High-pressure experimental studies on the origin of anorthosite

1969 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 427-440 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trevor H. Green

Experimental crystallization of anhydrous synthetic quartz diorite (≈andesite), gabbroic anorthosite, and high-alumina basalt has been conducted in their respective partial melting fields at high pressure. The quartz diorite composition shows a large field of crystallization of plagioclase from 0–13.5 kb, together with subordinate amounts of orthopyroxene and clinopyroxene and minor opaque minerals. In the gabbroic anorthosite, plagioclase is the main phase crystallizing from 0–22.5 kb, but at higher pressure it is replaced by aluminous clinopyroxene. Aluminous clinopyroxene is the main phase crystallizing from the high-alumina basalt from 9–18 kb and is joined by plagioclase at lower temperatures. At higher pressure it is joined by garnet. The albite content of the liquidus and near-liquidus plagioclase increases markedly with increasing pressure in each of the three compositions.The results for the high-alumina basalt and gabbroic anorthosite compositions preclude any major trends towards alumina enrichment and derivation of anorthositic plutons at crustal or upper mantle depths under anhydrous conditions. However, the results for the quartz diorite suggest that anorthositic complexes may form as a crystalline residuum from the partial melting of a lower crust of overall andesitic composition or from fractional crystallization of an andesitic magma. In either case a large separation of plagioclase crystals occurs (andesine – acid labradorite composition at lower crustal pressures), together with subordinate pyroxenes and ore minerals. Under appropriate temperature conditions separation of crystals and liquid by a filter-pressing mechanism during deformation may result in the genesis of igneous complexes containing rock types ranging in composition from gabbro through gabbroic anorthosite to anorthosite, together with associated acid rocks. The acid rocks need not necessarily remain spatially associated with the refractory gabbroic anorthosite and anorthosite. Where these processes have operated in the crust, anorthositic rocks may be left as the main component of the lower crust, while the low melting acidic fraction has intruded to higher levels.

Author(s):  
Yinbiao Peng ◽  
Shengyao Yu ◽  
Jianxin Zhang ◽  
Yunshuai Li ◽  
Sanzhong Li ◽  
...  

Continental arcs in active continental margins (especially deep-seated arc magmatism, anatexis, and metamorphism) can be extremely significant in evaluating continent building processes. In this contribution, a Paleozoic continental arc section is constructed based on coeval granulite-facies metamorphism, anatexis, and magmatism on the northern margin of the Qilian Block, which record two significant episodes of continental crust growth. The deeper layer of the lower crust mainly consists of medium-high pressure mafic and felsic granulites, with apparent peak pressure-temperature conditions of 11−13 kbar and 800−950 °C, corresponding to crustal depths of ∼35−45 km. The high-pressure mafic granulite and local garnet-cumulate represent mafic residues via dehydration melting involving breakdown of amphibole with anatectic garnet growth. Zircon U-Pb geochronology indicates that these high-grade metamorphic rocks experienced peak granulite-facies metamorphism at ca. 450 Ma. In the upper layer of the lower crust, the most abundant rocks are preexisting garnet-bearing metasedimentary rocks, orthogneiss, and local garnet amphibolite, which experienced medium-pressure amphibolite-facies to granulite-facies metamorphism at depths of 20−30 km at ca. 450 Ma. These metasedimentary rocks and orthogneiss have also experienced partial melting involving mica and rare amphibole at 457−453 Ma. The shallow to mid-crust is primarily composed of diorite-granodiorite batholiths and volcanic cover with multiple origin, which were intruded during 500−450 Ma, recording long-term crustal growth and differentiation episode. As a whole, two episodes of continental crust growth were depicted in the continental arc section on the northern margin of the Qilian Block, including: (a) the first episode is documented in a lithological assemblage composing of coeval mafic-intermediate intrusive and volcanic rocks derived from partial melting of modified lithospheric mantle and subducted oceanic crust during southward subduction of the North Qilian Ocean at 500−480 Ma; (b) the second episode is recorded in mafic rocks derived from partial melting of modified lithospheric mantle during transition from oceanic subduction to initial collision at 460−450 Ma.


