Fire agate from the Deer Creek deposit (Arizona, USA) – new insights into structure and mineralogy

2020 ◽  
Vol 84 (2) ◽  
pp. 343-354 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucyna Natkaniec-Nowak ◽  
Magdalena Dumańska-Słowik ◽  
Adam Gaweł ◽  
Anna Łatkiewicz ◽  
Joanna Kowalczyk-Szpyt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Crystallinity Index ◽  
Silica Matrix ◽  
Titanium Oxides ◽  
Brown Colour ◽  
Specific Morphology ◽  
Fire Effect ◽  
Optical Phenomena ◽  
Deer Creek ◽  
Host Rocks

AbstractFire agates from Deer Creek are highly appreciated gemstones due to the presence of optical phenomena and rainbow colours that cause fiery effects to be observed on their characteristic brown base. The specific morphology of poorly ordered chalcedony (crystallinity index = 0.1–1.5) with an admixture of mogánite (av. 6.6%), micro-quartz and opal-C forming a colloform texture seems to be responsible for the presence of fire effect in these agates. The multi-layered silica spheroidal forms (‘bubble’-like structure), already noted in hand specimens, could be the centres of reflection and interference of white light. Numerous, microscopic inclusions of Fe and Ti compounds randomly scattered within some silica zones, together with microstructural features of agate, could determine the colour and size of the domains with the optical effect. Deer Creek fire agates form veins within their host volcanic rocks. The silica mineralisation filling the network of fissures in the host rocks was supplied cyclically with aqueous fluids of varying composition, enriched periodically in CO2, Fe, Ti, Mn, Zn and Ca. As a result, the red-brown colour of fire agates was created by scattered pigments of tiny iron oxides (magnetite, maghemite) and titanium oxides (rutile, anatase) within the silica matrix. The precipitation of strongly disordered silica with a characteristic colloform texture is diagnostic for boiling processes in this area.

Petrogenesis of the peralkaline Flowers River Igneous Suite and its significance to the development of the southern Nain Batholith

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Taylor A. Ducharme ◽  
Christopher R.M. McFarlane ◽  
Deanne van Rooyen ◽  
David Corrigan
Keyword(s):  
Trace Element ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Discrete Events ◽  
Volcanic Event ◽  
Volcanic Succession ◽  
Intrusive Suite ◽  
Tectonic Boundaries ◽  
Host Rocks ◽  
Nain Plutonic Suite

Abstract The Flowers River Igneous Suite of north-central Labrador comprises several discrete peralkaline granite ring intrusions and their coeval volcanic succession. The Flowers River Granite was emplaced into Mesoproterozoic-age anorthosite–mangerite–charnockite–granite (AMCG) -affinity rocks at the southernmost extent of the Nain Plutonic Suite coastal lineament batholith. New U–Pb zircon geochronology is presented to clarify the timing and relationships among the igneous associations exposed in the region. Fayalite-bearing AMCG granitoids in the region record ages of 1290 ± 3 Ma, whereas the Flowers River Granite yields an age of 1281 ± 3 Ma. Volcanism occurred in three discrete events, two of which coincided with emplacement of the AMCG and Flowers River suites, respectively. Shared geochemical affinities suggest that each generation of volcanic rocks was derived from its coeval intrusive suite. The third volcanic event occurred at 1271 ± 3 Ma, and its products bear a broad geochemical resemblance to the second phase of volcanism. The surrounding AMCG-affinity ferrodiorites and fayalite-bearing granitoids display moderately enriched major- and trace-element signatures relative to equivalent lithologies found elsewhere in the Nain Plutonic Suite. Trace-element compositions also support a relationship between the Flowers River Granite and its AMCG-affinity host rocks, most likely via delayed partial melting of residual parental material in the lower crust. Enrichment manifested only in the southernmost part of the Nain Plutonic Suite as a result of its relative proximity to multiple Palaeoproterozoic tectonic boundaries. Repeated exposure to subduction-derived metasomatic fluids created a persistent region of enrichment in the underlying lithospheric mantle that was tapped during later melt generation, producing multiple successive moderately to strongly enriched magmatic episodes.

scholarly journals Geology of the orogenic Cheminis gold deposit along the Larder Lake – Cadillac deformation zone, Ontario

