Serpentine Minerals from two Areas of the Western Australian Nickel Belt

P. G. Moeskops

Summary: Investigation of serpentine minerals from metaserpentinized ultramafic rocks in two Archaean green-stone belts, east of Kalgoorlie, has indicated that antigorite, exhibiting a very wide range of textures in thin section, is the dominant serpentine species; however, it is locally accompanied by relict lizardite. Chrysotile occurs both in late tectonic veins and as a present-day weathering product of relict olivine. Analytical data and structural formulae on seven serpentines, characterized independently by X-ray diffraction analysis, support the chemical differences between antigorite and chrysotile postulated by earlier workers.

Mineralogical Magazine; September 1977 v. 41; no. 319; p. 313-322; DOI: 10.1180/minmag.1977.041.319.02
© 1977, The Mineralogical Society
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