Geochemical constraints on the differentiation processes that were active in the Sept Iles complex

1986 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 670-681 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael D. Higgins ◽  
R. Doig

Major- and trace-element abundances in the major units (gabbro, anorthosite, monzonite, syenite, and granite) of the unmetamorphosed Sept Iles complex have been evaluated to determine if these rocks can be related by simple magmatic processes or if it is necessary to invoke separately derived magmas. Major-element mass-balance and trace-element distribution calculations indicate that the diorite and quartz syenite were produced by fractional crystallization of plagioclase and augite, together with minor hypersthene and ilmenite, from a parental gabbroic magma. The Sr depletion of the granite, as compared with the quartz syenite, cannot be developed readily by partial melting and is better explained by fractional crystallization models. Major-element mass-balance solutions indicate that the granite was formed by removal of alkali feldspar, plagioclase, amphibole, and ilmenite from a quartz syenitic magma. Depletion of REE in the granite was probably the result of amphibole or REE-rich accessory mineral fractionation. It is unlikely that an unrelated, independently generated granitic magma could have a composition so related to the remainder of the complex. Therefore, fractional crystallization of a parental gabbroic magma is the dominant process that controlled the diversity of magma in the complex.

1993 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 145-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger H. Mitchell ◽  
R. Garth Platt ◽  
Jurate Lukosius-Sanders ◽  
Maureen Artist-Downey ◽  
Shelley Moogk-Pickard

Center III of the Coldwell alkaline complex consists of metaluminous hypersolvus syenites, which in order of intrusion are magnesiohornblende syenite, contaminated ferro-edenite syenite, ferroedenite syenite, and quartz syenite. Contaminated syenites were formed by the assimilation of coeval basaltic volcanic rocks. The suite as a whole is characterized by the presence of a wide variety of amphiboles ranging in composition from magnesiohornblende through ferroedenite and ferrorichterite to arfvedsonite. Pyroxenes are rare and hedenbergite is present in significant amounts only in quartz syenite. Whole-rock major element data indicate that the majority of the syenites do not represent liquid compositions. The syenites have high contents of Nb, Zr, Th, U, Y, and Ga and have the geochemical character of A-type granitoids. Rare earth and other trace element abundances suggest that the quartz syenites cannot be differentiates of the magma that formed the ferroedenite syenites. All syenites are considered to have originated by the extensive fractional crystallization of mantle-derived basalt magma within the plutonic infrastructure of the complex. The syenite suite does not represent the differentiation products of a single batch of magma. Multiple intrusion, contamination, and brecciation of preexisting syenite plutons have resulted in the complex geological relationships characteristic of center III.


1990 ◽  
Vol 127 (4) ◽  
pp. 309-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. I. J. Mallick ◽  
I. G. Gass ◽  
K. G. Cox ◽  
B. V. W. De Vries ◽  
A. G. Tindle

AbstractPerim Island is an eroded fragment of the southwest flank of a late Miocene (10.5 ± 1.0 Ma) volcano whose centre lay on the southwesternmost tip of Arabia. The volcano is the westernmost of the E–W line of six central vent volcanoes (the Aden Line) that extends 200 km along the south coast of Arabia from Perim to Aden. Major oxide and trace element abundances are given for 35 Perim specimens and these show that the volcano has within-plate trace element characteristics and consists of a petrographically and geochemically simple suite of alumina-poor olivine basalts, andesites, and transitional andesite–trachyandesites. Six specimens, however, are markedly enriched in Al2O3 and CaO, and contain abundant (20–30 mode %) highly calcic (An77–83) plagioclase phenocrysts. Geochemical modelling suggests that the main Perim volcanic sequence was produced by the fractional crystallization (o1 + cpx + Ti-mt + plag) of a silica saturated (SiO2 c. 45%) basic melt. The high A1, high Ca, magmas appear to be mixing products of plagioclase-enriched basic magmas with more evolved melts. Perim is the oldest volcano of the Aden line, which becomes increasingly younger and alkalic eastward. It is suggested that the volcanism is related to an eastwards-propagating rift produced before the most recent stage of sea-floor spreading in the Gulf of Aden (4.5 Ma–present).


1985 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. 872-880 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Denis Higgins

The Chatham–Grenville stock is an anorogenic multiple intrusion that shows a complete gradation from early cumulate and noncumulate syenites to slightly peralkaline granites. It can be divided into four units. Unit 1, the first unit, is a noncumulate syenite with modal quartz less than 5%. Unit 2 has a wide range in composition from cumulate syenites (no modal quartz) to noncumulate syenites and quartz syenites (modal quartz = 20%). Units 3 and 4 are granites with modal quartz up to 25 and 30%, respectively. The parental magma of the whole complex was syenitic. Differentiation occurred as a result of crystal fractionation by filter pressing both at depth and in situ. Ba, Sr, Rb, and Eu abundances and major-element mass-balance calculations show that alkali feldspar, mafic minerals, and apatite were fractionated. At least 79% fractionation is necessary to transform the mean composition of the first unit (1) into the mean composition of the last unit (4). The rare-earth elements, Th, Ta, Hf, and Zr, did not behave in a residual fashion but may have been fractionated in minor accessory phases such as apatite, zircon, monazite, allanite, and xenotime.


