The importance of the ophiolithic rocks in the formation of heavy mineral placers: A case study from Burdur-Çamköy, SW-Turkey

Abstract

Turkey, situated in the Alpine-Himalayan orogenic belt, is a country where ophiolithic rock assemblages cover a very large area. The ophiolithic nappes covering large areas in North Anatolia and the Taurus Mountains have emplaced on their present positions in the Late Cretaceous-Late Eocene period as a result of the obduction of oceanic crust slices of the Tethyan Ocean onto the continental crust. The Burdur-Yeşilova ophiolites commonly observed in SW-Anatolia consist mainly of dunite, peridodite, gabbro and diabase components, accompanied with layered chert and radiolarites. There are numerous massive and disseminated chromite ore deposits within the dunitic compounded peridodites. The sediments that may form the placer feature in Çamköy area have been formed by detrital sediments derived from the ophiolites in the Yeşilova region and transporting to southward by the rivers, resulting in deposits on the margin of the Acıpayam Graben. They contain heavy minerals such as chromite, vanadium magnetite and ilmenite dominantly. The aim of this study is to investigate in detail the heavy mineral content of Çamköy sediments, which has an important economical significance, to reveal the preliminary results of chromite and heavy mineral placers potential. For this aim, chemical and mineralogical (XRD) analyzes of the concentrate placer ore were carried out in addition to field observations. According to the studies carried out, it was determined that the placers in the region were predominantly composed of heavy mineral constituents consisting of chromite, vanadium, magnetite and ilmenite. According to the chemical analysis results, concentrated ore obtained from placers using shaking table, 22-27 % Cr2O3; 3-3.5% TiO2 and 0.3% V2O5. In addition to a considerable placer chromite reserve of 12 million tons in the region, the presence of significant titanomagnetite and ilmenite potential is also revealed in this study. According to these results, it is thought that if new enrichment methods are developed, the ore having the constituent which can be considered as economical can be recovered from the placers derived from ophiolites in the Çamköy region. © 2018, Hacettepe Universitesi Yerbilmleri. All rights reserved.