Growth and Deformation of the Ladakh Batholith, Northwest Himalayas: Implications for Timing of Continental Collision and Origin of Calc-Alkaline Batholiths

The calc-alkaline Ladakh batholith (NW Himalayas) was dated to constrain the timing of continental collision and subsequent deformation. Batholith growth ended when collision disrupted subduction of the Tethyan oceanic lithosphere, and thus the youngest magmatic pulse indirectly dates the collision. Both U-Pb ages on zircons from three samples of the Ladakh batholith and K-Ar from one subvolcanic dike sample were determined. Magmatic activity near Leh (the capital of Ladakh) occurred between 70 and 50 Ma, with the last major magmatic pulse crystallizing at ca. 49.8+/-0.8 Ma (2sigma). This was followed by rapid and generalized cooling to lower greenschist facies temperatures within a few million years, and minor dike intrusion took place at 46+/-1 Ma. Field observations, the lack of inherited prebatholith zircons, and other isotopic evidence suggest that the batholith is mantle derived with negligible crustal influence, that it evolved through input of fresh magma from the mantle and remelting of previously emplaced mantle magmatic rocks. The sedmimentary record indicates that collision in NW Himalaya occurred around 52-50 Ma. If this is so, the magmatic system driven by subduction of Tethys ended immediately on collision. The thermal history of one sample from within the Thanglasgo Shear Zone (TSZ) was determined by Ar-Ar method to constrain timing of batholith internal deformation. This is a wide dextral shear zone within the batholith, parallel to the dextral, N 30 degrees W-striking crustal-scale Karakoram Fault. Internal deformation of the batholith, taken up partly by this shear zone, has caused it to deviate from it regional WNW-ESE trend to parallel the Karakoram Fault. Microstructures and cooling history of a sample from the TSZ indicate that shearing took place before 22 Ma, implying that (1) the history of dextral shearing on NW-striking planes in northern Ladakh started at least 7 m.yr. before the <15 Ma Karakoram Fault, (2) shearing was responsible for deviation of the regional trend of the Ladakh batholith, and (3) dextral shearing occured within a zone apporximately 100 km wide that includes the Ladakh batholith and portions of the younger Karakoram batholith.     

Upper crustal podiform chromitite from the northern Oman ophiolite as the stratigraphically shallowest chromitite in ophiolite and its implication for Cr concentration

A new type of podiform chromitite was found at Wadi Hilti in the northern Oman ophiolite. It is within a late-intrusive dunite body, possibly derived from olivine-rich crystal mush, between the sheeted dike complex and upper gabbro. This chromitite forms small (<30 cm in thickness) pods with irregular to lenticular shapes. Neither layering nor graded bedding is observed within the pods. The chromitite is in the upper crust, by far shallower in ophiolite stratigraphy than the other podiform chromitites that have ever been found in the Moho transition zone to the upper mantle. It is distributed along a small felsic to gabbroic melt pool within the dunite body, which was formed by melting of gabbroic blocks captured by the mush. Chromian spinel was precipitated due to mixing of two kinds of melt, a basaltic interstitial melt from the mush and an evolved, possibly felsic, melt formed by the melting of gabbro blocks. The podiform chromitite reported here is strikingly similar in petrography and spinel chemistry to the stratiform chromitite from layered intrusions. The former contains plagioclase and clinopyroxene as matrix silicates instead of olivine as well as includes euhedral and fine spinel with solid mineral inclusions. Chromian spinel of the upper crustal podiform chromitite from Oman has relatively low content of (Cr₂O₃ + Al₂O₃), the Cr/(Cr + Al) atomic ratio of around 0.6, and the relatively high TiO₂ content ranging from 1 to 3 wt%. We conclude that assimilation of relatively Si-rich materials (crustal rocks or mantle orthopyroxene) by olivine-spinel saturated melts can explain the genesis of any type of chromitite.Editorial responsibility: V. Trommsdorff     

