Showing papers in "Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology in 1980"

Zircon and granite petrology.

Abstract: The typologic study of zircon populations from granitic rocks lead to the proposition of a genetic classification with three main divisions: (1) granites of crustal or mainly crustal origin [(sub) autochthonous and aluminous granites)]; (2) granites of crustal+mantle origin, hybrid granites (calc-alkaline and sub-alkaline series granites); (3) granites of mantle or mainly mantle origin (alkaline and tholeiitic series granites). In detail, there are many petrogenetic variants of each of the following granitic rocks: granodiorite, monzogranite and alkaline granite. The variations observed with zircon typology are accompanied petrographically by modifications of associations of other main and accessory minerals, and on the field by the presence or absence of basic microgranular xenoliths, associated microgranites, rhyolites or basic rocks. In the typologic diagram, some endogenous non granitic rocks (i.e. migmatites, tonalites, rhyolites ...) show a logical distribution with regard to different genetic stocks of granitic rocks.

Anhydrous melting of peridotite at 0–15 Kb pressure and the genesis of tholeiitic basalts

Abstract: The anhydrous melting behaviour of two synthetic peridotite compositions has been studied experimentally at temperatures ranging from near the solidus to about 200° C above the solidus within the pressure range 0–15 kb. The peridotite compositions studied are equivalent to ‘Hawaiian’ pyrolite and a more depleted spinel lherzolite (Tinaquillo peridotite) and in both cases the experimental studies used peridotite −40% olivine compositions. Equilibrium melting results in progressive elimination of phases with increasing temperature. Four main melting fields are recognized; from the solidus these are: olivine (ol)+orthopyroxene (opx)+clinopyroxene (cpx)+Al-rich phase (plagioclase at low pressure, spinel at moderate pressure, garnet at high pressure)+liquid (L); ol+opx+cpx+Cr-spinel+L; ol+opx+Cr-spinel +L: ol±Cr-spinel+L. Microprobe analyses of the residual phases show progressive changes to more refractory compositions with increasing proportion of coexisting melt i.e. increasing Mg/(Mg+Fe) and Cr/(Cr+Al) ratios, decreasing Al2O3, CaO in pyroxene. The degree of melting, established by modal analysis, increases rapidly immediately above the solidus (up to 10% melting occurs within 25°–30° C of the solidus), and then increases in roughly linear form with increasing temperature. Equilibrium melt compositions have been calculated by mass balance using the compositions and proportions of residual phases to overcome the problems of iron loss and quench modification of the glass. Compositions from the melting of pyrolite within the spinel peridotite field (i.e. ∼ 15 kb) range from alkali olivine basalt (<15% melting) through olivine tholeiite (20–30% melting) and picrite to komatiite (40–60% melting). Melting in the plagioclase peridotite field produces magnesian quartz tholeiite and olivine-poor tholeiite and, at higher degrees of melting (30–40%), basaltic or pyroxenitic komatiite. Melts from Tinaquillo lherzolite are more silica saturated than those from pyrolite for similar degrees of partial melting, and range from olivine tholeiite through tholeiitic picrite to komatiite for melting in the spinel peridotite field. The equilibrium melts are compared with inferred primary magma compositions and integrated with previous melting studies on basalts. The data obtained here and complementary basalt melting studies do not support models of formation of oceanic crust in which the parental magmas of common mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORB) are attributed to segregation from source peridotite at shallow depths (≦ 25 km) to leave residual harzburgite. Liquids segregating from peridotite at these depths are more silica-rich than common MORB.

A phase diagram for mid-ocean ridge basalts: Preliminary results and implications for petrogenesis

Abstract: Samples of a primitive mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB) glass were encapsulated in a mixture of ol (Fo90) and opx (En90) and melted at 10, 15, and 20 kbar. After quenching, the basaltic glass was present as a pool within the ol+opx capsule, but its composition had changed so that it was saturated with ol and opx at the conditions of the experiment. By analyzing the quenched liquid, the location of the ol+opx cotectic in the complex, multicomponent system relevant to MORB genesis was determined.

The Colima Volcanic complex, Mexico

Abstract: Volcan Colima is Mexico's most historically active andesitic composite volcano. It lies 150 km north of the Middle America Trench at the western end of the Mexican Volcanic Belt, closer to the trench than any other composite volcano in Mexico. Since its earliest reported eruption in 1576, V. Colima has evolved through three cycles of activity. Each cycle culminated in a major ashflow eruption, halting activity for 50 or more years. The last major ashflow eruption occurred in 1913. Andesitic block lava eruptions in 1961–1962 and 1975–1976 marked the inception of activity in a fourth historical cycle which may also terminate with a major ashflow eruption in the early part of the next century.

Melt density and the average composition of basalt

Abstract: Densities of residual liquids produced by low pressure fractionation of olivine-rich melts pass through a minimum when pyroxene and plagioclase joint the crystallization sequence. The observation that erupted basalt compositions cluster around the degree of fractionation from picritic liquids corresponding to the density minimum in the liquid line of descent may thus suggest that the earth's crust imposes a density filter on the liquids that pass through it, favoring the eruption of the light liquids at the density minimum over the eruption of denser more fractionated and less fractionated liquids.

