Mineralogical studies of amphibolite outcrops within the Kryvyi Rih Basin

Abstract

This study explores the mineralogical composition of the material of samples extracted from the outcrops of amphibolites located within the Kryvyi Rih Basin. Amphibolites of the Novokryvorizka suite of the Kryvorizka series are located in the area of Rodina mine of the Kryvyi Rih Iron Ore Enterprise (KRIOE) on the right bank of the Saksahan river, where the amphibolites crop out as an interrupted line. Over the recent years, industrial and geological tourism has been actively developing not only within Kryvyi Rih, but also in Ukraine in general. The Kryvyi Rih Basin has many objects which deserve the status of unique geological observation sites. One such site has amphibolites of the Novokryvorizka series, which rarely outcrop to the surface. Such an object is interesting and useful not only for interested tourists, but especially for geology students as an example of rocks that have been formed out of effusive eruption products during the geological process such as regional metamorphism. No other examples of their exposure have been observed in the area. The studied outcrops are unique, but recently, their reduction has been observed due to the poor level of their preservation. The relevance of this study is conditioned by necessity of conducting geological evaluation of the amphibolite outcrops with a view to the future use of this object for development of industrial and geological tourism within the Kryvyi Rih Basin. We studied all possible outcrops of the amphibolites within the surveyed territory, and analyzed the results of the previous studies on the topic. We developed a schematic image of the outcrops with consideration of their thicknesses. The mineralogical composition of all outcrops of the amphibolites was studied for further determination of the exact age of the amphibolites and opportunity of providing the amphibolite outcrops with the status of unique observation sites. For achieving the goal, we used the following methods of study: geological survey, selection of representative petrographic samples of the amphibolites, mineralogical and petrographic analyses, generalization of results of field and laboratory studies.