Origin of biotite-apatite-rich enclaves, Achala batholith, Argentina

The Achala batholith of Argentina contains very unusual layered enclaves containing up to 30% apatite and 50% biotite in some layers. This modal mineralogy produces bulk-rock compositions that cannot represent liquids, having as little as 29% SiO₂ and up to 8% P₂O₅. Nor can the enclaves represent metasedimentary xenoliths because: (1) none of the Precambrian wall rocks has these compositions; (2) none of the metasedimentary xenoliths present within the batholith shows any degree of transition to the mica-apatite-rich enclaves; (3) the compositions and textures in the enclaves are inconsistent with metasediments; (4) a geochronological study of zircon from an enclave gives an age of 368 ± 2 Ma, the exact age of zircons in the granitic host rocks. For these reasons, we conclude that the enclaves are neither xenoliths of Precambrian wall rocks nor restite of a Precambrian source. The identical age of the enclave and the host granites, coupled with textural, mineralogical, and bulk-rock characteristics of the enclaves, indicates that the enclaves are magmatic segregations, i.e., cumulates. The F-rich nature of the stubby-shaped apatites and biotites indicates a high F content of the magma parental to the enclaves. We infer that the viscosity of the melt was lowered sufficiently to allow cumulates to form in spite of the granitic composition of the melt. Received: 12 December 1996 / Accepted: 11 August 1997     

Petrogenesis of the anorthosite-chromitite association: crystal-chemical and petrological insights from the Rum Layered Suite, NW Scotland

Thirteen Cr-bearing spinels from major horizons of magma replenishment in the open-system Rum Layered Suite have been analysed by X-ray single crystal diffraction and electron microprobe analyses. On the basis of the structural parameters and the chemistry of these spinels the so-called Rum trend, in which Al-content increases at the expense of Cr and Fe³⁺, has been easily recognised. In addition, natural spinels with Fe³⁺ content similar to synthetic spinels on the MgCr₂O₄?CMgFe₂O₄ join have been analysed for the first time. Layers of chromitite, anorthosite and peridotite situated within several cm of one another have yielded different intracrystalline exchange temperatures using an intercrystalline spinel-olivine thermometer. The Rum anorthosite Cr-spinels are interpreted as having crystallised within the cumulus pile following rejuvenation of the crystal mush. Their low Al-content is a function of simultaneous plagioclase crystallisation, reducing the amount of Al³⁺ present for the Cr-spinel. By contrast, Cr-spinels in well-known Archean anorthosites (e.g. Ujaragssuit nunat and Fisken?sset, western Greenland) and Sittampundi (southern India) are very aluminous in composition, attributed to crystallisation of Cr-spinel from high-alumina basalts in lower crustal magma chambers and linked to the control exerted by plagioclase crystallisation on Al content of the melt, in the absence of clinopyroxene crystallisation. The compositional differences between the Rum anorthosite Cr-spinels and the Fisken?sset and Sittampundi Cr-spinels suggest that postcumulus reaction of Cr-spinel and melt to low (800?C900°C) temperatures, as invoked for the Rum crystals, may not have been as important a process in the Archean anorthosites.     

藏东左贡-竹卡地区一些关键地层的时代和物源区示踪

因地层时代和物源区缺乏有效约束,限制了对龙木错-双湖缝合带东向延伸的北澜沧江缝合带北段构造演化历史的认识。本文报道了位于北澜沧江缝合带北段藏东左贡-竹卡地区的酉西群、竹卡群和甲丕拉组的锆石U-Pb年龄数据,在酉西群变质砂岩和甲丕拉组砂岩中获得的最年轻碎屑锆石U-Pb年龄加权平均值分别为410±7Ma(n=3)和215±1Ma(n=2),将二者的最大沉积时代分别限定为早泥盆世和晚三叠世。竹卡群英安岩的锆石U-Pb年龄(240±1Ma)表明火山岩浆作用发生于中三叠世。碎屑锆石年龄频谱表明,酉西群兼具南羌塘地体约950Ma的碎屑锆石年龄指标和拉萨地体约1110Ma的年龄指标,表明其初始物源可能来自东冈瓦纳大陆内部印度大陆与南极洲之间的Eastern Ghats-Rayner和澳大利亚大陆和南极洲之间的Albany-Fraser-Bunger-Windmill造山带。甲丕拉组碎屑锆石最年轻的年龄峰值(225±2Ma;n=25)及其Hf同位素组成(-15.7~-4.2)与东达山岩基的相似性,指示甲丕拉组的物源很可能来自邻近的东达山岩基。甲丕拉组最年轻的碎屑锆石年龄(215Ma)与东达山岩基最年轻的花岗岩浆活动同期。这一结果,结合东达山地区甲丕拉组与下伏地层之间发生的与羌塘中央隆起带同期的区域性角度不整合事件,提出在北澜沧江北段的东达山地区,在东达山花岗岩基岩浆作用之后(约215Ma)甲丕拉组磨拉石沉积之前,很可能发生了快速隆升,与青藏高原羌塘中央隆起带的隆升剥露事件同期,可能受控于北澜沧江古特提斯洋壳板片的断离。     