Authigenic layer silicate minerals in borehole Elmore 1, Salton Sea Geothermal Field, California, USA

Abstract: A combined petrographic/X-ray/electron microprobe and energy dispersive system investigation of sandstone cuttings from borehole Elmore # 1 near the center of the Salton Sea Geothermal Field has revealed numerous regular variations in the composition, texture, mineralogy and proportions of the authigenic layer silicate minerals in the temperature interval 185° C (411.5 m depth) to 361° C (2,169 m). At temperatures near 190° C, dolomite/ankerite+calcite-bearing sandstones contain an illite/mixed layer phase with 10% expandable layers (dolomite/ankerite zone). In shale, the percentage of expandable layers in the mixed layer phase changes from 10–15% at 185° C to 5% at 210° C (494 m). In the interval 250° C (620 m) to 325° C (1,135 m), the calcite+pyrite+epidote-bearing sandstones contain a layer silicate assemblage of chlorite and illite (chlorite-calcite zone). In the shallower portions of this metamorphic zone, the illite contains 0–5% expandable layers, while at depths greater than 725 m (275° C) it is completely free of expandable layers. On increasing temperature, the white mica shows regular decreases in SiIV, Mg and Fe, and increase in AlIV, AlVI, and interlayer occupancy, as it changes gradually from fine-grained illite (=textural sericite) to coarse-grained recrystallized phengitic white mica. In the same interval, chlorite shows decreases in AlVI and octahedral vacancies and an increase in total Mg+Fe. The sandstones range from relatively unmodified detrital-textured rocks with porosities up to 20% and high contents of illite near 250° C to relatively dense hornfelsic-textured rocks with trace amounts of chlorite and phengite and porosities near 5% at 325° C. Numerous complex reactions among detrital (allogenic) biotite, chlorite, and muscovite, and authigenic illite and chlorite, occur in the chlorite-calcite zone. Biotite appears, and calcite disappears, at a temperature near 325° C and a depth of 1,135m. The biotite zone so produced persists to 360° C in sandstone, at which temperature orthoclase disappears and andradite garnet appears at a depth near 2,155 m. Throughout the biotite zone and into the garnet zone, the biotite undergoes compositional changes that are very similar to those observed in illite/phengite in the chlorite-calcite zone, including increases in interlayer occupancy, AlIV, AlVI, and Ti, and decreases in F−, SiIV, and Mg/Fet+Mg, on increasing temperature. Biotite thus changes from a siliceous, K-deficient biotite at the biotite isograd to a typical low-grade metamorphic biotite at temperatures near 360° C. Minor amounts of talc appear with biotite at the biotite isograd in sandstone, while actinolite appears in both sandstone and shale at temperatures near 340° C (1,325 m). Chlorite completely disappears from sandstone at temperatures of approximately 350° C (1,500 m), and diminishes abruptly in amount in the more chloritic shales at the same depth.

The role of liquid immiscibility in the genesis of carbonatites — An experimental study

Abstract: The two-liquid field between alkali-carbonate liquids and phonolite or nephelinite magmas from the Oldoinyo Lengai volcano has been determined between 0.7 and 7.6 kb and 900°–1,250° C. The miscibility gap expands with increase in $$P_{CO_2 }$$ and decrease in temperature. Concomitantly there is a rotation of tie-lines so that the carbonate liquids become richer in CaO. The element distribution between the melts indicates that a carbonate liquid equivalent in composition to Oldoinyo Lengai natrocarbonatite lava would have separated from a phonolitic rather than a nephelinitic magma. CO2-saturated nephelinites coexist with carbonate liquids much richer in CaO than the Lengai carbonatites, but even so these liquids have high alkali concentrations. If the sovites of hypabyssal and plutonic ijolite-carbonatite complexes originated by liquid immiscibility, then large quantities of alkalis have been lost, as is suggested by fenitization and related phenomena. The miscibility gap closes away from Na2O-rich compositions, so that the tendency to exsolve a carbonatite melt is greater in salic than in mafic silicate magmas. The two-liquid field does not approach kimberlitic compositions over the range of pressures studied, suggesting that the globular textures observed in many kimberlite sills and dykes may be the result of processes other than liquid immiscibility at crustal pressures.

NaSi⇌CaAl exchange equilibrium between plagioclase and amphibole

Abstract: The exchange equilibrium between plagioclase and amphibole, 2 albite+tschermakite=2 anorthite+glaucophane, has been calibrated empirically using data from natural amphibolites. The partition coefficient, KD, for the exchange reaction is (Xan/Xab)plag ·(Na, M4/Ca, M4)amph.. Partitioning is systematic between plagioclase and amphibole in suites collected from single exposures, but the solid solutions are highly non-ideal: values of In KD range from −3.0 at Xan=0.30 to −1.0 at Xan=0.90 in samples from a single roadcut. Changes in both KD and the topology of the ternary reciprocal exchange diagram occur with increasing metamorphic grade. Temperature dependence of In KD is moderate with Δ¯H≃35 to 47 kcal at Xan=0.25; pressure dependence is small with Δ¯V≃ −0.24 cal/bar. Usefulness of this exchange equilibrium as a geothermometer is restricted by uncertainties in the calculation of the amphibole formula from a microprobe analysis, especially with regard to Na, M4 in amphibole, to approximately ±50 ° C.

