Kiglapait Mineralogy II: Fe-Ti Oxide Minerals and the Activities of Oxygen and Silica

Cumulus titanomagnetite and subordinate ilmenite first appearin the Upper Zone of the Kiglapait intrusion. They arrive graduallyand then reach abnormal abundances before falling to a sustainedcotectic mode near seven volume per-cent. The most Ti-rich titanomagnetites(to Usp ₆₆) are preserved in ore bands (layers) which solidifiedby adcumulus growth leading to the complete expulsion of interstitialsilicate liquid. Analyses from three of these ore bands, appliedto the solution model of Lindsley (1977), form a single lineararray in f_o2 versus 1/T ?K, with log f_o2 = (–28,283 ?89)/T + 11.03 ? 0.25. This array implies log f_o2 = –9.65at 1094 ?C, the model temperature of the Main Ore Band, consistentwith primary mineral compositions Ilm₈₉, Usp₇₉ and a weightmode of 18 per cent ilmenite. Silicate rocks yield another linear array, i.e. log f_o2 = (–37,910? 102)/T + 22.57 ? 0.61. This array is ascribed to closure ofsubsolidus reactions from initial compositions near Usp_79–80Ilm₉₀. The center of gravity of the data falling on this arraysuggests a primary mode of about 50 per cent ilmenite for thesilicate rocks, implying somewhat more reducing conditions ofcrystallization than for the ore bands. The modal overproductionrepresented by the ore bands is attributed to super-saturationin oxygen, which is demonstrated by the Al-depleted compositionsof titanomagnetite in ore bands, by direct evidence for elevatedf_o2 at the top of the Main Ore Band, and by abnormally magnesiansilicate mineral compositions in and near the ore bands. The primary titanomagnetite composition for average rocks isestimated at Usp₈₀ for the base, and Usp₇₃ for the top of theUpper Zone, from rock and mineral chemistry and observed textures.The idealized magma path for the Upper Zone runs from (T andlog f_o2) 1154 ?C, –9.0 to 960 ?C, –12.2. The orebands lie above this path and are interpreted as lying on themetastable extension of the Lower Zone path, which originatesat 1250 ?C, –8.1, on the WM buffer at 4 kbar total pressure. Silica activity is estimated from mineral compositions nearthe ore bands as applied to the FMQ equilibrium, and mappedfor the Lower Zone by an adjustment downward from the En-Fo-Silequilibrium, with resultant values near 0.55 relative to quartz= 1.0. The logarithmic oxygen/silica activity ratio (OSAR) coincideswith that of the Skaergaard intrusion in the Lower Zones. TheSkaergaard OSAR is offset downward from the Kiglapait trendduring MZ time, and remains below it at the end of crystallization.The more highly silicated Skaergaard magma was initially moreoxidized than the Kiglapait magma, but this relation was reversedafter the loss of olivine in the Skaergaard intrusion, as couldhave been predicted from theory and the mineralogy of the twointrusions.     

Kiglapait Geochemistry II: Petrography

The mode of the Kiglapait intrusion carries 73 per cent feldspar,but average rocks near the base of the Upper Zone contain aslittle as 48 per cent feldspar. Olivine remained stable throughoutthe crystallization, but was locally suppressed by abundantcrystallization of augite and titano-magnetite. Red biotiteoccurs as rims on Fe–Ti oxide minerals and is probablyfluorine oxybiotite; its frequently similar occurrence in troctoliticrocks may, perversely, indicate dry magmas rather than dampones. Excluded modal components follow Rayleigh fractionation behaviour;their presence in trace amount permits estimation of residualporosity in the Lower Zone. This porosity diminishes directlywith accumulation rate from 0.14 to 0.03 over the first 80 percent of crystallization history. The saturation ratio of excludedmodal components is a well-behaved function of fraction solidified,and implies that the decrease in porosity continues above the80 per cent solidified level. The saturation ratio links withbulk composition, porosity, and F_L, allowing one of these parametersto be estimated from the others. The cumulus arrival of apatite is abrupt, but the earlier arrivalsof augite, oxide minerals, and sulfide each occur over an interval,followed by an interval of overproduction. This behaviour isattributed to feedback on concentration gradients generatedby a long history of plagioclase + olivine extraction, in theabsence of perfect stirring. Diffusion plays a role in the differentiationof large, slowly cooled magma systems because radial mixingby convection is inefficient. Inherited potential supersaturationis the inevitable result. This leads to modal irregularities,and to crystallization effectively on metastable extensionsof field boundaries. The track of the liquid in the Lower Zone is closely parallelto that in the system Fo–Di–An, but offset fromit by the combined effects of Ab and P (toward plagioclase)and Fa (away from plagioclase). The latter effect is important,with the result that the shedding of plagioclase by an ascendingmagma will be much less marked than predicted from iron-freeexperimental systems.     

