Petrography of primary peridotites from the Ohsa-yama area, Okayama Prefecture

Ultramafic rocks exposed around Mt. Ohsa(= Ohsa-yama), Okayama prefecture, designated as "Ohsa-yama ultramafic body" all together, are one of the Alpine-type peridotites in the Sangun metamorphic belt. They are intensely serpentinized and locally suffered contact metamorphism by younger granitic intrusions. In a por-tion of the ohsa-yama body where it has been affected by the contact metamorphism, the constituent minerals, texture and structure of primary ultramafic rocks have been locally preserved. Petrographic studies revead that the primary ultramafic rocks of the ohsa-yama body consist domimantly of dunite and harzburgite possessing no obvious layering, and their constituent minerals are similar in composition to those of the Tari-Misaka and Ashidachi ultramafic bodies. These features indicate that unlike the Ochiai-Hokubo body, the Ohsa-yama ultra-mafic body belongs to the "massive group" of the Arai's (1980) classification.