The time scales of magma mixing and mingling involving primitive melts and melt–mush interaction at mid-ocean ridges

We have studied the chemical zoning of plagioclase phenocrysts from the slow-spreading Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the intermediate-spreading rate Costa Rica Rift to obtain the time scales of magmatic processes beneath these ridges. The anorthite content, Mg, and Sr in plagioclase phenocrysts from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge can be interpreted as recording initial crystallisation from a primitive magma (~11 wt% MgO) in an open system. This was followed by crystal accumulation in a mush zone and later entrainment of crystals into the erupted magma. The initial magma crystallised plagioclase more anorthitic than those in equilibrium with any erupted basalt. Evidence that the crystals accumulated in a mush zone comes from both: (1) plagioclase rims that were in equilibrium with a Sr-poor melt requiring extreme differentiation; and (2) different crystals found in the same thin section having different histories. Diffusion modelling shows that crystal residence times in the mush were <140 years, whereas the interval between mush disaggregation and eruption was ≤1.5 years. Zoning of anorthite content and Mg in plagioclase phenocrysts from the Costa Rica Rift show that they partially or completely equilibrated with a MgO-rich melt (>11 wt%). Partial equilibration in some crystals can be modelled as starting <1 year prior to eruption but for others longer times are required for complete equilibration. This variety of times is most readily explained if the mixing occurred in a mush zone. None of the plagioclase phenocrysts from the Costa Rica Rift that we studied have Mg contents in equilibrium with their host basalt even at their rims, requiring mixing into a much more evolved magma within days of eruption. In combination these observations suggest that at both intermediate- and slow-spreading ridges: (1) the chemical environment to which crystals are exposed changes on annual to decadal time scales; (2) plagioclase crystals record the existence of melts unlike those erupted; and (3) disaggregation of crystal mush zones appears to precede eruption, providing an efficient mechanism by which evolved interstitial melt can be mixed into erupted basalts.     

Apatite-hosted melt inclusions from the Panzhihua gabbroic-layered intrusion associated with a giant Fe–Ti oxide deposit in SW China: insights for magma unmixing within a crystal mush

The ～?2-km-thick Panzhihua gabbroic-layered intrusion in SW China is unusual because it hosts a giant Fe–Ti oxide deposit in its lower zone. The deposit consists of laterally extensive net-textured and massive Fe–Ti oxide ore layers, the thickest of which is ～?60 m. To examine the magmatic processes that resulted in the Fe enrichment of parental high-Ti basaltic magma and the formation of thick, Fe–Ti oxide ore layers, we carried out a detailed study of melt inclusions in apatite from a ～?500-m-thick profile of apatite-bearing leucogabbro in the middle zone of the intrusion. The apatite-hosted melt inclusions are light to dark brown in color and appear as polygonal, rounded, oval and negative crystal shapes, which range from ～?5 to ～?50 µm in width and from ～?5 to ～?100 µm in length. They have highly variable compositions and show a large and continuous range of SiO₂ and FeO_t with contrasting end-members; one end-member being Fe-rich and Si-poor (40.2 wt% FeO_t and 17.7 wt% SiO₂) and the other being Si-rich and Fe-poor (74.0 wt% SiO₂ and 1.20 wt% FeO_t). This range in composition may be attributed to entrapment of the melt inclusions over a range of temperature and may reflect the presence of µm-scale and immiscible Fe-rich and Si-rich components in different proportions. Simulating results for the motion of Si-rich droplets within a crystal mush indicate that Si-rich droplets would be separated from Fe-rich melt and migrate upward due to density differences in the interstitial liquid when the magma unmixed. Migration of the Si-rich, immiscible liquid component from the interstitial liquid caused the remaining Fe-rich melt in the lower part to react with plagioclase primocrysts (An_59–60), as evidenced by fine-grained lamellar intergrowth of An-rich plagioclase (An_79–84)?+?clinopyroxene in the oxide gabbro of the lower zone. Therefore, magma unmixing within a crystal mush, combined with gravitationally driven loss of the Si-rich component, resulted in the formation of Fe-rich, melagabbro and major Fe–Ti oxide ores in the lower part and Si-rich, leucogabbro in the upper part of the intrusion.     