Experimental Petrology of the Kiglapait Intrusion: Cotectic Trace for the Lower Zone at 5 kbar in Graphite

The inferred crystallization history of the troctolitic LowerZone of the Kiglapait Intrusion in Labrador is tested by meltingmineral mixtures from the intrusion, made to yield the observedcrystal compositions on the cotectic trace of liquid, plagioclase,and olivine. Melting experiments were made in a piston-cylinderapparatus, using graphite capsules at 5 kbar. Lower Zone assemblagescrystallized from 1245°C, 5% normative augite in the liquid,to 1203°C, 24% normative augite in the liquid at saturationwith augite crystals. This transit is consistent with modaldata and the large volume of the Lower Zone. The 1245°Ccotectic composition matches the average Inner Border Zone composition.Quenched troctolitic liquid from the Upper Border Zone, andothers from nearby Newark Island, plot on or near our experimentalcotectic, supporting a common fractionation history. Olivine–plagioclaseintergrowths from cotectic troctolitic melt show mosaic texturesreflecting the differing barriers to nucleation of these twophases. The linear partitioning of X_Ab in plagioclase–meltyields an intercept constant K_D = 0·524 for these maficmelts. Observed subsolidus exchange of Ca between plagioclaseand olivine elucidates the loss of Ca from plutonic olivines.The bulk composition of the intrusion is revised downward inFo and An. KEY WORDS: experimental; olivine; plagioclase; Kiglapait; partitioningAbbreviations: AP, MT, IL, OR, AB, AN, DI, HY, OL, FO, NE, Q, FSP, AUG: (Oxygen) Normative components; Ap, Aug, Ilm, Ol, Pl: Phases; Ab, An, Di, Fa, Fo, Or, Wo: Phase components; also ternary endmembers; BSE: Back-scattered electron; CaTs: Calcium Tschermak's component, CaAlAlSiO₆; D: Partition coefficient; f: Fugacity; F_L: Fraction of the system present as liquid = 1 – (PCS/100); FMQ: Fayalite = magnetite + quartz buffer; IBZ: Inner Border Zone; IW: Iron = wüstite buffer; kbar: kilobar, 10⁸ pascal; K_D: Exchange coefficient; KI: Kiglapait Intrusion; L: Liquid phase; LLD: Liquid line of descent; Ma: Mega-annum, age; Myr: Mega-year, time; OLHY: Normative OL + HY; OLRAT: The ratio OLHY/(OLHY + AUG); P: Pressure; P: Phosphorus; PCS: Percent solidified (volume); SMAR: South Margin average composition; T: Temperature, °C; UBZ: Upper Border Zone; WM: Wüstite = magnetite buffer; Wo: Wollastonite component of pyroxene; X: Mole fraction; X_Mg: Molar ratio Mg/(Mg + Fe²⁺); , X_Mg(0): Initial X_Mg before MT is formed in the norm calculation; X: Coordinate, horizontal axis; Y: Coordinate, vertical axis     

