Geochronology,petrogenesis and tectonic implications of the Zhongchuan granitic pluton in the Western Qinling metallogenic belt,China

The Zhongchuan district is an important component of the metallogenic belt in the Western Qinling. The Zhongchuan granite pluton occurring in the centre of the Zhongchuan metallogenic area has been poorly constrained, though the Triassic granite in Western Qinling has been well documented. In‐situ zircon U–Pb ages, Hf isotopic compositions and whole‐rock geochemical data are presented for host granite and mafic microgranular enclaves (MMES) from the Zhongchuan pluton, in order to constrain its sources, petrogenesis and tectonic setting of the pluton. The distribution of major, trace and rare earth elements apparently reflect exchange between the MMES and the host granitic rocks mainly due to interactions between coeval felsic host magma and mafic magma. The zircon U–Pb age of host granite (231.6 ± 1.5 to 235.8 ± 2.3 Ma) has overlapping uncertainty with that of the MMES (236.6 ± 1.3 Ma), establishing that the mafic and felsic magmas were coeval. The Hf isotopic composition of the MMES (ε_Hf(t) = −13.4 to 4.0) is distinct from the host granite (ε_Hf(t) = −15.7 to 0.0), indicating that both enriched subcontinental lithosphere mantle (SCLM) and crustal sources contributed to their origin. The zircons have two‐stage Hf model ages of 1064 to 1798 Ma for the host granite and 858 to 1747 Ma for the MMES. This suggests that the granitic pluton was likely derived from partial melting of a Late Mesoproterozoic crust, with subsequent interaction with the SCLM‐derived mafic magmas in tectonic affinity to the South China Block. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Halogen chemistry as an indicator of metamorphic fluid interaction with the Ponder pluton,Coast Plutonic Complex,British Columbia,Canada

During hydrothermal fluid activity associated with the intrusion of the Ponder pluton, Coast Plutonic Complex, British Columbia, Canada, the halogen composition of biotite, amphibole and apatite is controlled by the composition of the metamorphic fluid. The core of the pluton was not affected by infiltrating fluids, and the fluorine composition of biotite was controlled by the biotite Fe-Mg ratio. The edge of the cooling, crystallized pluton interacted with a chlorine-rich, fluorine-poor fluid which changed the halogen composition of biotite and amphibole. The composition of the metamorphic fluid derived from biotite and apatite compositions was relatively high in chlorine and low in fluorine. The concentration of chlorine in the metamorphic fluid increases towards the pluton, whereas fluorine remains constant. This suggests that the metamorphic fluid near the pluton had the greatest potential for masstransfer of metals.     

Emplacement and deformation of the ca. 1.45 Ga Karlshamn granitoid pluton,southeastern Sweden,during ENE-WSW Danopolonian shortening

Anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility and structural geology of the ca. 1.45 Ga Karlshamn pluton (southern Sweden) are used to study its emplacement and structural evolution. The Karlshamn pluton is one of the largest metaluminous A-type granitoid intrusions in southern Sweden. It is a multiphase body made up of two suites that differ in composition but which have similar crystallization ages. The magmatic foliation, ductile shear zones and granite–pegmatite filled fractures were mapped as well as the metamorphic foliation and extension lineation in the metamorphic host rocks. The anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility was used to map the magnetite petrofabric of the pluton, providing a larger data set for both the magmatic foliations and lineations, which could not be mapped in the field. The fabrics within the pluton are continuous with the metamorphic fabrics in the country rocks. Both the pluton and the country rock fabrics were folded during ENE–WSW compression, while the pluton was still a magma mush. The stress field orientation during cooling of the pluton is determined on the basis of magmatic, ductile and brittle structures in the Karlshamn pluton that formed successively as the pluton cooled. The compressional event is referred to as the Danopolonian orogeny and therefore the Karlshamn granitoids, and other plutons of similar composition and age in central and southern Sweden, on the Danish Island of Bornholm, and in Lithuania, may be considered as syntectonic intrusions and not as anorogenic, as was previously thought.     