2015 ◽  
Vol 52 (12) ◽  
pp. 1093-1108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno Lafrance
Keyword(s):  
Deformation Zone ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Tholeiitic Basalt ◽  
Hydrothermal Fluids ◽  
South Side ◽  
Shear Sense ◽  
Abitibi Subprovince ◽  
Deformation Features ◽  
Shear Sense Indicators ◽  
Host Rocks

The Larder Lake – Cadillac deformation zone (LLCDZ) is one of two major, auriferous, deformation zones in the southern Abitibi subprovince of the Archean Superior Province. It hosts the Cheminis and the giant Kerr Addison – Chesterville deposits within a strongly deformed band of Fe-rich tholeiitic basalt and komatiite of the Larder Lake Group (ca. 2705 Ma). The latter is bounded on both sides by younger, less deformed, Timiskaming turbidites (2674–2670 Ma). The earliest deformation features are F1 folds affecting the Timiskaming rocks, which formed either during D1 extensional faulting or during early D2 north–south shortening related to the opening and closure, respectively, of the Timiskaming basin. Continued shortening during D2 imbricated the older volcanic rocks and turbidites and produced regional F2 folds with an axial planar S2 cleavage. D2 deformation was partitioned into the weaker band of volcanic rocks, producing the strong S2 foliation, L2 stretching lineation, and south-side-up shear sense indicators, which characterize the LLCDZ. Gold is present in quartz–carbonate veins in deformed fuchsitic komatiites (carbonate ore) and turbiditic sandstone (sandstone-hosted ore), and in association with disseminated pyrite in altered Fe-rich tholeiitic basalts (flow ore). All host rocks underwent strong mass gains in CO2, S, K2O, Ba, As, and W, during sericitization, carbonatization, and sulphidation of the host rocks, suggesting that they interacted with the same hydrothermal fluids. Textural relationships between alteration minerals and S2 cleavage indicate that mineralization is syn-cleavage. Thus, gold was deposited as hydrothermal fluids migrated upward along the LLCDZ during contractional, D2 south-side-up shearing. The gold zones were subsequently modified during D3 reactivation of the LLCDZ as a dextral transcurrent fault zone.

scholarly journals Mineralogical and Fluid Inclusions Study of Epithermal Type Veins Intruding the Volcanic Rocks of the Kornofolia Area, Evros, NE Greece.

2019 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 202
Author(s):  
Foteini Aravani ◽  
Lambrini Papadopoulou ◽  
Vasileios Melfos ◽  
Triantafillos Soldatos ◽  
Triantafillia Zorba ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Crystal Structure ◽  
Fluid Inclusion ◽  
Hydrothermal Alteration ◽  
Fluid Inclusions ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
The Other ◽  
Calc Alkaline ◽  
Ft Ir ◽  
Host Rocks

The volcanic rocks of Kornofolia area, Evros, host a number of epithermal-type veins. The host rocks are Oligocene calc-alkaline andesites to rhyo-dacites. The andesites form hydrothermal breccias and show hydrothermal alteration. The veins comprise mainly silica polymorphs such as quartz, chalcedony and three types of opal (milky white, transparent and green). Amethyst also forms in veins at the same area. Apart from the silica polymorphs, the veins are accompanied by calcite and zeolites. The main aim of this study is the characterization of the silica polymorphs. Using FT-IR analyses, variations in the crystal structure of the three opals were recognized. The green opal is found to be more amorphous than the other two types. Fluid-inclusion measurements were performed in calcite and were compared with amethyst from previous studies. The Th is between 121-175 °C and the Te between -22.9 and -22.4 °C. The salinities range from 0.9 to 4.5 wt % NaCl equiv.

