镁铁-超镁铁层状侵入体研究现状

本文主要探讨了镁铁 -超镁铁层状侵入体的一般特征及成因机制 ,并对世界上著名的斯开利戛德、布什维尔德、斯蒂尔沃特层状侵入体和我国攀西层状侵入体的岩石学和地球化学特征进行了总结和对比。     

An overview of anorthosite-bearing layered intrusions in the Archaean craton of southern West Greenland and the Superior Province of Canada: implications for Archaean tectonics and the origin of megacrystic plagioclase

Anorthosite-bearing layered intrusions are unique to the Archaean rock record and are abundant in the Archaean craton of southern West Greenland and the Superior Province of Canada. These layered intrusions consist mainly of ultramafic rocks, gabbros, leucogabbros and anorthosites, and typically contain high-Ca (>An₇₀) megacrystic (2–30 cm in diameter) plagioclase in anorthosite and leucogabbro units. They are spatially and temporally associated with basalt-dominated greenstone belts and are intruded by syn-to post-tectonic granitoid rocks. The layered intrusions, greenstone belts and granitoids all share the geochemical characteristics of Phanerozoic subduction zone magmas, suggesting that they formed mainly in a suprasubduction zone setting. Archaean anorthosite-bearing layered intrusions and spatially associated greenstone belts are interpreted to be fragments of oceanic crust, representing dismembered subduction-related ophiolites. We suggest that large degrees of partial melting (25–35%) in the hotter (1500–1600 °C) Archaean upper mantle beneath rifting arcs and backarc basins produced shallow, kilometre-scale hydrous magma chambers. Field observations suggest that megacrystic anorthosites were generated at the top of the magma chambers, or in sills, dykes and pods in the oceanic crust. The absence of high-Ca megacrystic anorthosites in post-Archaean layered intrusions and oceanic crust reflects the decline of mantle temperatures resulting from secular cooling of the Earth.     

镁铁质-超镁铁质层状岩体基本特征及岩浆作用

镁铁质-超镁铁质层状岩体可以产于多种构造环境,岩体具有典型的层状构造和韵律结构。层状岩体形成时主要的岩浆作用有重力分异作用、双扩散对流作用、压实作用、同化混染和岩浆混合作用等,其中重力分异作用很好地解释了层状岩体垂向上岩石类型的变化和矿物组分的变化,双扩散对流作用和岩浆混合作用在韵律层理形成过程中起了很重要的作用,而压实作用对岩浆演化晚期阶段补堆晶结构的形成作用明显,同化混染作用可改变岩浆的成分,导致岩浆分异产物的组成和成分的变化。堆晶结构的不同主要依赖于粒间液体的活动性和晶粥的渗透率,补堆晶结构形成需要高渗透率,而粒间液体不活动时将有利于正堆晶结构的形成。岩石组合、岩石结构、矿物组分及其变化规律很好地记录岩浆分异过程、岩浆补给等信息,可以用来讨论层状岩体的岩石成因：温度压力条件、原生岩浆及其演化过程等。     

Some problems with the cumulus theory

There are a number of features in layered intrusions which do not appear to be consistent with the cumulus theory. The most important of these are: (1) Rhythmic layering in plagioclase-pyroxene cumulates from some intrusions (e.g. Jimberlana and Stillwater) may be inverted with the light plagioclase-rich cumulates at the base of the layer and heavy pyroxene-rich cumulates at the top. (2) Hydraulic sorting in rhythmically layered cumulates is often poor, suggesting that chemical and not mechanical processes control the distribution of minerals in this type of layered sequence. (3) The textures of cumulates from the steeply dipping marginal zone of Jimberlana, which cannot have formed by gravity settling, are indistinguishable from those found in the flatly dipping central layers of the intrusion. Similarly, it is difficult to explain the cumulate textures in the ‘overturned’ marginal layered series of Jimberlana. (4) Igneous layering, including cross-bedding, graded bedding and trough banding, has been described in layered sequences with near-vertical primary dips. (5) Calculations and experiments with a centrifuge furnace suggest that plagioclase cannot sink in Fe-rich tholeiitic liquids. (6) The settling of crystals as individual grains assumes that nucleation is homogeneous. This is unlikely.

