Showing papers on "Incompatible element published in 1981"

A neodymium and strontium isotopic study of the Mesozoic calc‐alkaline granitic batholiths of the Sierra Nevada and Peninsular Ranges, California

Abstract: Plutonic igneous rocks of the Sierra Nevada batholith exhibit a range of Nd isotopic composition described by eNd = +6.5 to −7.6. Similar rock types from the Peninsular Ranges have eNd = +8.0 to −6.4. In both batholiths, eNd correlates strongly with initial 87Sr/86Sr. Decreasing eNd values are accompanied by increasing 87Sr/86Sr and increasing δ18O; the correlation with δ18O being more pronounced for the Peninsular Ranges. The eNd values show regular geographic variations, as was found previously for initial 87Sr/86Sr. Three metasedimentary country rock samples from the Sierra Nevada region have low eNd values (−11 to −16) and Precambrian model Sm-Nd ages (1.5 to 1.9 AE). The country rock eNd values, and those of primitive oceanic island arcs (eNd = +8), bracket the data for the batholith rocks. The Nd, Sr, and O isotopic data can be explained if the batholiths are mixtures of island arc and metasedimentary components, the latter being of both Paleozoic and early Proterozoic age. This model appears to be consistent with existing Pb isotopic data. Consideration of O-Sr isotopic relations and the variation of 147Sm/144Nd with eNd suggests that assimilation of crustal rocks by magmas rising from the mantle and undergoing fractional crystallization could have been the major process responsible for the mixing of crustal- and mantle-derived components. The isotopic data, when combined with assumptions about the structure of the crust beneath the batholiths, suggest that about 50% of the crustal material presently within the geographic boundaries of the batholiths and above the Moho represents juvenile crust derived from the mantle in the Mesozoic. The remaining material appears to be mostly derived from 1.8-AE crust, yielding an average crust formation age of nearly 1 AE for this section of the crust. This result, which may apply to large portions of the Cordillera, suggests that the average age of the North American continent may be greater than previously estimated. The concentration of Nd correlates well with eNd in the batholith rocks and supports the conclusion that juvenile continental crust is derived from mantle reservoirs that are depleted in incompatible elements. A 1.5-AE Sm-Nd model age for sedimentary rocks of the Mesozoic(?) Calaveras Formation indicates that the Nd in this “oceanic” terrain is dominated by continental detritus and demonstrates the potential of Sm-Nd isotopic studies for aiding in construction of tectonic models.

