The late stages of evolution of the Kwandonkaya A-type granite complex,Nigeria, as deduced from mafic minerals

In the Kwandonkaya Complex, an A-type metaluminous to peraluminous granite complex in northern Nigeria, the presence of Fe²⁺-rich ferromagnesian phases (fayalite, hedenbergite and amphibole) at the initial and annite at final stages of crystallisation indicates relatively reduced melts throughout (⪯QFM). Annite and associated species in the biotite granites provide the best indication as to the nature of volatile loss, albitisation and greisen formation.From the mica chemistry, it is inferred that degassing was accompanied by preferential loss of Cl in the roof zones and margins of the plutonic rocks, with the resulting enrichment of F and inferred Li in mica from the drusy facies. During albitisation, the mica composition was rockbuffered with respect to major constituents like Fe. However, the F±(Li, REE, Y, Nb, Ta, Sn) contents were enhanced during albitisation to produce F-rich mica associated with disseminated-type typaz-columbite-cassiterite mineralisation. Greisen formation was accompanied by the buildup of Si, Al, Ti, F and possibly Li, which is in agreement with enhanced normative quartz and corundum, and increases in modal mica, quartz, topaz and fluorite. The mafic minerals and their alteration assemblages indicate that volatile loss, incipient subsolidus modifications, albitisation and greisen formation were associated with increases in f_HF and f_H2O). Both oxidation and preferential Cl loss promoted the deposition of cassiterite at post-magmatic stages.     

The role of deformation partitioning in the deformation and recrystallization of plagioclase and K-feldspar in the Woodroffe Thrust mylonite zone, central Australia

ABSTRACT In the Woodroffe Thrust mylonite zone, central Australia, recrystallization in plagioclase and K-feldspar involved subgrain rotation, assisted by grain-boundary or kink band boundary bulging, without contribution from a change in the chemical composition from host grains to new grains. The size of subgrains and new grains changes across the mylonite zone, apparently as a function of the strain rate and the H2O content of the rock. The partitioning of deformation into zones of progressive shearing and progressive shortening controls the sites of recovery and recrystallization in feldspar during mylonitization. The size of feldspar porphyroclasts in well developed mylonites is governed by the scale of deformation partitioning reached in the earlier stages of mylonitization, before the formation of a large proportion of fine-grained matrix that can accommodate the progressive shearing component of the deformation. Recrystallization occurs in microcline, apparently without involving a translation to a monoclinic structure, as microcline-twinned new grains are common adjacent to microcline-twinned host grains. K-feldspar triclinicity values calculated from XRD traces increase from the margins to the interior of the mylonite zone, in conjunction with deformation intensity. K-feldspar host grains locally have cores of orthoclase or untwinned microcline, surrounded by mantles of twinned microcline, suggesting a relationship between the presence of microcline twinning and the degree of K-feldspar triclinicity.     

Strain-driven disordering of low microcline to low sanidine during partial phase separation in microperthites

Microperthitic feldspar crystals containing low microcline in a braid intergrowth often have distinctive microtextures including coarse semi- to in-coherent grain-boundary pleated rims and fine coherent intracrystalline Ab- and Or-rich pleats (Lee et al. 1997). The coarser pleated rims are generally separated from the braid microtexture in the crystal interior by a coherent to semi-coherent transitional zone. Partial phase separation has occurred in the transitional zone in step with that in the Ab- and Or-rich pleats at the grain boundaries, such that Ab-rich lamellar film micro-antiperthite alternates along (010) with more Or-rich lamellar film microperthite; the microtextures and phases are those expected for the respective local bulk compositions. Lamellar microtextures contain tweed orthoclase, whereas low microcline is the only K-feldspar in the fine coherent pleats and braid microperthite. We propose that the small coherent pleats developed from the braid microtexture by interaction of the spontaneous coherency strains with discontinuities within or at the surface of the crystal, and that their initial spacing is guided by that of the braid microperthite. We infer that the transitional zone formed by straightening of the zig-zag braid microtexture above the pleat heads during coarsening and partial phase separation. We further infer that the resulting coherency shear strains induced a reversal of the K-feldspar phase transformation, involving Si, Al disordering of low microcline into low sanidine, now tweed orthoclase, although the crystal was at a T within the hydrostatic T-stability of microcline. Received: 10 June 1996 / Accepted: 12 December 1996     

