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The Halifax County complex (HCC) is a meta-ultramafic/metamafic body that crops out along the easternmost exposed part of the Carolina superterrane in northeastern North Carolina. Petrographic and mineral chemistry studies were undertaken to place some constraints on the evolution of the HCC. Halifax County Complex amphiboles are zoned, with hornblende cores and actinolitic rims. Feldspar minerals span the whole plagioclase- and potassium-feldspar spectrum. Evolved olivines (Fo69–75) are primary, and pyroxenes plot in the enstatite, pigeonite, augite, and diopside fields. Low TiO2 (

The major platinum group element (PGE) occurrence in the Great Dyke of Zimbabwe, the main sulfide zone, is a tabular stratabound layer hosted in pyroxenites, and it is broadly similar in form throughout the length of the Great Dyke. We conducted a petrographic and sulfide composition study on a sulfide-enriched zone from the contact of the mafic sequence–ultramafic sequence through the main sulfide zone at Unki Mine in the Shurugwi Subchamber to its underlying footwall rocks to place some constraints on the origin of the rocks.Pyrrhotite, pentlandite, chalcopyrite, and pyrite are the base metal sulfides that were encountered during the study. Pyrrhotite, pentlandite, and chalcopyrite typically occurred as inclusions in both primary (orthopyroxene, plagioclase, and clinopyroxene) and secondary (amphibole and chlorite) silicate phases, whereas pyrite was observed in only three samples, where it occurred in association with pyrrhotite. The concentrations of PGEs in the base metal sulfides were nearly all at or below minimum detection limits. The intercumulus nature of some of these sulfides in the investigated sequence suggests that they were likely formed during the crystallization history of these rocks. The occurrence of pyrite, which we interpret to be an alteration phase, suggests that a late-stage event, likely formed during hydrothermal alteration, helped to concentrate the mineralization at Unki Mine. In some cases, however, these sulfides occur partially surrounding some chromite and silicate phases. Thus, some sulfides in the Unki Mine area were likely formed early in the crystallization history of the Great Dyke, whereas others were formed late during hydrothermal processes. Low concentrations of PGEs such as platinum (Pt), palladium (Pd), and rhodium (Rh) in base metal sulfides imply that the PGEs in the main sulfide zone and Unki Mine are hosted either in silicates and/or platinum group minerals. Very low Co contents in pentlandites in the rocks under investigation are interpreted to imply that very limited Fe substitution by Co, and also of Ni by Co, occurred. Broadly comparable trends, with minor variations of Fe in pyrrhotite, of Co and Ni in pentlandite, and of Cu in chalcopyrite, for example, likely reflect magmatic processes. The concentrations of these metals in base metal sulfides vary sympathetically, indicating that their original magmatic signatures were subsequently affected by hydrothermal fluids. The spiked pattern displayed by the variations in the percent modal proportions of the base metal sulfides across the entire investigated stratigraphic section is interpreted to reflect remobilization of the sulfides during hydrothermal alteration. Depletions in some elements, which occur near the base and at the top of the investigated succession, are likely a result of this hydrothermal alteration.

The main platinum-group element (PGE) occurrence in the Great Dyke of Zimbabwe, the Main Sulfide Zone (MSZ), is a tabular stratabound layer hosted in pyroxenites. A petrographic and silicate composition study across the MSZ at Unki Mine in the Shurugwi Subchamber was conducted to help place some constrains on the origin of the mineralization. The PGE-enriched zone at Unki Mine is a ~10 m thick package of rocks ranging from gabbronorites, a chromitite stringer, plagioclase websterite, plagioclase pyroxenite (pegmatitic in one narrow zone), a base metal sulfide zone and it is largely located below the contact of the Mafic and Ultramafic Sequences. Pyroxenes have been partially hydrothermally altered to amphibole and chlorite in most lithologies. In addition, sulfides tend to occur as cumulus phases or as inclusions in all the silicate phases. Two generations of sulfide mineralization likely occurred at Unki Mine with primary sulfides occurring in association with cumulus phases, and the relatively finer-grained, often lath-like, sulfides that occur in association with alteration phases of chlorite and amphibole that were likely formed later during hydrothermal alteration. Chlorite thermometry yields temperatures ranging from 241 to 390 °C, and from 491 to 640 °C, and they are interpreted to be temperatures recording the hydrothermal event(s) of magmatic origin which affected the mineralization at Unki Mine. Two-pyroxene thermometry yields temperatures that range from 850 to 981 °C, and these temperatures are interpreted to indicate a hydrothermal imprint on the minerals that constitute the MSZ.

Samples of the Soapstone Ridge Complex (SSR) in the Southern Appalachians examined for this study are composed of megacrystic orthopyroxenites, amphibole schists, and talc-chlorite-amphibole schists. The mineralogy of the SSR samples studied consists of varying proportions of amphibole, chlorite, talc, orthopyroxene, and Fe-Ti oxides. Amphibole is the domi- nant mineral in almost all SSR samples studied. The amphiboles display zoning, whereby cores that are composed of magne- siohornblende and edenite, consistent with amphibolite facies conditions, are rimmed by tremolite/actinolite, consistent with greenschist facies conditions. Oxygen isotope compositions of SSR amphiboles investigated show a wide range in 18O values, from a low value of 1.8‰ to a high value of 6.1‰. Such wide ranges in 18Oamphibole values occur in ophiolite complexes and oceanic crustal rocks. Relict orthopyroxene from the SSR has a 18O value of 3.4‰, a value lower than those from layered intrusions but comparable to some pyroxene 18O values from ophiolites. Equilibration temperatures calculated for actinolite- chlorite yield a temperature of 227 °C, consistent with greenschist facies conditions. It is proposed that the SSR amphibole cores were metamorphosed probably during terrane-terrane collision under amphibolite facies conditions, with the actinolite rims possibly being formed during thrusting of the SSR rocks onto the continental margin.