Mantle source of the Archean Panozero pluton,Karelia: evidence from isotope-geochemical study of rocks and minerals

This work considers geochemical and isotopic characteristics of the source of the Archean Panozero pluton derived from LILEand LREE-enriched lithospheric mantle. Sr and Nd isotopic data on clinopyroxenes and augites define a source with Sr_i = 0.7017 and ɛ_Nd(t) varying within a narrow range from + 0.7 to + 1.4 (averaging + 1.1), which is close to previously obtained whole-rock isotopic data. Similar ɛ_Nd(t) were obtained for the Archean alkaline rocks of Canada, whereas the Archean mafic rocks of the Baltic and Canadian Shields formed from depleted mantle have ɛ_Nd(t) ∼2. Lead isotope measurements on K-feldspars (KFsp) and monzonite showed that the source of the pluton has μ = 8.98 for the Stacey-Kramers two-stage model, at low U/Pb and high Th/U ratios. Different lead isotope composition corresponding to μ = 10.43 was determined in KFsp from quartz monzonites. Diverse interpretations of obtained data have been proposed. It was noted that the Pb-Pb isotopic system was disturbed by a later (∼ 1.9 Ga) thermal event. The ratios of elements of similar compatibility were used to determine the geochemical specifics of source of the Panozero pluton. Their comparison with numerous literature data on metasomatized mantle xenoliths and minerals in them showed that the mantle source strongly differed from primitive mantle in ratios of elements, whose mineralmelt partitioning coefficients considerably differs from mineral-fluid partitioning, for instance, Nb/La. Mantle source that was responsible for geochemical peculiarities of the Panozero pluton was made up of Phl, CPx, and Ap.     

Petrogenesis and Mineralization of Two‐Stage A‐Type Granites in Jiuyishan,South China: Constraints from Whole‐rock Geochemistry,Mineral Composition and Zircon U‐Pb‐Hf Isotopes

The Jiuyishan complex massif, located in the northern section of the Nanling region, is a combination of five plutons, namely, the Xuehuading, Jinjiling, Pangxiemu, Shaziling and Xishan plutons. Whole-rock geochemistry, mineral electron microprobe analysis, zircon U-Pb dating and Hf isotope analysis were carried out for the Jinjiling and Pangxiemu plutons. The zircon U-Pb dating yields weighted mean ages of 152.9±0.9 Ma for the Jinjiling pluton and 151.7±1.5 Ma for the Pangxiemu pluton, with a narrow gap between them. The Jinjiling and Pangxiemu plutons both have geochemical characteristics of high SiO2, Al2O3, Na2O, K2O and low TiO2, MgO, CaO, P2O5 contents, with intense depletionS in Sr, Ba, Ti, Eu and enrichments?in Ga, FeOT and HFSE, and these characteristics reflect an A-type affinity. From the Jinjiling to the Pangxiemu plutons, the mineral composition of mica changes from lepidomelane to zinnwaldite, with increases in F, Li2O and Rb2O contents. The mineral composition of zircon changes from low Zr/Hf to high Zr/Hf, with increasing HfO2, P2O5 and UO2+ThO2+Y2O3 contents. The mineral compositions of feldspar indicate that the Pangxiemu pluton contains more alkali feldspar than the Jinjiling pluton. The whole-rock geochemistry and mineral compositions reveal a higher degree of differentiation for the Pangxiemu pluton. The nearly uniform εHf(t) indicates the same source region for the two plutons: both were derived from partial melting of the lower crust, with small contributions of mantle materials. In addition, higher F, lower Nb/Ta and Zr/Hf ratios in the Pangxiemu Pluton suggest a closer relationship with the rare metal mineralization than for the Jinjiling pluton.     

The petrology of the Mt Manypeaks Adamellite and associated high‐grade metamorphic rocks near Albany,Western Australia

The Mt Manypeaks Adamellite is a composite, regionally concordant pluton at least 22 km long and 3 km wide, associated with Precambrian amphibolite facies gneisses of the Albany‐Esperance Block, and situated about 35 km east of Albany, Western Australia. The pluton is surrounded by a granitised aureole, and shows structural and mineralogical harmony with the country rocks. Contacts vary from grada‐tional to sharp. Hence field relations are consistent with syn‐ or late‐kinematic emplacement in the catazone. The normative composition of the pluton corresponds with the thermal trough in the system An‐Ab‐Or‐Q‐H2O at 7 kb PH2O, suggesting an origin involving crystal‐melt equilibria. The pluton is believed to have formed almost in situ by partial anatexis of the country rocks at 700–750°C and a depth of about 25 km during the orogenic episode responsible for regional metamorphism and deformation.     

