Phenocryst

About: Phenocryst is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 4132 publications have been published within this topic receiving 158441 citations.

Cretaceous alkaline lamprophyres from northeastern Czech Republic: geochemistry and petrogenesis

Abstract: The northeast part of the Czech Republic (Moravia) and the adjoining part of Poland host a 100-km-long and 15- to 25-km-wide belt containing numerous isolated bodies (mainly sills) of lamprophyre of Lower Cretaceous age. The lamprophyres range from mafic (melanocratic) to evolved, feldspar-rich (mesocratic) variants. Mineralogically, they are characterized by compositionally zoned kaersutite phenocrysts, biotite and high Al–Ti salitic to diopsidic clinopyroxene. The lamprophyres are typically alkaline as shown by high contents of P2O5, TiO2, alkalies and incompatible trace elements such as light REE, Zr, Nb, Y, Ba and Sr, and by high Ti/V (>50) and chondrite-normalized (La/Yb)n (8–25) ratios. They resemble alkali basalts, basanites and nephelinites. Major element composition and trace element patterns and Nd–Sr isotopic values (eNd ca. +5.5 to +6.6 and eSr ca. –9.5 to –24.0) indicate that the lamprophyric magma was derived from a mantle source that was compositionally similar to the source of ocean island basalts with HIMU affinities and some continental extension-related alkali basaltic suites. The lamprophyres do not show any subduction imprint. They were generated in the garnet stability field by a variable degree of melting. Evolved lamprophyres were formed by clinopyroxene-dominated fractional crystallization of mafic lamprophyric magma. The lamprophyres are interpreted to have been emplaced along conduits formed during the formation of a basin/graben structure in the Early Cretaceous.

Origin of CFB Magmatism: Multi-tiered Intracrustal Picrite^Rhyolite Magmatic Plumbing at Spitzkoppe, Western Namibia, during Early Cretaceous Etendeka Magmatism

Abstract: Early Cretaceous tholeiitic picrite-to-rhyolite dykes around Spitzkoppe, western Namibia, are part of the extensive Henties Bay–Outjo swarm, penecontemporaneous with 132 Ma Etendeka lavas 100 km to the NW. Although only intermediate to rhyolitic dykes contain clinopyroxene phenocrysts, the behaviour of Ca, Al and Sc in the dyke suite shows that liquidus clinopyroxene—together with olivine—was a fractionating phase when MgO fell to 9 wt %. Both a plot of CIPW normative di–hy–ol–ne–Q and modelling using (p)MELTS show that a mid-crustal pressure of 0·6 GPa is consistent with this early clinopyroxene saturation. Sr, Nd, Hf and Pb isotope variations all show trends consistent with AFC contamination (assimilation linked to fractional crystallization), involving Pan-African Damara belt continental crust. The geochemical variation, including isenthalpic AFC modelling using (p)MELTS, suggests that the picrites (olivine-rich cumulate suspensions) were interacting with granulite-facies metamorphic lower crust, the intermediate compositions with amphibolite-facies middle crust, and the rhyolitic dykes (and a few of the basalts) with the Pan-African granites of the upper crust. The calculated densities of the magmas fall systematically from picrite to rhyolite and suggest a magmatic system resembling a stack of sills throughout the crust beneath Spitzkoppe, with the storage and fractionation depth of each magma fraction controlled by its density. Elemental and isotopic features of the 20 wt % MgO picrites (including Os isotopes) suggest that their parental melts probably originated by fusion of mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB) source convecting mantle, followed by limited reaction with sub-continental lithospheric mantle metasomatized just prior to the formation of the parental magmas. Many of the distinctive features of large-volume picritic–basaltic magmas may not be derived from their ultimate mantle sources, but may instead be the results of complex polybaric fractional crystallization and multi-component crustal contamination.

The Occurrence of Forsterite and Highly Oxidizing Conditions in Basaltic Lavas from Stromboli Volcano, Italy

Abstract: We report the occurrence of unusual, high-magnesium (Fo96) olivine phenocrysts in a basaltic lava and an ejected lithic block from the Upper Vancori period ( 13 ka) and the recent activity (2002–2003) of Stromboli volcano, Italy. The samples that contain this distinctive mineral chemistry are a shoshonitic basalt and a basaltic andesite with anomalous bulk-rock chemical characteristics in which the iron is highly oxidized (6–8 wt % Fe2O3 and <1 wt % FeO). In other respects these samples are similar to the majority of Stromboli basalts, characterized by the coexistence of olivine, clinopyroxene, plagioclase and Fe–Ti oxides as phenocrysts, and clinopyroxene, plagioclase and Fe–Ti oxides in the groundmass. In the high-magnesium olivine samples, Fe–Ti oxides (pseudobrookite) typically occur as symplectitic intergrowths with the olivine phenocrysts, indicating simultaneous growth of the two phases. We propose, as a paragenetic model, that the Fo96 olivine phenocrysts crystallized from a highly oxidized basaltic magma in which most of the iron was in the ferric state; hence, only magnesium was available to form olivine. The highly oxidized state of the magma reflects sudden degassing of volatile phases associated with instantaneous, irreversible, transient degassing of the magma chamber; this is postulated to occur during periods of sudden decompression induced by fracturing of the volcanic edifice associated with paroxysmic activity and edifice collapse.