Iron-titanium oxides and oxygen fugacities in volcanic rocks

1967 ◽  
Vol 72 (18) ◽  
pp. 4665-4687 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. S. E. Carmichael ◽  
J. Nicholls
Keyword(s):  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Titanium Oxides

The Duck Pond and Boundary Cu–Zn deposits, Newfoundland: new insights into the ages of host rocks and the timing of VHMS mineralization

2010 ◽  
Vol 47 (12) ◽  
pp. 1481-1506 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vicki McNicoll ◽  
Gerry Squires ◽  
Andrew Kerr ◽  
Paul Moore
Keyword(s):  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Sedimentary Rocks ◽  
Isotopic Data ◽  
Sulphide Ores ◽  
Intrusive Rocks ◽  
Felsic Volcanic ◽  
Host Rocks ◽  
Felsic Volcanic Rocks

The Duck Pond Cu–Zn–Pb–Ag–Au deposit in Newfoundland is hosted by volcanic rocks of the Cambrian Tally Pond group in the Victoria Lake supergroup. In conjunction with the nearby Boundary deposit, it contains 4.1 million tonnes of ore at 3.3% Cu, 5.7% Zn, 0.9% Pb, 59 g/t Ag, and 0.9 g/t Au. The deposits are hosted by altered felsic flows, tuffs, and volcaniclastic sedimentary rocks, and the sulphide ores formed in part by pervasive replacement of unconsolidated host rocks. U–Pb geochronological studies confirm a long-suspected correlation between the Duck Pond and Boundary deposits, which appear to be structurally displaced portions of a much larger mineralizing system developed at 509 ± 3 Ma. Altered aphyric flows in the immediate footwall of the Duck Pond deposit contained no zircon for dating, but footwall stringer-style and disseminated mineralization affects rocks as old as 514 ± 3 Ma at greater depths below the ore sequence. Unaltered mafic to felsic volcanic rocks that occur structurally above the orebodies were dated at 514 ± 2 Ma, and hypabyssal intrusive rocks that cut these were dated at 512 ± 2 Ma. Some felsic samples contain inherited (xenocrystic) zircons with ages of ca. 563 Ma. In conjunction with Sm–Nd isotopic data, these results suggest that the Tally Pond group was developed upon older continental or thickened arc crust, rather than in the ensimatic (oceanic) setting suggested by previous studies.

Reconciling zircon and monazite thermometry constrains H2O content in granitic melts

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvia Volante ◽  
William Collins ◽  
Chris Spencer ◽  
Eleanore Blereau ◽  
Amaury Pourteau ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Content ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Saturation Temperature ◽  
Granitic Rocks ◽  
Zircon Geochronology ◽  
Bulk Rock ◽  
Independent Evidence ◽  
Water Values ◽  
Host Rocks ◽  
Eastern Domain

<p>In this contribution, we compare and test the reliability of zircon and monazite thermometers and suggest a new and independent method to constrain the H<sub>2</sub>O content in granitic magmas from coeval zircon and monazite minerals. We combine multi-method single-mineral thermometry (bulk-rock zirconium saturation temperature (T<sub>zr</sub>), Ti-in-zircon (T<sub>(Ti-zr</sub><sub>)</sub>) and monazite saturation temperature (T<sub>mz</sub>)) with thermodynamic modelling to estimate water content and P–T conditions for strongly-peraluminous (S-type) granitoids in the Georgetown Inlier, NE Queensland. These granites were generated within ~30 km thick Proterozoic crust, and emplaced during regional extension associated with low-pressure high-temperature (LP–HT) metamorphism.</p><p>SHRIMP U–Pb monazite and zircon geochronology indicates synchronous crystallization ages of c. 1550 Ma for granitic rocks emplaced at different crustal levels—from the eastern deep crustal domain (P = 6–9 kbar), through the middle crustal domain (P = 4–6 kbar), to the western upper crustal domain (P = 0–3 kbar).</p><p>Bulk-rock T<sub>zr</sub> and T<sub>(Ti-zr</sub><sub>)</sub> yielded magma temperature estimates for the eastern domain of ~800°C and ~910–720°C, respectively. Magma temperatures in the central and western domains were ~730°C (T<sub>zr</sub>) and ~870–750°C (T<sub>(Ti-zr)</sub>) in the central domain, and ~810°C (T<sub>zr</sub>) and ~890–720°C (T<sub>(Ti-zr)</sub>) in the western domain, respectively. These temperature estimates were compared with P–T conditions recorded in the host rocks to determine if the magmas had equilibrated thermally with the crust. Similar temperatures were obtained for the middle and lower crust suggesting that the associated magmas thermally equilibrated at their respective depths, whereas the sub-volcanic rocks were, as expected, significantly hotter than the adjacent crust.</p><p>By plotting the results on a P–T–X<sub>H2O</sub> petrogenetic grid, and assuming adiabatic ascent through the crust, the sub-volcanic magmas appear to be drier (~3 wt% H<sub>2</sub>O) than the granitic magmas (~7 wt% H<sub>2</sub>O) which formed at greater depth. Monazite saturation temperatures (which depends on the water content, light–REE content and composition of the granitic melt), are in agreement with the zircon thermometers only if water values of ~3 wt% H<sub>2</sub>O and ~7 wt% H<sub>2</sub>O are assumed for the upper crustal magmas and deeper magmas, respectively. Moreover, melt compositions extracted from a modelled pseudosection of a sillimanite-bearing metapelite, which was interpreted to be the typical source rock for the surrounding granites (P=5 kbar and T=690°C–850°C), show comparable water content values.</p><p>The T<sub>mz</sub> results provide independent evidence for the H<sub>2</sub>O content in magmas, and we suggest that reconciling T<sub>zr</sub> with T<sub>mz</sub> is a new and independent way of constraining H<sub>2</sub>O content in granitic magmas.</p>