Mineral assemblages and genesis of hornfelses in the outer contact zone of the Khibina Massif, Kola Peninsula, Russia

The paper presents materials on the fabric of the western, southwestern, and southern exocontact zones of the Khibina alkaline pluton and metavolcanic rocks of the Il’mozerskaya Formation of the Paleoproterozoic Imandra-Varzuga riftogenic structure. The volcanics of the Imandra-Varzuga structure were originally metamorphosed to the greenschist facies (at temperatures of ≥300°C and pressures of ≥2.0–2.5 kbar) and were afterward metamorphosed to the pyroxene-hornfels facies under the thermal effect the Khibina pluton with the development of a hornfels zone 150–400 m thick. According to their composition, the hornfelses are subdivided into three zones: inner, intermediate, and outer. The inner zone is up to 30 m thick and consists of hornfelses of clinopyroxene-plagioclase composition with olivine as a typomorphic mineral and with variable amounts of amphibole. The intermediate zone occurs at a distance of 30–200 m from the pluton, is separated from the inner zone by the olivine isograde, and consists of amphibole-clinopyroxene-plagioclase hornfelses. The outer zone, 200–400 m away from the contact of the pluton, is made of fine-grained melanocratic hornblende hornfelses. The thermal transformations of the metavolcanics involved the gradual replacement of their low-temperature mineral assemblage (actinolite + albite) by a higher temperature one (clinopyroxene + amphibole + andesinebytownite ± olivine). Our data on the chemical composition of the rock-forming minerals of the hornfelses indicate that the olivine is ferrohortonolite-fayalite, the clinopyroxene belongs to the augite-ferroaugite series, and occasional orthopyroxene grains (which were found only in the intermediate zone) are ferrohypersthene. The amphibole in the hornfelses of the intermediate zone and the outermost (farthest from the contact) part of the inner zone is edenite, a Ca amphibole. The amphibole in hornfelses near the contact is kataphorite of the Na-Ca amphibole group. The plagioclase composition generally corresponds to andesine and bytownite and is albite-oligoclase near the contact with the pluton. The hornfelses adjacent to the contact bear rare sanidine grains. The mineral thermo-and barometry of the hornfelses yielded temperatures of 700–640°C and pressures of 1–1.5 kbar. The temperature determined for the zone exactly at the contact was approximately 700°C, which corresponds to the initial temperature of the rocks in contact with the magma and is close to the crystallization temperature of the nepheline syenites of the Khibina pluton.     

Tectonic implications of new U–Pb zircon ages of the Ladakh batholith,Indus suture zone,northwest Himalaya,India

We determined U–Pb ages on zircons from Ladakh granitoid samples of three previously undated plutons and deduced four distinct age groups between c. 67 and c. 45 Ma (66.6 ± 2.1, 57.6 ± 1.4, 53.4 ± 1.8, 52.50 ± 0.53 and 45.27 ± 0.56 Ma). This suggests that the Ladakh batholith grew by addition of at least four distinct subduction‐related magma pulses at c. 67, 58, 53 and 45 Ma, thus indicating that the belt was continuously active throughout the Palaeocene and the Middle Eocene (Lutetian). The 45.27 ± 0.56 Ma pluton at Daah‐Hanu is the last major calcalkaline arc magmatic pulse in the Ladakh batholith. Thereafter, the subduction‐related major plutonism gradually waned. The earlier estimate for the youngest pluton within the Ladakh batholith is 49.8 ± 0.8 Ma for the Leh pluton ( J. Geol., 2000, 108 , 303 ).     