Convection in Aid of Adcumulus Growth

Sheet cooling occurs for most large magma bodies emplaced intothe earth's crust The convection that ensues is driven by thestove effect of the feeder, by cooling principally at the roof,and to an important degree by two-phase flow of crystal-liquidsuspensions accelerated by rapid crystal growth upon compression.Significant floor cooling through the cumulate substrate islimited to the early history of an intrusion. Thereafter a thermalmaximum in the T-Z profile (a latent-heat hump) always occursat the cumulus interface. If crystals grow, the latent heatis carried away chiefly by the magma. The solute rejected bythe growing interface is buoyant for mafic and ultramafic cumulatesbut dense for all felsic and feldspar-cotectic cumulates notcontaining cumulus iron oxide minerals. The rejected solute(RS) is light for calc-alkaline cumulates in general, a factprobably germane to the origin of rhyolite by sidewall crystallization. Near the cumulate interface, the ratio R_p of compositional tothermal effects on liquid density lies in the range 10–10⁶,indicating a strong compositional control on density that cannotbe overcome by available thermal contrasts. The solidificationof the cumulate is enhanced by upward removal of light RS butimpeded by stagnation of dense RS. The existence of felsic flatfloor adcumulates proves that adcumulus growth can occur largelyby diffusion, as all other options are precluded. This resultis entirely consistent with known diffusivities of heat andmass, for accumulation rates near ? cm yr^–1. When higheraccumulation rates occur, some residual liquid is trapped. Theflux ratio of heat to matter during adcumulus growth is about300 cal g^–1. From the flux ratios and the one-dimensionalestimates of cooling rates, typical values of the thermal andcompositional gradients during adcumulus growth can be obtained.After a new batch of supercooled magma arrives the thermal gradientdrops from near infinity to > 5000? km^–1 during nucleationand then to a steady state near 40?C km^–1 at the interfaceduring adcumulus growth. The latent heat hump is paired with another thermal maximumabove the boundary layer, which is therefore a heat sink. Byconsideration of the thermal structure and the buoyancy of rejectedsolute it is determined that double diffusive convection isinconsistent with the adcumulus growth of any type of floorcumulate, and with any growth of an ultramafic cumulate. Infiltrationmetasomatism is an orthocumulus process rather than an adcumulusone, and it produces mesocumulates. Multiple stratification of magma will not arise from growthat the floor, but storage of buoyant RS in a polymerized layerrich in plagioclase component appears to occur on a rapid timescalein snowflake troctolite and may have led to anorthosite formationon a slow timescale in the Stillwater Complex. Magma stratificationby multiple injection is likely to be unstable to two-phaseconvection. Compaction of cumulates is limited to cases wheresufficiently thick crystal mush can be shown to exist, and suchthicknesses are rare in large intrusions. Compaction is thereforenot a general alternative to adcumulus growth. Cumulate theoryis very much alive and able to predict testable ideas aboutsilicate diffusivities and convection.     

Kiglapait Geochemistry I: Systematics, Sampling, and Density

The Kiglapait intrusion affords many opportunities for evaluatingplutonic fractionation processes. Estimates of boundary conditionsinclude emplacement of anhydrous high alumina basaltic magmaat 4 kbar and about 1250 °C, initial crystallization nearthe WM buffer, and fractionation to Mg-free ferrosyenite whichcrystallized at 960°C, somewhat above the WM buffer. Thelast ferrosyenites represent fractionation to 0.01 per centof the initial volume. Plagioclase varies from An₆₇ to An₁₀, olivine from Fo₆₉ to Fo₀,and augite from En₇₃ to En₀. The specific gravity of the intrusionis 2.93, varying between 2.87 and 3.18 on smoothed models. Crystals accumulated chiefly at the floor. As they did so, themagma depth decreased as the square root of the volume fractionof liquid. The volume fraction solidified was roughly proportionalto time. Cooling was slower than the t relation because of hotsurroundings on one side. The crystallization time was about10⁶ yr, and the average accumulation rate was about 1 cm/yr.Average crystal concentrations of 3–300 ppm are impliedfor the nucleation zone. The cooling rate corresponds to crystallizationof 2 x 10⁷ kg/yr per km² roof area, about 550 times slower thana lava lake. Calculated liquid densities range from 2.67 to 2.88 g/cm³ athigh temperatures. Feldspar almost surely did not sink in themagma, but nevertheless it accumulated mainly on the floor.Cooperative sinking with mafics as proposed by Coats, combinedwith oscillatory nucleation as proposed by Wager, may accountfor this paradox. Oscillatory nucleation leading to feldspar-supersaturatedliquids is supported by laboratory evidence on the feldspar-likestructure of liquids and the concave-úp plagioclase liquidusin systems involving olivine. Both lines of evidence imply highpolymerization of feldspar-rich liquids, particularly in slowprocesses. Such polymerization can help to explain the genesisof primary Eu anomalies and anorthositic magmas in additionto the floor accumulation of feldspar and rhythmic layering.     