It is probable that heterogeneous and self-nucleation are the dominant nucleation mechanisms during the formation of cumulates. This gives rise to two possibilities. Firstly, that most grains nucleate against pre-existing settling crystals to form composite grains which gravitate to the floor of the chamber. Secondly, that the cumulus grains nucleate in situ at the temporary floor of the magma chamber.     

Magmatic ore deposits in mafic–ultramafic intrusions of the Giles Event,Western Australia

More than 20 layered intrusions were emplaced at c. 1075 Ma across > 100 000 km² in the Mesoproterozoic Musgrave Province of central Australia as part of the c. 1090–1040 Ma Giles Event of the Warakurna Large Igneous Province (LIP). Some of the intrusions, including Wingellina Hills, Pirntirri Mulari, The Wart, Ewarara, Kalka, Claude Hills, and Gosse Pile contain thick ultramafic segments comprising wehrlite, harzburgite, and websterite. Other intrusions, notably Hinckley Range, Michael Hills, and Murray Range, are essentially of olivine-gabbronoritic composition. Intrusions with substantial troctolitic portions comprise Morgan Range and Cavenagh Range, as well as the Bell Rock, Blackstone, and Jameson–Finlayson ranges which are tectonically dismembered blocks of an originally single intrusion, here named Mantamaru, with a strike length of > 170 km and a width of > 20 km, constituting one of the world's largest layered intrusions.Over a time span of > 200 my, the Musgrave Province was affected by near continuous high-temperature reworking under a primarily extensional regime. This began with the 1220–1150 Ma intracratonic Musgrave Orogeny, characterized by ponding of basalt at the base of the lithosphere, melting of lower crust, voluminous granite magmatism, and widespread and near-continuous, mid-crustal ultra-high-temperature (UHT) metamorphism. Direct ascent of basic magmas into the upper crust was inhibited by the ductile nature of the lower crust and the development of substantial crystal-rich magma storage chambers. In the period between c. 1150 and 1090 Ma magmatism ceased, possibly because the lower crust had become too refractory, but mid-crustal reworking was continuously recorded in the crystallization of zircon in anatectic melts. Renewed magmatism in the form of the Giles Event of the Warakurna LIP began at around 1090 Ma and was characterized by voluminous basic and felsic volcanic and intrusive rocks grouped into the Warakurna Supersuite. Of particular interest in the context of the present study are the Giles layered intrusions which were emplaced into localized extensional zones. Rifting, emplacement of the layered intrusions, and significant uplift all occurred between 1078 and 1075 Ma, but mantle-derived magmatism lasted for > 50 m.y., with no time progressive geographical trend, suggesting that magmatism was unrelated to a deep mantle plume, but instead controlled by plate architecture.The Giles layered intrusions and their immediate host rocks are considered to be prospective for (i) platinum-group element (PGE) reefs in the ultramafic–mafic transition zones of the intrusions, and in magnetite layers of their upper portions, (ii) Cu–Ni sulfide deposits hosted within magma feeder conduits of late basaltic pulses, (iii) vanadium in the lowermost magnetite layers of the most fractionated intrusions, (iv) apatite in unexposed magnetite layers towards the evolved top of some layered intrusions, (v) ilmenite as granular disseminated grains within the upper portions of the intrusions, (vi) iron in tectonically thickened magnetite layers or magnetite pipes of the upper portions of intrusions, (vii) gold and copper in the roof rocks and contact aureoles of the large intrusions, and (viii) lateritic nickel in weathered portions of olivine-rich ultramafic intrusions.     

THE PRESENT STATUS OF THE THEORY on the ORIGIN OF OIL AND TASKS FOR FURTHER INVESTIGATION

During the Early Proterozoic (2.5 to 2.3 Ga), three types of coeval structural provinces developed in the eastern Baltic Shield—(1) the Karelian and Kola granite-greenstone cratons, (2) the relatively high grade Lapland-Umba granulite belt (LUGB), and (3) the Belomorian (White Sea) mobile belt (BMB). The LUGB represents a compensated compressional zone where synkinematic crustal-derived magmatism of the enderbite-charnockite series predominates. The BMB is a transitional nappe-folded zone between these high- and low-grade terranes, which consists mainly of reworked granite-greenstone lithologies of the adjacent cratons. These cratons were vast extensional areas with mantle-derived, siliceous, high-Mg (boninite-like) series (SHMS) magmatism. This SHMS magmatism occurs in volcano-sedimentary sequences, large layered intrusions, and dike swarms within graben-like structures.