Zircon Hf Isotopic Evidence for Mixing of Crustal and Silicic Mantle-derived Magmas in a Zoned Granite Pluton, Eastern Australia

Zircon Hf isotopic data from a zoned pluton of the Moonbi supersuite,New England batholith, eastern Australia, are consistent withmagma mixing between two silicic melts, each derived from isotopicallydistinct sources. Although zircons from three zones within theWalcha Road pluton give a U–Pb crystallization age of249 ± 3 Ma, zircon populations from each zone have arange in _Hf. Zircons from the mafic hornblende–biotitemonzogranite pluton margin and intermediate zones have _Hf +5to +11, whereas those from the more felsic centre of the plutonhave _Hf +7 to +16, representing a total variation of 11 _Hfunits. The Lu–Hf depleted mantle model ages range from650 to 250 Ma, with the younger zircons present only in thefelsic pluton centre. The variation in _Hf indicates the involvementof silicic melts from at least two sources, one a crustal componentwith a Neoproterozoic model age and the other a primitive mantle-derivedcomponent with model ages similar to the U–Pb crystallizationage of the pluton. The zircons reflect the isotopic compositionsof the different proportions of crustal-derived silicic melt,relative to mantle-derived silicic melt, between melt generationand final pluton construction. The Walcha Road pluton is consideredto have formed by incremental assembly of progressively morefelsic melt batches resulting from mixing, replenishment andcrystal–melt separation, with final pluton constructioninvolving mechanical concentration as zones of crystal mush.The zoned pluton and, more broadly, the Moonbi supersuite provideexamples of magma mixing by which the more silicic units havemore juvenile isotopic compositions as a result of increasingproportions of residual melt from basalt fractionation, relativeto crustal partial melt. KEY WORDS: Australia; granite magma mixing; zircon; zoned pluton; Hf isotopes     

On the Origin of Crystal-poor Rhyolites: Extracted from Batholithic Crystal Mushes

The largest accumulations of rhyolitic melt in the upper crustoccur in voluminous silicic crystal mushes, which sometimeserupt as unzoned, crystal-rich ignimbrites, but are most frequentlypreserved as granodioritic batholiths. After approximately 40–50%crystallization, magmas of intermediate composition (andesite–dacite)typically contain high-SiO₂ interstitial melt, similar to crystal-poorrhyolites commonly erupted in mature arc and continental settings.This paper analyzes the feasibility of system-wide extractionof this melt from the mush, a mechanism that can rationalizea number of observations in both the plutonic and volcanic record,such as: (1) abrupt compositional gaps in ignimbrites; (2) thepresence of chemically highly evolved bodies at the roof ofsubvolcanic batholiths; (3) the observed range of ages (up to200–300 ka) recorded by zircons in silicic magmas; (4)extensive zones of low P-wave velocity in the shallow crustunder active silicic calderas. We argue that crystal–meltsegregation occurs by a combination of several processes (hinderedsettling, micro-settling, compaction) once convection is hamperedas the rheological locking point of the crystal–melt mixture(     

Efficiency of compaction and compositional convection during mafic crystal mush solidification: the Sept Iles layered intrusion,Canada

Adcumulate formation in mafic layered intrusions is attributed either to gravity-driven compaction, which expels the intercumulus melt out of the crystal matrix, or to compositional convection, which maintains the intercumulus liquid at a constant composition through liquid exchange with the main magma body. These processes are length-scale and time-scale dependent, and application of experimentally derived theoretical formulations to magma chambers is not straightforward. New data from the Sept Iles layered intrusion are presented and constrain the relative efficiency of these processes during solidification of the mafic crystal mush. Troctolites with meso- to ortho-cumulate texture are stratigraphically followed by Fe–Ti oxide-bearing gabbros with adcumulate texture. Calculations of intercumulus liquid fractions based on whole-rock P, Zr, V and Cr contents and detailed plagioclase compositional profiles show that both compaction and compositional convection operate, but their efficiency changes with liquid differentiation. Before saturation of Fe–Ti oxides in the intercumulus liquid, convection is not active due to the stable liquid density distribution within the crystal mush. At this stage, compaction and minor intercumulus liquid crystallization reduce the porosity to 30%. The velocity of liquid expulsion is then too slow compared with the rate of crystal accumulation. Compositional convection starts at Fe–Ti oxide-saturation in the pore melt due to its decreasing density. This process occurs together with crystallization of the intercumulus melt until the residual porosity is less than 10%. Compositional convection is evidenced by external plagioclase rims buffered at An₆₁ owing to continuous exchange between the intercumulus melt and the main liquid body. The change from a channel flow regime that dominates in troctolites to a porous flow regime in gabbros results from the increasing efficiency of compaction with differentiation due to higher density contrast between the cumulus crystal matrix and the equilibrium melts and to the bottom-up decreasing rate of crystal accumulation in the magma chamber.     