The Colima volcanic complex, Mexico: Part II. Late-quaternary cinder cones

Abstract: Since the late Pleistocene, eleven cinder and lava cones have erupted on the floor of the southern Colima graben, NE and NW of the large, active, andesitic volcano Colima. Scoria and lava samples from nine of the cones form a completely transitional basic alkalic series including basanites (9), leucite-basanites (3), and minettes (15), the commonest variety of mica lamprophyre. These samples represent primitive, high temperature magmas with 47.6–50.3% SiO2, 7.4–15.3% MgO, 2.5–4.4% K2O, and 2.2–9.9% normative nepheline. All members of this basic alkalic suite contain Mg-olivine (Fo75–94), chromite, augite, and late plagioclase and titanomagnetite. The petrographic transition from basanite to minette is marked by the appearance of sanidine and the volatile-bearing phases phlogopite, apatite, and analcime during late stages of crystallization. As these phases increase in abundance, presumably reflecting a rise in magmatic volatile content, there are corresponding increases in the whole rock concentrations of 16 incompatible elements. Although these incompatible elements are relatively abundant even in the basanites, many are highly concentrated in the minettes: Ba≦ 4,200 ppm, Sr≦3,100 ppm, Zr≦ 550 ppm, Ce≦190 ppm, Hf ≦18 ppm. Among the incompatible elements, the degrees of enrichment in the minettes relative to the basanites decrease in the order: H, Th, Ce, La, Nd, Zr, Hf, U, Ba, Sm, Eu, Pb, P, Nb, Sr, Ti. These enrichments may reflect the increasing importance of minor, incompatible element rich mantle phases during partial melting. The concentrations of alkali metals K, Na, Rb, and Cs do not correlate with these other elemental enrichments. The leucite-basanties have similar incompatible element contents to many minettes, differing from them only in the presence of leucite rather than analcime, and Ti-F-rich groundmass phlogopite rather than hydrous phlogopite phenocrysts; thus the leucite-basanites represent relatively dry equivalents of minettes. Two of the eleven cinder cones are calc-alkaline in nature and do not belong to the basanite-minette group; the easternmost cone is constructed of high-Al basalt, and the northernmost of basaltic andesite. The high-Al basalt (49.5% SiO2, 9.3% MgO, 221 ppm Ni) closely approximates a parental magma to the post-caldera andesitic suite of V. Colima (56.5–61.6% SiO2). The basaltic-andesite is relatively enriched in incompatible elements compared to the high-Al basalt — V. Colima trend. The ne-normative basanite-minette samples are highly enriched in incompatible elements, while the contemporaneous hy — qz-normative calc-alkaline suite, encompassing the high-Al basalt and V. Colima's andesites, is characterized by relatively low abundances of these elements. No likely mineral assemblage can relate the alkaline and calc-alkaline suites through crystal fractionation; they probably represent fundamentally different melting events. During the Quaternary, the main focus of andesitic volcanism in the southern Colima graben has migrated southward with time. Volcan Colima marks its present position, 5 km south of the Pleistocene volcano Nevado de Colima, and another 15 km from the still older Volcan Cantaro. The eruptions of basic alkalic magma probably occurred during the late stages of Nevado's life and through the life of V. Colima. They generally migrated from west to east with time, towards V. Cantaro. The most recent cone, V. Apaxtepec, is the only one east of the andesitic Colima-Cantaro axis. The oldest and the two youngest cones produced basanites, while minettes dominated at cones of intermediate ages. The cinder cone eruptions may have coincided with a phase of lamprophyre dike injection into plutons solidifying beneath the extinct volcanoes north of V. Colima. The southern end of the Colima graben can be viewed, then, as the volcanic analog of many classical, post-plutonic, hypabyssal lamprophyre localities.

Implications for Caledonian plate tectonic models of chemical data from volcanic rocks of the British Old Red Sandstone

Abstract: Volcanic rocks associated with the continental sediments known as the Old Red Sandstone outcrop widely in northern Britain and form a dominantly calc-alkaline suite comparable to those developed on modern continental margins. Rocks rich in Ni and Cr are unusually abundant, and are thought to have incompatible element concentrations little different from those of primary magmas. Such rocks show pronounced spatial chemical variation, with concentrations of Sr, Ba, K, light rare earth elements and P 2 O 5 , and the ratio La/Y showing up to a six-fold increase in a northwestward traverse across Scotland. In more evolved rocks a similar increase is shown by Sr, Ba and La/Y, but regional comparisons are made difficult by the varying effects of fractional crystallization. The chemistry of all Old Red Sandstone volcanic rocks N of the Southern Uplands Fault is consistent with the former existence of a subduction zone that changed in strike from ENE in Ireland and southern Scotland to N in the North Sea. This orientation, in conjunction with almost E–W plate motion, may explain the great contrast in end-Silurian deformation styles between Britain and Scandinavia. Old Red Sandstone volcanic and plutonic rocks S of the Southern Uplands Fault are thought to be younger and are perhaps unrelated to subduction activity.

Earth's neodymium budget and structure and evolution of the mantle

Abstract: Neodymium and strontium isotopic data from rocks can be satisfied by a model in which the mantle contains chemical heterogeneities of many sizes which are less depleted in incompatible elements than the surrounding mantle, and in which the entire mantle is slowly mixed by convection.