One of the more interesting types of tectonomagmatic activity occurred within the BMB and is expressed as the unique Drusite Complex. It is represented by thousands of small intrusions of mafic and ultramafic rocks, dispersed among the higher-grade BMB host rocks. Geological features of these intrusions show that their formation was synkinematic with deformations within the belt, although they have undergone later, post-solidification deformation and metamorphism. As a result, intrusions often were transformed into lenticular, boudin-like bodies with primary igneous textures preserved only in their central portions. Compositions of the Drusite Complex intrusions, although forming small, individual bodies with associated chill zones, are similar to large layered intrusions in adjacent cratons (plagioclase harzburgites and lherzolites, pyroxenites, troctolites, olivine norites and norites, gabbronorites, anorthosites, and diorites). The areal distribution of the drusite intrusions and their correlation with large layered mafic intrusions in adjacent cratons suggests a vast magma-generation zone beneath western Russia during the Early Proterozoic.

The character and extent of magmatism suggests that during the Early Proterozoic (in Sumian— Sariolian time) the Kola and Karelian cratons were vast extensional areas above spreading plume heads. Within this scenario, the LUGB was an area of intense crustal sagging between these two cratons. The BMB was a transitional zone of tectonic flowage between the LUGB and the cratons, where movements were not as intense; there a nappe-folded structure formed. As a result, the intrusion of new melts occurred under rapidly changing conditions and a specific type of disseminated, intrusive magmatism—The Drusite Complex—emerged instead of the formation of layered intrusions. The petrologic and mineralogic compositions of the Drusite Complex intrusions are indistinguishable from coeval layered mafic intrusions of the adjacent Karelia and Kola cratons, suggesting similar parental magmas and a large zone of magmatism (i.e., large igneous province, or LIP) beneath the eastern Baltic Shield. These magmas were derived either from depleted mantle melts that had assimilated a significant crustal component, or from enriched mantle.     

攀西地区层状辉长岩体及钒钛磁铁矿床的成因

峨嵋山大岩浆省由大量的溢流玄武岩及其伴生的镁铁和超镁铁侵入岩组成。攀西地区的一些层状辉长岩体形成于260Ma,与早期报道的峨嵋山大岩浆省的年代相同。这些岩体中含有巨大的钒钛磁铁矿床,矿体呈似层状及透镜状产在层状辉长岩体的下部层位,不同于典型的层状岩体(如布什维尔德岩体)的磁铁矿床。地球化学资料表明,攀西地区含磁铁矿的岩体是从高度演化的基性岩浆中结晶而成,因为富硅的岩浆分离使得母岩浆高度富集铁、钛和钒。相对围岩来说,磁铁矿石形成较晚,是从氧化物矿浆中结晶的产物。矿石中有丰富的含水矿物相,流体的参与对氧化物矿浆的形成有重要的作用。     

层状侵入体的韵律层理成因

层状侵入体的一个典型的特征是具有隐导理和韵律层理，分析比较了前人提出的韵律层理形成的各种机制并结合对攀枝花层状侵入体的研究认为，层状侵入体的韵律层理的形成与成岩的压实作用关系密切，细粒韵律层理是由于颗粒大小的微小差别或矿物成分含量的逐渐增加和重复的再平衡所致，矿物成分含量的逐步增加和重复是通过在类似于奥斯特瓦尔德成熟的条件下循环溶解和晶体生长形成的，在影响层理形成的多种因素中，以对流作用，密度，粘度及岩浆房的几何形状等因素的研究较为详细，各研究者也存在较大分歧。     

High pressure crystallization of the Ewarara,Kalka and Gosse Pile intrusions,Giles Complex,central Australia

Evidence is presented for the primary high pressure crystallization of the Ewarara, Kalka and Gosse Pile layered intrusions which form part of the Giles Complex in central Australia. These pressures are estimated at 10 to 12 kb. The high pressure characteristics include subsolidus reactions between olivine and plagioclase, orthopyroxene and plagioclase, and orthopyroxene and spinel; spinel and rutile exsolution in both ortho- and clino-pyroxene; spinel exsolution in plagioclase; high Al₂O₃ and Cr₂O₃ contents of both ortho- and clinopyroxene; high Al^VI in clinopyroxene; dominance of orthopyroxene as an early crystallizing phase; high distribution coefficients for co-existing pyroxene pairs; and thin chilled margins. Such phenomena are rare in documented layered basic intrusions.     

