Textures in a poikilitic olivine gabbro cumulate: Evidence for supercooling

Summary Supercooling of repeated influxes of high-MgO ( 13.5 wt% MgO) tholeiitic magma emplaced along the floor of the Kap Edvard Holm magma chamber led to the formation of fine grained, intraplutonic quench zones that define the bases of 12 macrorhythmic units. The quench zones grade upwards into poikilitic cumulates containing olivine dendrites, suggesting supercooling by 40°C. Supercooling led to early, precumulus crystallization of metastable, non-equilibrium plagioclase, followed by co-precipitation of cumulus plagioclase and olivine. Later nucleation of clinopyroxene followed by rapid growth led to crystallization of zoned oikocrysts during the cumulus stage, followed by postcumulus overgrowth and crystallization of discrete intercumulus grains. At least four generations of plagioclase crystals appear to be preserved.

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Gefüge in einem poikilitischen Olivingabbro-Kumulat: Hinweis auf Unterkühlung

Zusammenfassung Unterkühlung von mehrmals nachströmendem MgO-reichen (ca. 13,5 Gew.% MgO), tholeiitischen Magma, das sich am Boden der Magmenkammer vom Kap Edvard Holm sammelte, führte zur Bildung von feinkbrnigen Zonen mit Abschreckungsgefüge, die jeweils die Basis von 12 makrorhythmischen Einheiten bilden. Diese Zonen gehen im Hangenden in poikilitische Kumulate über, die Olivin-Dendriten enthalten, was auf eine Unterkühlung um ca. 40°C hindeutet. Die Unterkühlung führte zu einer frühen präkumulativen Kristallisation von metastabilem, nicht im Gleichgewicht befindlichem Plagioklas, gefolgt von gleichzeitiger Präzipitation von Kumulus-Plagioklas und -Olivin. Eine spätere Keimbildung von Klinopyroxen, die von raschem Wachstum abgelöst wurde, führte während der Akkumulation zur Kristallisation von zonierten Oikokrysten. Danach folgte eine postkumulative Überwachsung und die Kristallisation von Einzelkörnern in den Zwischenräumen. Zumindest vier Generationen von Plagioklaskristallen scheinen erhalten zu sein.

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With 5 Figures     

Post-breakup basaltic magmatism along the East Greenland Tertiary rifted margin

Mafic and ultramafic intrusions in East Greenland adjacent to the offshore Greenland–Iceland ridge were emplaced 5–9 My after continental breakup at 55 Ma [1]. Rare earth element (REE) concentrations determined by secondary ion mass spectrometry are reported for cumulus clinopyroxene from these intrusions, and the data are used to estimate REE abundance in equilibrium melts using available partitioning data. Estimated equilibrium melts from intrusions have strongly fractionated REE patterns with Nd/Dy(N) in the range 2 to 5.6 and Yb/Dy(N) 0.55 to 0.92, similar to values for coeval basalts. These melts have markedly higher Nd/Dy(N) than earlier breakup related flood basalts. The moderately low Yb/Dy(N) for the post-breakup volcanism is indicative of residual garnet in the source, while their high Nd/Dy(N) ratios can best be explained by aggregating low degree melts from a light-REE-enriched garnet- and spinel-bearing mantle source. We also report He, Sr, and Nd isotopic data for the intrusions. The highest ³He/⁴He ratios (>10 R/R_a) are found in the samples whose REE data reflect the largest proportion of melts from a garnet-bearing source, and having Sr and Nd isotopic compositions identical with the radiogenic Sr and unradiogenic Nd isotope end of the Iceland compositional field. There is no indication of a MORB-type mantle in the source of the intrusions. We postulate that post-breakup volcanism along the East Greenland coastline reflects the increasing proximity of the mantle plume to the East Greenland continental margin. The low degree of melting at high mean pressure inferred for the parental melts for the intrusions may reflect re-thickening of the lithosphere, which in turn was caused by the vigorous volcanism during breakup, with accompanying depletion of upper mantle and underplating of the crust at the continental margin.     

Multiple ways of producing intermediate and silicic rocks within Thingmúli and other Icelandic volcanoes