Osumilite-sapphirine-quartz granulites from Enderby Land, Antarctica: P-T conditions of metamorphism, implications for garnet-cordierite equilibria and the evolution of the deep crust

Abstract: Osumilite-sapphirine-quartz granulites from Enderby Land, Antarctica (Ellis et al. 1980) were metamorphosed at 8–10 kb pressure, 900°-980° C under very low $$P_{H_2 O} $$ conditions. Retrograde mineral coronas in these rocks record subsequent cooling from the peak of metamorphism at approximately constant pressure. The inferredP-T cooling-uplift path differs markedly from that evident in many other granulite terrains. Present garnet-cordierite geothermometers imply equilibration at temperatures of 500°–600° C, well within the kyanite stability field. These temperatures are inconsistent with the presence of sillimanite and the high temperature stability fields of the actual mineral assemblages. Examination of available garnetcordierite experimental data suggests a possible large increase in the Gt-Cd Fe-MgK D with increasingX Mg of the cordierite (and pressure). New experiments designed to test this possibility were inconclusive because of the failure to attain satisfactory equilibrium, even at 1,000° C. Possible reasons for the exposure of these unusual granulites in Enderby Land are considered. Although they formed at much higher temperatures than other granulites exposed on a regional scale, suchP-T conditions are not exceptional for the base of the crust. Instead, the unusual isobaric cooling to low temperatures followed by uplift to the surface which these granulites are inferred to have undergone is considered of importance. The unusual tectonic conditions are reflected in the disctinctive type of mineral reaction coronas found in these rocks. The common occurrence elsewhere of mineral reaction during uplift, and the role of anatexis during uplift in obliterating such high temperature assemblages elsewhere in the world are considered.

Osumilite-sapphirine-quartz granulites from Enderby Land Antarctica — Mineral assemblages and reactions

Abstract: The pre-Cambrian granulites of Enderby Land Antarctica, contain coexisting spinel-quartz, sapphirine-quartz, hypersthene-sillimanite-quartz and osumilite on a regional extent. Osumilite is present in a variety of mineral assemblages, most of which are documented in granulites for the first time. The mineral assemblages, reactions and compositional zoning in minerals are discussed in terms of continuous and discontinuous reactions in response to changing conditions of metamorphism. The development of many of the mineral coronas can be explained by continuous rather than discontinuous reactions, due to the effects of Mg-Fe and (Mg,Fe)-2Al exchange equilibria with decreasing temperature. The highest P-T conditions of metamorphism (8–10 kb, 900 °–980 ° C, Ellis, in preparation) were beyond the stability limit of coexisting garnet-cordierite. Secondary cordierite has developed through a large number of mineral reactions in response to cooling of these granulites.

Tertiary or Mesozoic komatiites from Gorgona Island, Colombia: Field relations and geochemistry

Abstract: An exceptional occurrence of ultramafic lavas within the volcanic member of the Mesozoic (or younger) Gorgona Igneous Complex represents the first known komatiites of post-Precambrian age Gorgona komatiites are virtually unaltered and display typical spinifex textures, with 7–10 cm long plates of olivine (Fo 88 to 91) surrounded by acicular aluminous augite, subordinate plagioclase (An 56 to 78), basaltic glass, and two spinel phases The MgO contents of the komatiites range from 15 to 22 wt% Sr and Nd isotopic compositions are indicative of depletion of incompatible elements in the mantle source region, as is the case for “normal” mid-ocean ridge basalts The komatiites are low in total REE abundances and extremely depleted in LREE They represent primary melts generated by high degree of partial melting of the mantle Eruption temperatures are estimated at 1,450° to 1,500° C

40Ar-39Ar dating of high pressure metamorphic micas from the Gran Paradiso area (Western Alps): Evidence against the blocking temperature concept

Abstract: The40Ar-39Ar method has been applied to high pressure (HP) white micas from the Gran Paradiso crystalline massif and from the overthrust Schistes Lustres of its western slope. Preliminary petrographic and microanalytical investigation of the phengite micas showed that their celadonite-content decreases with time (from Si3.65 to Si3.05), and that less foliated samples are the most suitable for the metastable persistence of the high celadonite-content of the early HP stage during subsequent metamorphic evolution.

U-Pb and Rb-Sr radiometric dates and their correlation with metamorphic events in the granulite-facies basement of the serre, Southern Calabria (Italy)