花岗岩中的钾长石巨晶：以南岭佛冈花岗质杂岩体中微斜长石巨晶为例

野外地质观察和岩石显微结构研究表明,佛冈花岗质杂岩体中微斜长石巨晶是岩浆结晶的产物,不是交代斑晶,也不是变斑晶,它们与基质中的微斜长石构成双峰式粒径,反映了岩浆的两阶段结晶历史,由于微斜长石是钾长石的低温变体,因此一种可能的机制是佛冈花岗质杂岩岩浆在侵位和基本固结后,冷却缓慢,使早结晶的正长石转变为微斜长石,此外,在新近的研究中,还发现了罕见的,但在佛冈花岗杂岩体中为数不少的“十字”贯穿式双晶微斜长石,以及微斜长石巨晶的“环斑”和“珠边”结构。     

Contrasting evolution of low-P rare metal granites from two different terranes in the Hoggar area, Algeria

Two mineralogically different rare metal granites located in two distinct terranes from the Tuareg area are compared: the Tin-Amzi granite in the north of the Laouni Terrane and the Ebelekan granite in the Assodé–Issalane Terrane.The Tin-Amzi granite is enclosed within Eburnean granulitic gneisses, and consists of albite, quartz, protolithionite, K-feldspar and topaz granite (PG). The accessory minerals include columbite tantalite, U- and Hf-rich zircon, Th-uraninite, wolframoixiolite and wolframite. This facies is characterised by a mineralogical evolution from the bottom to the top underlined by a strong resorption of K-feldspar and albite and the crystalliK-feldspar of more abundant topaz and protolithionite II which is further altered in muscovite and Mn-siderite. It is underlain by an albite, K-feldspar, F-rich topaz, quartz and muscovite granite (MG), with W–Nb–Ta oxides, wolframite, Nb-rutile, zircon and scarce uranothorite as accessories.The Ebelekan granite intrudes into a coarse-grained biotite granite enclosed within upper amphibolite-facies metasediments. It comprises a zinnwaldite, albite, topaz porphyritic granite (ZG) with “snow ball” quartz and K-feldspar. The accessories are zircon, monazite, uranothorite, Ta bearing cassiterite, columbite tantalite and wodginite. It is capped by a banded aplite-pegmatite (AP).The geochemistry of Tin-Amzi and Ebelekan granites is nearly comparable. Both are peraluminous (A/CNK=1.10–1.29; ASI=1.17–1.31), sodolithic and fluorine rich with high SiO₂, Al₂O₃, Na₂O+K₂O, Rb, Ga, Li, Ta, Nb, Sn and low FeO, MgO, TiO₂, Ba, Sr, Y, Zr and REE contents. These rare metal Ta bearing granites belong to the P-poor subclass, relating to their P₂O₅ content ( 0.03–0.15 wt.%). Nevertheless, they are distinguished by their concentration of W, Sn and Ta. The Tin-Amzi granite is W–Ta bearing with high W/Sn ratio whereas the Ebelekan granite is Ta–Sn bearing with insignificant W content.At Tin-Amzi the W–Nb–Ta minerals define a sequence formed by W-columbite tantalite followed by wolframoixiolite and finally wolframite showing the effect of hydrothermal overprinting with an extreme W enrichment of the fluids. At Ebelekan, the Sn–Nb–Ta oxides follow a Mn sequence: manganocolumbite→manganotantalite→wodginite+titanowodginite→cassiterite that represents a trend of primary crystallisation resulting from progressive substitution Fe→Mn and Nb→Ta during the magmatic fractionation.     

