Abstract
A new type of podiform chromitite was found at Wadi Hilti in the N Oman ophiolite. It is within a late-intrusive dunite body, possibly derived from olivine-rich crystal mush, between the sheeted dyke complex and upper gabbro. This chromitite forms small (< 30 cm in thickness) pods with irregular to lenticular shapes. Neither layering nor graded bedding is observed within the pods. The chromitite is in the upper crust, by far shallower in ophiolite stratigraphy than the other podiform chromitites that have ever been found in the Moho transition zone to the upper mantle. It is distributed along a small felsic to gabbroic melt pool within the dunite body, which was formed by melting of gabbroic blocks captured by the mush. Chromian spinel was precipitated due to mixing of two kinds of melt, a basaltic interstitial melt from the mush and an evolved, possibly felsic, melt formed by the melting of gabbro blocks. The podiform chromitite reported here is strikingly similar in petrography and spinel chemistry to the stratiform chromitite from layered intrusions. The former contains plagioclase and clinopyroxene as matrix silicates instead of olivine as well as includes euhedral and fine spinel with solid mineral inclusions. Chromian spinel of the upper crustal podiform chromitite from Oman has relatively low content of (Cr (sub 2) O (sub 3) + Al (sub 2) O (sub 3) ), a Cr/(Cr + Al) atomic ratio of around 0.6, and a relatively high TiO (sub 2) content ranging from 1 to 3-wt%. It is concluded that assimilation of relatively Si-rich materials (crustal rocks or mantle orthopyroxene) by olivine-spinel saturated melts can explain the genesis of any type of chromitite.