The Windimurra Igneous Complex is a giant ultramafic-mafic intrusion emplaced within the

Yilgarn craton The Yilgarn Craton is a large craton that constitutes the bulk of the Western Australian land mass. It is bounded by a mixture of sedimentary basins and Proterozoic fold and thrust belts. Zircon grains in the Jack Hills, Narryer Terrane have be ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. It is located approximately 100 kilometres south east of the town of

Mount Magnet Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, C ...

Setting

The Windimurra Igneous Complex is part of the c. 2813 Ma Meeline Suite of mafic-ultramafic layered intrusions of the central Murchison Domain, Yilgarn Craton of Western Australia. It is a conical body, approximately 7 km thick, primarily composed of layered gabbroic rocks, which intrude into c. 2820 Ma Norie Group rocks of the Murchison Supergroup. The intrusion is approximately 85 x 37 km (2500 km²) in extent.

Lithology

Windimurra contains in excess of 13,000m of intact igneous

stratigraphy Stratigraphy is a branch of geology concerned with the study of rock (geology), rock layers (Stratum, strata) and layering (stratification). It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary rock, sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks. Stratigrap ...

formed of

cumulate Cumulate rocks are igneous rocks formed by the accumulation of crystals from a magma either by settling or floating. Cumulate rocks are named according to their texture; cumulate texture is diagnostic of the conditions of formation of this group o ...

layering by a process of fractional crystallization. Individual rock types can be grouped into a

troctolite Troctolite (from Greek τρώκτης 'trout' and λίθος 'stone') is a mafic intrusive rock type. It consists essentially of major but variable amounts of olivine and calcic plagioclase along with minor pyroxene. It is an olivine-rich anorth ...

phase or series, a

gabbro Gabbro () is a phaneritic (coarse-grained), mafic intrusive igneous rock formed from the slow cooling of magnesium-rich and iron-rich magma into a holocrystalline mass deep beneath the Earth's surface. Slow-cooling, coarse-grained gabbro is che ...

phase or series and a gabbro

norite Norite is a mafic intrusive igneous rock composed largely of the calcium-rich plagioclase labradorite, orthopyroxene, and olivine. The name ''norite'' is derived from ''Norge'', the Norwegian name for Norway. Norite also known as orthopyroxen ...

phase or series.

Anorthosite Anorthosite () is a phaneritic, intrusive igneous rock characterized by its composition: mostly plagioclase feldspar (90–100%), with a minimal mafic component (0–10%). Pyroxene, ilmenite, magnetite, and olivine are the mafic minerals most c ...

cumulates are preserved in the roof sections, most of which are sheared and faulted off. A marginal

granophyre Granophyre ( ; from ''granite'' and ''porphyry'') is a subvolcanic rock that contains quartz and alkali feldspar in characteristic angular intergrowths such as those in the accompanying image. The texture is called granophyric. The texture can be ...

complex exists in the roof and wall rocks, formed by advective heat transfer causing melting of the country rocks.

Economic geology

The Windimurra Intrusion has been of great interest to mineral exploration companies for decades, as it is one of the thickest and largest ultramafic intrusions in the world, though it has been fragmented and mostly removed by shearing unlike the

Bushveld Igneous Complex The Bushveld Igneous Complex (BIC) is the largest layered igneous intrusion within the Earth's crust. It has been tilted and eroded forming the outcrops around what appears to be the edge of a great geological basin: the Transvaal Basin. It is ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. Exploration has focused on finding basal

nickel Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive but large pieces are slow to ...

sulfide Sulfide (British English also sulphide) is an inorganic anion of sulfur with the chemical formula S2− or a compound containing one or more S2− ions. Solutions of sulfide salts are corrosive. ''Sulfide'' also refers to chemical compounds lar ...

and

chromitite Chromitite is an igneous cumulate rock composed mostly of the mineral chromite. It is found in layered intrusions such as the Bushveld Igneous Complex in South Africa, the Stillwater igneous complex in Montana and the Ring of Fire discovery in O ...

deposits, although that has proved fruitless as the lower zone is not exposed. However, exploration for

vanadium Vanadium is a chemical element with the symbol V and atomic number 23. It is a hard, silvery-grey, malleable transition metal. The elemental metal is rarely found in nature, but once isolated artificially, the formation of an oxide layer ( pas ...

deposits related to oxide cumulate layers higher up in the intrusion has proved successful, with the opening of a major vanadium operation in the 1990s.

Vanadium

The Shepherd's Discordant Zone is host to a laterally extensive vanadiferous

magnetite Magnetite is a mineral and one of the main iron ores, with the chemical formula Fe2+Fe3+2O4. It is one of the oxides of iron, and is ferrimagnetic; it is attracted to a magnet and can be magnetized to become a permanent magnet itself. With the ...

and

ilmenite Ilmenite is a titanium-iron oxide mineral with the idealized formula . It is a weakly magnetic black or steel-gray solid. Ilmenite is the most important ore of titanium and the main source of titanium dioxide, which is used in paints, printing ...

adcumulate and mesocumulate deposit, forming a resource in excess of 120 Mt grading 5% V₂O₅. The vanadium mineralisation is approximately 500 m thick and contains a basal 2m thick magnetite zone (containing >70% magnetite) and podiform, lenticular magnetite horizons above it, which is of principal economic interest. In addition a few oxide-rich layers in the upper zone of the intrusion are ilmenite rich, although these appear not to be economic.

References

Geology of Western Australia Economic geology Ore deposits Layered intrusions Mesoarchean magmatism {{Australia-geology-stub