Chemistry of Micas in Rare-Metal Granitoids and Associated Rocks,Eastern Desert,Egypt

Paragenetic, textural, and chemical characteristics of micas from 10 rare-metal granitic stocks and the associated greisens were examined in order to identify the metallogenetic processes of the host granitoids. The investigated granitoids and type occurrences can be categorized as: (1) metaluminous, Nb + Zr + Y-enriched alkali granite (e.g., Hawashia, Ineigi, and a stock northwest of Um Naggat); (2) peraluminous, Ta > Nb + Sn ± W + Be-enriched Li-albite granites (e.g., Nuweibi, Igla, and Abu Dabbab); and (3) metasomatized, Nb » Ta + Sn + Zr + Y + U ± Be ± W-enriched apogranites (e.g., Um Ara, Abu Rusheid, Mueilha, and Homr Akarem).

Mica of the alkali granite is of the annite-siderophyllite series, and is characterized by an average FeO? of 28.14, low MgO of 0.05, a mean Fe?/(Fe? + Mg)_atom. value of 0.996, TiO₂ of 0.69, enhanced Al₂O₃ of 14.91, MnO of 0.58, Li₂O of 0.26, and moderate to low F of 0.86. These characteristics are representative of the relatively highly evolved nature of the annite-siderophyllite-bearing magmas. The micas closely resemble those of the anorogenic pegmatites and A-type granites.

Primary mica of the Li-albite granites is compositionally constrained between zinnwaldite in the lower zones, and white mica in the apical, more evolved zone, and is associated with columbite-tantalite, topaz, and fluorite. The occurrence of zinnwaldite with high contents of Mn and F indicates its stabilization at rather low temperatures in Li- and F-rich sodic melts. The restriction of white mica with lower Mn, F, and Li contents to the apical zones can be attributed to either volatile degassing or to the beginning of topaz crystallization. These two factors brought about an evolutionary trend for micas, which contrasts with the documented trends of Li-micas in other Li-granites (i.e., from Li-siderophyllite or Li-muscovite to lepidolite).

Micas range in composition between white mica in the lower unaltered zones of the apogranites and Li-siderophyllite-zinnwaldite in the apical microclinized and albitized zones; this systematic compositional change appears to reflect roofward increasing in μ_KF and μ_LiF of the exsolved fluids. Columbite, cassiterite, zircon, xenotime, beryl, and fluorite are common associates of the zinnwaldites. However, white micas from the greisenized apogranite and endogreisen veins have diminishing Li contents. The subsolidus formation of zinnwaldite and Li-siderophyllite in the apogranites, and white mica in the associated greisens, represent transitions from magmatic to hydrothermal environments under the influence of decreasing P, T, salinity, and alkalinity of the exsolved fluids.     

湖南香花岭地区花岗岩中锂对成岩成矿的制约

锂（Li）是一种战略关键金属,岩浆阶段主要在花岗质岩石中得到富集和结晶。由于具有不相容和富挥发性等性质,锂对花岗岩的成岩成矿具有重要的制约。文章利用电子探针、LA-ICP-MS 等分析手段,对湖南香花岭地区癞子岭和尖峰岭花岗岩进行系统岩相学、主微量和矿物学研究,结果表明：（1）花岗质岩浆结晶分异过程中,Li 含量逐渐升高,大幅度降低了熔体粘度,增大了结晶温度区间,花岗质岩浆得到充分结晶分异,导致花岗岩的垂直分带;（2）花岗岩中Li 与稀有金属含量呈正相关关系,Li 与Ta、Nb、Sn 等稀有金属具有协同成矿作用;（3）花岗岩中云母类矿物具有向富Li 演化的趋势,以铁锂云母为主,随着铁锂云母的结晶,Nb、Ta、Sn 等稀有金属相继析出,导致晚期云母中Ta、Nb 等含量降低。熔体中H2O、F 等对花岗质岩浆的性质和结晶分异有较大影响,但不足以致使花岗岩呈垂直分带。     

