Classification, mineralogical and geochemical variations in pegmatites of the Cape Cross-Uis pegmatite belt, Namibia

The Pan African aged Damara Orogen in Namibia is host to the Cape Cross-Uis pegmatite belt, one of several NE-trending pegmatite belts which host Li, Nb, Ta and Sn mineralisation. Field mapping and structural analysis of thirty seven pegmatite bodies has shown that the pegmatites intrude along crustal weaknesses such as fold axes and bedding planes, predominantly following the approximate NE orientated regional structural fabric. The lack of deformation together with cross-cutting relationships mapped, suggest that pegmatites were emplaced during post-tectonic extension that resulted from end-orogeny crustal relaxation. Based on mineralogy, geochemistry and ore mineralogy, three groups of pegmatites are distinguished within the Cape Cross-Uis belt. (1) The most common are the unzoned Nb-Ta-Sn type with mineralised alteration areas in the form of greisenised and albitised zones that occur sporadically in the pegmatites in various morphologies. (2) The garnet-tourmaline, crudely zoned pegmatites are slightly less common. They are granite-hosted and differ from other pegmatite types in terms of their low Rb, Sr, Nb, Ta, Sn, Cs (< 30 ppm) but higher REE, U, Th, and Y values. (3) The zoned lithium-bearing pegmatites are rare but the most complex. They are subdivided into two groups: The Li-Nb-Ta-Sn spodumene-bearing pegmatites of the Karlowa swarm and the Li-Nb-Ta-Sn-Be petalite-bearing pegmatites of the Strathmore swarm. They are highly fractionated with typical values of Nb (206 ppm), Ta (185 ppm) and Sn (10,016 ppm). There is no spatial distribution or regional zonation of the pegmatites type relative to granite outcrops within the belt. Contrasting geochemical fractionation patterns and the lower concentrations of REE in pegmatites than in granites suggests that pegmatites resulted from varying degrees of partial melting of a muscovite-ilmenite-bearing source. The Sn, Nb and Ta in pegmatites is likely to have originated from this source rather than from assimilation of metasedimentary host rocks as clear fractionation trends from fine-grained pegmatite margins to alteration zones show that fractionation was the dominant process in which Nb, Ta, Cs and Sn were enriched.