Abstract: An approximately 7 km thick, continuous sequence of granulite-facies rocks from the lower crust, which contains a lower granulite-pyriclasite unit and an upper metapelite unit, occurs in the NW Serre of the Calabrian massif. The lower crustal section is overlain by a succession of plutonic rocks consisting of blastomylonitic quartz diorite, tonalite, and granite, and is underlain by phyllonitic schists and gneisses. Discordant apparent zircon ages, obtained from granulites and aluminous paragneisses, indicate a minimum age of about 1,900 m.y. for the oldest zircon populations. The lower intersection point of the discordia with the concordia at 296±2 m.y. is also marked by concordant monazites. Therefore, the age of 296±2 m.y. is interpreted as the minimum age of granulite-facies metamorphism. Concordant zircon ages were obtained from a metamorphic quartz monzogabbronorite sill (298±5 m.y.) and an unmetamorphosed tonalite (295±2 m.y.); they are interpreted as the intrusion ages. Discordant zircon ages from a blastomylonitic quartz diorite gneiss, situated between the lower crustal unit and the non-metamorphosed tonalite, reveal recent or geologically young lead loss by diffusion. The 207Pb/206Pb ages of the two analysed size-fractions point to an intrusion age similar to that of the overlying tonalite. Rb-Sr mineral ages are younger in the granulite-pyriclasite unit than in the overlying metapelite unit. Feldspars from the granulite-pyriclasite unit yield ages of about 145 m.y. and those from the metapelite unit 176±5 m.y. In the same way, the biotite cooling ages range between 108 and 114 m.y. in the granulitepyriclasite and between 132 and 135 m.y. in the metapelite unit and the tonalite. Some still younger biotite ages are explained by the influence of tectonic shearing on the Rb-Sr systems. A muscovite from a postmetamorphic aplite in the metapelite unit yields a cooling age of 203±4 m.y. The Rb-Sr isotopic analyses from migmatite bands do not lie on an isochron, perhaps due to limited isotopic exchange between the small scale layers during the long cooling period after the peak of metamorphism. In the phyllonitic gneisses and schists a Hercynian metamorphism is indicated by a muscovite age of 268±4 m.y., whereas the biotite age of 43±1 m.y. from the same sample can be correlated with an Alpine greenschist-facies metamorphism. On the basis of the radiometric dates and of the P-T path of the lower crustal section deduced petrologically, the following model is presented: the end of the Hercynian granulite-facies metamorphism was accompanied by an uplift of the lower crustal rocks into intermediate crustal levels and by synchronous plutonic intrusions into the lower crust and higher crustal levels, but essentially into the latter. Substantial further uplift did not occur until after cooling from the temperature of the granulite-facies metamorphism to the biotite closing temperature. This cooling lasted for about 185 m.y. in the lower part and for about 160 m.y. in the upper part of the lower crust section. A comparison between the geologic evolutions of the NW Serre of Calabria and the Ivrea Zone of the Alps demonstrates striking similarities. The activity of deep seated faults in both areas at least since late Hercynian time raises the possibility that a fault precursor of the boundary of the Adriatic microplate already existed at this time.

Microstructural and chemical transformations accompanying deformation of granite in a shear zone at Miéville, Switzerland; with implications for stress corrosion cracking and superplastic flow

Abstract: At Mieville, in the Aiguilles-Rouges Massif, granitic rocks of the basement are deformed into mylonites within a major subvertical shear zone. The ambient temperature during translation is estimated at 250° C±30° C from fluid inclusion filling temperatures in syntectonic microveins, from Δ 18O quartzilmenite of+15%, and from mineralogical criteria. Porphyroclasts of both oligoclase and orthoclase feldspar decrease from initial diameters of 20 mm and assume elliptical shapes during progressive deformation, due to recrystallisation of the margins to ultra-fine polygonal grains which extend out from the porphyroclasts in thin trails: the final stable grain size is <5 μ. The recrystallised feldspar has a composition of the parent porphyroclast,+albite, requiring relative gains of Na and losses of K+Ca compared to the precursor, and implying short range redistribution of the components during deformation. Decrease of free energy associated with the deformation catalysed change in feldspar composition, coupled with stored strain energy in the porphyroclasts may account for recrystallisation to a stable aggregate of ultrafine grain size. The long trails imply exceptionally high ductility, which, coupled with microstructural criteria, and admixture of quartz from neighbouring pure quartz aggregates by grain boundary sliding, is interpreted in terms of superplastic flow. Estimated temperatures of T/T m≈0.2 for the inferred superplastic deformation is lower by a factor of 2 than previously recorded for this flow michanism in silicates. The feldspar and quartz probably accomodated grain boundary sliding by intercrystalline diffusion. Biotite responds to deformation by bendgliding, kinking, and recrystallisation in mantles. The reaction of high-Ti parent grains to low-Ti biotite+Fe-muscovite+ ilmenite+chlorite is catalysed at all of these microstructural sites. Progressive deformation of the fine-grained products in the mantles is coupled with steady reaction to low-Fe muscovite+epidote+ sphene+rutile resulting in exceptionally ductile trails, as for the case of feldspar. Biotite grains have pervasive networks of nondisplacive intragranular fractures. At the fracture tips increase of the stress intensity has catalysed the reaction of high-Ti parent grains to low-Ti biotite+muscovite+ ilmenite which occupy the fractures. The fractures propagate and coalesce resulting in mechanical breakdown of the parent grains: these microstructures are believed to be examples of natural stress corrosion cracking. These features are also abundant in feldspar porphyroclasts where at fracture tips orthoclase→secondary orthoclase+albite, and oligoclase→secondary oligoclase+albite. Stress corrosion cracking may be significant in the steady state deformation of crustal rocks at low temperatures when intracrystalline plasticity is not generally dominant. Two way mass balance calculations utilising major and selected trace element data, reveal that deformation of the granite was essentially isochemical, involving average additions of <1 % H2O+CO2, at approximately constant specific gravity. The parameters Fe2+/∑Fe and δ18Owhole rock maintain relatively constant values across the shear zone, and this also implies limited participation of fluids in the deformation. Alkali elements and titanium display the largest percentage variation during progressive deformation, whereas SiO2, Al2O3, and P2O5, together with V, Ni, Cr,Y,Zr, and Nb remain relatively constant. All variations decrease at increasing states of deformation and this is interpreted in terms of mechanical mixing of chemical inhomogeneities of the granite precursor within the shear zone. Constraints imposed by variations in abundance of the relatively immobile elements imply that volume changes accompanying deformation in the shear zone were less than ±10%.