scholarly journals Aeromagnetic and spectral expressions of rare earth element deposits in Gallinas Mountains area, Central New Mexico, USA

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. T937-T949
Author(s):  
Mo Li ◽  
Xiaobing Zhou ◽  
Christopher H. Gammons ◽  
Mohamed Khalil ◽  
Marvin Speece
Keyword(s):  
New Mexico ◽  
Iron Oxides ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Ratio Method ◽  
Landsat 8 ◽  
Band Ratio ◽  
Ratio Imaging ◽  
Ore Distribution ◽  
Surface Mineral ◽  
Host Rocks

The Gallinas Mountains, located at the junction of Lincoln and Torrance Counties, New Mexico, USA, are a series of alkaline volcanic rocks intruded into Permian sedimentary rocks. The Gallinas Mountains area hosts fluorite and copper as veins containing bastnäsite, whereas deposits of iron skarns and iron replacement are in the area as well. These deposits produce iron. In this study, the multispectral band-ratio method is used for surface mineral recognition, whereas 2D subsurface structure inversion modeling was applied to explore the depth extent of the magnetic ore distribution from aeromagnetic data. Bastnäsite has higher magnetic susceptibility (0.009 SI) than the host rocks and surrounding sedimentary rock. The bastnäsite and iron oxides (magnetite + hematite) can contribute to a positive aeromagnetic anomaly. Results indicate that (1) the positive magnetic anomaly observed at Gallinas Mountains area can be accounted for by a mixture of bastnäsite and iron oxides at a depth of approximately 400 m and a thickness of approximately 13–15 m. The surface of this area is dominated by the hydrothermal alteration associated with iron oxides over the trachyte intrusions as detected by Landsat 8 band-ratio imaging.

A note on Lower Jurassic magmatism in the Coastal Cordillera of Atacama, Chile

1986 ◽  
Vol 123 (6) ◽  
pp. 699-702 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. Naranjo ◽  
A. Puig ◽  
M. Suárez
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Relationship ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Lower Jurassic ◽  
The West ◽  
Coastal Cordillera ◽  
Metasedimentary Rocks ◽  
Volcanic Chain ◽  
Back Arc ◽  
Host Rocks ◽  
Previous Idea

AbstractRadiometric dates on specimens of plutons of the Coastal Cordillera of Atacama span the period 300–110 Ma. A group of dates cluster around 190 Ma and evidence is presented which strongly suggests that they represent near crystallization ages. The geographic distribution of these plutons, adjacent to Liassic tuffs and lavas (Pan de Azúcar and Posada de los Hidalgo formations), suggests a genetic relationship between them, and that the plutons were the roots of the Lower Jurassic volcanic chain. The location of these granitoids to the west of the Liassic volcanic rocks, favours a previous idea that the Liassic basin extended eastwards as a back-arc or intra-arc basin. The host rocks to the Lower Jurassic plutons include Palaeozoic granitoids and metasedimentary rocks, indicating that the volcanic chain was founded on continental crust. The distance from the Liassic plutons to the present-day trench is less than 100 km, which indicates the possibility that part of the arc-trench system of that time is missing.

