Distribution of fluorite deposits in Japanese Islands

✍ Scribed by K. Sato

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1980
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 513 KB
• Volume: 15
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0026-4598
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00202798

✦ Synopsis

The occurrence of fluorite deposits in Japan is limited in the provinces characterized by tin and tungsten mineralization within Southwest Japan. The deposits were formed near acidic igneous rocks of Cretaceous to Tertiary age. The ores in limestone are generally associated with skarn and metallic ore minerals such as cassiterile, scheelite and chalcopyrite. Granitic rocks in the provinces are the ilmenite-series (Ishihara, 1977) having enhanced fluorine contents and high initial strontium ratios. A reducing condition of the ilmenite-series granitic magma may have been more favorable for the concentration of fluorine in the residual magma because of the crystallization of relatively Fe-rich mafic minerals.

Presence of thick crust bearing carbonaceous matter at the site of magmatism could have involved in the enrichment of fluorine as well as the reducing condition.