Mineral Evolution Database

Created and maintained by the Mineral Evolution Project in partnership with RRUFF and mindat.

Mineral locality data provided by mindat.org

The Mineral Evolution database is currently under development.

The goal of this page is to present localities at which the mineral is found, and estimates of the oldest possible geologic age of the minerals at these localities.

Locality Name:
Murchison Range, Limpopo, South Africa

Oldest recorded age at locality: 2969
Youngest recorded age at locality: 2782

mindat Locality ID: 54284
mindat URL: http://www.mindat.org/loc-54284.html

Tectonic Settings:

Total number of sublocalities beneath "Murchison Range, Limpopo, South Africa": 33
Total number of bottom-level sublocalities: 24

Number of Child Localities: 4
Child Localities:
Gravelotte
Malati Pump Mine
Orange Free State Mine
Zoutpansberg

Latitude: 23°53'31"S
Longitude: 30°37'32"E
Decimal Degree (lat, lon): -23.891944444444,30.625555555556

A	This mineral is Anthropogenic.
G	This mineral is directly dated.
B	This mineral is reported as having this age.
Y	This mineral is using an age reported as an element mineralization period.
O	This mineral is using an age calculated from all data at the locality.
R	The age displayed for this mineral originates from a different, non-child locality.
P	The age displayed for this mineral is the range of ages for this mineral at all of this locality's children.
	This mineral's age has not yet been recorded.

Amphibole	Apatite	Arsenic	Arsenolite	Arsenopyrite	Berthierite	Beryl	Calcite	Chalcopyrite	Chalcostibite
Clay	Clinozoisite	Copper	Corundum	Covellite	Epidote	Feldspar	Garnet	Hydrotalcite	Malachite
Mica	Molybdenite	Nickeline	None	Not in a structural group	Olivine	Pyrite	Pyrochlore	Pyroxene	Quartz
Rutile	Scheelite	Sphalerite	Stibnite	Talc	Tetrahedrite	Tourmaline	Ullmannite	Zircon

This Mineral list contains entries from this locality, including sub-localities. Minerals in bold are reported by mindat.org as occurring directly at this locality, and do not occur at any children (sublocalities) of this locality.

Elements at this locality, including sub-localities: Al As Au B Be C Ca Cl Cr Cu F Fe H Hg K Li Mg Mn Mo Na Ni O P S Sb Si Ti W Zn Zr

Elements from minerals reported directly at this locality: Al Cu Mn O S Sb Si

Structural Groups for minerals in this locality:
Amphibole Apatite Arsenic Arsenolite Arsenopyrite Berthierite Beryl Calcite Chalcopyrite Chalcostibite
Clay Clinozoisite Copper Corundum Covellite Epidote Feldspar Garnet Hydrotalcite Malachite
Mica Molybdenite Nickeline None Not in a structural group Olivine Pyrite Pyrochlore Pyroxene Quartz
Rutile Scheelite Sphalerite Stibnite Talc Tetrahedrite Tourmaline Ullmannite Zircon

58 IMA Minerals at location:

Actinolite ()*	Albite ()*	Ankerite ()*	Anthophyllite ()*	Antimony ()*
Arsenopyrite ()*	Aurostibite ()*	Azurite ()*	Berthierite ()*	Beryl ()*
Calcite ()*	Cervantite ()*	Chalcopyrite ()*	Chalcostibite ()*	Chrysoberyl ()*
Cinnabar ()*	Covellite ()*	Dolomite ()*	Dravite ()*	Eglestonite ()*
Epidote ()*	Fluorapatite ()*	Gold ()*	Grossular ()*	Gudmundite ()*
Hematite ()*	Hypercinnabar ()*	Kermesite ()*	Kyanite ()*	Magnesiohögbomite-2N3S ()*
Magnesite ()*	Malachite ()*	Margarite ()*	Mercury ()*	Metacinnabar ()*
Microcline ()*	Molybdenite ()*	Muscovite ()*	Gersdorffite-Pa3 ()*	Piemontite ()*
Pyrite ()*	Pyrrhotite ()*	Quartz ()*	Rutile ()*	Scheelite ()*
Schorl ()*	Senarmontite ()*	Siderite ()*	Spessartine ()*	Spodumene ()*
Stibiconite ()*	Stibnite ()*	Stichtite ()*	Talc ()*	Tetrahedrite-(Zn) ()*
Ullmannite ()*	Valentinite ()*	Zircon ()*