New insights into precious metal enrichment on the Isle of Rum,Scotland

The Rum Layered Suite (NW Scotland) is generally regarded as one of a handful of classic examples of open‐system layered mafic‐ultramafic intrusions, or ‘fossilized’ basaltic magma chambers, world‐wide. The eastern portion of the Rum intrusion is constructed of sixteen repeated, coupled, peridotite–troctolite units. Each major cyclic unit has been linked to a major magma replenishment event, with repeated settling out of ‘crops’ of olivine and plagioclase crystals to form the cumulate rocks. However, there are variations in the lithological succession that complicate this oversimplified model, including the presence of chromitite (>60 vol. percent Cr‐spinel) seams. The ～2 mm thick chromitite seams host significant platinum‐group element (PGE) enrichment (e.g. ～2 ppm Pt) and likely formed in situ, i.e. at the crystal mush–magma interface. Given that the bulk of the world's exploited PGE come from a layered intrusion that bears remarkable structural and lithological similarities to Rum, the Bushveld Complex (South Africa), comparisons between these intrusions raise intriguing implications for precious metal mineralization in layered intrusions.     

不同类型基性层状侵入体的成因

论述了不同类型基性层状侵入体的成因。根据母岩浆特征划分出玄武岩浆侵入体和拉斑玄武岩浆侵入体两大类。     

Kabanga magmatic nickel sulphide deposits,Tanzania: morphology and geochemistry of associated intrusions

Mafic magmatism is a widespread feature of the Kibaran Orogenic Belt of central Africa, some of which hosts important deposits of Ni and Co. This paper describes mafic intrusions associated with Ni sulphides in northwest Tanzania, and attempts to define the tectonic environment of their emplacement. The Kabanga Ni deposits occur in small, layered mafic-ultramafic intrusions, comprising olivine and orthopyroxene cumulates. These intrusions are spatially associated with widespread gabbro-noritic sills emplaced within the enclosing Meso-proterozoic intracratonic metasedimentary rocks prior to deformation. The marginal rocks of the sulphide-bearing intrusions comprise gabbro-norite and melanorite, similar in texture, lithology and trace element geochemistry to the mafic sills. Marginal rocks of the mineralised intrusions with textures indicative of rapid cooling of largely crystal-free magma (strongly acicular pyroxene and skeletal olivine) are siliceous high Mg basalts, with enriched LREE and negative Sr, P and Ti anomalies, suggesting a metasomatically-enriched mantle source region and/or a strong crustal component. The Kabanga sulphide-bearing intrusions are inferred to have been emplaced as small feeder conduits supplying magma to larger adjacent and overlying gabbro-noritic intrusions within a foreland basin, prior to or during inversion and folding. 2000 Elsevier Science Limited.     

Age and significance of voluminous mafic–ultramafic magmatic events in the Murchison Domain,Yilgarn Craton

Mafic–ultramafic rocks in structurally dismembered layered intrusions comprise approximately 40% by volume of greenstones in the Murchison Domain of the Youanmi Terrane, Yilgarn Craton. Mafic–ultramafic rocks in the Murchison Domain may be divided into five components: (i) the ～2810 Ma Meeline Suite, which includes the large Windimurra Igneous Complex; (ii) the 2800 ± 6 Ma Boodanoo Suite, which includes the Narndee Igneous Complex; (iii) the 2792 ± 5 Ma Little Gap Suite; (iv) the ～2750 Ma Gnanagooragoo Igneous Complex; and (v) the 2735–2710 Ma Yalgowra Suite of layered gabbroic sills. The intrusions are typically layered, tabular bodies of gabbroic rock with ultramafic basal units which, in places, are more than 6 km thick and up to 2500 km² in areal extent. However, these are minimum dimensions as the intrusions have been dismembered by younger deformation. In the Windimurra and Narndee Igneous Complexes, discordant features and geochemical fractionation trends indicate multiple pulses of magma. These pulses produced several megacyclic units, each ～200 m thick. The suites are anhydrous except for the Boodanoo Suite, which contains a large volume of hornblende gabbro. They also host significant vanadium mineralisation, and at least minor Ni–Cu–PGE mineralisation. Collectively, the areal distribution, thickness and volume of mafic–ultramafic magma in these complexes is similar to that in the 2.06 Ga Bushveld Igneous Complex, and represents a major addition of mantle-derived magma to Murchison Domain crust over a 100 Ma period. All suites are demonstrably contemporaneous with packages of high-Mg tholeiitic lavas and/or felsic volcanic rocks in greenstone belts. The distribution, ages and compositions of the earlier mafic–ultramafic rocks are most consistent with genesis in a mantle plume setting.     

