peridotites along with circulation of saline fluids in the mantle wedge.

Diopsidite, mainly composed of diopsidic clinopyroxene (diopside for simplicity), was precipitated from a high-temperature hydrothermal solution, rich in silicate components mainly in the mantle peridotite. We present here a new type of diopsidite in the uppermost mantle section, which contains Cr-rich minerals such as chromite, Cr-rich diopside (

Chromite is a typical refractory igneous mineral, precipitated from mafic magmas at relatively high temperatures. Chromites commonly occur in sedimentary, metamorphic, and metasomatic rocks, where they are interpreted as relics of an igneous phase and serve as the source of Cr for low-temperature Cr-bearing minerals. We present evidence for the nucleation of chromite within hydrothermal solutions. We have found minute euhedal chromite grains enclosed by uvarovite (Ca-Cr garnet) in a diopsidite, metasomatically replacing the layered gabbro of the Oman ophiolite. The uvarovite shows oscillatory concentric zoning in terms of Cr no. [Cr/(Cr+Al)], and the chromite is embedded only in the high-Cr-no. zones of the uvarovite. Another diopsidite, replacing peridotite in the underlying upper mantle section, contains xenocrystic chromite, which is partly dissolved. This suggests that a hydrothermal solution collected Cr by partial to total dissolution of chromite within the upper mantle and precipitated chromite, along with high-Cr-no. uvarovite, within the lower crust upsection. The metasomatic agent involved was a CO2-, SO2-, and Cl-bearing hydrothermal solution containing appreciable silicate components that could carry Cr, possibly as a complex. The hydrothermal chromite is similar in chemistry to that commonly found in igneous rocks [e.g., Cr no. = 0.8, Mg/(Mg+Fe2+) = 0.1–0.2, TiO2 < 0.3 wt% and Fe3+/(Cr+Al+Fe3+), up to 0.3], but its Cr no. is clearly different from that of mantle chromite (0.6–0.7) in peridotites and chromitites from the Oman ophiolite. The results from this study suggest that a hydrothermal origin is possible for chromites in ultramafic rocks that have experienced fluid activity assuming that there is sufficient chromite at the fluid source.

Peculiar dunites, in part wehrlitic, that contain up to 3 vol.% sulfides from a thick (~ 1000 m) Moho transition zone (MTZ) are found along Wadi Thuqbah in the northern Oman ophiolite. We discuss their relevance to the formation of Cyprus-type massive sulfide deposits near the surface. Field observations suggest that the sulfide-rich MTZ dunites are of late-intrusive origin. The sulfides form composite grains with magnetite and form angular clasts, which are enclosed or cut by magnetite. The sulfide part is composed of homogeneous pyrrhotite and vermicular intergrowth of pyrrhotite and pentlandite. Sulfide inclusions in clinopyroxene comprise pyrrhotite with pentlandite blebs, free of magnetite. Olivines in the sulfide-rich dunite characteristically show low NiO contents (0.1–0.3 wt.%) relative to a high Fo value (~ 91), and as such they do not lie on a Fo–NiO trend of ordinary sulfide-free MTZ dunites–wehrlites. This low-Ni olivine was precipitated from a high-Mg magma that had segregated Ni-rich sulfide melts. The pentlandite–pyrrhotite intergrowth was formed by subsolidus exsolution at low temperatures (