Trace element and isotopic variations in a zoned pluton and associated volcanic rocks, Unalaska Island, Alaska: A model for fractionation in the Aleutian calcalkaline suite

Abstract: Trace elements, including rare earth elements (REE), exhibit systematic variations in plutonic rocks from the Captains Bay pluton which is zoned from a narrow gabbroic rim to a core of quartz monzodiorite and granodiorite. The chemical variations parallel those in the associated Aleutian calcalkaline volcanic suite. Concentrations of Rb, Y, Zr and Ba increase as Sr and Ti decrease with progressive differentiation. Intermediate plutonic rocks are slightly enriched in light REE (La/Yb=3.45–9.22), and show increasing light REE fractionation and negative Eu anomalies (Eu/Eu*=1.03–0.584). Two border-zone gabbros have similar REE patterns but are relatively depleted in total REE and have positive Eu anomalies; indicative of their cumulate nature. Initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios in 8 samples (0.70299 to 0.70377) are comparable to those of volcanic rocks throughout the arc and suggest a mantle source for the magmas. Oxygen isotopic ratios indicate that many of the intermediate plutonic rocks have undergone oxygen isotopic exchange with large volumes of meteoric water during the late stages of crystallization; however no trace element or Sr isotopic alteration is evident. Major and trace element variations are consistent with a model of inward fractional crystallization of a parental high-alumina basaltic magma at low pressures (〈6 kb). Least-squares approximations and trace element fractionation calculations suggest that differentiation in the plutonic suite was initially controlled by the removal of calcic plagioclase, lesser pyroxene, olivine and Fe-Ti oxides but that with increasing differentiation and water fugacity the removal of sub-equal amounts of sodic plagioclase and hornblende with lesser Fe-Ti oxides effectively drove residual liquids toward dacitic compositions. Major and trace element compositions of aplites which intrude the pluton are not adequately explained by fractional crystallization. They may represent partial melts derived from the island arc crust. Similarities in Sr isotopes, chemical compositions and differentiation trends between the plutonic series and some Aleutian volcanic suites indicates that shallow-level fractional crystallization is a viable mechanism for generating the Aleutian calcalkaline rock series.

Carbon Dioxide in igneous petrogenesis: I

Abstract: A number of experimental CO2 solubility data for silicate and aluminosilicate melts at a variety of P- T conditions are consistent with solution of CO2 in the melt by polymer condensation reactions such as SiO 4( 4− +CO2(v)+Si n O 3+1() (2+1) ⇌Si n+1O 3+4() (2+4)− +CO 3( )2− . For various metalsilicate systems the relative solubility of CO2 should depend markedly on the relative Gibbs free change of reaction. Experimental solubility data for the systems Li2O-SiO2, Na2O-SiO2, K2O-SiO2, CaO-SiO2, MgO-SiO2 and other aluminosilicate melts are in complete accord with predictions based on Gibbs Free energies of model polycondesation reactions. A rigorous thermodynamic treatment of published P- T-wt.% CO2 solubility data for a number of mineral and natural melts suggests that for the reaction CO2(m) ⇌ CO2(v) $$\ln X_{{\text{CO}}_{\text{2}} }^m = \ln f_{{\text{CO}}_{\text{2}} } - \frac{A}{T} - B - \frac{C}{T}(P - 1)$$ have been determined. Regression parameters are (A, B, C): andesite (3.419, 11.164, 0.408), tholeiite (14.040, 5.440,0.393), melilite (9.226, 7.860, 0.352). The solubility equations are believed to be accurate in the range 3

Some constraints on the thermodynamic mixing properties of Fe-Mg orthopyroxenes and olivines

Abstract: Existing data on the temperature and composition dependence of the Fe2+-Mg2+ distribution between Fe-Mg olivine and orthopyroxene, the intra-crystalline distribution of Fe2+ and Mg2+ between M1 and M2 sites in orthopyroxene, and macroscopic activity-composition relations in olivine and orthopyroxene are shown to be inconsistent with generally accepted thermodynamic formulations which assume that the non-configurational Gibbs energy of orthopyroxene is independent of the degree of long-range ordering of Fe2+ and Mg+ between M1 and M2 sites. These data are interpreted in terms of the constraints they provide on the size of Bragg-Williams type energy, entropy, and volume terms for olivine and orthopyroxene. The apparent equilibrium constant for Fe-Mg exchange between olivine and orthopyroxene is shown to be a potentially useful ‘geothermometer’ for olivine-orthopyroxene assemblages with olivines with mole fraction of Fe2SiO4 component less than 0.2 or greater than 0.6. A provisional calibration of this ‘geothermometer’ is presented.