Structure, age and mode of emplacement of the Hercynian Bordères-Louron pluton (Central Pyrenees, France)

The Hercynian Bordères-Louron pluton (20 km²) in the Central Pyrenees intrudes Devonian and Carboniferous metasediments. It shows a concentric zoning and consists of a significant proportion of (quartz) gabbros in its periphery, and of granodiorites, biotite monzogranites and biotite-muscovite monzogranites in its core. AMS study shows that the pluton corresponds to an elongated dome with a N100°E-trending axis. The anisotropy intensity Ppara% is high in the south and in the core of the pluton, whereas it is low in the north. The shape parameter T indicates that the fabric is strongly planar in a large central band oriented NW-SE, whereas it is strongly linear in the western and eastern tips of the pluton. These characteristics suggest that the Bordères-Louron pluton emplaced in two episodes: (1) intrusion of mafic magmas along a N100°E sill parallel to the regional foliation of the host metasediments; and (2) injection of three successive silicic batches (granodiorite, biotite monzogranite, two-micas monzogranite) which pushed aside the early mafic injections. In situ U-Pb dating of zircon grains indicates that the emplacement age of the biotite monzogranite is 309 ± 4 Ma, synchronous with the D ₂ dextral transpressive event and close to the ages of the eastern Pyrenean plutons, may be slightly older.     

Fractionation and Liquid Immiscibility in an Anorthositic Pluton of the Nain Complex, Labrador

Fine-grained anorthositic dikes are associated with a massiveleuconorite pluton (Cl = 15) which is exposed over an area ofabout 200 km². Internally, the pluton shows little compositionalvariation; average plagioclase composition ranges from An₅₂to An₄₈. The dikes are nearly uniform in composition and similarto the estimated bulk composition of the pluton (55 per centSiO₂). They therefore appear to represent the parental magmaof the leuconorite pluton. A small body of granite (10 km²) was emplaced within and priorto the complete solidification of the leuconorite. The graniticintrusion caused local deformation of the leuconorite and filter-pressingof its late stage interstitial liquids. These liquids occurin the younger hydrous granite as very finegrained, chilledpillows of nearly anhydrous Fe-rich diorite and granite. Mostof the pillows are diorites with approximately 55 per cent SiO₂.On oxide plots these lie approximately on a plagioclase controlline passing through the composition of the leuconorite dikes.The entire group of chilled pillows ranges in composition from45 to 71 per cent SiO₂ with a gap between 57 and 63 per centSiO₂. On oxide plots they produce a smooth trend which is obliqueto and truncates the plagioclase control line. Variation inthe pillows can best be explained by late-stage liquid immiscibility. Fractionation in the interstitial magma was controlled earlyby crystallization of plagioclase and later by plagioclase pluspyroxene. Very late stage differentiation was controlled mainlyby liquid immiscibility and produced FeO- and SiO₂-rich liquids.     

Contrasting stratified plutons exposed in tilt blocks, Eldorado Mountains, Colorado River Rift, NV, USA

Roof-to-floor exposures of mid-Miocene plutons in tilt blocks south of Las Vegas, NV, reveal distinct but strongly contrasting magma chamber statigraphy. The Searchlight and Aztec Wash plutons are well-exposed, stratified intrusions that show a similar broad range in composition from 45–75 wt.% SiO₂. Homogeneous granites that comprise about one-third of each intrusion are virtually identical in texture and elemental and isotopic chemistry. Mafic rocks that are present in both plutons document basaltic input into felsic magma chambers. Isotopic compositions suggest that mafic magmas were derived from enriched lithospheric mantle with minor crustal contamination, whereas more felsic rocks are hybrids that are either juvenile basaltic magma+crustal melt mixtures or products of anatexis of ancient crust+young (Mesozoic or Miocene?) mafic intraplate.

Despite general similarities, the two plutons differ markedly in dimensions and lithologic stratigraphy. The Searchlight pluton is much thicker (10 vs. 3 km) and has thick quartz monzonite zones at its roof and floor that are absent in the Aztec Wash pluton. Isotopic and elemental data from Searchlight pluton suggest that the upper and lower zones are cogenetic with the granite; we interpret the finer grained, slightly more felsic upper zone to represent a downward migrating solidification front and the lower zone to be cumulate. In contrast, the upper part of the Aztec Wash pluton is granite, and a heterogeneous, mafic-rich injection zone with distinct isotopic chemistry forms the lower two-thirds of the intrusion. Similar mafic rocks are relatively sparse in Searchlight pluton and do not appear to have played a central role in construction of the pluton. Large felsic and composite dikes that attest to repeated recharging and intrachamber magma transfer are common in the Aztec Wash pluton but absent in the Searchlight pluton. Thus, although both intrusions were filled by similar magmas and both developed internal stratification, the two intrusions evolved very differently. The distinctions may be attributable to scale and resulting longevity and/or to subtle differences in tectonic setting.     