阿尔泰可可托海3号伟晶岩脉中的铪质锆石

利用电子探针技术研究了阿尔泰可可托海3号伟晶岩脉中铪质锆石的成分特征。结果表明：细粒花岗岩和正岩浆阶段结构带(Ⅳ带)的锆石相对贫Hf，(HfO2)=3．06％-13．33％，主要属于普通锆石；岩浆-热液过渡阶段结构带(V带和Ⅶ带)锆石相对富}Hf，w(HfO2)=9．06％-35．21％，主要属于铪质锆石，少量具有普通锆石特征；同时本区发现的铪质锆石中HfO2最高含量是目前伟晶岩已报道铪质锆石中HfO2的最高含量。成分特征还显示，边部细粒花岗岩和正岩浆阶段锆石成分变化非常局限，岩浆-热液过渡阶段锆石成分变化巨大。认为锆石中HfO2含量从正岩浆阶段结构带到岩浆-热液过渡结构带的高度富集是挥发份从岩浆中分离出来独立成相的结果，而岩浆-热液过渡结构带锆石中HfO2含量在带内的巨大变化可能与热液流体的富集有关。     

Peralkaline magma evolution and the tephra record in the Ethiopian Rift

The 3.119 ± 0.010 Ma Chefe Donsa phreatomagmatic deposits on the shoulder of the Ethiopian Rift mark the northern termination of the Silti-Debre Zeyit Fault Zone, a linear zone of focused extension within the modern Ethiopian Rift. These peralkaline pumice fragments and glass shards span a wide range of glass compositions but have a restricted phenocryst assemblage dominated by unzoned sanidine. Glass shards found within the ash occupy a far more limited compositional range (75–76 wt% SiO₂) in comparison with the pumice (64–75 wt% SiO₂), which is rarely mingled. Thermodynamic modeling shows that liquids broadly similar to the least evolved glass composition can be achieved with 50–60 % fractionation of moderately crustally contaminated basalt. Inconsistencies between modeled solutions and the observed values of CaO and P₂O₅ highlight the important role of fluorine in stabilizing fluor-apatite and the limitations of current thermodynamic models largely resulting from the scarce experimental data available for the role of fluorine in igneous phase stability. On the basis of limited feldspar heterogeneity and crystal content of pumice at Chefe Donsa, and the difficulties of extracting small volumes of Si-rich melt in classical fractional crystallization models, we suggest a two-step polybaric process: (1) basaltic magma ponds at mid-upper-crustal depths and fractionates to form a crystal/magma mush. Once this mush has reached 50–60 % crystallinity, the interstitial liquid may be extracted from the rigid crystal framework. The trachytic magma extracted at this step is equivalent to the most primitive pumice analyzed at Chefe Donsa. (2) The extracted trachytic liquid will rise and continue to crystallize, generating a second mush zone from which rhyolite liquids may be extracted. Some of the compositional range observed in the Chefe Donsa deposits may result from the fresh intrusion of trachyte magma, which may also provide an eruption trigger. This model may have wider application in understanding the origin of the Daly Gap in Ethiopian magmas—intermediate liquids may not be extracted from crystal-liquid mushes due to insufficient crystallization to yield a rigid framework. The wide range of glass compositions characteristic of the proximal Chefe Donsa deposits is not recorded in temporally equivalent tephra deposits located in regional depocenters. Our results show that glass shards, which represent the material most likely transported to distal depocenters, occupy a limited compositional range at high SiO₂ values and overlap some distal tephra deposits. These results suggest that distal tephra deposits may not faithfully record the potentially wide range in magma compositions present in a magmatic system just prior to eruption and that robust distal–proximal tephra correlations must include a careful analysis of the full range of materials in the proximal deposit.     

