Vol. 337 No. 1 (2026)
DOI https://doi.org/10.18799/24131830/2026/1/4993
Hydrocarbons in fluid inclusions of native iron from Siberian traps (Khungtukun intrusion, Russia) according to pyrolysis-free gas chromatography-mass spectrometry data
Relevance. Need to obtain factual data on the composition of volatiles in native iron formation at the world largest unique Khungtukun ore occurrence. The new data obtained can be used to adjust the integral model of ore formation in the region. Aim. To determine the composition of the fluid preserved in the form of fluid inclusions in native iron and the coexisting silicate part. Object. Khungtukun intrusion in the traps of the Siberian platform. Methods. The composition of iron and the silicate part was studied by the method of micro-X-ray spectral analysis, the bulk composition of the fluid was analyzed by the method of pyrolysis-free gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) with impact destruction of the sample. Results and conclusions. Original results of GC-MS analysis are presented on the composition of fluids extracted during a single-act impact destruction from native iron and associated silicate glass. A sharp difference between them was established. Volatiles in native iron are predominantly hydrocarbon, specifically of the alkane type, their content is 90.5 rel. %. The gas component of the fluid extracted from the silicate part has a water-carbon dioxide composition with an admixture of hydrocarbons, S- and N-containing compounds. Water predominates in it with a concentration of more than 94.6 rel. %. In gas extracts of native iron, 172 individual components were found, and in the silicate part, 155. Based on these data, it was shown that fluids in native iron and the silicate part represent a complex multicomponent mineral-forming system. In addition to argon, water, carbon dioxide, S- and N-containing compounds, representatives of 12 classes of compounds for the silicate part and 9 for native iron were found. These included oxygen-free aliphatic and cyclic hydrocarbons (paraffins, olefins, cyclic alkanes (naphthenes) and alkenes, arenes, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), oxygenated hydrocarbons (alcohols, ethers, furans, aldehydes, ketones, carboxylic acids). The abundance of alkanes, isoalkanes and branched alkanes, their dodecane-limited series in the obtained results of GC-MS analyses of volatiles from native iron are interpreted by the occurrence of a Fischer–Tropsch type reaction during iron crystallization and capture of the coexisting gas phase into inclusions.
Keywords:
native iron, Siberian traps, Khungtukung intrusion, fluids, fluid inclusions, hydrocarbons, mineral formation conditions, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, GC-MS, Fischer–Tropsch synthesis
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