Lead in K－Feldspar and Its Relations to Rb Metallogenesis

In intermediate-acid magmatic rocks,alkaline magmatic rocks,gneisses and migmatitic rocks K-feldspar is a rock-forming rock in which the contents of Pb are highest,just 2-10 times those of the whole rock,3-16 times those of mica minerals and 6-32 times those of quartz.The lowest contents of K-feldspar are recognized in Early Proterozoic and Achaean rocks,with Pb in the K-feldspar accounting for less than 10% of that in the whole rock;in post Middle Proterozoic alkaine magmatic rocks,K-feldspar-rich granites and metamorphic rocks the contents of K-feldspar tend to increase,with the proportion granites and metamorphic rocks the contents of K-feldspar tend to increase,with the proportion of Pb over that in the whole rock being obviously increased.In the alkaline rocks in which K-feldspar accounts for 50%-70% of the total in the whole rock,the contents of Pb in K-feldspar account approximately for 70%-95% of the total lead in the whole rock.Being accessible to hydrothermal alteration in the late periods,K-feldspar was conversed to sericite,calcite,quartz,etc.In the process of such conversion the lead would be leached out and then find its way into fluid phase.This kind of trans-formation can provide sufficient ore-forming material for later Pb metallogenesis.     

Textural and chemical evolution of a fractionated granitic system: the Podlesí stock, Czech Republic

The Podlesí granite stock (Czech Republic) is a fractionated, peraluminous, F-, Li- and P-rich, and Sn, W, Nb, Ta-bearing rare-metal granite system. Its magmatic evolution involved processes typical of intrusions related to porphyry type deposits (explosive breccia, comb layers), rare-metal granites (stockscheider), and rare metal pegmatites (extreme F–P–Li enrichment, Nb–Ta–Sn minerals, layering). Geological, textural and mineralogical data suggest that the Podlesí granites evolved from fractionated granitic melt progressively enriched in H₂O, F, P, Li, etc. Quartz, K-feldspar, Fe–Li mica and topaz bear evidence of multistage crystallization that alternated with episodes of resorption. Changes in chemical composition between individual crystal zones and/or populations provide evidence of chemical evolution of the melt. Variations in rock textures mirror changes in the pressure and temperature conditions of crystallization. Equilibrium crystallization was interrupted several times by opening of the system and the consequent adiabatic decrease of pressure and temperature resulted in episodes of nonequilibrium crystallization. The Podlesí granites demonstrate that adiabatic fluctuation of pressure (“swinging eutectic”) and boundary-layer crystallization of undercooled melt can explain magmatic layering and unidirectional solidification textures (USTs) in highly fractionated granites.     

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.     

Obliquity of potassium feldspars in the differentiation series of minettes

Summary The individual rock types of the differentiation series of minettes display different obliquity of potassium feldspars. In minettes,sensu stricto potassium feldspars with disordered monoclinic structure occur, in alkaline minettes both microcline and orthoclase are present, and in alkaline microgranites and microsyenites only microcline occurs. It may be assumed that the main factors controlling the ordering of K-feldspar structures in alkaline members of the minette series were the decrease of temperature below that of the orthoclase-microcline inversion and the presence of alkaline hydrothermal solution in the crystallizing magma.

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Die Triklinität der Kalifeldspäte in der Differentiationsreihe der Minetten

Zusammenfassung Die einzelnen Gesteinstypen der Minetten-Differentiationsreihe enthalten Kalifeldspäte mit unterschiedlich geordneten Strukturen. Minettensensu stricto enthalten Kalifeldspäte mit ungeordneter monokliner Struktur; Alkaliminetten sowohl Mikroklin als auch Orthoklas; Alkalimikrogranite und-syenite hingegen nur Mikroklin. Die Ordnung der Strukturen der Kalifeldspäte in den Alkaligesteinen wurde wahrscheinlich durch den Temperaturfall unter die Temperatur der Orthoklas-Mikroklin-Inversion und durch die Anwesenheit alkalischer hydrothermaler Restlösungen im kristallisierenden Magma bewirkt.

