LAUSR

A recent field study in Northeastern Iraqi Kurdistan revealed the extensive occurrence of fuchsite mineral in listvenite bodies within the Zagros Ophiolites. Mineralogical and geochemical analytical techniques were applied to describe the features of the fuchsite-rich phases in relation to the various listvenite lithotypes. Fuchsite occurs in two main types: (i) as pale green flaky form infilling intensively fractured zones (type I), and (ii) as pale to intense green primary mineral crystals within the listvenite (type II). The main paragenesis associated with fuchsite includes quartz and clinochlore with variable Cr content, calcite and/or dolomite, and spinel. The results of this study suggest that fuchsite and the associated Cr-rich clinochlore have been formed as a result of metasomatic reactions of Si- and K-rich fluids with Cr-rich serpentine and Cr-spinel due to hydrothermal alteration of serpentinized peridotite within the Zagros Ophiolites.