Seeing past the effects of re-equilibration to reconstruct magmatic gradients in plutons: La Gloria Pluton, central Chilean Andes

This study of La Gloria pluton in the Chilean Andes evaluates what information about magmatic conditions can be extracted from minerals in a granitic pluton, despite lower-temperature re-equilibration. The pluton is zoned vertically from granodiorite/quartz monzodiorite to quartz monzonite at the roof, with the uppermost 1500 m showing the strongest modal and compositional trends. This mimics the pattern frequently inferred from zoning in voluminous ignimbrites: a strongly zoned cap overlying a more homogeneous main␣body. The presence of large, euhedral amphibole ± biotite at the chamber margins and roof indicate that water was concentrated there. Biotite and amphibole compositions indicate a roofward increase in magmatic f _HF, f _HCl and F/Cl ratio, analogous to pre-eruptive volatile gradients recorded in zoned ignimbrites. Hornblende that crystallized directly from the melt in the volatile-rich wall and roof zones yields total-Al solidification pressures of ˜1 kbar, consistent with the estimated 4000 m of cover at the time of emplacement. In the core of the pluton, actinolitic amphibole formed by reaction of melt with early-crystallized clinopyroxene. Plag-cpx cumulate clots in the lower level are interpreted as early crystallizing phases entrained in rising granitic magma. Cores of amphibole phenocrysts in mafic enclaves suggest initial crystallization at pressures of 2–3 kbar. Lower Ti and Al contents of rims and acicular groundmass amphibole, overlapping the composition of amphibole in the host granitoid, indicate that the enclaves equilibrated with the host at the present exposure level in the presence of interstitial melt. A roofward relative increase in fO₂ of the magma is recorded by an increasing proportion of Fe-Ti oxides as a fraction of the mafic phases, greater Mn content of ilmenite, and constant or higher Mg/(Mg+Fe) in hornblende and biotite despite declining whole-rock MgO contents. Association␣of subhedral biotite and magnetite with actinolitic amphibole in clots implies a reaction: K-Ti-hb + O₂(gas) = bi + mt + actinolitic amph + titanite. Magnetite coexisting with biotite with Fe/(Fe+Mg) = 0.34– 0.40 implies temperatures of equilibration no lower than about 720–750 °C, i.e., late-magmatic rather than subsolidus. Saturation with respect to a water-rich vapor and subsequent diffusive loss of hydrogen may have caused this oxidation trend, which resulted in the most magnesian mafic phases occurring in the most compositionally evolved rocks, opposite to trends in most zoned ignimbrites, which presumably record conditions nearer the liquidus and prior to exsolution of a water-rich vapor. Two-feldspar and Fe-Ti-oxide geothermometers record subsolidus conditions in the pluton and yield higher temperatures for samples from the roof zone, suggesting that slower cooling at deeper levels allowed these minerals to continue to equilibrate to lower temperatures. Individual minerals span wide ranges in composition at any given level of the pluton, from those appropriate for phenocrysts, to those that record conditions well below the solidus. We suggest that the shallow level and isolated position of the pluton led to rapid escape of magmatic volatiles and rapid cooling, thereby preventing development of a long-lived hydrothermal system. Resulting small water/rock ratios may account for why late-magmatic and subsolidus re-equilibration were not pervasive. Received: 23 August 1996 / Accepted: 18 October 1996     

Zonal Distribution of Variations in Structural State of Alkali Feldspar within the Rader Creek Pluton, Boulder Batholith, Montana