The petrology of the layered gabbro intrusion, eastern gabbro, Coldwell alkaline complex, Northwestern Ontario, Canada: evidence for multiple phases of intrusion in a ring dyke

The Coldwell alkaline complex is a large (> 350 km²) gabbro and syenite intrusion on the north shore of Lake Superior. It was emplaced at 1108 Ma during early magmatic activity associated with the formation of the Mid-Continent Rift of North America. The eastern gabbro forms a partial ring dyke on the outer margin of the complex and consists of at least three discrete intrusions. The largest of these is the layered gabbro that comprises a 300 m thick fine- to medium-grained basal unit overlain by up to 1100 m of variably massive to layered gabbroic cumulates which vary from olivine gabbro to anorthosite. Several xenoliths of Archaean metamorphic rocks that range in size from 10's to 100's of meters are present in the central part of the intrusion. Within discrete horizons in the layered gabbro are many centimeter- to meter-scale, gabbroic xenoliths. The main cumulus minerals, in order of crystallization, are plagioclase, olivine and clinopyroxene ± Fe-Ti oxides. Biotite and Fe-Ti-oxide are the dominant intercumulus phases. Orthopyroxene occurs not as a cumulus phase but as peritectic overgrowths on cumulus olivine. A detailed petrographic and mineral chemical study of samples from two stratigraphically controlled traverses through the layered gabbro indicates that the stratigraphy cannot be correlated along the 33 km strike of the ring dyke. Mineral compositions show both normal and reversed fractionation trends. These patterns are interpreted to record at least three separate intrusions of magma into restricted dilatant zones within the ring dyke possibly associated with ongoing caldera collapse. Calculations of parental melt composition using mineral — melt equilibria show that even the most primitive gabbros crystallized from an evolved magma with mg# of 0.42-0.49. The presence of orthopyroxene overgrowths on cumulus olivine suggests rising silica activity in the melt during crystallization and implies a subalkaline parentage for the layered gabbro.     

The Bushveld Complex, South Africa: formation of platinum–palladium, chrome- and vanadium-rich layers via hydrodynamic sorting of a mobilized cumulate slurry in a large, relatively slowly cooling, subsiding magma chamber

Platinum-group element (PGE) deposits in the Bushveld Complex and other layered intrusions form when large, incompletely solidified magma chambers undergo central subsidence in response to crustal loading, resulting in slumping of semi-consolidated cumulate slurries to the centres of the intrusions and hydrodynamic unmixing of the slurries to form dense layers enriched in sulfides, oxides, olivine and pyroxene and less dense layers enriched in plagioclase. The most economic PGE, Cr and V reefs form in large, multiple-replenished intrusions because these cool relatively slowly and their central portions subside prior to termination of magmatism and complete cumulate solidification. The depth of emplacement has to be relatively shallow as, otherwise, ductile crust would not be able to flex and collapse. In smaller intrusions, cooling rates are faster, subsidence is less pronounced and, where it occurs, the cumulate may be largely solidified, resulting in insignificant mush mobility and mineral sorting. Layering is thus less pronounced and less regular and continuous and the grades of the reefs are lower, but the reefs can be relatively thicker. An additional factor controlling the PGE, Cr and V prospectivity of intrusions is their location within cratons. Intra-cratonic environments offer more stable emplacement conditions that are more amenable to the formation of large, layered igneous bodies. Furthermore, intrusions sited within cratons are more readily preserved because cratons are underlain by thick, buoyant keels of harzburgite that prevent plate tectonic recycling and destruction of crust.     

