Geology, geochemistry and geochronology of the Songwe Hill carbonatite, Malawi

• Published in: Journal of African earth sciences (1994) 2017-10, Vol.134, p.10-23
• Main Authors: Broom-Fendley, Sam, Brady, Aoife E., Horstwood, Matthew S.A., Woolley, Alan R., Mtegha, James, Wall, Frances, Dawes, Will, Gunn, Gus
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Apatite; Carbonatite; Chilwa alkaline province; HREE; REE; Songwe Hill; U-Pb dating
• ISSN: 1464-343X; 1879-1956
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2017.05.020

Songwe Hill, Malawi, is one of the least studied carbonatites but has now become particularly important as it hosts a relatively large rare earth deposit. The results of new mapping, petrography, geochemistry and geochronology indicate that the 0.8 km diameter Songwe Hill is distinct from the other Chilwa Alkaline Province carbonatites in that it intruded the side of the much larger (4 × 6 km) and slightly older (134.6 ± 4.4 Ma) Mauze nepheline syenite and then evolved through three different carbonatite compositions (C1–C3). Early C1 carbonatite is scarce and is composed of medium–coarse-grained calcite carbonatite containing zircons with a U–Pb age of 132.9 ± 6.7 Ma. It is similar to magmatic carbonatite in other carbonatite complexes at Chilwa Island and Tundulu in the Chilwa Alkaline Province and others worldwide. The fine-grained calcite carbonatite (C2) is the most abundant stage at Songwe Hill, followed by a more REE- and Sr-rich ferroan calcite carbonatite (C3). Both stages C2 and C3 display evidence of extensive (carbo)-hydrothermal overprinting that has produced apatite enriched in HREE (