Petrology and 40Ar/39Ar geochronology of some hellenic sub-ophiolite metamorphic rocks

Abstract: Whole rock, electron microprobe analyses and 40Ar/39Ar geochronology of certain ophioliterelated metamorphic rocks from beneath the Pindos, Vourinos, Othris and Euboea ophiolites of Greece show that they were formed mainly from ocean-type basalts, in part under P-T conditions of the upper mantle and that they have ages between 170–180 m.y. The evidence presented is inconsistent with the view that these sub-ophiolite metamorphic rocks were produced by the obduction of ocean-type crust onto a continental margin, or that they are remnant slices of Palaeozoic ‘basement’, but is consistent with their formation by thrusting and related metamorphism occurring within ocean lithosphere during the Lower to Middle Jurassic. It is proposed that this intraoceanic metamorphism was caused by the inception of a fault zone which subsequently became the transport surface for the main phase of ophiolite emplacement that occurred in the Hellenides from the Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous.

An experimental investigation of the partitioning of REE between garnet and liquid with reference to the role of defect equilibria

Abstract: The partitioning of samarium and thulium between garnets and melts in the systems Mg3Al2-Si3O12-H2O and Ca3Al2Si3O12-H2O has been studied as a function of REE concentration in the garnets at 30 kbar pressure. Synthesis experiments of variable time under constant P, T conditions indicate that garnet initially crystallizes rapidly to produce apparent values of D Sm (D Sm=concentration of Sm in garnet/concentration of Sm in liquid) which are too large in the case of pyrope and too small in the case of grossular. As the experiment proceeds, Sm diffuses out of or into the garnet and the equilibrium value of D Sm is approached. Approximate values of diffusion coefficients for Sm in pyrope garnet obtained by this method are 6 × 10−13 cm2 s−1 at 1,300 ° C and 2 × 10−12 cm2 s−1 at 1,500 ° C, and for grossular, 8.3 × 10−12 cm2 s−1 at 1,200 ° C and 4.6 × 10−11 cm2 s−1 at 1,300 ° C. The equilibrium values of D Sm have been reversed by experiments with Sm-free pyrope and Sm-bearing glass, and with Sm-bearing grossular and Sm-free glass. Between 12 ppm and 1,000 ppm Sm in pyrope at 1,300 ° C and between 80 ppm and >2 wt.% Tm in pyrope at 1,500 ° C, partition coefficients are constant and independent of REE concentration. Above 100 ppm of Sm in garnet at 1,500 ° C, partition coefficients are independent of Sm concentration. At lower concentrations, however, D Sm is dependent upon the Sm content of the garnet. The two regions may be interpreted in terms of charge-balanced substitution of Sm3Al5O12 in the garnet at high Sm concentrations and defect equilibria involving cation vacancies at low concentrations. At very low REE concentrations (< 1 ppm Tm in grossular at 1,300 ° C) DREE garnet/liquid again becomes constant with an apparent Henry's Law value greater than that at high concentrations. This may be interpreted in terms of a large abundance of cation vacancies relative to the number of REE ions. The importance of defects in the low concentration region has been confirmed by adding other REE (at 80 ppm level) to the system Mg3Al2Si3O12-H2O at low Sm concentrations. These change D Sm in the defect region, demonstrating their role in the production of vacancies. Experiments on a natural pyropic garnet indicate that defect equilibria are of importance to REE partitioning within the concentration ranges found in nature.

Carbonatization and mobility of Ti, Y, and Zr in Ascot Formation metabasalts, SE Quebec

Abstract: The middle Ordovician Ascot Formation of southeastern Quebec consists of greenschist facies metamorphosed silicic to mafic pyroclastic rocks and lava flows and associated metasediments. Chemical analyses of lavas reveal a preponderance of metarhyolites and metabasalts, together with some porphyritic rocks with intermediate SiO2 contents. The metabasalts exhibit wide ranges in concentrations of TiO2 (0.25–2.0 wt.°), Y (9–46 ppm), and Zr (5–135 ppm). The extent of the ranges, and unusual interelement ratios, suggest that the concentrations of these normally immobile elements have been affected by secondary processes. There is a strong correlation between trace-element concentrations and the degree of carbonatization of the metabasalts. Low carbonate rocks are severely depleted in Ti, Y, and Zr whereas high carbonate rocks are depleted in Y and Zr and enriched in Ti. The differing movement of Ti can be explained in terms of variable chemical potential due to the various carbonatization reactions affecting titaniferous phases. Overall mobility of these generally “immobile/rd elements is attributed to high CO2 levels in the fluid phase during metamorphism. Extrapolation of the two alteration trends to a common origin enables one to infer primary concentrations of the trace-elements. Primary inter-element ratios arrived at in this way are compatible with an island-arc origin for the Ascot Formation although TiO2 concentrations are a little high (1.5 wt/%).

A lead isotope study of mineralization in the Saudi Arabian Shield

Abstract: New lead isotope data are presented for some late Precambrian and early Paleozoic vein and massive sulfide deposits in the Arabian Shield. Using the Stacey Kramers (1975) model for lead isotope evolution, isochron model ages range between 720 m.y. and 420 m.y. Most of the massive sulfide deposits in the region formed before 680 m.y. ago, during evolution of the shield. Vein type mineralization of higher lead content occurred during the Pan African event about 550 m.y. ago and continued through the Najd period of extensive faulting in the shield that ended about 530 m.y. ago. Late post-tectonic metamorphism may have been responsible for vein deposits that have model ages less than 500 m.y. Alternatively some of these younger model ages may be too low due to the mineralizing fluids acquiring radiogenic lead from appreciably older local crustal rocks at the time of ore formation.

