Location:

Magnetite skarn. Skye, Scotland

The dolomitic Durness Limestone has been metasomatized by the Beinn an Dubhaigh granite to produce small zoned skarns. The inner pyroxene, garnet, wollastonite, plagioclase-bearing skarn is ore-free, but the outer pyroxene and olivine-bearing skarn carries magnetite.

Major Minerals:

Magnetite, haematite

Minor Minerals:

Chalcopyrite, pyrite

Trace Minerals:

Include bornite, chalcocite, galena, sphalerite, covelline

Textures:

Euhedral magnetite crystals are oxidized to haematite (martite). Bornite-chalcocite form crystallographically oriented intergrowths

References:

Tilley, 1951; Dickin, 1983