大火成岩省研新进展

大火成岩省的含义是指连续的、体积庞大的火成岩(包括镁铁质和长英质火成岩)所构成的巨型岩浆岩建造。镁铁质大火成岩省可分为:大陆溢流玄武岩、火山被动陆缘、大洋高原玄武岩、大岩墙群和大层状侵入体。镁铁质大火成岩省是地幔柱岩浆活动的直接产物,一般与聚敛板块边界无关。长英质大火成岩省主要由酸性、中酸性熔结凝灰岩及与之有成因联系的花岗岩构成,与岩石圈伸展构造和玄武岩浆底侵作用有不可分割的联系。今后研究方向包括大火成岩省的形成与地幔动力学的联系以及它与大陆增生、大陆裂解和生物绝灭的关系。此外还包括大火成岩省与成矿作用研究     

四川石棉县首次发现独特的自然铂矿床

攀西地区大片前震旦纪结晶基底杂岩中产出有众多的前晋宁期层状侵入体，其间可见钒钛磁铁矿化，铬铁矿化，最近在石棉境内新发现一处含铂矿化体呈层状，网脉状产于层状侵入体中，且多以自然铂单矿物存在。伴生主要矿物为磁铁矿，钛铁矿，黄铁矿，黄铜矿等。初步认为该矿床类型属产于层状铁质基性-超基性岩与铜硫化物-钡钛磁铁矿有关的构造-热液再活化型自然铂矿床。     

The layered basic and ultrabasic intensives of the Giles Complex,Central Australia

A series of layered basic and ultrabasic intrusions in Central Australia is similar to other folded basic complexes. The Australian examples were emplaced after a period of highgrade metamorphism and have subsequently been rotated. Chemical investigation of several of the intrusions shows that cryptic variation is present, and in at least two cases intrusions were initially of different bulk composition. It is suggested that the parent magma was partially fractionated prior to final emplacement. The relative deficiency of ultrabasic rocks in this complex (less than 10%) when compared with other complexes is attributed to this process.     

Dynamic Magma Conduit System Related to the Jinchuan Ni-Cu Sulfide Deposit, NW China

The Jinchuan Ni-Cu sulfide deposits, NW China, are hosted in small ultramafic intrusions that were emplaced into Paleoproterozoic metamorphic rocks. The ultramafic intrusions were previously thought to be the segments of a single elongate intrusion that was dismembered by late faults into eastern and western portions, each of which have distinct stratigraphic sequences.     

Experimental study of liquid evolution in an Fe-rich,layered mafic intrusion: constraints of Fe-Ti oxide precipitation on the T-fO 2 and T-ϱ paths of tholeiitic magmas

The Newark Island layered intrusion, a composite intrusion displaying a similar fractionation sequence to the Skaergaard, has both dikes which preserved liquids fed into the intrusion and chilled pillows of liquids resident in the chamber. This study reports experimentally determined one atmosphere liquid lines of descent of these compositions as a function of oxygen fugacity which varies from QFM (quartz-fayalite-magnetite) to 0.5 log₁₀ units above IW (iron-wustite). These experiments reveal a strong oxygen fugacity dependence on the order of appearance and relative abundances of the Fe–Ti oxide minerals. Titanomagnetite saturates prior to ilmenite at QFM, but the order is reversed at lower oxygen fugacities. In the layered series of the Newark Island intrusion, ilmenite arrives shortly before titanomagnetite and the titanomagnetite/ilmenite ratio decreases monotonically after the cumulus appearance of titanomagnetite. Comparison of the crystallization sequence in the intrusion with that of the experiments requires that the oxygen fugacity in the intrusion increased relative to QFM before titanomagnetite saturation and decreased afterward, but always remained between the QFM and IW buffers. Similar trends in the modes of the Fe–Ti oxides (ilmenite and titanomagnetite) in the Skaergaard, Kiglapait, and Somerset Dam intrusions along with Fe₂O₃/FeO ratios in MORBs suggest that such a temperature-oxygen fugacity path may be typical of tholeiitic magma differentiation. Calculations of the temperature-density paths of the experimental liquids indicate that, at all possible oxygen fugacities, the density must have decreased abruptly after Fe–Ti oxide saturation. Accordingly, liquids replenishing the intrusion after Fe–Ti oxide saturation should pond at the bottom of the chamber, quenching against older cumulates. Field observation at the Newark Island intrusion confirm this prediction. The similarities in the fractionation paths of several other layered intrusions to that of the Newark Island intrusion suggest that the density of the liquids in these intrusions also decreased after Fe–Ti oxide saturation. Experiments on a suggested initial Skaergaard liquid are consistent with this model.