Mineral name	Structural Groups	IMA Formula	Max Age (Ma)	Min Age (Ma)	# of Sublocalities containing mineral	LOCALITY IDs, not mindat ids	# of localities containing mineral
Actinolite ()*	Amphibole	Ca₂(Mg_4.5-2.5Fe²⁺_0.5-2.5)Si₈O₂₂(OH)₂	2906	2790	1	106436	3419
Albite ()*	Feldspar	Na(AlSi₃O₈)	2969	2782	2	106430,106459	8803
Ankerite ()*	None	Ca(Fe²⁺,Mg)(CO₃)₂	2969	2782	1	106430	3092
Anthophyllite ()*	Amphibole	Mg₂Mg₅Si₈O₂₂(OH)₂			1	106440	718
Antimony ()*	Arsenic	Sb	2906	2782	4	106431,106433,106451,106455	363
Arsenopyrite ()*	Arsenopyrite	FeAsS			3	106431,106451,106459	9052
Aurostibite ()*	Pyrite	AuSb₂			1	106431	73
Azurite ()*	Not in a structural group	Cu₃(CO₃)₂(OH)₂			1	106433	5509
Berthierite ()*	Berthierite	FeSb₂S₄			3	106431,106433,106451	343
Beryl ()*	Beryl	Be₃Al₂Si₆O₁₈	2969	2790	4	106436,106447,106448,106458	4286
Calcite ()*	Calcite	Ca(CO₃)	2969	2782	1	106430	27770
Cervantite ()*	None	Sb³⁺Sb⁵⁺O₄			1	106451	352
Chalcopyrite ()*	Chalcopyrite	CuFeS₂	2969	2782	1	106430	27198
Chalcostibite ()*	Chalcostibite	CuSbS₂	2969	2782	0		162
Chrysoberyl ()*	Olivine	BeAl₂O₄			1	106439	321
Cinnabar ()*	None	HgS	2900	2900	3	106452,106453,106454	2600
Covellite ()*	Covellite	CuS	2969	2782	0		4165
Dolomite ()*	None	CaMg(CO₃)₂	2969	2782	1	106430	9895
Dravite ()*	Tourmaline	NaMg₃Al₆(Si₆O₁₈)(BO₃)₃(OH)₃(OH)	2969	2969	1	106449	648
Eglestonite ()*	None	([Hg¹⁺]₂)₃OCl₃(OH)	2900	2900	1	106454	36
Epidote ()*	Epidote Clinozoisite	Ca₂(Al₂Fe³⁺)[Si₂O₇][SiO₄]O(OH)	2906	2782	2	106433,106455	8173
Fluorapatite ()*	Apatite	Ca₅(PO₄)₃F	2969	2969	2	106430,106447	2740
Gold ()*	Copper	Au			4	106431,106432,106459,106462	30554
Grossular ()*	Garnet	Ca₃Al₂(SiO₄)₃	2969	2969	1	106438	1544
Gudmundite ()*	Arsenopyrite	FeSbS			2	106431,106451	170
Hematite ()*	Corundum	Fe₂O₃	2969	2782	2	106430,106459	14640
Hypercinnabar ()*	None	HgS	2900	2900	1	106453	4
Kermesite ()*	None	Sb₂OS₂	2906	2782	2	106451,106455	230
Kyanite ()*	Not in a structural group	Al₂OSiO₄	2969	2969	2	106447,106449	1507
Magnesiohögbomite-2N3S ()*	None	(Mg,Fe,Zn,Ti)₄(Al,Fe)₁₀O₁₉(OH)			1	106434	4
Magnesite ()*	Calcite	Mg(CO₃)			2	106442,106444	1487
Malachite ()*	Malachite	Cu₂(CO₃)(OH)₂			1	106433	12537
Margarite ()*	Mica Clay	CaAl₂Si₂Al₂O₁₀(OH)₂	2969	2969	1	106438	168
Mercury ()*	None	Hg	2900	2900	2	106452,106454	397
Metacinnabar ()*	Sphalerite	HgS	2900	2900	1	106453	255
Microcline ()*	Feldspar	K(AlSi₃O₈)			1	106443	4924
Molybdenite ()*	Molybdenite	MoS₂	2906	2790	1	106435	5800
Muscovite ()*	Mica Clay	KAl₂(Si₃Al)O₁₀(OH)₂	2969	2969	3	106430,106447,106448	17380
Gersdorffite-Pa3 ()*	Pyrite	NiAsS			1	106431	767
Piemontite ()*	Epidote	Ca₂(Al₂Mn³⁺)[Si₂O₇][SiO₄]O(OH)	2906	2782	2	106432,106455	260
Pyrite ()*	Pyrite	FeS₂	2906	2790	5	106430,106431,106436,106451,106459	39462
Pyrrhotite ()*	Nickeline	Fe₇S₈			3	106430,106451,106459	9056
Quartz ()*	Quartz	SiO₂	2969	2790	9	106430,106431,106436,106447,106448,106451,106456,106459,106460	61156
Rutile ()*	Rutile	TiO₂	2969	2782	2	106430,106459	5614
Scheelite ()*	Scheelite	Ca(WO₄)			2	106431,106451	4894
Schorl ()*	Tourmaline	NaFe²⁺₃Al₆(Si₆O₁₈)(BO₃)₃(OH)₃(OH)	2906	2790	1	106436	2705
Senarmontite ()*	Arsenolite	Sb₂O₃			1	106431	179
Siderite ()*	Calcite	Fe(CO₃)	2969	2782	1	106430	6417
Spessartine ()*	Garnet	Mn²⁺₃Al₂(SiO₄)₃	2969	2782	0		1214
Spodumene ()*	Pyroxene	LiAlSi₂O₆	2969	2969	1	106447	688
Stibiconite ()*	Pyrochlore	Sb³⁺Sb⁵⁺₂O₆(OH)			3	106431,106432,106451	446
Stibnite ()*	Stibnite	Sb₂S₃	2906	2782	6	106430,106431,106433,106451,106455,106462	3418
Stichtite ()*	Hydrotalcite	Mg₆Cr₂(CO₃)(OH)₁₆·4H₂O	2906	2782	2	106432,106455	43
Talc ()*	Clay Talc	Mg₃Si₄O₁₀(OH)₂	2906	2790	3	106431,106433,106436	3337
Tetrahedrite-(Zn) ()*	Tetrahedrite	Cu₆(Cu₄Zn₂)Sb₄S₁₃			3	106433,106451,106460	5317
Ullmannite ()*	Ullmannite	NiSbS			2	106430,106431	293
Valentinite ()*	None	Sb₂O₃			1	106451	369
Zircon ()*	Zircon	Zr(SiO₄)	2906	2782	2	106430,106459	5251