Fractionation in the feeder system at a Proterozoic rifted margin

1984 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 489-499 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean H. Bedard ◽  
Donald M. Francis ◽  
Andrew J. Hynes ◽  
Serge Nadeau
Keyword(s):  
Fractional Crystallization ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Crystallization Mechanism ◽  
Evolutionary Trend ◽  
Titanium Oxides ◽  
Magma Chambers ◽  
Volcanic Stratigraphy ◽  
Volcanic Pile ◽  
Dominant Process ◽  
Rifted Margin

In the Proterozoic Cape Smith Foldbelt of Ungava, Quebec, basal basalts of continental affinity are succeeded upward and basinward by cyclic sequences of MgO-rich (≤ 19 wt.% MgO) to MgO-poor submarine basalts of oceanic affinity belonging to the Chukotat Group. The more primitive komatiitic basalts of the Chukotat Group evolved via fractional crystallization of olivine within a crustal feeder system that is represented by large, layered sills and discordant dyke – sill complexes. These intrusions occupy horizons of mechanical weakness such as sedimentary or hyaloclastite-rich horizons within the volcanic stratigraphy. Peridotite and peridotite – gabbro sills predominate at the base of the Chukotat volcanic pile, whereas gabbroic sills are more common higher in the stratigraphy, reflecting the progressive fractionation within the feeder system. Gravitationally controlled settling of crystals or crystal clots is thought to be the dominant process responsible for fractionation in these crustal sills. Fractional crystallization of olivine within the feeder system produced the olivine-phyric to pyroxene-phyric evolutionary trend observed in the coexisting volcanic rocks. Continuing extraction of clinopyroxene, plagioclase, and iron – titanium oxides in subcrustal sills or magma chambers is thought to have generated the MORB-like upper plagioclase-phyric Chukotat basalts. The compositional gap between the pyroxene-phyric and plagioclase-phyric basalts is a by-product of the fractional crystallization mechanism: liquids with compositions typical of the gap are so highly charged with suspended plagioclase crystals that they resist extrusion.

scholarly journals Amethyst Occurrences in Tertiary Volcanic Rocks of Greece: Mineralogical, Fluid Inclusion and Oxygen Isotope Constraints on Their Genesis

Minerals ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (8) ◽  
pp. 324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Panagiotis Voudouris ◽  
Vasilios Melfos ◽  
Constantinos Mavrogonatos ◽  
Alexandre Tarantola ◽  
Jens Gӧtze ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fluid Inclusion ◽  
Open System ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Hydrothermal Fluids ◽  
Northern Greece ◽  
Quartz Veins ◽  
Low Salinity ◽  
Moderate Salinity ◽  
Host Rocks ◽  
Of Greece

Epithermally altered volcanic rocks in Greece host amethyst-bearing veins in association with various silicates, carbonates, oxides and sulfides. Host rocks are Oligocene to Pleistocene calc-alkaline to shoshonitic lavas and pyroclastics of intermediate to acidic composition. The veins are integral parts of high to intermediate sulfidation epithermal mineralized centers in northern Greece (e.g., Kassiteres–Sapes, Kirki, Kornofolia/Soufli, Lesvos Island) and on Milos Island. Colloform–crustiform banding with alternations of amethyst, chalcedony and/or carbonates is a common characteristic of the studied amethyst-bearing veins. Hydrothermal alteration around the quartz veins includes sericitic, K-feldspar (adularia), propylitic and zeolitic types. Precipitation of amethyst took place from near-neutral to alkaline fluids, as indicated by the presence of various amounts of gangue adularia, calcite, zeolites, chlorite and smectite. Fluid inclusion data suggest that the studied amethyst was formed by hydrothermal fluids with relatively low temperatures (~200–250 °C) and low to moderate salinity (1–8 wt % NaCl equiv). A fluid cooling gradually from the external to the inner parts of the veins, possibly with subsequent boiling in an open system, is considered for the amethysts of Silver Hill in Sapes and Kassiteres. Amethysts from Kornofolia, Megala Therma, Kalogries and Chondro Vouno were formed by mixing of moderately saline hydrothermal fluids with low-salinity fluids at relatively lower temperatures indicating the presence of dilution processes and probably boiling in an open system. Stable isotope data point to mixing between magmatic and marine (and/or meteoric) waters and are consistent with the oxidizing conditions required for amethyst formation.

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