Manganilmenite in the magnetite ore body from Pokphur area of Nagaland, North East India and the possibility of microdiamonds in the ophiolites of Indo-Myanmar ranges

Abstract

Manganilmenite is found to be associated with the magnetite ore body of Pokphur area in the Nagaland ophiolites, North East India. There is perhaps no earlier description of the mineral from the Indian subcontinent. It occurs as an accessory mineral with magnetite and Fe-chlorite (chamosite). Electron probe micro-analytical data reveal that the mineral contains 5.6-8.5 wt% MnO and traces of MgO, ZnO and Cr2O3, while the TiO2 content remains within narrow limits of 50-53 wt%. The calculated pyrophanite end-member varies from 13% to 18%. Although the magnetite body of Pokphur has been reasonably proved to be a hydrothermally altered product of basic and ultrabasic igneous rocks, and most of the minerals in the magnetite body are supergene in nature, different end-member compositions of mangan ilmenite indicate that it has originally crystallized with the basic suite of rocks and has survived the alteration process with only marginal effects. Since manganilmenite has been considered as a diamond indicator mineral and ophiolites are a newly documented host of microdiamonds elsewhere in the world, the presence of manganilmenite in the Pokphur magnetite hints towards occurrence of microdiamonds in the ophiolite suite of rocks of the Indo-Myanmar ranges.