This study investigates lithium-caesium-tantalum (LCT) pegmatites and associated pegmatites and granites in the Varuträsk area, northern Sweden, using a mineral systems approach (i.e. source-transport-trap). The research incorporates geological mapping both regionally and underground, analysis of geological structures and host rock competency, 3D modelling, lithogeochemistry, and zircon-monazite U–Pb SIMS geochronology to assess the genesis and controls on the Varuträsk LCT pegmatite system. The findings reveal four phases of intrusive magmatism within a supracrustal package predominantly composed of metagreywacke, metabasalt (amphibolite), and black shale, subjected to two fabric-forming deformation phases and at least two folding phases, pre- and syn-plutonism in association with the Svecokarelian orogeny. Pegmatites are controlled by brittle to brittle-plastic structures that intersect the tectonic fabric of the host rock, with host rock competency, characterized by uniaxial compressive strength, being a key factor determining the intrusion angle of the pegmatite. The earliest magmatic phase in the area is represented by a granodiorite pluton with a zircon 207Pb/206Pb age of 1885 ± 3.2 Ma, linked to the main Svecokarelian orogenic cycle. A granodiorite-tonalite intrusion related to the Transscandinavian Igneous Belt has a zircon 207Pb/206Pb age of 1801 ± 1.7 Ma. Three peraluminous S-type granites (plutonic Skellefte suite) yielded zircon 207Pb/206Pb ages of 1795 ± 1.7 Ma and 1792 ± 1.6 Ma, and a monazite 207Pb/206Pb age of 1798 ± 4.6 Ma. Small and irregular to elongated bodies of hypabyssal pegmatitic leucogranite with peraluminous characteristics (hypabyssal Skellefte suite), although not dated in this study, form a geochemical continuum with the Varuträsk LCT pegmatite and less evolved regional pegmatites, and are chemically distinct from the larger S-type plutons. A ‘simple’ muscovite pegmatite dyke, representative of the less evolved regional pegmatites in the area, produced a monazite U–Pb crystallisation age of 1780 ± 6.9 Ma. These results suggest that the hypabyssal pegmatitic leucogranites, regional less evolved pegmatites, and the Varuträsk LCT pegmatite represent the final stage (c. 1.78 Ga) of crustal maturation in the orogenic cycle, marginally postdating the regional migmatization and S-type granite plutonism event. However, further research is encouraged in this study to validate the time gap between plutonic and pegmatitic granites in the Varuträsk area. We propose a mineral system model encompassing a c. 1.80 – 1.78 Ga timeframe that involved initial anatexis of metasedimentary rocks to form S-type granite plutons during the late Svecokarelian orogeny. Subsequently, a resolvable younger magmatic event generated granitic pegmatite melts that utilized pre-existing structures as transport pathways. These melts were trapped in structurally favourable, brittle to brittle-plastic sites and the host rock competency influenced the emplacement angle of the pegmatites.

To support economic decisions and exploration targeting, as well as to understand processes controlling the mineralization, three-dimensional structural and lithological boundary models of the Kiruna mining district have been built using surface (outcrop observations and measurements) and subsurface (drill hole data and mine wall mapping) data. Rule-based hybrid implicit-explicit modeling techniques were used to create district-scale models of areas with high disproportion in data resolution characterized by dense, clustered, and distant data spacing. Densely sampled areas were integrated with established conceptual studies using geologic conditions and the addition of synthetic data, leading to variably constrained surfaces that facilitate the visualization, interpretation, and further integration of the geologic models. This modeling approach proved to be efficient in integrating local, frequently sampled areas with district-scale, sparsely sampled regions. Dominantly S-plunging lineation on N-S–trending fracture planes, characteristic fracture mineral fill, and weak rock mass at the ore contact indicated by poor core orientation quality and rock quality description suggest that ore-parallel fractures in the Kiirunavaara area were more commonly reactivated. Slight variation in the angular relationship of fracture sets situated in different fault-bounded blocks suggests that strain accommodation across the orebodies was uneven. The location of brittle faults identified in drill core, deposit-scale structural analysis, and aeromagnetic geophysical maps indicate a close relationship between fault locations and the iron oxide-apatite mineralization, suggesting that uneven stress accommodation and proximity of conjugate fault sets played an important role in juxtaposing blocks from different crustal depths and control the location of the iron oxide-apatite orebodies.

The northern Norrbotten ore province in Sweden is one of the most mineralized areas in Europe. Iron, gold and/or copper deposits occur as iron oxide-apatite-style mineralization (IOA, Kiruna-type) as well as iron oxide-copper–gold (IOCG) style. Regardless of mineralization style, most deposits appear to be spatially controlled by a set of crustal-scale Palaeoproterozoic shear zones which share similar structural characteristics and deformation histories.