Retrograde alteration of chromian kyanite in metachert and amphibolite whiteschist from the Southern Alps, New Zealand, with implications for uplift on the Alpine Fault

Abstract: Chromian kyanites with a maximum content of 2.88 wt.% Cr2O3 occur in metachert and amphibolite from the Southern Alps, New Zealand. The presence of the whiteschist assemblage kyanite-talc, together with kyanite-zoisite assemblages in calc silicate bands imply high pressure metamorphism, with climactic conditions of approximately 10 kb at 650°–700° C. Mylonitization caused by a change to oblique-slip movements on the Alpine Fault is succeeded by retrograde alteration of kyanite-bearing assemblages. Kyanite is pseudomorphed by Cr-margarite-fuchsite-Cr-zoisite assemblages in metachert and by less chromian margarite and zoisite in amphibolite. Contemporaneously hornblende and phlogopite break down to chlorite. Subsequently the metachert pseudomorphs are mantled by muscovite and those in amphibolite by anorthite and chromite. The breakdown of margarite and zoisite to anorthite implies decompression under a low thermal gradient, compatible with almost isothermal uplift on the Alpine Fault. Late stage retrograde products include fibrous kyanite (probably forming by recrystallization of primary alluminosilicate) and scapolite (possibly orginating through interaction of Cl-bearing fluids in a geothermal system).

Selective Elemental Depletion During Metamorphism of Archaean Granulites, Scourie, NW Scotland

Abstract: The low abundances of large ion lithophile elements (LIL), K, Rb, U, Th, Cs, and high K/Rb ratio in rocks varying in composition from gabbro to granite in the Scourian complex, NW Scotland, are interpreted as due to depletion during granulite facies metamorphism. Depletion was controlled by the mineralogy of the rock, the composition of the associated fluid phase and its volume relative to the volume of the rock. K-feldspar granites and granodiorites were not depleted in K and only moderately in Rb, but tonalites and trondhjemites were strongly depleted in both K and Rb. Published mineral-fluid partition coefficients for LIL in aqueous systems indicate that between 0.075 and 2.0 rock volumes of fluid phase passed through the host rock in order to achieve the observed selective elemental depletion.

Petrology and trace element geochemistry of the Papuan Ultramafic Belt

Abstract: New petrologic and geochemical data are presented for a suite of rocks from the Papuan Ultramafic Belt (PUB), Papua New Guinea. Tectonite harzburgites at the base of the ophiolite have extremely refractory, uniform mineralogy, and are exceptionally depleted in lithophile elements. These features are consistent with the proposed origin of these rocks as ‘depleted’ upper mantle, residual after extraction of a basaltic melt. The tectonite peridotites are overlain by a thick sequence of layered ultramafic and mafic cumulates containing olivine, orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene and plagioclase as the major cumulus phases. Early cumulates are characterized by magnesian olivine Mg90, orthopyroxene Mg90 and calcic plagioclase An86, and exhibit cryptic variation towards more iron-rich and sodic compositions. Abundances of ‘incompatible’ elements in the cumulates are extremely low which, together with the nature of the cumulus phases, points to a magnesian olivine-poor tholeiite or magnesian quartz tholeiite parent magma(s) strongly depleted in ‘incompatible’ elements. Highly fractionated iron-rich products of this parent magma type are represented by the LREE-depleted lavas in the overlying basalt sequence which, although resembling the most depleted mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORB) in terms of their low abundances of ‘incompatible’ elements, have higher abundances of transition metals and lower abundances of Ti, HREE and other high valence cations compared to common MORB of similar Mg/(Mg+Fe) ratio.

The genesis of Variscan (Hercynian) plutonic rocks: Inferences from Sr, Pb, and O studies on the Maladeta igneous complex, central Pyrenees (Spain)

Abstract: The Maladeta plutonic complex formed during the latest stages of the Variscan orogeny. It was emplaced into the Paleozoic sedimentary sequence of the Pyrenees. The eastern part, investigated in the present study, consists of an early intrusion of cumulate gabbronorites followed in order of emplacement by the main biotite-hornblende granodiorite, which was itself intruded by two small stocks of two-mica cordierite granite. An 87Rb-87Sr isochron dates the granodiorite at 277±7 m.y. with an initial (87Sr/86Sr)o ratio of 0.7117±3. Gabbroic rocks have lower strontium initial ratios, down to 0.7092, while those of granite range from that of the granodiorite up to about 0.715. The three rock types have distinctive δ18O values: 8.7 to 9.6 for the gabbronorites, 9.4 to 10.4 for the granodiorites and 10.3 to 11.8 for the granites. Lead isotopic compositions of rocks and feldspars are all radiogenic. Feldspars give consistent Pb model ages around 280 m.y., with μ and κ values of about 9.7 and 4.05, respectively. No pristine, mantle-derived magma was found among the investigated samples and the rocks cannot be related to one another by any simple mechanism of fractional crystallization. Some type of mixing process involving two end members seems to be required: a high-18O, high-87Sr material that is clearly of crustal origin, and a lower-18O, lower-87Sr end member derived from the mantle. Examination of various mixing models does not support magma mixing nor assimilation of crustal rocks by a mafic magma. The most acceptable model involves melting at different levels of a vertically-zoned source in the continental crust; this source was formed by mixing between mantle-derived magmas and crustal metasediments. This material was apparently thickened, tectonically downwarped and partially melted. None of the Maladeta magma-types appear to have been derived at a consuming plate boundary.

