Mineralogy and geochemistry of metalliferous black slates in the okcheon metamorphic belt, Korea: a metamorphic analogue of black shales in the South China block

Abstract

Metalliferous black slates, which were locally exploited for their low-quality coal, are distributed in the Late Proterozoic to Paleozoic Okcheon Metamorphic Belt (OMB) of the Korean Peninsula. The mineralogy of the fine matrix is dominated by either quartz–(Ba, V)–mica–graphite or Quartz-Ba-feldspar–graphite. Polycrystalline submillimeter ellipsoids and elongate lenses aligned along foliations and veinlets are scattered through the fine matrix. Both ellipsoids and veinlets include many minor minerals containing rare elements: titanite, apatite, allanite, rutile, polycrase, barite, uraninite, xenotime, armenite, zircon, molybdenite, and sphalerite. Large graphite–apatite ellipsoids (nodules) with widths of several centimeters also occur in the highly carbonaceous black slates. Goldmanite occurs locally as porphyroblasts. The maximum rare element contents are: Ba 9.7%, V 2.04%, Mo 0.13%, U 0.11%, Cr 0.33%, Cu 254 ppm, Ni 479 ppm, Zn 607 ppm, Y 255 ppm, platinum-group element (PGE) + Au 309 ppb, and carbon 57%. The occurrence of the black slates and their elemental abundances suggests that most of the rare elements were accumulated from seawater in an oxygen-poor environment. However, the high Ba content of the OMB black slates indicates some hydrothermal input into an organic-rich basin. Although metamorphism and multiple deformations prevent a direct temporal and spatial correlation, metal abundances and a close association with graphite–apatite nodules and low-quality coal suggest that the OMB black slates are metamorphosed analogues of the Early Cambrian Ba–V deposits hosted by the black shales in the South China Block.