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With 1 Figure     

Isotopic Evaluation on the Genesis of the Kanamaru Pegmatite Deposit, Niigata Prefecture, Japan

Abstract: The Kanamaru pegmatite is one of the two largest pegmatite deposits in Japan and is rich in K–feldspar, which is maximum microcline. The mica minerals and microcline from this ore deposit were studied for K-Ar ages and δ¹⁸O ratios. Biotite gives K-Ar age of 78. 5 Ma, but microcline is much younger in age of 66. 0 and 58. 3 Ma. Oxygen isotopic equilibrium temperature of the biotite-quartz pair is 625°C. Using closure temperature of the K-Ar system for biotite and microcline, cooling rate of the pegmatite is calculated to be 88°C/m. y. at the beginning but 12°C/m. y. in the later period of the cooling history. The microcline is slightly depleted in ¹⁸O, yielding apparent equilibrium temperatures of 230°C and 155°C on quartz-microcline pairs. It is suggested that the fluid phase, magmatic and partly meteoric in origin, contained in the solidifying pegmatite, was interacted with the original orthoclase and converted it to microcline during the subsolidus stage.     

Significance of selective crystal entrainment and differential crystal-melt separation in petrogenesis of granites from the Tongbai orogen

Partial melting has been shown to be an important mechanism for intracrustal differentiation and granite petrogenesis. However, a series of compositional differences between granitic melt from experiments and natural granites indicate that the processes of crustal differentiation are complex. To shed light on factors that control the processes of crustal differentiation, and then the compositions of granitic magma, a combined study of petrology and geochemistry was carried out for granites (in the forms of granitic veins and parautochthonous granite) from a granulite terrane in the Tongbai orogen, China. These granites are characterized by high SiO₂ (>72 wt%) and low FeO and MgO (<4 wt%) with low Na₂O/K₂O ratios (<0.7). Minerals in these granites show variable microstructures and compositions. Phase equilibrium modelling using P–T pseudosections shows that neither anatectic melts nor fractionated melts match the compositions of the target granites, challenging the conventional paradigm that granites are the crystallized product of pure granitic melts. Based on the microstructural features of minerals in the granites, and a comparison of their compositions with crystallized minerals from anatectic melts and minerals in granulites, the minerals in these granitoids are considered to have three origins. The first is entrained garnets, which show comparable compositions with those in host granulites. The second is early crystallized mineral from melts, which include large plagioclase and K-feldspar (with high Ca contents) crystals as well as a part of biotite whose compositions can be reproduced by crystallization of the anatectic melts. The compositions of other minerals such as small grained plagioclase, K-feldspar and anorthoclase in the granites with low Ca contents are not well reconstructed, so they are considered as the third origin of crystallized products of fractionated melts. The results of mass balance calculation show that the compositions of these granites can be produced by mixing between different proportions of crystallized minerals and fractionated melts with variable amounts of entrained minerals. However, the calculated modal proportions of different crystallized minerals (plagioclase, K-feldspar, biotite and quartz) in the granites are significantly different from those predicted by melt crystallization modelling. Specifically, some rocks have lower modes of biotite and plagioclase, whereas others show lower K-feldspar modes than those produced by melt crystallization. This indicates that the crystallized minerals would be differentially separated from the primary magmas to form the evolved magmas that produce these granites. Therefore, the crystal entrainment and differential melt-crystal separation make important contributions to the composition of the target granites. Compared with leucogranites worldwide, the target granites show comparable compositions. As such, the leucogranites may form through the crystal fractionation of primary granitic magmas at different extents in addition to variable degrees of partial melting.     