5 Ages assigned to this locality:

Excel ID	Max Age (Ma)	Min Age (Ma)	Age as listed in reference	Dating Method	Prioritized?	Sample Source	Dated Mineral	Minerals explicitely stated as having this age	Age applies to these Elements	MinDat Locality ID	Dated Locality (Max Age)	Location as listed in reference	Reference	Reference DOI	Reference ID
Bradley_2012_120	2906	2790	2848±58	U/Pb		zircon	Zircon			26417	Gravelotte Emerald Mine, Gravelotte, Murchison Range, Limpopo, South Africa	[Murchison Belt]	McCauley and Bradley (2014)	10.3749/canmin.52.2.183	CM52_183
Be-00047	2969	2969	2969		high			Beryl, Phenakite	Be	54193	Pala Kop, Letaba, Gravelotte, Murchison Range, Limpopo, South Africa		Poujol (2001)	10.1016/S0899-5362(01)90096-X	JAES33_155
Hg-00063	2900	2900						Cinnabar, Hypercinnabar, Mercury, Metacinnabar, Eglestonite	Hg	16468	Monarch Cinnabar Mine, Gravelotte, Murchison Range, Limpopo, South Africa		Muff (1978); Davis et al. (1986); Boocock et al. (1988); Poujol et al. (1996); Schwarz-Schampera et al. (2010)
Kristen002489	2906	2790	2848±58			zircon	Zircon			26418	Murchison Mine, Gravelotte, Murchison Range, Limpopo, South Africa	Murchison	Tkachev (2011)	10, 1144/SP350,2	GSLSP350_7
Kristen002490	2858	2782	2820±38			zircon	Zircon			26418	Murchison Mine, Gravelotte, Murchison Range, Limpopo, South Africa	Murchison	Tkachev (2011)	10, 1144/SP350,2	GSLSP350_7

Sample	Source Locality	Reference URL

All locality data graciously provided by mindat.org

All age data...