The granodioritic Rader Creek pluton of the composite Boulderbatholith contains microperthitic alkali feldspar of bulk compositionOr₆₅ to Or₈₆ with a structurally variable potassic phase. Completecell parameters, 2V measurements, and bulk composition are givenfor 11 feldspar samples. The 131 and 131 reflections for theseand 58 additional samples show the following structural typesin the potassic phase: orthoclase only; orthoclase with subordinatemaximum or near-maximum microcline (obliquity = 0.75–1.00);orthoclase with subordinate intermediate microcline (obliquity= 0.64–0.71); and intermediate microcline (obliquity =0.56–0.77) with subordinate orthoclase. Within the plutondifferent feldspar structural types occur in zones whose boundariesare approximately parallel to contacts with younger intrusiverocks cutting the Rader Creek pluton but are, in places, nearlyperpendicular to zonation within the pluton defined by rockcomposition. In general, the orthoclase zone is closest to thecontact with younger intrusives; the intermediate microclinezone is the most distant. Bulk compositions of alkali feldsparare more potassic in the orthoclase zone than elsewhere. Thedata suggest a complex history for the alkali feldspar, involvingat least two stages: 1. Exsolution and partial inversion oforthoclase to intermediate microcline during cooling of theRader Creek pluton; 2. Transformation of the intermediate-microclineassemblage to orthoclase during reheating of the pluton at thetime of intrusion of younger plutons of the batholith. The transitionalstage in this transformation is characterized by orthoclaseco-existing with subordinate microcline, whose obliquity usuallyapproaches that of maximum microcline.     

Geology, Geochronology, and Geodynamics of the Khan Bogd alkali granite pluton in southern Mongolia

The Khan Bogd alkali granite pluton, one of the world’s largest, is situated in the southern Gobi Desert, being localized in the core of the Late Paleozoic Syncline, where island-arc calc-alkaline differentiated volcanics (of variable alkalinity) give way to the rift-related bimodal basalt-comendite-alkali granite association. The tectonic setting of the Khan Bogd pluton is controlled by intersection of the near-latitudinal Gobi-Tien Shan Rift Zone with an oblique transverse fault, which, as the rift zone, controls bimodal magmatism. The pluton consists of the eastern and the western ring bodies and comes into sharp intrusive contact with rocks of the island-arc complex and tectonic contact with rocks of the bimodal complex. The inner ring structure is particularly typical of the western body and accentuated by ring dikes and roof pendants of the country island-arc complex. According to preliminary gravity measurements, the pluton is a flattened intrusive body (laccolith) with its base subsiding in stepwise manner northwestward. Reliable geochronologic data have been obtained for both plutonic and country rocks: the U-Pb zircon age of alkali granite belonging to the main intrusive phase is 290 ± 1 Ma, the ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages of amphibole and polylithionite are 283 ± 4 and 285 ± 7 Ma, and the Rb-Sr isochron yields 287 ± 3 Ma; i.e., all these estimates are close to 290 Ma. Furthermore, the U-Pb zircon age of red normal biotite granite (290 ± 1 Ma) and the Rb-Sr age of the bimodal complex in the southern framework of the pluton are the same. The older igneous rocks of the island-arc complex in the framework and roof pendants of the pluton are dated at 330 Ma. The geodynamic model of the Khan Bogd pluton formation suggests collision of the Hercynian continent with a hot spot in the paleoocean; two variants of this model are proposed. According to the first variant, the mantle plume, after collision with the margin of the North Asian paleocontinent, reworked the subducted lithosphere and formed a structure similar to an asthenospheric window, which served as a source of rift-related magmatism and the Khan Bogd pluton proper. In compliance with the second variant, the emergence of hot mantle plume resulted in flattening of the subducted plate; cessation of the island-arc magmatism; and probably in origin of a local convective system in the asthenosphere of the mantle wedge, which gave rise to the formation of a magma source. The huge body of the Khan Bogd alkali granite pluton and related volcanic rocks, as well as its ring structure, resulted from the caldera mechanism of the emplacement and evolution of magmatic melts.     

Geology and paleomagnetism of El Potrero pluton, Baja California: Understanding criteria for timing of deformation and evidence of pluton tilt during batholith growth