On the thermal stability of Rb-Sr and K-Ar biotite systems: Evidence from coexisting Sveconorwegian (ca 870 Ma) and Caledonian (ca 400 Ma) biotites in SW Norway

Abstract: The Caledonian orogeny has imposed a zone of greenschist facies metamorphism on the high-grade Sveconorwegian basement along the front of the Caledonian nappe system in S.W. Norway. In this zone a Caledonian generation of green biotite (ca 400 Ma old) has developed, indicating a metamorphic temperature of about 400° C. This Caledonian biotite occurs side by side with relicts of a Sveconorwegian generation of brown biotite (ca 870 Ma old). The somewhat younger ages obtained from a number of brown biotites can be related to a partial transformation of the old biotite to titanite+green biotite during the Caledonian metamorphic recrystallization. Loss of radiogenic Ar and Sr from the biotite by volume diffusion apparently has not been operative, even at a temperature as high as 400° C. The Sveconorwegian biotite appears to have remained virtually closed to K-Ar and Rb-Sr up to the break-down due to metamorphic recrystallization.

Mechanisms of exsolution in sodic pyroxenes

Abstract: The free energy curves for simple binary solid solutions with limited miscibility or atomic ordering have been combined to predict the phase relations and exsolution mechanisms for a system in which both ordering and exsolution are possible. The nature of the ordering process affects which exsolution mechanisms may be used. If the ordering is second (or higher) order in character then continuous mechanisms predominate and a ‘conditional spinodal’ (Alien and Cahn, 1976) can be described which operates between ordered and disordered end members. For a first order case, the ordered phase can only precipitate a disordered phase by nucleation and growth. Microstructures in omphacites observed by transmission electron microscopy include exsolution lamellae and antiphase domains and the relations between them in selected specimens have been used to interpret the exsolution mechanisms which operated under geological conditions. It appears that most omphacites undergo cation ordering, and then remain homogeneous or exsolve a disordered pyroxene by spinodal decomposition. The predominance of continuous mechanisms has been used to indicate that the C2/c→P2/n transformation may be second (or higher) order in character. A possible phase diagram for jadeite-augite is presented. It is based on the idea that there should be limited miscibility between the disordered end members at low temperatures and that the cation ordering at intermediate compositions (omphacite) is superimposed on a solvus. It is adequate to explain many of the observed microstructures and fits with petrographic evidence of broad two phase fields between impure jadeite and omphacite and between omphacite and sodic augite. The effect of adding acmite is analogous to increasing temperature so that the phase relations for jadeite-acmite-augite can also be predicted.

Petrogenesis of voluminous mid-Tertiary ignimbrites of the Sierra Madre Occidental, Chihuahua, Mexico

Abstract: The mid-Tertiary ignimbrites of the Sierra Madre Occidental of western Mexico constitute the largest continuous rhyolitic province in the world. The rhyolites appear to represent part of a continental magmatic arc that was emplaced when an eastward-dipping subduction zone was located beneath western Mexico.

Saponite and celadonite in layer 2 basalts, DSDP Leg 37

Abstract: Detailed examination of igneous core recovered during Leg 37 of the DSDP, has revealed that basalt diagenesis, an alteration effect resulting from low temperature interaction with seawater, is pervasive to depths of greater than 600 meters in layer 2. Phyllosilicates are among the main components of this low grade alteration effect and occur exclusively as saponite, celadonite and interlayered mixtures of these two phases. Saponites fall into two chemical groups as (a) Mg rich-Fe poor types characteristic of oxidative diagenesis and (b) Fe rich-Mg poor types characteristic of non-oxidative diagenesis. Celadonite is entirely restricted in occurrence to the oxidative diagenetic environment (oxidation halos) and rarely, if ever, occurs as a pure phase. In this respect, X-ray and electron microprobe analyses suggest the presence of interlayered smectite in some cases and iron-oxide contamination in others.

The orthoclase-microcline inversion: A high-resolution transmission electron microscope study and strain analysis

Abstract: High-resolution electron microscopy of an intermediate microcline (Or93) from a granodiorite in southeastern Australia reveals anen echelon arrangement of triclinic lens-shaped domains, twinned on the albite law. The domains are tabular on (010), are only a few unit cells wide, but extend 20 or 30 unit cells alongx, until they merge into a zone of monoclinic cells roughly aligned in the rhombic section. The domains are longer and less clearly terminated alongz. Strain calculations show that the energy released by Al/Si ordering, producing the orthoclase-microcline inversion, is equal to the strain energy developed when triclinic domains are forced to retain the original monoclinic crystal shape. This balance of strain energies thus explains the metastable persistence of intermediate microcline into the region of maximum microcline stability. Shearing along faults during deformation of the granodiorite released the strain in some of these feldspars, allowing maximum microcline to develop, and so giving rise to a bimodal distribution of triclinicities throughout the pluton. The value ofγ measured for the intermediate microcline is the average of a range of values throughout each domain, and may be considerably closer to 90° thanγ from an unstrained crystal with the same degree of Al/Si order.