Author(s):  
Jia Chang ◽  
Andreas Audétat ◽  
Jian-Wei Li

Abstract Two suites of amphibole-rich mafic‒ultramafic rocks associated with the voluminous intermediate to felsic rocks in the Early Cretaceous Laiyuan intrusive-volcanic complex (North China Craton) are studied here by detailed petrography, mineral- and melt inclusion chemistry, and thermobarometry to demonstrate an in-situ reaction-replacement origin of the hornblendites. Moreover, a large set of compiled and newly obtained geochronological and whole-rock elemental and Sr-Nd isotopic data are used to constrain the tectono-magmatic evolution of the Laiyuan complex. Early mafic‒ultramafic rocks occur mainly as amphibole-rich mafic‒ultramafic intrusions situated at the edge of the Laiyuan complex. These intrusions comprise complex lithologies of olivine-, pyroxene- and phlogopite-bearing hornblendites and various types of gabbroic rocks, which largely formed by in-situ crystallization of hydrous mafic magmas that experienced gravitational settling of early-crystallized olivine and clinopyroxene at low pressures of 0.10‒0.20 GPa (∼4‒8 km crustal depth); the hornblendites formed in cumulate zones by cooling-driven crystallization of 55‒75 vol% hornblende, 10‒20 vol% orthopyroxene and 3‒10 vol% phlogopite at the expense of olivine and clinopyroxene. A later suite of mafic rocks occurs as mafic lamprophyre dikes throughout the Laiyuan complex. These dikes occasionally contain some pure hornblendite xenoliths, which formed by reaction-replacement of clinopyroxene at high pressures of up to 0.97‒1.25 GPa (∼37‒47 km crustal depth). Mass balance calculations suggest that the olivine-, pyroxene- and phlogopite-bearing hornblendites in the early mafic‒ultramafic intrusions formed almost without melt extraction, whereas the pure hornblendites brought up by lamprophyre dikes required extraction of ≥ 20‒30 wt% residual andesitic to dacitic melts. The latter suggests that fractionation of amphibole in the middle to lower crust through the formation of reaction-replacement hornblendites is a viable way to produce adakite-like magmas. New age constraints suggest that the early mafic-ultramafic intrusions formed during ∼132‒138 Ma, which overlaps with the timespan of ∼126‒145 Ma recorded by the much more voluminous intermediate to felsic rocks of the Laiyuan complex. By contrast, the late mafic and intermediate lamprophyre dikes were emplaced during ∼110‒125 Ma. Therefore, the voluminous early magmatism in the Laiyuan complex was likely triggered by the retreat of the flat-subducting Paleo-Pacific slab, whereas the minor later, mafic to intermediate magmas may have formed in response to further slab sinking-induced mantle thermal perturbations. Whole-rock geochemical data suggest that the early mafic magmas formed by partial melting of subduction-related metasomatized lithospheric mantle, and that the early intermediate to felsic magmas with adakite-like signatures formed from mafic magmas through strong amphibole fractionation without plagioclase in the lower crust. The late mafic magmas seem to be derived from a slightly different metasomatized lithospheric mantle by lower degrees of partial melting.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Vincenzo Petrone ◽  
Adolfo Senatore ◽  
Vincenzo D'Agostino

This paper presents the application of an improved Yasutomi correlation for lubricant viscosity at high pressure in a Newtonian elastohydrodynamic line contact simulation. According to recent experimental studies using high pressure viscometers, the Yasutomi pressure-viscosity relationship derived from the free-volume model closely represents the real lubricant piezoviscous behavior for the high pressure typically encountered in elastohydrodynamic applications. However, the original Yasutomi correlation suffers from the appearance of a zero in the function describing the pressure dependence of the relative free volume thermal expansivity. In order to overcome this drawback, a new formulation of the Yasutomi relation was recently developed by Bair et al. This new function removes these concerns and provides improved precision without the need for an equation of state. Numerical simulations have been performed using the improved Yasutomi model to predict the lubricant pressure-viscosity, the pressure distribution, and the film thickness behavior in a Newtonian EHL simulation of a squalane-lubricated line contact. This work also shows that this model yields a higher viscosity at the low-pressure area, which results in a larger central film thickness compared with the previous piezoviscous relations.


2001 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
SILVIA R. MEDEIROS ◽  
CRISTINA M. WIEDEMANN-LEONARDOS ◽  
SIMON VRIEND

At the end of the geotectonic cycle that shaped the northern segment of the Ribeira Mobile Belt (Upper Proterozoic to Paleozoic age), a late to post-collisional set of plutonic complexes, consisting of a wide range of lithotypes, intruded all metamorphic units. The Várzea Alegre Intrusive Complex is a post-collisional complex. The younger intrusion consists of an inversely zoned multistage structure envolved by a large early emplaced ring of megaporphyritic charnoenderbitic rocks. The combination of field, petrographic and geochemical data reveals the presence of at least two different series of igneous rocks. The first originated from the partial melting of the mantle. This was previously enriched in incompatible elements, low and intermediate REE and some HFS-elements. A second enrichment in LREE and incompatible elements in this series was due to the mingling with a crustal granitic magma. This mingling process changed the composition of the original tholeiitic magma towards a medium-K calc-alkalic magma to produce a suite of basic to intermediate rock types. The granitic magma from the second high-K, calc-alkalic suite originated from the partial melting of the continental crust, but with strong influence of mantle-derived melts.


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