Return to Alkaline Rocks The low radar-topped hill behind the railway station is the alkali-ultramafic complex of Afrikanda, dicovered by Kupletsky in the 1930s. This is a relatively small intrusive body of ultramafic rocks (olivinites, wherlites and clinopyroxenites) cross-cut by ijolites, melteigites and (silico)carbonatites. Anatoly Zaitsev and I have revisited the mineralogy and petrology of Afrikanda and published several detailed reports on both carbonatites and their associated silicate rocks (Chakhmouradian 2004; Chakhmouradian & Zaitsev 1999, 2002, 2004; Zaitsev & Chakhmouradian 2002; Chakhmouradian & McCammon 2005).