Liquid immiscibility between arsenide and sulfide melts: evidence from a LA-ICP-MS study in magmatic deposits at Serranía de Ronda (Spain)

Abstract

The chromite-Ni arsenide (Cr-Ni-As) and sulfide-graphite (S-G) deposits from the Serranía de Ronda (Málaga, South Spain) contain an arsenide assemblage (nickeline, maucherite and nickeliferous löllingite) that has been interpreted to represent an arsenide melt and a sulfide-graphite assemblage (pyrrhotite, pentlandite, chalcopyrite and graphite) that has been interpreted to represent a sulfide melt, both of which have been interpreted to have segregated as immiscible liquids from an arsenic-rich sulfide melt. We have determined the platinum-group element (PGE), Au, Ag, Se, Sb, Bi and Te contents of the arsenide and sulfide assemblages using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) to establish their partitioning behaviour during the immiscibility of an arsenide melt from a sulfide melt. Previous experimental work has shown that PGE partition more strongly into arsenide melts than into sulfide melts and our results fit with this observation. Arsenide minerals are enriched in all PGE, but especially in elements with the strongest affinity for the arsenide melt, including Ir, Rh and Pt. In contrast and also in agreement with previous studies, Se and Ag partition preferentially into the sulfide assemblage. The PGE-depleted nature of sulfides in the S-G deposits along with the discordant morphologies of the bodies suggest that these sulfides are not mantle sulfides, but that they represent the crystallization product of a PGE-depleted sulfide melt due to the sequestering of PGE by an arsenide melt.