The 102 Ma El Potrero pluton, in the western foothills of Sierra San Pedro Mártir, in north-central Baja California, was emplaced during a long period of contractional deformation bracketed between 132 and 85 Ma that affected this segment of the Peninsular Ranges Batholith. The pluton records regional and emplacement related deformation manifested by: (1) a solid-state fabric developed on its eastern contact, which is produced by eastward lateral pluton expansion; (2) cleavage triple point zones in the host-rock NW and SE of the pluton; (3) subhorizontal ductile shear zones indicative of top-to-the-east transport; (4) magmatic and tectonic foliations parallel to regional structural trends and regional shear zones; (5) variable axial ratios of microgranitoid enclaves close to pluton–wall rock contacts; (6) evidence of brittle-emplacement mechanisms in the western border of the pluton, which contrast with features indicating mainly ductile mechanisms toward the east; and, (7) markedly discordant paleomagnetic directions that suggest emplacement in an active tectonic setting. The overall mean for 9 accepted paleomagnetic sites is Dec = 34.6°, I = 25.7° (k = 88.3, α₉₅ = 5.5°), and is deviated  35° with respect to the reference cratonic direction. This magnetization is interpreted to indicate a combination of tilt due to initial drag during vertical diapiric ascent (or westward lateral-oblique expansion) of the adjacent San Pedro Mártir pluton and later rotation ( 15°) by Rosarito Fault activity in the southwest; this rotation may have occurred as eastward contraction acted to fill the space emptied by the ascending San Pedro Mártir pluton. The Rosarito fault may have tilted several plutons in the area (Sierra San Pedro Mártir, El Potrero, San José, and Encinosa). Magnetic susceptibility fabrics for 13 sites reflect mostly emplacement-related stress and regional stress. Paleomagnetic data and structural observations lead us to interpret the El Potrero pluton as a syntectonic pluton, emplaced within a regional shear zone delimited by the Main Mártir Thrust and the younger Rosarito Fault.     

The parnell quartz monzonite: A proterozoic zoned pluton in the archaean pilbara block,Western Australia

The Parnell Quartz Monzonite in the Pilbara Block of Western Australia is a Proterozoic (1731 ± 14 Ma) pluton characterized by high modal K‐feldspar and a greater abundance of hornblende relative to biotite, as is typical of Phanerozoic monzonitic rocks in eastern Australia. The only geochemical features reflecting its setting in an Archaean terrain are high Na2O, Ni and Cr. The pluton is zoned, with an increase in K‐feldspar, quartz and biotite and a decrease in plagioclase and hornblende from margin to core. Chemically, this zoning is reflected by systematic variation of CaO, K₂O, Na₂O, Sr and Rb, but ferromagnesian elements have irregular trends, implying preferential extraction of feldspars relative to mafic minerals during differentiation of the magma. The unusual geochemical trends are explained by a model involving ‘in situ’ feldspar fractionation of a K‐rich residual liquid from a mafic crystalline mush.

A parent magma similar to the average rock composition of the pluton is deduced because high ferromagnesian trace element abundances preclude extensive fractionation of mafic minerals. Geochemical and isotopic constraints suggest that the ultimate source was chemically similar to a shoshonitic basaltic andesite, that must have been emplaced beneath the eastern margin of the Pilbara Block in the Early Proterozoic. Subsequent partial melting of this postulated underplated source at ～ 1700 Ma to produce the Parnell Quartz Monzonite was probably associated with tectonism in the Gregory Range Complex.     

Porphyroblast rotation during crenulation cleavage development: an example from the aureole of the Mooselookmeguntic pluton, Maine, USA

In the low‐pressure, high‐temperature metamorphic rocks of western Maine, USA, staurolite porphyroblasts grew at c. 400 Ma, very late during the regional orogenesis. These porphyroblasts, which preserve straight inclusion trails with small thin‐section‐scale variation in pitch, were subsequently involved in the strain and metamorphic aureole of the c. 370 Ma Mooselookmeguntic pluton. The aureole shows a progressive fabric intensity gradient from effectively zero emplacement‐related deformation at the outer edge of the aureole ～2900 m (map distance) from the pluton margin to the development of a pervasive emplacement‐related foliation adjacent to the pluton. The development of this pervasive foliation spanned all stages of crenulation cleavage development, which are preserved at different distances from the pluton. The spread of inclusion‐trail pitches in the staurolite porphyroblasts, as measured in two‐dimensional (2‐D) thin sections, increases nonlinearly from ～16° to 75° with increasing strain in the aureole. These data provide clear evidence for rotation of the staurolite porphyroblasts relative to one another and to the developing crenulation cleavage. The data spread is qualitatively modelled for both pure and simple shear, and both solutions match the data reasonably well. The spread of inclusion‐trail orientations (40–75°) in the moderately to highly strained rocks is similar to the spread reported in several previous studies. We consider it likely that the sample‐scale spread in these previous studies is also the result of porphyroblast rotation relative to one another. However, the average inclusion‐trail orientation for a single sample may, in at least some instances, reflect the original orientation of the overgrown foliation.     

