Giant lithium-rich pegmatites in Archean cratons form by remelting refertilised roots of greenstone belts
Abstract Around 80% of the world’s hard-rock lithium supply comes from pegmatites formed in the Archean Eon, yet our understanding of how Lithium-pegmatites form assumes magma source compositions not relevant to those Archean cratons hosting most of the giant Lithium-pegmatites. These models emphasi...
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Nature Portfolio
2025-08-01
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| Series: | Communications Earth & Environment |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02622-5 |
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| author | Robert H. Smithies Yongjun Lu David C. Champion Marcus T. Sweetapple Jack R. Lowrey Nathan H. Bowman Kevin F. Cassidy Tim J. Ivanic Anthony I. S. Kemp Rose E. Turnbull Klaus Gessner Fawna J. Korhonen |
| author_facet | Robert H. Smithies Yongjun Lu David C. Champion Marcus T. Sweetapple Jack R. Lowrey Nathan H. Bowman Kevin F. Cassidy Tim J. Ivanic Anthony I. S. Kemp Rose E. Turnbull Klaus Gessner Fawna J. Korhonen |
| author_sort | Robert H. Smithies |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Around 80% of the world’s hard-rock lithium supply comes from pegmatites formed in the Archean Eon, yet our understanding of how Lithium-pegmatites form assumes magma source compositions not relevant to those Archean cratons hosting most of the giant Lithium-pegmatites. These models emphasize extraction of residual pegmatitic liquids from granitic magmas formed through melting sedimentary sequences. However, there is no evidence that such sequences provided the source to Lithium-rich granites and related giant Lithium-pegmatites in the Archean cratons of Western Australia. Economically important Lithium-pegmatites in these terrains form near faulted contacts between regional granites and basalt-dominated greenstone belts. Where spatially associated granites are Lithium-rich, they also contain unusually radiogenic Neodymium, resembling earlier, but spatially associated hydrated high-Magnesium diorites of mantle origin (sanukitoid). Intrusion of sanukitoids along crustal-scale structures prior to granitic magmatism induced Lithium-rich biotite alteration of the felsic basement beneath greenstone belts. Analogous to melting metasomatized lithospheric mantle to produce sanukitoids, melting of sanukitoid-infused basement beneath greenstone roots produced Lithium-rich granites and ultimately Lithium-pegmatite. Melting buried metasediments might produce Lithium-pegmatites, but most of the world’s giant Lithium-pegmatites formed along major crustal boundaries in response to the transfer of hydrous mantle-derived magma from metasomatized deep lithospheric domains in the Archean. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-8c3e8e62740f40d3b4e9137b71d3ab87 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2662-4435 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-08-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Communications Earth & Environment |
| spelling | doaj-art-8c3e8e62740f40d3b4e9137b71d3ab872025-08-20T03:43:30ZengNature PortfolioCommunications Earth & Environment2662-44352025-08-016111110.1038/s43247-025-02622-5Giant lithium-rich pegmatites in Archean cratons form by remelting refertilised roots of greenstone beltsRobert H. Smithies0Yongjun Lu1David C. Champion2Marcus T. Sweetapple3Jack R. Lowrey4Nathan H. Bowman5Kevin F. Cassidy6Tim J. Ivanic7Anthony I. S. Kemp8Rose E. Turnbull9Klaus Gessner10Fawna J. Korhonen11Geological Survey of Western AustraliaGeological Survey of Western AustraliaGeological Survey of Western AustraliaCentre for Exploration Targeting and School of Earth and Oceans, University of Western AustraliaGeological Survey of Western AustraliaGeological Survey of Western AustraliaCentre for Exploration Targeting and School of Earth and Oceans, University of Western AustraliaGeological Survey of Western AustraliaARC Centre for Critical Resources of the Future, School of Earth and Oceans, University of Western AustraliaGeological Survey of Western AustraliaGeological Survey of Western AustraliaGeological Survey of Western AustraliaAbstract Around 80% of the world’s hard-rock lithium supply comes from pegmatites formed in the Archean Eon, yet our understanding of how Lithium-pegmatites form assumes magma source compositions not relevant to those Archean cratons hosting most of the giant Lithium-pegmatites. These models emphasize extraction of residual pegmatitic liquids from granitic magmas formed through melting sedimentary sequences. However, there is no evidence that such sequences provided the source to Lithium-rich granites and related giant Lithium-pegmatites in the Archean cratons of Western Australia. Economically important Lithium-pegmatites in these terrains form near faulted contacts between regional granites and basalt-dominated greenstone belts. Where spatially associated granites are Lithium-rich, they also contain unusually radiogenic Neodymium, resembling earlier, but spatially associated hydrated high-Magnesium diorites of mantle origin (sanukitoid). Intrusion of sanukitoids along crustal-scale structures prior to granitic magmatism induced Lithium-rich biotite alteration of the felsic basement beneath greenstone belts. Analogous to melting metasomatized lithospheric mantle to produce sanukitoids, melting of sanukitoid-infused basement beneath greenstone roots produced Lithium-rich granites and ultimately Lithium-pegmatite. Melting buried metasediments might produce Lithium-pegmatites, but most of the world’s giant Lithium-pegmatites formed along major crustal boundaries in response to the transfer of hydrous mantle-derived magma from metasomatized deep lithospheric domains in the Archean.https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02622-5 |
| spellingShingle | Robert H. Smithies Yongjun Lu David C. Champion Marcus T. Sweetapple Jack R. Lowrey Nathan H. Bowman Kevin F. Cassidy Tim J. Ivanic Anthony I. S. Kemp Rose E. Turnbull Klaus Gessner Fawna J. Korhonen Giant lithium-rich pegmatites in Archean cratons form by remelting refertilised roots of greenstone belts Communications Earth & Environment |
| title | Giant lithium-rich pegmatites in Archean cratons form by remelting refertilised roots of greenstone belts |
| title_full | Giant lithium-rich pegmatites in Archean cratons form by remelting refertilised roots of greenstone belts |
| title_fullStr | Giant lithium-rich pegmatites in Archean cratons form by remelting refertilised roots of greenstone belts |
| title_full_unstemmed | Giant lithium-rich pegmatites in Archean cratons form by remelting refertilised roots of greenstone belts |
| title_short | Giant lithium-rich pegmatites in Archean cratons form by remelting refertilised roots of greenstone belts |
| title_sort | giant lithium rich pegmatites in archean cratons form by remelting refertilised roots of greenstone belts |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02622-5 |
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