AN APPROACH TO THE ORIGIN OF THE EARLY CAMBRIAN KARAÇAT IRON DEPOSIT (MANSURLU BASIN, ADANA) AND IRON DEPOSITS OUTCROPS AT ITS EASTERN PARTS

The Neoproterozoic basement and the Early Cambrian units are widely exposed around the Karacat Iron Deposit and its surrounding, which are located at the eastern part of Tauride-Anatolide platform. The main mineralization was detected as hematite in all deposits in the study area. The ore microscopy, SEM and EDX studies show that carbonate pseudomorphs in hematite have developed and their chemical compo- sitions are enriched in Ca, Mg, Fe, C and O elements. The geochemical analyses of hematite and siderite minerals reveal that both ore mineral types have similar patterns of Rare Earth Element (REE). These data and field observations reveal that hematite is the replacement product after sedimentary siderite minerali- zation. The genesis of the hematite mineralization that is effective over large areas and widely observed on the basement and overlying units, was formed during Late Neoproterozoic- Early Cambrian volcanism in the region defined as Peri-Gondwana. They are genetically described as volcano syn-sedimentary and/or exhalative syn-sedimentary type mineralization.