浙东南吴小垟矿床晚白垩世铌成矿特征及其找矿指示意义

稀有金属铌钽在我国华南存在多时代成矿特征,前人对其最晚成矿期晚白垩世成矿事件报道较少。本文以浙东南的吴小垟铌矿床为研究对象,结合野外调查、岩石学、矿物原位微区分析和同位素年代学等研究,确定矿床铌成矿岩体为细粒黑云母花岗岩,成岩成矿年龄分别为89.2±0.8 Ma和86.5±1.0 Ma,揭示了该区存在晚白垩世花岗岩侵位及其相关铌成矿事件。铌除了以独立矿物的形式赋存在铌铁矿、铌铁金红石、铅烧绿石中,还有部分铌赋存于黑云母中。在岩浆-热液作用下,云母类型发生了从铁云母→黑鳞云母→铁锂云母的变化。铁云母Nb含量最高可达1253×10^-6,黑鳞云母-铁锂云母铌含量最高至794×10^-6,黑云母极度富铌的特征,指示该花岗岩具有非常好的铌找矿潜力,富铌黑云母可以作为一种铌钽找矿指示性矿物。综合上述矿物学特征,得出吴小垟矿床存在两阶段铌成矿事件:岩浆期原生铌铁矿族矿物、原生富铌黑云母和铌铁金红石的形成;以及后期热液作用下铌从岩浆和原生含铌矿物中迁移出形成次生的含铌氧化物。     

Coexisting alkali feldspars in felsic members of the Cauro-Bastelica ring complex,Corsica

The granodioritic and gneissic Hercynian basement in Corsica was intruded, in the Triassic, by non-orogenic ring complexes in which the association early rhyolite-hypersolvus granite-granophyre-late subsolvus granite is clearly developed. The association of low albite and maximum microcline in mesoperthites cannot be attributed to Alpine low-grade metamorphism, restricted to fault zones. On a number of lines of evidence, the development of ordered, almost pure K-feldspar in this rapidly cooled complex appears related to an episode of mild reheating attending emplacement of late subsolvus granites, rocks formed from melts enriched, perhaps even saturated in aqueous fluids.     

内蒙古维拉斯托锡多金属矿床含矿斑岩体钾长石斑晶的有序度及成因探讨

钾长石有序度及结构温度可以为探讨成矿物化条件等提供依据.为阐明本区钾长石的成因,通过对维拉斯托斑岩体中钾长石斑晶的红外光谱分析,其有序度为0.85~0.95,三斜度为0.7~0.9,测定的结构温度为547.17~578.36℃,表明钾长石斑晶为微斜长石.并探讨了钾长石的成因,认为它是热液蚀变的产物.     

一种特殊类型的云英岩:湘南香花岭地区癞子岭云英岩成岩成矿特征

癞子岭岩体具有极好的垂向分带性,从下部到顶部包括了花岗岩、云英岩和伟晶岩,其中云英岩以其厚度巨大,云母类型属于铁锂云母,黄玉含量高,W-Sn-Nb-Ta含量高,而区别于其他地区云英岩。通过对癞子岭云英岩进行岩石学、地球化学和矿物学的研究,本文得出:癞子岭云英岩是高硅的强过铝质岩石类型,全碱含量低(3~4.3 wt%),富集挥发组分,全岩Zr/Hf(~8)和Nb/Ta(~1.7)比值低。造岩矿物铁锂云母中Nb(~74×10~(-6))、Ta(~66×10~(-6))、W(~23×10~(-6))、Sn(~75×10~(-6))等成矿元素含量较高。副矿物锆石自形且成分均一,含有HfO_2约10 wt%,Zr/Hf比值最低为5,与云英岩下部的癞子岭钠长花岗岩中的锆石成分有连续过渡的关系。这些特征与南岭地区高演化稀有金属花岗岩或伟晶岩相当,体现了相近的演化程度。癞子岭云英岩中有明显的Nb-Ta-W-Sn成矿作用发生,主要形成铌铁矿族矿物、锡石和黑钨矿,成分和结构均具有岩浆成因特征。花岗质熔体中含有大量挥发组分Li和F,结晶出黄玉和Li-F云母,F在稀有金属的成矿作用和云英岩的成岩过程中发挥了非常重要的作用,成矿作用发生在岩浆演化的晚期并伴随有流体作用。因此,云英岩可能是钠长花岗岩高度分异演化之后的特殊产物,这为研究花岗岩岩浆-热液体系成岩成矿过程提供了新的窗口。     