Geochemical exploration of a Precambrian Batholith, source of a Cu-W mineralization of the tourmaline breccia in Southern Finland

The Hämeenkyrö batholith is a round-shaped plutonic body of an areal size of 147 km². It is composed of calc-alkaline to alkaline rocks that intruded previously metamorphosed Svecofennian volcanogenic and sedimentary schists 1860 Ma ago. The Cu-W bearing tourmaline breccia of the Ylörvi deposit occurs in metavolcanic rocks close to the eastern contact of the batholith.The average sampling density in the batholith was 1 sample per km², and 175 samples were analyzed for Cu, Au, Ag, Ni, Pb, Co, Zn, S by AAS for SiO₂, TiO₂, Al₂O₃, FeO, MnO, MgO, CaO, Na₂O, K₂O, As, Sn and P by X-ray fluorescence. Mo and W were determined colorimetrically. Barth mesonorms were calculated for each sample and the rock type was determined according to Streckeisen's classification. Element distributions are displayed on contour maps.The rock types of the batholith exhibit an asymmetric concentric arrangement, the order from the center towards the margin being alkali-feldspar granite, syenogranite, monzogranite, quartz monzonite, quartz syenite, alkali-feldspar, quartz syenite, syenite and alkali-feldspar syenite. Anomalously high Cu, As, Sn, S, K₂O and Na₂O contents have been found at the eastern margin of the batholith in a N—S-trending zone, which is characterized by hydrothermal alteration phenomena, propylitization, tourmalinization and scapolitization. Three anomalous areas have been defined within this zone, one of them is associated with the Ylöjärvi deposit and the other two are regarded as exploration targets.     

The variability of peridotite composition across a mantle shear zone (Lanzo massif, Italy): interplay of melt focusing and deformation

In this paper we present new data on the spatial variability of peridotite composition across a kilometer-scale mantle shear zone within the Lanzo massif (Western Alps, Italy). The shear zone separates the central from the northern part of the massif. Plagioclase peridotite shows gradually increasing deformation towards the shear zone, from porphyroclastic to mylonitic textures in the central body, while the northern body is composed of porphyroclastic rocks. The peridotite displays a large range of compositions, from fertile peridotite to refractory harzburgite and dunite. Deformed peridotites (proto-mylonite and mylonites) tend to be compositionally more homogeneous and fertile than weakly deformed peridotites. The composition of most plagioclase peridotites show rather high and constant (Ce/Yb) _N ratios, and Yb _N that cannot be explained by any simple melting model. Instead, refertilization modeling, consisting of melt increments from spinel peridotite sources, particularly with E-MORB melt, reasonably reproduces the plagioclase peridotite whole rock composition. Combined with constraints from Ce–Nb and Ce–Th systematics, we speculate that peridotites such as those from Lanzo record pervasive refertilization processes in the thermal boundary layer. In this scenario, mantle shear zones might act as important areas of melt focusing in the upper mantle that separates the thermal boundary layer from the conductively cooled mantle.     

Amphibole perspective to unravel pre-eruptive processes and conditions in volcanic plumbing systems beneath intermediate arc volcanoes: a case study from Ciomadul volcano (SE Carpathians)

Ciomadul is the youngest volcano in the Carpathian–Pannonian region produced crystal-rich high-K dacites that contain abundant amphibole phenocrysts. The amphiboles in the studied dacites are characterized by large variety of zoning patterns, textures, and a wide range of compositions (e.g., 6.4–15 wt% Al₂O₃, 79–821 ppm Sr) often in thin-section scale and even in single crystals. Two amphibole populations were observed in the dacite: low-Al hornblendes represent a cold (<800 °C) silicic crystal mush, whereas the high-Al pargasites crystallized in a hot (>900 °C) mafic magma. Amphibole thermobarometry suggests that the silicic crystal mush was stored in an upper crustal storage (~8–12 km). This was also the place where the erupted dacitic magma was formed during the remobilization of upper crustal silicic crystal mush body by hot mafic magma indicated by simple-zoned and composite amphiboles. This includes reheating (by ~200 °C) and partial remelting of different parts of the crystal mush followed by intensive crystallization of the second mineral population (including pargasites). Breakdown textures of amphiboles imply that they were formed by reheating in case of hornblendes, suggesting that pre-eruptive heating and mixing could take place within days or weeks before the eruption. The decompression rim of pargasites suggests around 12 days of magma ascent in the conduit. Several arc volcanoes produce mixed intermediate magmas with similar bimodal amphibole cargo as the Ciomadul, but in our dacite the two amphibole population can be found even in a single crystal (composite amphiboles). Our study indicates that high-Al pargasites form as a second generation in these magmas after the mafic replenishment into a silicic capture zone; thus, they cannot unambiguously indicate a deeper mafic storage zone beneath these volcanoes. The simple-zoned and composite amphiboles provide direct evidence that significant compositional variations of amphiboles do not necessarily mean variation in the pressure of crystallization even if the Al-tschermak substitution can be recognized, suggesting that amphibole barometers that consider only amphibole composition may often yield unrealistic pressure variation.     