Author(s):  
C. Jung ◽  
S. Jung ◽  
E. Hellebrand ◽  
E. Hoffer

ABSTRACTTrace element abundances in garnet from a polyphase migmatite were measured by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) in order to identify some of the effective variables on the trace element distribution between garnet and melanosome or leucosome. In general, garnet is zoned with respect to REE, in which garnet cores are enriched by a factor of 2–3 relative to the rims. For an inclusion-rich garnet from the melanosome, equilibrium distribution following a simple Rayleigh fractionation is responsible for the decreasing concentrations in REE from core to rim. Inclusion-poor garnet from the same melanosome located in the vicinity of the leucosomes shows distinct enrichment and depletion patterns for REE from core to rim. These features suggest disequilibrium between garnet and the host rock which, in this case, could have been an in-situ derived melt. This would probably indicate a period of open-system behaviour at a time when the garnet, originally nucleated in the metamorphic environment reacted with the melt. In addition, non-gradual variation in trace element abundances between core and rim may suggest variable garnet growth rates. Inclusion-free garnet from the leucosome, interpreted to have crystallised in the presence of a melt, has a small core with high REE abundances and a broad rim with lower REE abundances. Here, crystal-liquid diffusion-controlled partitioning is a likely process to explain the trace element variation.


1972 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 1577-1595 ◽  
Author(s):  
Denis M. Shaw

The original continental crust developed as the residue from fractional crystallization of the mantle–crust system. Using measured distribution coefficients for K, Rb, Ba, Sr, La, Ce, Eu, Yb, and Ni, several crystallization models are tested for conformity with regional geochemical estimates of continental crustal composition.In spite of the uncertainties and approximations the predicted concentrations agree reasonably well with observation, except in the case of Yb.


1990 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 767-783 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis O. Nelson ◽  
Donald A. Morrison ◽  
William C. Phinney

The 2.45 Ga Matachewan–Hearst dike swarm was emplaced over 250 000 km2 in diverse granitoid–greenstone and metasedimentary terranes of the Superior Province of Canada. The Fe-rich tholeiitic dikes host large, uniform plagioclase megacrysts and display significant trace-element variations, e.g., (La/Sm)N = 0.62–2.23, not correlated to terrane lithologies.Fractional crystallization alone cannot produce these variations or simultaneously account for both major- and trace-element abundances. Combined periodic replenishment–fractional crystallization (RFC) in shallow magma chambers is consistent with major- and trace-element concentrations and with field evidence for periodic magma injection within the dikes. RFC cannot, however, produce the observed variation in incompatible-trace-element ratios, e.g., (La/Sm)N. Models invoking mixed mantle sources are unsuccessful at reproducing trace-element trends. Combined assimilation–fractional crystallization (AFC) models, assuming depleted parental magmas and using crustal rock data from xenoliths and from the Kapuskasing Structural Zone, can accommodate the trace-element variations, including the light-rare-earth-element enrichment and the observed relative depletions of the high-field-strength elements. The AFC process apparently took place in the lower crustal regions from where evolved magmas were periodically transported to shallow chambers dominated by RFC.


Author(s):  
S Braunger ◽  
M A W Marks ◽  
T Wenzel ◽  
A N Zaitsev ◽  
G Markl

Abstract The Quaternary Tarosero volcano is situated in the East African Rift of northern Tanzania and mainly consists of trachyte lavas and some trachytic tuffs. In addition, there are minor occurrences of extrusive basalts, andesites, latites, as well as peralkaline trachytes, olivine trachytes and phonolites. Some of the peralkaline phonolites contain interstitial eudialyte, making Tarosero one of the few known occurrences for extrusive agpaitic rocks. This study investigates the genetic relationships between the various rock types and focuses on the peculiar formation conditions of the extrusive agpaitic rocks using a combination of whole-rock geochemistry, mineral chemistry, petrography, thermodynamic calculations, as well as major and trace element modelling. The Tarosero rocks formed at redox conditions around or below the fayalite-magnetite-quartz buffer (FMQ). During multi-level magmatic fractionation at depths between ∼40 km and the shallow crust, temperature decreased from > 1100 °C at near-liquidus conditions in the basalts to ∼ 700 °C in the peralkaline residue. Fractional crystallization models and trace element characteristics do not indicate a simple genetic relationship between the trachytes and the other rock types at Tarosero. However, the genetic relationships between the primitive basalts and the intermediate latites can be explained by high pressure fractional crystallization of olivine + clinopyroxene + magnetite + plagioclase + apatite. Further fractionation of these mineral phases in addition to amphibole and minor ilmenite led to the evolution towards the peralkaline trachytes and phonolites. The eudialyte-bearing varieties of the peralkaline phonolites required additional low-pressure fractionation of alkali feldspar and minor magnetite, amphibole and apatite. In contrast to the peralkaline trachytes and phonolites, the peralkaline olivine trachytes contain olivine instead of amphibole, thus indicating a magma evolution at even lower pressure conditions. They can be modelled as a derivation from the latites by fractional crystallization of plagioclase, clinopyroxene, magnetite and olivine. In general, agpaitic magmas evolve under closed system conditions which impedes the escape of volatile phases. In case of the extrusive agpaitic rocks at Tarosero, the early exsolution of fluids and halogens was prevented by a low water activity. This resulted in high concentrations of Rare Earth Elements (REE) and other High Field Strength Elements (HFSE) and the formation of eudialyte in the most evolved peralkaline phonolites. Within the peralkaline rock suite, the peralkaline olivine trachytes contain the lowest HFSE and REE concentrations, consistent with mineralogical evidence for a formation at a relatively high water activity. The lack of amphibole fractionation, which can act as a water buffer of the melt, as well as the evolution at relatively low pressure conditions caused the early exsolution of fluids and loss of water-soluble elements. This prevented a strong enrichment of HFSE and REE before the magma finally extruded.


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