Rb−Sr,K−Ar and fission track ages for granites from Penang Island,West Malaysia: an interpretation model for Rb−Sr whole-rock and for actual and experimental mica data

Penang Island represents the northwestern extension of the western magmatic belt of Peninsular Malaysia. Thirty-one samples of highly evolved biotite-and biotite-muscovite granites were used in an integrated study to unravel the complex magmatic, tectonic and cooling histories of these rocks. Highly distorted Rb–Sr whole-rock age patterns are evident. These are attributed to the partial post-magmatic Sr homogenization within the granite batholith which led to the rotation of isochrons towards younger ages and higher ^(87/86)Sr intercepts. The recognition of this mechanism allowed the establishment of a new Rb–Sr interpretation model. The intrusion ages of the granites can be extrapolated based on the evolutionary trend of the initial ^(87/86)Sr. Including the data of Bignell and Snelling, three episodes of granite emplacement at 307±8 Ma, 251±7 Ma and 211±2 Ma are suggested for Penang and the NW Main Range. The late-Triassic intrusive induced a hydrothermal conductive convection system which affected all the granites. It is considered to be responsible for the Rb–Sr whole-rock age distortion, the Rb–Sr and K–Ar biotite age resetting and the textural and mineralogical changes in the granites. The duration of the hydrothermal convections, deduced from the Rb–Sr whole rock ages, is about 6 Ma and 20 Ma in the northern and southern parts of Penang respectively. Fast regional cooling to 350±50°C within a time span of 1–3 Ma is recognized for the late-Triassic Feringgi intrusive from the mica ages, followed by a generally slow cooling rate of about 1°C/Ma. Fission track ages, in addition, indicate blockwise uplift along the N-S and NW-SE tending faults, thus resulting in the exposure of deeper crustal levels in southern and eastern Penang. A change in the tensional regime since Oligocene/Miocene, accompanied by a southwest tilting of the island, is indicated by the fission track apatite ages. Variable sometimes younger K–Ar, respectively Rb–Sr biotite ages mainly depend on the degree of hydrothermal overprint at different crustal levels. An increase of the reaction surface by grain size reduction influences Rb–Sr and K–Ar mica ages in similar ways, as has been demonstrated by experimental data.     

Compositions of magmatic hydrothermal fluids determined by LA-ICP-MS of fluid inclusions from the porphyry copper–molybdenum deposit at Butte, MT