Reappraisal of regional geological and geophysical data, coupled with structural mapping, suggests crustal-scale shear zones form continuous c. N-S-trending zones extending from the Skellefte district in the south into the northern Norrbotten ore province. One example from Norrbotten is a zone that extends SSW from Karesuando in the north towards Svappavaara. While this structure has traditionally been inferred to continue SW towards Arjeplog (i.e. the Karesuando – Arjeplog Deformation Zone; KADZ), we favour its deflection SSE into the Nautanen-Aitik trend, making it a continuous, IOCG-bearing, crustal-scale deformation zone. Similar shear zone geometries can be observed in analogous zones to the west. Most of these crustal scale structures record at least two time-separated deformation events of regional significance. IOA and IOCG deposits form in different tectonic environments, separated in time and overprinting each other.

As part of the larger mineral systems approach to Cu-bearing mineralization in northern Norrbotten, this study utilizes structural geology to set the classic Pahtohavare Cu ± Au deposits into an up-to-date tectonic framework. The Pahtohavare Cu ± Au deposits, situated only 5 km southwest of the Kiirunavaara world-class iron oxide–apatite (IOA) deposit, have a dubious timing, and their link to IOA formation is not constrained. The study area contains both epigenic Cu ± Au (Pahtohavare) and iron oxide–copper–gold (IOCG; Rakkurijärvi) mineral occurrences which are hosted in bedrock that has been folded and bound by two shear zones trending northeast to southwest and northwest to southeast to the east and southwest, respectively. Structural mapping and petrographic investigation of the area reveal a noncylindrical, SE-plunging anticline. The cleavage measurements mirror the fold geometry, which characterizes the fold as F₂ associated with the late phase of the Svecokarelian orogeny. Porphyroclasts with pressure shadows, mylonitic fabrics, and foliation trails in porphyroblasts indicate S₀/S₁  is a tectonic fabric. The epigenetic Pahtohavare Cu ± Au mineralization sits in brittle–ductile structures that cross-cut an earlier foliation and the F₂ fold, indicating that the timing of the deposits occurred syn- to post-F₂ folding, at least ca. 80 Myr after the Kiirunavaara IOA formation. A 3D model and cross-sections of the Pahtohavare–Rakkurijärvi area and a new structural framework of the district are presented and used to suggest that the shear zones bounding the area are likely reactivated early structures that have played a critical role in ore formation in the Kiruna mining district.

The Kiruna mining district, Sweden, known for the type locality of Kiruna-type iron oxide-apatite (IOA) deposits, also hosts several Cu-mineralized deposits including iron oxide-copper-gold (IOCG), exhalative stratiform Cu-(Fe-Zn), and structurally controlled to stratabound Cu +/- Au. However the relationship between the IOA and Cu-systems has not been contextualized within the regional tectonic evolution. A broader mineral systems approach is taken to assess the timing of energy drive(s) within a regional tectonic framework by conducting U-Pb zircon geochronology on intrusions from areas where Cu-mineralization is spatially proximal. Results unanimously yield U-Pb ages from the early Svecokarelian orogeny (ca. 1923-1867 Ma including age uncertainties), except one sample from the Archean basement (2698 +/- 3 Ma), indicating that a distinct thermal drive from magmatic activity was prominent for the early orogenic phase. A weighted average Pb-207/Pb-206 age of 1877 +/- 10 Ma of an iron-oxide-enriched gabbroic pluton overlaps in age with the Kiirunavaara IOA deposit and is suggested as a candidate for contributing mafic signatures to the IOA ore. The results leave the role of a late energy drive (and subsequent late Cu-mineralization and/or remobilization) ambiguous, despite evidence showing a late regional magmatic-style hydrothermal alteration is present in the district.

To constrain the tectonothermal evolution of the type locality for iron oxide-apatite deposits, we have obtained U-Pb zircon, titanite, and apatite age data for the Kiruna mining district in northernmost Sweden. The results indicate that the host basin initiated in an overall extensional regime as indicated by the deposition of alluvial conglomerates and greywackes. A volcanic intercalation in a conglomerate unit northwest of the Luossavaara iron oxide-apatite deposit yields a U-Pb zircon age of 1887 ± 3 Ma representing the timing of the earliest Orosirian volcanism in the central Kiruna mining district coinciding with the onset of basin development. In-situ analysis of titanite on hydrothermally altered fracture planes within a cataclastic fault damage zone (c. 270 m from the fault core system associated to the Luossavaara iron oxide-apatite deposit) yields complex U-Pb data. Applying a strict discordance filter yields a 207Pb/206Pb age of 1889 ± 26 Ma. The age implies that the fault probably has a syn-volcanic origin and that syn-volcanic faults may have played an important role during iron ore emplacement. The mineralized basin was subsequently buried and metamorphosed under upper greenschist-facies conditions and later tectonically exhumed and cooled below the apatite closure temperature at 1805 ± 26 Ma indicated by apatite from the Nukutus iron oxide-apatite deposit. Basin inversion is temporally constrained by syn-tectonic titanite as part of sodic-calcic + Fe + Cl hydrothermal alteration along a brittle-ductile reverse shear zone to the east of the study area. Titanite grains that show sector and oscillatory zoning yield an age of 1812 ± 3 Ma, which we interpret as the onset of basin inversion. Homogeneous (relatively unzoned) titanite in the same sample yields an age of 1802 ± 8 Ma, tentatively indicating that the tectonothermal activity lasted up to c. 20 m.y.