Origin of coexisting minette and ultramafic breccia, Navajo volcanic field

Abstract: Trace element evidence indicates that at the Buell Park diatreme, Navajo volcanic field, the felsic minette can be best explained by crystal fractionation from a potassic magma similar in composition to the mafic minettes. Compatible trace element (Cr, Ni, Sc) abundances decrease while concentrations of most incompatible elements (Ce, Yb, Rb, Ba, Sr) remain constant or increase from mafic to felsic minette. In particular, the nearly constant Ce/Yb ratio of the minettes combined with the decrease in Cr, Ni, and Sc abundances from mafic to felsic minette is inconsistent with a model of varying amounts of partial melting as the process to explain minette compositions. The uniformity of rare earth element (REE) abundances in all the minettes requires that an accessory mineral, apatite, dominated the geochemistry of the REE during fractionation. A decrease in P2O5 from mafic to felsic minette and the presence of apatite in cognate inclusions are also consistent with apatite fractionation. Higher initial87Sr/86Sr ratios in the felsic minettes relative to the proposed parental mafic minettes, however, is inconsistent with a simple fractionation model. Also, a separated phlogopite has a higher initial87Sr/86Sr ratio than host minette. These anomalous isotopic features probably reflect interaction of minette magma with crust. The associated ultramafic breccia at Buell Park is one of the Navajo kimberlites, but REE concentrations of the matrix do not support the kimberlite classification. Although the matrix of the breccia is enriched in the light REE relative to chondrites, and has high La, Rb, Ba, and Sr concentrations relative to peridotites, the concentrations of these elements are significantly lower than in South African kimberlites. A high initial87Sr/86Sr ratio combined with petrographic evidence of ubiquitous crustal xenoliths in the Navajo kimberlites suggests that the relatively high incompatible element concentrations are due to a crustal component. Apparently, Navajo kimberlites are most likely a mixture of comminuted mantle wall rock and crustal material; there is no evidence for an incompatible element-rich magma which is characteristic of South African kimberlites. If the mafic minettes are primary magmas derived from a garnet peridotite source with chondritic REE abundances, then REE geochemistry requires very small (less than 1%) degrees of melting to explain the minettes. Alternatively, the minettes could have formed by a larger degree of melting of a metasomatized, relatively light REE-enriched garnet peridotite. The important role of phlogopite and apatite in the differentiation of the minettes supports this latter hypothesis.

Petrology and geochemistry of the island of Sarigan in the Mariana arc; calc-alkaline volcanism in an oceanic setting

Abstract: Isotopic studies of rocks from oceanic island arcs such as the Marianas indicate that little, if any, recycling of continental material (e.g. oceanic sediments) occurs in these arcs. Because oceanic arcs are on the average more mafic than the dominantly andesitic continental arcs, an important question is whether the andesites of continental arcs are produced by a fundamentally different (more complex?) mechanism than the lavas of oceanic arcs. An excellent opportunity for study of this question is provided by the island of Sarigan, in the Mariana active arc, on which calc-alkaline andesites (including hornblende-bearing types) are exposed along with more mafic lavas. Available isotope data suggest the Sarigan lavas (including the andesites) were derived from mantle material with little or no involvement of continental components. Ratios of incompatible elements suggest that most of the Sarigan lavas were derived from similar source materials. Absolute abundances of incompatible elements vary irregularly within the eruptive sequence and indicate at least 5 distinct magma batches are represented on Sarigan. Major element data obtained on the lavas and mineral phases in them, combined with modal mineral abundances, suggest that the calc-alkaline nature of the volcanic rocks on Sarigan results from the fractional crystallization of titanomagnetite in combination with other anhydrous phases. Amphibole, although present in some samples, is mainly a late-crystallizing phase and did not produce the calc-alkline characteristics of these lavas. Gabbroic samples found in the volcanic sequence have mineralogc and geochemical characteristics that would be expected of residual solids produced during fractional crystallization of the Sarigan lavas. When combined, data on the lavas and the gabbros suggest the following crystallization sequence: olivine — plagioclase — clinopyroxene — titanomagnetite — orthopyroxene±hornblende, biotite and accessory phases. These results lead to the conclusion that calc-alkaline magmas can be generated directly from mantle sources.