Late Triassic granites from the northwestern margin of the Tibetan Plateau,the Dahongliutan example: petrogenesis and tectonic implications for the evolution of the Kangxiwa Palaeo-Tethys

The Dahongliutan granitic pluton consists of two-mica granites and is located in the eastern part of the Western Kunlun Orogen, northwestern Tibetan Plateau. Zircon separates from the pluton yield a SIMS U–Pb age of 217.5 ± 2.8 Ma. Rocks from the pluton contain relatively high and uniform SiO₂ (72.32–73.48 wt%) and total alkalis (Na₂O + K₂O = 8.07–8.67 wt%) and are peraluminous and high-K calc-alkaline to shoshonitic in composition. The Dahongliutan granites are relatively depleted in the high-field-strength elements and the heavy rare earth elements (HREEs) and have relatively high Rb, and low Ba and Sr concentrations. They contain low total rare earth element (REE) concentrations. The light REEs are strongly enriched relative to the HREEs, with (La/Yb)_N values of 28.56–37.01. The ε_Nd(t) values range from ?10.6 to ?8.8, and (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr)_i = 0.7142–0.7210. Zircons from the pluton yield ε_Hf(t) values of ?13.8 to ?1.6, and δ¹⁸O = 10.5–11.6‰. Petrographic and geochemical features of the pluton indicate that the granites are S-type and were derived from parting melting of a mixture of metasedimentary and minor metaigneous sources in the middle–lower crust. Magmatic differentiation was dominated by the fractional crystallization of plagioclase, K-feldspar, muscovite, biotite, and accessory monazite, allanite, and Fe–Ti oxides. Regional granitoids were emplaced in the Early-to-Middle Triassic. Other younger granitoids, with ages of 240–200 Ma, are mostly I-type in character and were likely derived from multiple types of source rock, suggesting the source was heterogeneous Triassic crust. Such a scenario is consistent with their formation in a post-collisional setting. Our new data, combined with other geological evidence, suggest that the collision between the Tianshuihai and southern Kunlun terranes occurred between ca. 250 and 240 Ma, resulting in the closure of the Palaeo-Tethys. Post-collisional tectono-magmatic events may have occurred between 240 and 200 Ma.     

Characteristic Features and U—Pb Isotopic Ages of Zircons in a Middle Proterozoic Granite Pluton from Baohan Area,Hainan Province,China

The crystal form,chemical composition and U-Pb isotopic composition of various zircon fractions is a Middle Proterozoic granite pluton from the Baoban area suggest that the zircons are typically magmatogenic in nature,and different from those of sedimentary and epigenetic orgins.The various zircon fractions yielded and age of about 1440.87Ma,which may represent the ge of zircon crystallization.The so-called aoban-group migmatite is,as a matter of fact,a Middle Proterozoic granite pluton.     

Rock-Forming feldspars of the Khibiny alkaline pluton,Kola Peninsula,Russia

This paper describes the structural-compositional zoning of the well-known Khibiny pluton in regard to rock-forming feldspars. The content of K-Na-feldspars increases inward and outward from the Main foidolite ring. The degree of coorientation of tabular K-Na-feldspar crystals sharply increases in the Main ring zone, and microcline-dominant foyaite turns into orthoclase-dominant foyaite. The composition of K-Na-feldspars in the center of the pluton and the Main ring zone is characterized by an enrichment in Al. This shift is compensated by a substitution of some K and Na with Ba (the Main ring zone) or by an addition of K and Na cations to the initially cation-deficient microcline (the central part of the pluton). Feldspars of volcanosedimentary rocks occurring as xenoliths in foyaite primarily corresponded to plagioclase An_15–40, but high-temperature fenitization and formation of hornfels in the Main ring zone gave rise to the crystallization of anorthoclase subsequently transformed into orthoclase and albite due to cooling and further fenitization. Such a zoning is the result of filling the Main ring fault zone within the homogeneous foyaite pluton with a foidolite melt, which provided the heating and potassium metasomatism of foyaite and xenoliths of volcanosedimentary rocks therein. The process eventually led to the transformation of foyaite into rischorrite-lyavochorrite, while xenoliths were transformed into aluminum hornfels with anorthoclase, annite, andalusite, topaz, and sekaninaite.