This thesis covers the structural evolution of the Kiruna‑Gällivare area in the northern Norrbotten ore province, Sweden. The study area hosts several economically significant iron oxide-apatite (IOA) deposits and includes the type locality for this ore type. Despite the abundant work on the genesis of IOA-systems, their structural setting and control is poorly constrained. This highlights the need for multi-scale structural studies that can help to unravel structural controls on the genesis and overprinting deformation histories. Four IOA-hosting key study areas were under investigation covering multi-scale structural controls from regional to deposit scale. Extensive geological mapping focused on structures, stratigraphy, and hydrothermal alteration, combined with multi-scale structural analysis and U-Pb geochronology was conducted. Results are synthesized in a time-constrained tectonothermal model for IOA deposits and host rocks of the Kiruna‑Gällivare area.

The results indicate that the IOA deposits in Norrbotten formed in an overall extensional regime coeval with basin development in a backarc setting. The onset of basin development is indicated by a U-Pb age in zircon from a volcanic intercalation in a stratigraphically basal alluvial conglomerate of the ore-bearing sequence. A titanite age indicates that an ore-proximal cataclastic fault has syn-volcanic origin and formed coeval with basin development and ore formation. A similar origin is postulated for ore-proximal biotite-bearing structures at the Malmberget IOA deposit. In comparison with Kiruna, the Malmberget area experienced higher metamorphic conditions and records a more complex deformation history. 

Following backarc extension, subsequent crustal shortening resulted in basin inversion and re-activation of structures. Crustal scale, reverse shear zones developed in favourable lithologies and inferred pre-existing structures during D1. The timing of D1 crustal shortening coincides with peak metamorphism (M1) and is bracketed by crosscutting relationships. In contrast, the timing of an overprinting D2 crustal shortening is directly constrained by U-Pb geochronology in titanite indicating an age of approx. 1.8 Ga during an event tentatively interpreted to have lasted up to 20 m.y. This time span is coeval with the exhumation of the Kiruna mining district as recorded by an U‑Pb reset age in apatite in association to an IOA deposit. The D2 deformation is characterized by reactivation of older structures and responsible for juxtaposition of blocks from different crustal levels and tectonic exhumation into upper crustal domains. Transposition of fabrics and ore bodies into re-activated listric faults during basin inversion explains sub-parallel relationships between the ore-proximal structures, bedding, and stratiform/stratabound orebodies.

Sodic-calcic + Fe ± Cl alteration is widespread and generally sits in early structural positions and interpreted as pre‑ to syn‑D1. However, U-Pb titanite results indicate that sodic-calcic alteration was developed also during the younger D2 event and shows that the alteration style is temporally and spatially widely distributed. Commonly, the alteration styles associated with D2 deformation are potassic in character and associated to Fe- and Cu-sulphide minerals. These potassic alteration assemblages sit in structurally late positions, often brittle in character. Sulphides were remobilized into D2-structures and the entrapment style is mainly controlled by rock competency.

A least two additional overprinting deformation phases are identified (D3 and D4). Clockwise rotation of the overall crustal shortening direction resulted in a gentle refolding of the inverted basin and influences the shape of some IOA deposits in the Kiruna mining district. Dominant joint structures at the Malmberget IOA deposit are indicated as relatively early features and their development is controlled by pre-existing foliation and crosscut by hydrothermally altered structures, that may be coeval with hydraulic fracturing in the Kiruna mining district that crosscut all other fabrics.

To guide future exploration, this predominantly field based study has investigated the structural evolution of the central Kiruna area, the type locality for iron oxide-apatite deposits that stands for a significant amount of the European iron ore production. Using a combination of geologic mapping focusing on structures and stratigraphy, petrography with focus on microstructures, X-ray computed tomography imaging of sulfide-structure relationships, and structural 2D-forward modeling, a structural framework is provided including spatial-temporal relationships between iron oxide-apatite emplacement, subeconomic Fe and Cu sulfide mineralization, and deformation. These relationships are important to constrain as a guidance for exploration in iron oxide-apatite and iron oxide copper-gold prospective terrains and may help to understand the genesis of these deposit types. Results suggest that the iron oxide-apatite deposits were emplaced in an intracontinental back-arc basin, and they formed precrustal shortening under shallow crustal conditions. Subsequent east-west crustal shortening under greenschist facies metamorphism inverted the basin along steep to moderately steep E-dipping structures, often subparallel with bedding and lithological contacts, with reverse, oblique to dip-slip, east-block-up sense of shears. Fe and Cu sulfides associated with Fe oxides are hosted by structures formed during the basin inversion and are spatially related to the iron oxide-apatite deposits but formed in fundamentally different structural settings and are separated in time. The inverted basin was gently refolded and later affected by hydraulic fracturing, which represent the last recorded deformation-hydrothermal events affecting the crustal architecture of central Kiruna.