The Geology and Genesis of the Sadat Iron Skarn, Kashmar-Kerman block, central Iran: a comparison with the Bafq-Saghand District Iron oxide-apatite deposits

Mahbouby Niyeh, Masoumeh; Alirezaei, Saeed; Rasa, Iraj

doi:10.22071/gsj.2026.566286.2239

The Geology and Genesis of the Sadat Iron Skarn, Kashmar-Kerman block, central Iran: a comparison with the Bafq-Saghand District Iron oxide-apatite deposits

Articles in Press

Document Type : Original Research Paper

Authors

Masoumeh Mahbouby Niyeh

Saeed Alirezaei

Iraj Rasa

Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

10.22071/gsj.2026.566286.2239

Abstract

The Sadat iron deposit to the west of the Siriz in the southern section of the Kashmar-Kerman block (KKB), Central Iran structural zone, is closely associated with a syenitic-monzonitic pluton, here referred to as Siriz intrusive body, intruded into the Cambrian sedimentary rocks. Calc-silicate minerals typical of skarns including anhydrous garnet-pyroxene- wollastonite, and hydrous phlogopite-epidote-tremolite-actinolite are developed in Sadat, the former minerals being of limited extent. The intrusive body is variably albitized to a distance from the ore deposit. Ore formation occurred with the retrograde skarn. Magnetite is the main ore mineral, commonly containing minor late pyrite and locally chalcopyrite. The iron ore occurs in massive, banded, and locally breccia textures, and distinguished by relatively low contents of the magnetite-compatible metals, Ni-Cr-V-Ti-Co. The spatial relations between the intrusive body and surrounding rocks suggest a post-Cambrian−pre-Triassic timing for emplacement of the intrusion and ore formation. The Sadat deposit is comparable in some respects, including albitic alteration, late pyrite, and low Ti contents, to iron oxide-apatite deposits of the Bafq-Saghand district in the central KKB. Significant differences, however, exist in host rocks (Middle-Upper Cambrian sediments and post-Cambrian intrusive body in Siriz; Early Cambrian, dominantly volcanic-subvolcanic rocks in Bafq-Saghand), and scarcity of apatite.

Keywords

Sadat iron skarn

Siriz intrusive body

syenite-monzonite

Kashmar-Kerman block

Iron

Central Iran

Subjects