We analyzed 85 fluid inclusions from seven samples from the porphyry Cu–Mo deposit in Butte, MT, using laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). The Butte deposit formed at unusually great depth relative to most porphyry deposits, and fluid inclusions in deep veins trapped a low-salinity, CO₂-bearing, magmatically derived, supercritical fluid as a single aqueous phase. This fluid is interpreted to be the parent fluid that cooled, decompressed, unmixed, and reacted with wall rock to form the gigantic porphyry Cu deposit at Butte. Few previous analyses of such fluids exist.Low-salinity, aqueous fluids from the earliest veins at Butte are trapped in deep veins with biotite-rich alteration envelopes (EDM veins). These veins, and the Butte quartz monzonite surrounding them, host much of the Butte porphyry Cu mineralization. Twenty fluid inclusions in one EDM quartz vein are dominated by Na, K, Fe (from 0.1 to 1 wt.%) and contain up to 1.3 wt.% Cu. These inclusions contain only small amounts (tens of ppm) of Pb, Zn, and Mn, and typically contain Li, B, Ca, As, Mo, Ag, Sn, Sb, Ba, and W in less than detectable quantities. The abundance of Cu in early fluids indicates that a low-salinity, Cu-rich, aqueous ore fluid can be directly produced by aqueous fluid separation from a granitic magma. Similar inclusions (eight) in an early deep quartz–molybdenite vein with a K-feldspar selvage have similar compositions but contain significantly less Cu than most inclusions in the biotite-altered vein. Analyzed inclusions in both veins contain less than detectable concentrations of Mo even though one is molybdenite-bearing.Low-salinity, CO₂-bearing aqueous fluids are also trapped in pyrite–quartz veins with sericitic selvages. These veins cut both of the above vein types and contain inclusions that were trapped at lower pressure and temperature. Thirty-nine inclusions in two such veins have compositions similar to early fluids, but are enriched by up to a factor of 10 in Mn, Pb, and Zn relative to early fluids, and are slightly depleted in Fe. Many of these inclusions contain as much or more Cu than early fluids, although little chalcopyrite is found in or around pyrite–quartz veins.Eighteen halite-bearing inclusions from three veins from both chalcopyrite-bearing and barren veins with both K-silicate and sericitic selvages were analyzed as well. Halite-saturated inclusions are dominated by Na, K, Fe, and in some inclusions Ca. Whereas these inclusions are significantly enriched in Ca, Mn, Fe, Zn, and Pb, fluids in all three veins contain significantly less Cu than early, high temperature, low-salinity inclusions.Analyses of all inclusion types show that whereas bulk-salinity of the hydrothermal fluid must be largely controlled by the magma, fluid–rock interactions have a significant role in controlling fluid compositions and metal ratios. Cu concentrations range over an order of magnitude, more than any other element, in all four samples containing low-salinity inclusions. We infer that variations are the result of fluid trapping after different amounts of fluid–rock reaction and chalcopyrite precipitation. Enrichment, relative to early fluids, of Mn, Pb, and Zn in fluids related to sericitic alteration is also likely the result of fluid–rock reaction, whereby these elements are released from biotite and feldspars as they alter to sericite. In halite-bearing inclusions, concentrations of Sr, Ca, Pb, and Ba are elevated in inclusions from the pyrite–quartz vein with sericitic alteration relative to halite-bearing inclusions from unaltered and potassically altered samples. Such enrichment is likely caused by the breakdown of plagioclase and K-feldspar in the alteration envelope, releasing Sr, Ca, Pb, and Ba.     

Structural states of natural potassium feldspar: An infrared spectroscopic study

Natural samples of K-feldspar representing various states of Al, Si order were characterised using X-ray methods, transmission electron microscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Line profiles of infrared absorption bands were observed to show strong correlation with the degree of Al, Si order present. In particular, the absorption frequencies of the 540 cm^?1 and 640 cm^?1 bands were seen to vary by ca. 10 cm^?1 between sanidine and microcline, with modulated samples respresenting intermediate behaviour. Linewidths of these modes also decrease by ca. 50% in this series. The experimental results are discussed within the framework of Hard Mode Infrared Spectroscopy (HMIS), and it is shown that the absorption frequencies vary with the short range order parameter τ = (4t₁-1)² and the symmetry breaking order parameter describing Al, Si order, Q _od=(t₁ 0?t₁ m)/Q _od=(t₁ 0+t₁ m), where t₁ is the average Al occupancy on the T₁ sites and t₁ o and t₁ m are the individual site occupancies of the T₁ o and T₁ m sites, respectively. The structural state of orthoclase is characterised by strain-induced modulations with large spatial variations of the modulation wavelength. No such modulations were observed in the degree of local Al, Si order. Sanidine shows mode hardening in excess of the extrapolated effect of symmetry breaking Al, Si order, which is presumably related to nonsymmetry breaking ordering between T₁ and T₂ sites and/or as yet unobserved short range order of the symmetry breaking ordering scheme. The possibility of an additional phase transition in K-feldspar at temperatures above 1300 K is discussed.