晶粥储存、侵入体累积组装与花岗岩成因

花岗质岩浆在地壳内的储存、迁移和分异,是导致大陆地壳生长演化的基本过程.有关地壳岩浆冷储存的新发现,挑战了数十年来深部存在以熔融体为主要组成的大岩浆房的观点.对活火山区的地球物理探测、岩石矿物学研究以及热历史模拟都一致证明,岩浆储库中的物质以晶粥为主,它们长时间处于固相线下的温度条件,属于冷储存状态.今天出露地表的大型侵入岩体,是古岩浆储库的代表,它们大都是在数百万年甚至更长的时间跨度内,多幕式的岩浆输运、累积侵位和多次添加组装而成的.侵入体的累积组装,可以通过岩石单元间接触关系的观察、岩石和矿物成分的不均一性研究以及侵入体内大的结晶时间跨度来证明.地壳浅部大型侵入体的形成,大体积的火山喷发,都要求存在穿地壳的岩浆通道系统,该系统中岩浆主要以岩墙形式将不同深度的岩浆储库串联起来,并通过无数岩床的堆垛而形成巨大的岩株或岩基等侵入体.高分异花岗岩和高硅流纹岩的存在,尤其是火山的超级喷发现象,要求岩浆储库的晶粥体发生活化和分异,而晶粥的解体往往是由于从下部侵入的新岩浆注入了额外的热和流体.保留在岩石中的晶体种群蕴含了侵入体累积组装、晶粥活化和岩浆分异的线索.尤其是再循环晶可以提供岩浆通道系统结构和演变的新信息.未来,在花岗岩成因研究中,重点要从晶粥活化与岩浆分异演化过程、岩浆上升和组装机制、火山岩与侵入岩的成因联系等方面入手,开展岩浆通道系统的跨学科研究,构建花岗岩岩浆过程研究的新范式,深入认识大陆地壳的生长和演化机理.      

Mineralogy of silicate inclusions of the Colomera IIE iron and crystallization of Cr-diopside and alkali feldspar from a partial melt

We studied the mineralogy, mineral chemistry, and compositions of 48 interior silicate inclusions and a large K-rich surface inclusion from the Colomera IIE iron meteorite. Common minerals in the interior silicate inclusions are Cr diopside and Na plagioclase (albite). They are often enclosed by or coexist with albitic glasses with excess silica and minor Fe-Mg components. This mineral assemblage is similar to the “andesitic” material found in the Caddo County IAB iron meteorite for which a partial melt origin has been proposed. The fairly uniform compositions of Cr diopside (Ca₄₄Mg₄₆Fe₁₀) and Na plagioclase (Or_2.5Ab_90.0An_7.5 to Or_3.5Ab_96.1An_0.4) in Colomera interior inclusions and the angular boundaries between minerals and metal suggest that diopside and plagioclase partially crystallized under near-equilibrium conditions from a common melt before emplacement into molten metal. The melt-crystal assemblage has been called “crystal mush.” The bulk compositions of the individual composite inclusions form an array between the most diopside-rich inclusion and plagioclase. This is consistent only with a simple mechanical mixing relationship, not a magmatic evolution series. We propose a model in which partly molten metal and crystal mush were mixed together by impact on the IIE parent body. Other models involving impact melting of the chondritic source material followed by growth of diopside and plagioclase do not easily explain near equilibrium growth of diopside and Na plagioclase, followed by rapid cooling. In the K-rich surface inclusion, K feldspar, orthopyroxene, and olivine were found together with diopside for the first time. K feldspar (sanidine, Or_92.7Ab_7.2An_0.1 to Or_87.3Ab_11.0An_1.7) occurs in an irregular veinlike region in contact with large orthopyroxene crystals of nearly uniform composition (Ca_1.3Mg_80.5Fe_17.8 to Ca_3.1Mg_78.1Fe_18.9) and intruding into a relict olivine with deformed-oval shape. Silica and subrounded Cr diopside are present within such K-feldspar regions. Some enrichments of the albite component have been detected at the end of curved elongated nodules of K feldspar intruded into the mafic silicates. The textural relationships suggest that a K-rich melt was present. A K-rich melt is neither the first melt of a chondritic system nor a differentiation product of a Na-rich partial melt of chondritic material. The K-rich material may have originated as a fluid phase that leached K from surrounding materials and segregated by a mechanism similar to that proposed for the Na-rich inclusions.     

