Dunite

Dunite ( /ˈdʌnaɪt/ or /ˈdjuːnaɪt/) (also known as olivinite, not to be confused

with the mineral olivenite) is an igneous, plutonic rock, of ultramafic
composition, with coarse-grained or phaneritic texture. The mineral
assemblage is greater than 90% olivine, with minor amounts of other minerals
such as pyroxene, chromite, magnetite, and pyrope. Dunite is the olivine-rich
end-member of the peridotite group of mantle-derived rocks. Dunite and other
peridotite rocks are considered the major constituents of the Earth's mantle
above a depth of about 400 kilometers. Dunite is rarely found within
continental rocks, but where it is found, it typically occurs at the base of
Small volcanic bomb of (black) basanite
ophiolite sequences where slabs of mantle rock from a subduction zone have
with (green) dunite
been thrust onto continental crust by obduction during continental or island arc
collisions (orogeny). It is also found in alpine peridotite massifs that represent
slivers of sub-continental mantle exposed during collisional orogeny. Dunite typically undergoes retrograde metamorphism in near-
surface environments and is altered toserpentinite and soapstone.

The type of dunite found in the lowermost parts of ophiolites,

alpine peridotite massifs, and xenoliths may represent the
refractory residue left after the extraction of basaltic magmas in the
upper mantle. However, a more likely method of dunite formation
in mantle sections is by interaction between lherzolite or
harzburgite and percolating silicate melts, which dissolve
orthopyroxene from the surrounding rock, leaving a progressively
olivine-enriched residue. Dunite may also form by the
accumulation of olivine crystals on the floor of large basaltic or
picritic magma chambers. These "cumulate" dunites typically occur
in thick layers in layered intrusions, associated with cumulate
layers of wehrlite, olivine pyroxenite, harzburgite, and even
chromitite (a cumulate rock consisting largely of chromite). Small
layered intrusions may be of any geologic age, for example, the The dunite field is highlighted in green.
Triassic Palisades Sill in New York and the larger Eocene
Skaergaard complex in Greenland. The largest layered mafic
intrusions are tens of kilometers in size and almost all are Proterozoic in age, e.g., the Stillwater igneous complex (Montana), the
Muskox intrusion (Canada), and the Great Dyke (Zimbabwe). Cumulate dunite may also be found in ophiolite complexes, associated
with layers of wehrlite, pyroxenite, andgabbro.

Dunite was named by the German geologist Ferdinand von Hochstetter in 1859, after Dun Mountain near Nelson, New Zealand.[1]
Dun Mountain was given its name because of the dun colour of the underlying ultramafic rocks. This color results from surface
weathering that oxidizes the iron in olivine in temperate climates (weathering in tropical climates creates a deep red soil). Dun
Mountain is separated from its sister massif, Red Mountain, at the southern end of South Island, New Zealand, by the Alpine Fault,
an approximately 600 km long right lateralstrike slip fault similar to the San Andreas fault in California, USA.

A massive exposure of dunite in the United States can be found as Twin Sisters Mountain, near Mount Baker in the northern Cascade
Range of Washington. In Europe it occurs in the Troodos mountains of Cyprus. In southern British Columbia, Canada dunite rocks
form the core of an ultramafic rock complex located near the small community of Tulameen. The rocks are locally enriched in
platinum group metals, chromite and magnetite.
Carbon sequestration potential
Dunite could be used tosequester CO2 and help mitigate global climate change via accelerated chemical rockweathering. This would
involve the mining of dunite rocks in quarries followed by crushing and grinding as to create fine ground rock that would react with
the atmospheric carbon dioxide. The resulting products aremagnesite and silica which could be commercialized.[2][3]

References
1. Johnston, M. R.; Nineteenth-century observations of the Dun Mountain Ophiolite Belt, Nelson, New Zealand and
trans-Tasman correlations, Geological Society, London, Special Publications 2007, v. 287, p. 375-387 (http://sp.lyellc
ollection.org/content/287/1/375.abstract)
2. Danae A. Voormeij, George J. Simandl, Bill O'Connor - A systematic assessment of ultramafic rocks and their
suitability for mineral sequestration of CO2(https://getinfo.de/app/A-Systematic-Assessment-of-Ultramafic-Rocks-an
d/id/BLCP%3ACN061164386)
3. Peter Köhler, Jens Hartmann, and Dieter A. Wolf-Gladrow. 2010. Geoengineering potential of artificially enhanced
silicate weathering of olivine.PNAS ∣ November 23, 2010 ∣ vol. 107 ∣ no. 47 | 20228–20233(http://www.pnas.org/co
ntent/107/47/20228.full.pdf)

Dunite
Blatt, Harvey and Robert J. Tracy, 1996, Petrology, 2nd ed., W. H. Freeman, ISBN 0-7167-2438-3

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