Relationships of lithologies in uppermost mantle section of Oman ophiolite are highly complicated, harzburgites especially being closely associated with dunites, wehrlites, and gabbros. The petrology and geochemistry of the uppermost mantle section provide constrains on how MORB (mid-ocean ridge basalt) magmas migrate from the mantle to crust. We conducted detailed sampling at the uppermost mantle section of the northern Oman ophiolite (along Wadi Fizh), and it provides us with centimeter-scale lithological and mineral chemical heterogeneity. In particular, we found peculiar plagioclase-free harzburgites that have not been recorded from the current ocean floor, which contain high-Mg# [Mg/(Mg + Fe2+) atomic ratio] clinopyroxenes that are almost in equilibrium (saturated) with MORB in terms of REE concentrations. They are from the uppermost mantle section underlying the wehrlite-dunite layer (=Moho transition zone; MTZ) just beneath the layered gabbro. MORBs cannot be in equilibrium with harzburgites; however, we call the peculiar harzburgites as “MORB-saturated harzburgite” for simplicity in this paper. The MORB-saturated harzburgites exhibit slightly enriched mineralogy (e.g., spinels with higher Ti and ferric iron, and clinopyroxenes with higher Ti and Na) and contain slightly but clearly more abundant modal clinopyroxene (up to 3.5 vol.%) than ordinary Oman depleted harzburgites (less than 1 vol.% clinopyroxene), which are similar to abyssal harzburgites. Gabbro-clinopyroxenite bands, which were melt lenses beneath the ridge axis, are dominant around the MTZ. Detailed sampling around the gabbro-clinopyroxenite bands revealed that the MORB-saturated harzburgites appear around the bands. The interaction between a melt that was MORB-like and an ordinary harzburgite induced incongruent melting of orthopyroxenes in harzburgites, and the melt chromatographically intruded into the wall harzburgite and was modified to coexist with olivine and two pyroxenes at low melt/harzburgite ratios. The modified melt left clinopyroxene (not clinopyroxene + plagioclase as in plagioclase-impregnated abyssal harzburgite) to form the MORB-saturated harzburgites in the vicinity (harzburgite) of the fracture, which are left as gabbro-clinopyroxenite bands. This local modification mimics the whole lithological and chemical variation of the MTZ and makes chemical variation of MORB suite at fast-spreading ridge.

This paper details a new discovery of anorthite-bearing diopsidites (= anorthite diopsidites) from the lowermost crust along Wadi Fizh in the northern Oman ophiolite. The anorthite diopsidites occur as networks within layered gabbros 50 m above the gabbro/peridotite boundary, and are mainly composed of high-Mg diopsidic clinopyroxenes and anorthites with various amounts of uvarovite. They are intermediate in mineral chemical characteristics between the crustal gabbros and the diopsidites, and interpreted as an interaction product between high-temperature Ca-rich hydrothermal fluids and peridotites within the mantle section. The anorthite diopsidites were probably formed by interaction between the fluids involved in diopsidization within the mantle section and the layered gabbro. The fluids responsible for the formation of the anorthite diopsidite were also Ca-rich and carried Cr to form uvarovite from the underlying mantle section. High-temperature hydrothermal circulation plays an important role in the transportation of elements, e.g., Ca and Cr, from the upper mantle to the lower crust across the Moho in the ocean floor.

We examined vertical variations of the petrological characteristics of a 33-m-thick peridotite section under the layered gabbro section along Wadi Fizh of the northern Oman ophiolite to understand the formation mechanism of the Mohorovicic discontinuity (Moho) beneath a spreading center. Here, we refer to the base of the layered gabbro section as “L-Moho” for the sake of simplicity. Network-like gabbro sills in peridotites increase in frequency upward to the L-Moho. The L-Moho is underlain by a 1-m-thick wehrlite layer, under which exists a 10-m-thick dunite layer, overlying a harzburgite layer where total pyroxenes slightly increase downward. Wehrlite is also found as screens between gabbro layers above the L-Moho. The mineral chemistry indicates systematic variations toward the L-Moho within the peridotite section; the Fo content (91 to 85) and NiO (0.4 to 0.2 wt%) of olivine decrease; the TiO2 content of clinopyroxene (0.1 to 0.6 wt%) and spinel (nil to 1.4 wt%) and atomic ratios of Cr/(Cr + Al) (0.5 to 0.6) and Fe3+/(Cr + Al + Fe3+) (0.05 to >0.1) in spinel increase upsection from the base (harzburgite) to the around L-Moho wehrlite via dunite. These variations are essentially similar to those observed in harzburgite/MORB reaction products from Hess Deep, East Pacific Rise, and possibly indicate that the lithological and mineral chemical variations within the examined peridotite layer resulted from the reaction between a harzburgite and a melt that produced the layered gabbros.