Melt segregation from silicic crystal mushes: a critical appraisal of possible mechanisms and their microstructural record

One of the outstanding problems in understanding the behavior of intermediate-to-silicic magmatic systems is the mechanism(s) by which large volumes of crystal-poor rhyolite can be extracted from crystal-rich mushy storage zones in the mid-deep crust. The mechanisms commonly invoked are hindered settling, micro-settling, and compaction. The concept of micro-settling involves extraction of grains from a crystal framework during Ostwald ripening and has been shown to be non-viable in the metallic systems for which it was originally proposed. Micro-settling is also likely to be insignificant in silicic mushes, because ripening rates are slow for quartz and plagioclase, contact areas between grains in a crystal mush are likely to be large, and abundant low-angle grain boundaries promote grain coalescence rather than ripening. Published calculations of melt segregation rates by hindered settling (Stokes settling in a crystal-rich system) neglect all but fluid dynamical interactions between particles. Because tabular silicate minerals are likely to form open, mechanically coherent, frameworks at porosities as high as ~?75%, settling of single crystals is only likely in very melt-rich systems. Gravitationally-driven viscous compaction requires deformation of crystals by either dissolution–reprecipitation or dislocation creep. There is, as yet, no reported microstructural evidence of extensive, syn-magmatic, internally-generated, viscous deformation in fully solidified silicic plutonic rocks. If subsequent directed searches do not reveal clear evidence for internally-generated buoyancy-driven melt segregation processes, it is likely that other factors, such as rejuvenation by magma replenishment, gas filter-pressing, or externally-imposed stress during regional deformation, are required to segregate large volumes of crystal-poor rhyolitic liquids from crustal mushy zones.     

Trace element zoning in pyroxenes from ODP Hole 735B gabbros: diffusive exchange or synkinematic crystal fractionation?

Major and trace element profiles of clinopyroxene grains in oceanic gabbros from ODP Hole 735B have been investigated by a combined in situ analytical study with ion probe, and electron microprobe. In contrast to the homogeneous major element compositions, trace elements (REE, Y, Cr, Sr, and Zr) show continuous core to rim zoning profiles. The observed trace element systematics in clinopyroxene cannot be explained by a simple diffusive exchange between melts and gabbros along grain boundaries. A simultaneous modification of the melt composition is required to generate the zoning, although Rayleigh fractional crystallization modelling could mimic the general shape of the profiles. Simultaneous metasomatism between the cumulate crystal and the porous melt during crystal accumulation is the most likely process to explain the zoning. Deformation during solidification of the crystal mush could have caused squeezing out of the incompatible element enriched residual melts (interstitial liquid). Migration of the melt along grain boundaries might carry these melt out of the system. This process named as synkinematic differentiation or differentiation by deformation (Natland and Dick in J Volcanol Geotherm Res 110(3–4):191–233, 2001) may act as an important magma evolution mechanism in the oceanic crust, at least at slow-spreading ridges.     

Magma dynamics at the base of an evolving mafic magma chamber: Incompatible element evidence from the Partridge River intrusion, Duluth Complex, Minnesota, USA

A characteristic feature of the Partridge River intrusion of the Keweenawan Duluth Complex is the approximately fivefold to ninefold increase in the concentrations of incompatible elements in the lower zone compared with cumulates stratigraphically higher. The concentrations of incompatible elements decrease from the lower zone upward to steady state values, which is ascribed to variations in the proportions of trapped liquid rather than variable degrees of fractional crystallization of a single parental magma. The calculated average composition of trapped liquid using our algorithm is similar to typical Keweenawan low-alumina, high Ti---P basalts associated with the Duluth Complex but is different from the leading edge ferrodioritic liquid quenched in the chilled margin of the intrusion. This difference suggests that the chilled margin does not represent the original (parental) magma composition from which the whole intrusion solidified, and that the enrichment of incompatible elements may be related to the local flotation of magmatic suspensions. To test the latter hypothesis numerically, we have used heat-mass transfer models, assuming a sheet-like magma chamber, to calculate the parameters of the model that best reproduce the observed distribution of incompatible elements in a mush zone at the base of the Partridge River intrusion. The results indicate that a mush zone enriched in the incompatible elements is produced if the velocity of movement of the lower solidification front into the magma body was less than the floating velocity of the bulk crystal mush. The dynamic parameters that best reproduce the observed distribution of incompatible elements include a magma emplacement pressure of 2 kbar, critical crystallinities of 50–68% in the mush zone from which the liquid is being expelled, and an emplacement temperature of 1160°C for the initial magma.