Can Kimberlites be generated from an ordinary mantle

Abstract: Kimberlites are characterized by a high concentration of incompatible elements, including light rare earths. However, Nd isotopic evidence indicates that their source regions do not have a long history of enrichment. If kimberlites can be generated from non-enriched mantle sources by simple partial melting processes, this implies that crystal–liquid partition coefficients for some trace elements are lower for kimberlitic liquids than for basalts or andesites. From a comparison of clinopyroxene megacrysts (regarded as equilibrated with kimberlite at depth) with existing kimberlite data we argue here that low crystal–liquid partition coefficients for the rare earths are plausible.

Trace element incorporation into growing augite phenocryst

Abstract: Since the introduction1 to geochemistry of crystallization theories developed in metallurgy, it has been thought that the effects of kinetic parmeters such as the rate of crystal growth and the rate of diffusive transport of elements in the melt could significantly affect the partition of trace elements between mineral and magma. This conclusion has not, however, been demonstrated unequivocally, mainly because the extent of variations of equilibrium partition coefficients with T, P and chemistry is not well known. Henderson and Williams2 found a correlation between morphology and apparent partition coefficient of uranium between olivine and basaltic melt. Data on diffusivity of elements (see ref. 3) and on crystal growth kinetics together with the development of secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) techniques, enable crystal zoning to be studied with respect to trace elements and the kinetic effects to be evaluated quantitatively. Trace element zoning (or lack of it) of minerals is important, as many kinetic-based crystallization models predict trace element zoning in crystals. This letter presents trace element data on a sector-zoned augite phenocryst based on the ion-probe spot analyses. The fact that the slower-growing prism sector [100] is enriched in both compatible and incompatible elements relative to the faster-growing basal sector [111] strongly supports Dowty's4 model for crystal growth involving preferential adsorption of elements onto growing crystal faces in proportion to the charge/size ratio of the elements.

Carbon dioxide in igneous petrogenesis: II. Fluid dynamics of mantle metasomatism

Abstract: Petrographic, fluid inclusion, geochemical and isotopic evidence from xenoliths in alkali basalts suggests that low-viscosity fluids rich in O-H-C, dissolved silicates and especially the incompatible elements may ascend, decompress and precipitate crystalline phases and/or induce partial fusion in the upper mantle. Such mantle metasomatic fluids (MMF) may be important in generating isotopic heterogeneity and in transporting and focusing mantle heat. In order to model the movement of MMF, the ordinary differential equations governing the variation ofP, T, ascent velocity and fluid density of a compressible, viscous, single-phase (H2O or CO2) non-reacting fluid ascending through a vertical crack of constant width have been solved. A large number of numerical simulations were carried out in which the significant factors affecting flow behavior (thermodynamic and transport fluid properties, roughness and width of cracks, geothermal gradient, initial conditions, etc.) were systematically varied. The calculations show that: (1) MMF tends to move at uniform rates following a short period of rapid initial acceleration, (2) MMF ascends nearly isothermally, (3) MMF acts as an efficient heat transfer agent; numerical experiments show that transport of heat into regions undergoing metasomatism can lead to partial fusion. The heat transported by movement of MMF averaged over the age of the Earth is sufficient to generate about 0.1 km3 of basaltic magma per year, which is approximately equal to the production rate of alkaline magma. If an intense period of mantle degassing occured early in the history of the Earth, the transport of heat and mass (K, U, Rb, LREE) by migrating fluids might have been important.