Alkali Feldspars with Water at 5 kb Pressure

Alkali feldspars with water at 5 kb begin to melt at an isobariceutectic: 703±2 °C, Or ₂₈.₅ (wt. per cent) recalculatedanhydrous. The liquidus of albite-H₂O at 5 kb is 758±3°C. The K feldspar-rich, water-saturated liquidus is essentiallythat of Yoder, Stewart, & Smith (1957), who furthermorefound orthoclase-H₂O to melt at 876 °C. The alkali feldspar solvus, determined by synthesis from glassand a few reversals using crystalline material, has a calculatedcritical temperature of 730 °C and a critical compositionof Or₃₁ (wt. per cent) using parametric equations (Thompson& Waldbaum, 1969). The Margules equation yields T_c = 738°C. The feldspars produced are structural equivalents oflow sanidine on the basis of their 060 and 04 powder X-ray diffractionpeaks. The critical line intersects the beginning of meltingcurve for the system Ab-Or-H₂O at 4.2 kb, 715 °C, the minimumconditions for the coexistence of two feldspars and liquid inthis system. The slope of the critical line, using Orville's (1963) 2 kbresults, is 18.3 °C/kb, leading to an intersection withthe kyanite-sillimanite curve of Richardson, Bell, & Gilbert(1968) at about 10.6 kb, 834 °C. The intersection with theandalusite-sillimanite curve of these authors (1969) falls atabout 3.5 kb, 703 °C. Such intersections may be used toestimate limits of P and T for a variety of crustal rocks. Because isobaric crystallization of feldspars in the water-deficientregion must enrich liquids in H₂O to the saturation point, haplosyeniticliquids with a finite initial water content must, at 5 kb totalpressure, eventually crystallize two feldspars.     

The geography of tyranny and despair: development indicators and the hypothesis of genetic inevitability of national inequality

Development geography has long sought to understand why inequalities exist and the best ways to address them. Dependency theory sets out an historical rationale for under development based on colonialism and a legacy of developed core and under-developed periphery. Race is relevant in this theory only insofar that Europeans are white and the places they colonised were occupied by people with darker skin colour. There are no innate biological reasons why it happened in that order. However, a new theory for national inequalities proposed by Lynn and Vanhanen in a series of publications makes the case that poorer countries have that status because of a poorer genetic stock rather than an accident of history. They argue that IQ has a genetic basis and IQ is linked to ability. Thus races with a poorer IQ have less ability, and thus national IQ can be positively correlated with performance as measured by an indicator like GDP/capita. Their thesis is one of despair, as little can be done to improve genetic stock significantly other than a programme of eugenics. This paper summarises and critiques the Lynn and Vanhanen hypothesis and the assumptions upon which it is based, and uses this analysis to show how a human desire to simplify in order to manage can be dangerous in development geography. While the attention may naturally be focused on the 'national IQ' variables as a proxy measure of 'innate ability', the assumption of GDP per capita as an indicator of 'success' and 'achievement' is far more readily accepted without criticism. The paper makes the case that the current vogue for indicators, indices and cause–effect can be tyrannical.     

Kiglapait Mineralogy III: Olivine Compositions and Rayleigh Fractionation Models

Olivines, present throughout the layered cumulates of the KiglapaitIntrusion, record extreme iron enrichment during fractionalcrystallization. Mn is less compatible than Fe; the exchangecoefficient K_D for Mn/Fe (OL-LIQ) has values near 0.95 but theydrop to 0.7 near the Lower Zone-Upper Zone boundary. Ca is depletedby more than a factor of 30 relative to experimental valuesat 5 kbar pressure. Attempts to find a sink for Ca in the LowerZone without invoking liquid as a reactant are unconvincing,and questions of metastability arise. Cumulus olivines varysystematically to lower Fo contents with stratigraphic height.Using equilibrium values for the exchange coefficient K_D (Fe/Mg,OL-LIQ), and the observed mode of olivine and residual porosity,a Rayleigh fractionation calculation reproduces the observedLower Zone trend without recourse to multiple injections ofmagma. An anomalously Fe-rich region above the Main Ore Bandin the Upper Zone is ascribed to ponding of Fe-rich magma atthe floor of the intrusion until later, buoyant residual magmaentrained the Fe-rich residua. Such Fe-rich ponds probably accountfor the abnormal Feenrichment shown by some other Fenner-trendlayered intrusions. Summation over the observed crystal compositionsyields values of X_Mg that do not represent the equilibrium liquid,but that reduce to it by a simple multiplier p = 0.78. Thisresult means that if K_D is known, the high-temperature, liquidusolivine compositions can be retrieved, or vice versa. Becausethe observed olivine compositions are supported by realisticforward models, there is no need to invoke evolved boundary-layerliquids to explain the in situ crystallization of Kiglapaitcumulates. Classical cumulate theory suffices. KEY WORDS: olivine; Rayleigh fractionation; Kiglapait Intrusion; cumulative theory