A special issue (Part-II): Mafic-ultramafic rocks and alkaline-carbonatitic magmatism and associated hydrothermal mineralization-dedication to Lia Nikolaevna Kogarko

Abstract

This is the second part of a two-volumespecial issue of Open Geoscience (formerly Central European Journal of Geosciences) that aims to be instrumental in providing an update of Mafic-Ultramafic Rocks and Alkaline- Carbonatitic Magmatism and Associated Hydrothermal Mineralization. Together, these two volumes provide a detailed and comprehensive coverage of the subjects that are relevant to the research work of P.Comin-Chiaramonti (Italy) and LiaN. Kogarko (Russia) towhomPart-I and Part- II have been respectively dedicated. To a significant extent, the development of advanced sampling technologies related to alkaline and carbonatitic magmatism by Lia N. Kogarko, has allowed geoscientists to measure and sample the deep crust of the planet not only for the exploration for the mineral deposits, but also to answer basic scientific questions about the origin and evolution of alkaline rocks (kimberlites, lamproites and related rocks associated with carbonatites). The papers presented in this Part-II of the special issue cover the petrology and geochemistry of the rocks collected from the surface and penetrated by drilling. Lia Kogarko proposed a new theory for the evolution of alkaline magmatism in the geological history of the Earth - that the appearance of alkaline magmatism at the Archaean-Proterozoic boundary (∼2.5 - 2.7 Ga), and its growing intensity, was related to changes in the geodynamic regime of the Earth and oxidation of the mantle due to mantle-crust interaction.