Rare earth element distributions among coexisting granulite facies minerals, Scourian complex, NW Scotland

Abstract: The major rock-forming mineral phases (pyroxenes, plagioclase, garnet, hornblende) of a suite of granulite-facies gneisses from the Scourian complex, NW Scotland, have been analyzed for their rare earth element (REE) content. Although host rock compositions range from felsic to ultramafic, REE abundances and patterns for each mineral group show only limited variation. The REEs exhibit regular and consistent distribution patterns for each mineral which suggest, together with major element and textural considerations, that the observed distribution coefficients approach equilibrium. Total REE content follows the sequence hornblende>clinopyroxene>garnet>plagioclase >orthopyroxene and mass balance calculations show that even in the felsic gneisses>60% of the REEs reside in the major rock-forming minerals. Comparisons of both relative REE abundances and distribution coefficients with those in other rock types reveal a striking resemblance with patterns observed in mineral-liquid pairs of dacitic rocks. These similarities may have arisen during a partial melting episode in which granite-granodiorite melts were generated and removed from the Scourian complex; leaving a residuum which is severely depleted in the incompatible elements, including the REEs.

Isotopic and geochemical evidence for magma mixing in the petrogenesis of the Coire Uaigneich Granophyre, Isle of Skye, N.W. Scotland

Abstract: Field relations, petrographic features, major and selected trace element compositions, and Sr- and Pb- isotope characteristics indicate that the Coire Uaigneich Granophyre (CUG) was formed by the mixing of two magmas. One of these, a liquid of high 87Sr/86Sr ratio (ca. 0.731) formed by the anatexis of late Precambrian Torridonian sediments, contained relict quartz and zircon. The other liquid was an acid differentiate of basaltic magma and was enriched in incompatible elements such as Zr and Y. The two magmas mixed in the proportions of approximately two parts anatectic melt to one part acid differentiate. Hydrothermal metamorphism had no significant effect on the bulk chemistry of the CUG.

Tholeiitic basalts from spreading ocean ridges the growth of the oceanic crust

Abstract: The oceanic earth's crust has mainly grown from magmatic productivity in spreading meridional ridges during the past 100–200 million years. The specific rock formed from these magmas is the ocean ridge tholeiitic basalt (ORT). From both melting experiments on peridotites and relative abundances of incompatible elements (La, Ce, Th, Rb etc.) the tholeiitic magmas can be explained as products of about 15% partial melting of abundant upper mantle rocks. A mobilization of incompatible elements very late in the mantle history has formed the different source rocks for magmas and ORT basalts depleted or slightly enriched in incompatible elements.

Noble gases in ultramafic xenoliths from San Carlos, Arizona

Abstract: This work reports the results of noble gas (Ne, Ar, Kr, Xe) analyses of accidental mantle xenoliths from San Carlos, Arizona. Except for the addition of radiogenic 40Ar and mass fractionation effects, the isotopic structures of these gases are indistinguishable from atmospheric composition. The absence of 129Xe excesses in these rocks may reflect indirect mixing of atmospheric gases with the source region of the xenoliths. The dominant influence on the noble gas abundances in the San Carlos xenoliths appears to have been diffusive gas loss, which may have occurred in a mantle metamorphic event or during contact with the host basanite magma. Evidence is presented for the partitioning of significant amounts of the heavy noble gases into fluid inclusions in the xenolith minerals; the proportion of each gas in the inclusions increases with increasing atomic weight of the gas, possibly reflecting solubility effects. The noble gases are present in greater concentration in pyroxenes than in olivine, similar to the behavior of other incompatible elements.

The localised distribution of U and other incompatible elements in spilitic pillow lavas

Abstract: The fission track technique was used not only to determine the U distribution, but indirectly, to locate the host minerals of other incompatible elements such as P, Ti, Y, Zr and Nb in spilitic pillow lavas from SW England. The majority of U was introduced early in the alteration process probably due to interaction with sea-water. At a later stage in the process, these elements, some previously considered to be relatively immobile during low-grade alteration, were mobilised and subsequently redeposited in stable secondary phases. The hydrothermal fluid responsible for mobility was rich in CO2 and H2O. Carbonate complexes were the most likely mobile species.