Formation of Kirikkale-Keskin-Çelebi iron mineralization

Kırıkkale - Çelebi iron mineralization is located in the Central Anatolia region, approximately 65 km south of Kırıkkale province, within the borders of Çelebi district, on the J30-b2 and J31-a1 map sections. The study area is within the Kırşehir Massif and mostly consists of Paleozoic aged metamorphic units such as marbles and locally amphibol schist lenses as a member of the Bozçaldağ Formation. Upper Cretaceous-Tertiary Central Anatolian Granitoids cutting the Bozçaldağ Formation and the sedimentary rocks belonging to the Miocene-Pliocene aged Central Anatolia Group covering both Bozçaldağ Formation and Central Anatolian Granitoids, crop out in the study area on a smaller scale. In this study, approaches related with the formation conditions of Çelebi iron mineralization are put forward by generating data on mapping, geochemistry, drilling, mineralogy and petrography studies, data on ore and wall rock relationships and alteration zones. In the study area, skarn zone (exoskarn) observed at the contacts of the marbles of Bozçaldağ Formation and the Central Anatolian Granitoids. However, in the mineralizations observed as massive magnetite veins in the marbles in Maden Sırtı and Çardak Tepe locations, the skarn zone (endoscarn) was observed to be rather limited. While the general trend of massive magnetite veins observed in Maden Sırtı is NE/90° and intermittently continues for 1-2 km, it is observed that the general direction of mineralizations in Çardak Tepe location is NW/90° and continues for about 1 km. These studies support that Çelebi iron deposit were formed as a result of contact metomorphism betweeen Central Anatolian Granitoids and Bozçaldağ formation. It is thought that the mineralizations are formed as massive magnetite veins by the precipitation of fluids in the fracture-cracks of the marbles during the intrusion of granitoids.