FIRST FIND OF A POTASSIUM-TITANIUM SILICATE (K2TISI6O15) IN PLATINUM METALS OF THE INAGLI PLUTON

Abstract

An unusual potassium-titanium silicate was discovered among minerals forming inclusions in platinous osmiridium grains. The latter were extracted from a placer sample taken in a creek eroding dunite and alkalic gabbroids of the Inagli pluton, central Aladan. The composition of these inclusions and the host mineral was studied with the Camebax Microbeam electron microprobe. The development of such inclusions can be explained most realistically by assuming that relicts of disintegrated and metasomatized mantle matter was trapped in the metallic phase. Thus, the material of our inclusions is a product of potassium metasomatism of peridotite or clinopyroxenite in the mantle.