Tin-bearing potential of some Devonian granitic rocks in S.W. Nova Scotia

1976 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
T.E. Smith ◽  
A. Turek
Keyword(s):  
1975 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 456-463 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. E. Smith

Structural, mineralogical and textural characteristics of some layered granitic rocks are described. The layers result from the segregation of minerals into bands and lenses of contrasting color and grain size. They were formed near the roof of the pluton prior to final crystallization by flow sorting during episodic shearing generated during intrusion. Comparison of the mineralogy and textures of the layered rocks with those of the main rock types of the pluton shows that the differentiation of the pluton as a whole took place after the formation of the layers by interaction of felsic components concentrated in residual liquids with earlier formed crystals.


1972 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 1074-1086 ◽  
Author(s):  
Randall F. Cormier

Rubidium–strontium whole-rock and mineral ages of granitic rocks from fourteen localities on Cape Breton Island have been measured. The ages cluster about a mean value of about 560 m.y. and indicate that most of the granitic rocks on the island have primary ages that are close to the Cambrian–Precambrian (Hadrynian) boundary. Some of the granitic rocks, particularly in the northern highlands, may have considerably younger, Siluro–Devonian (Acadian?), primary ages. Evidence is presented suggesting that simple biotite ages are not always reliable for the measurement of primary ages of granitic rocks. It. is suggested that, the granitic rocks having primary ages close to the Cambrian-Precambrian boundary be referred to a hitherto generally unrecognized episode of granitic intrusion, the Bretonian.


1974 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 650-657 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. E. Smith

Studies of part of a large batholith in southwest Nova Scotia show that granitic rocks of two different ages penetrate the Lower Palaeozoic metasediments of the Meguma Group. They are distinguished by their field relationships, mineralogy, and petrology from an older series, varying from biotite granodiorite through quartz monzonite to muscovite biotite granite, which is penetrated by younger large dikes, up to 1.5 km wide, of alaskite. Rb–Sr whole rock isochron ages show that the older series was emplaced approximately 415 m.y. ago and that the younger alaskite dikes were emplaced about 350 m.y. ago. Major and trace element chemistry shows that the older series of granitic rocks were formed by differentiation of a calc-alkali magma in situ. The younger dikes are all highly silicic, show limited major element variation, and have been affected by hydrothermal metasomatism.


1966 ◽  
Vol 3 (7) ◽  
pp. 959-974 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. C. Taylor ◽  
E. A. Schiller

The Meguma group of lithic greywacke, feldspathic quartzite, slate siltstone, and argillite is Early Ordovician or older in age and has undergone both regional and contact metamorphism. Both types of metamorphism have resulted in recrystallization and locally in orientation of newly formed minerals. Metasomatism and retrogressive metamorphism are subordinate and only locally important. Regionally metamorphosed rocks are divided into greenschist and almandine–amphibolite facies, although some assemblages cannot be assigned with certainty. Locally, biotite and garnet isograds are mappable within the greenschist zone.Relationships between regional metamorphism and structural elements (folding) show that deformation preceded regional metamorphism. Intrusion of granitic rocks has produced a zone of contact metamorphism (hornblende–hornfels facies) that is superimposed upon regional greenschist facies rocks, which shows that granite emplacement occurred after the regional grade was reached. Gold–quartz veins are confined to areas lying in the greenschist zone of regional metamorphism, which suggests that the almandine–amphibolite zone is not favorable.


Geosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Barrie Clarke ◽  
Axel D. Renno ◽  
David C. Hamilton ◽  
Sabine Gilbricht ◽  
Kai Bachmann

We use mineral liberation analysis (MLA) to quantify the spatial association of 15,118 grains of accessory apatite, monazite, xenotime, and zircon with essential biotite, and clustered with themselves, in a peraluminous biotite granodiorite from the South Mountain Batholith in Nova Scotia (Canada). A random distribution of accessory minerals demands that the proportion of accessory minerals in contact with biotite is identical to the proportion of biotite in the rock, and the binary touching factor (percentage of accessory mineral touching biotite divided by modal proportion of biotite) would be ~1.00. Instead, the mean binary touching factors for the four accessory minerals in relation to biotite are: apatite (5.06 for 11,168 grains), monazite (4.68 for 857 grains), xenotime (4.36 for 217 grains), and zircon (5.05 for 2876 grains). Shared perimeter factors give similar values. Accessory mineral grains that straddle biotite grain boundaries are larger than completely locked, or completely liberated, accessory grains. Only apatite-monazite clusters are significantly more abundant than expected for random distribution. The high, and statistically significant, binary touching factors and shared perimeter factors suggest a strong physical or chemical control on their spatial association. We evaluate random collisions in magma (synneusis), heterogeneous nucleation processes, induced nucleation in passively enriched boundary layers, and induced nucleation in actively enriched boundary layers to explain the significant touching factors. All processes operate during the crystallization history of the magma, but induced nucleation in passively and actively enriched boundary layers are most likely to explain the strong spatial association of phosphate accessories and zircon with biotite. In addition, at least some of the apatite and zircon may also enter the granitic magma as inclusions in grains of Ostwald-ripened xenocrystic biotite.


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