Major and trace element compositions of rocks and coexisting phenocrysts of the Thingmúli volcano suggest a revision of the existing models for the formation of intermediate and silicic melts in Iceland. The new data define two compositional tholeiitic trends with a significant gap between them. A high-iron trend (HFe) contains 6–14 wt% total FeO in silicic rocks with c. 1 wt% MgO, as well as sodic plagioclase and hedenbergite phenocrysts. A low-iron trend (LFe) contains 3–5 wt% FeO at c. 1 wt% MgO, which is typical of Iceland but higher than MORB compositions. The most evolved phenocrysts of the LFe trend do not reach iron-rich end members. The HFe trend is interpreted as a result of fractional crystallization; numerical modelling using the MELTS algorithm suggests that crystallization took place under redox conditions constrained to one-log unit below the fayalite-magnetite-quartz oxygen buffer (FMQ-1). The LFe trend is explained by a combination of mixing between rhyolite and ferrobasalt, assimilation of hydrated crust and fractional crystallization under higher redox conditions (FMQ). The two trends and the gap are best defined in a plot of Mg# versus SiO₂ that is useful to unravel petrogenetic processes. For example, intermediate and silicic rocks of the Holocene volcanic systems of spreading rifts (e.g. Krafla), propagating rifts (e.g. Hekla) and off-rifts (Öræfajökull) also fall into high- and low-iron fields and outline a gap similar to Thingmúli. The identification of two compositional trends in erupted intermediate and silicic volcanic products shows that processes in the deep roots of single volcanic systems are highly diverse and likely controlled by local variations in the thermal gradients and the extend of hydrothermal alteration. Generalizations about the relationship between the compositions of intermediate and silicic rocks and plate tectonic setting, therefore, should be avoided.     

Iron in plagioclase as a monitor of the differentiation of the Skaergaard intrusion

Several recent publications suggest that the appearance of Fe-Ti oxides terminates iron enrichment and starts pronounced silica enrichment (the Bowen trend) during the differentiation of tholeiitic basalt. However, this does not appear to hold for the Skaergaard intrusion. New data from a ∼950 m long drill core (90–22) through its Upper Zone reveal that: (1) iron in plagioclase increases from ∼0.25 to ∼0.45 wt% FeO_T with fractionation of evolved oxide ferrodiorites (An_46-32) and (2) the evolving liquid, which is modelled by incremental bulk-rock summation, increased its iron content from 20.1 to 26.5 wt% FeO_T and its silica content from 47.4 to 49.6 wt% SiO₂ with fractional crystallisation (the Fenner trend). Positive correlation between modelled iron-content of the magmas, and measured iron-content of plagioclase, confirms that iron enrichment is petrologically feasible even with Fe-Ti oxides in the fractionating assemblage. As suggested by previous authors, fractional crystallisation closed to oxygen exchange is the likely reason why some layered intrusions diverge from the Bowen mechanism of differentiation. It is emphasised that both trends seem to exist in nature. Received:13 May 1996 / Accepted:5 January 1997     

Iron in plagioclase in the Bushveld and Skaergaard intrusions: implications for iron contents in evolving basic magmas

The evolved, iron-rich rocks of the tholeiitic Bushveld and Skaergaard intrusions are similar in containing cumulus magnetite, ilmenite, plagioclase, clinopyroxene, apatite and olivine, and also orthopyroxenes/pigeonite in Bushveld. Here, we evaluate their liquid evolution trends using the total iron content in plagioclase determined by electron microprobe analyses. To aid this analysis a revised mass balance model for the liquid evolution of Skaergaard is presented. For plagioclase in the Upper Zone of Skaergaard it was previously demonstrated that total FeO increases from ~0.25 to ~0.45 wt% with differentiation and correlates inversely with An% [100 × Ca/(Na + Ca)]. The reverse trend is observed in two recently published datasets for Bushveld, showing that total FeO in plagioclase decreases upward through the magnetite-bearing Upper Zone from ~0.30 to ~0.15% and from ~0.40 to ~0.25% in the western and northern limbs, respectively, and correlates positively with An%. The partition coefficient of total iron between plagioclase and magma increases with oxidation and polymerisation in the liquid. Although Bushveld formed under slightly more oxidizing conditions than Skaergaard, differences in the partition coefficients cannot explain the two observed trends. We therefore conclude that the differentiation trends of the liquids subsequent to magnetite saturation were fundamentally different. The inferred liquid composition for Bushveld contained about 15 wt% total FeO at the level of magnetite-in, which is slightly less than the total FeO content of the subsequent cumulates. In contrast, the Skaergaard liquid contained more total FeO than the ensuing cumulates. As a result, in Bushveld residual liquids total FeO decreased after magnetite saturation, whereas in Skaergaard the residual liquids continued to become enriched in iron. This conclusion is corroborated by simple mass balance calculations between modelled residual liquids and extracted cumulate rocks. Despite the mineralogical similarities of evolved iron-rich rocks of Skaergaard and Bushveld, their liquid evolution trends were very different, and generalizations about the extent of iron enrichment in tholeiitic magmas should be avoided.     

Two melting regimes during Paleogene flood basalt generation in East Greenland: combined REE and PGE modelling

Previously published platinum group element (PGE) and rare earth element data (REE) from a sample suite of the Palaeogene flood basalts of the East Greenland rifted margin are used to approximate primary magma compositions by numerical models of mantle melting. Both high-Ti and low-Ti basalts are found intercalated in the coastal section “the Sortebre Profile” in central East Greenland, and the apparent lack of mixing between the two series indicates coexistence of two geographically separated melting regions and plumbing systems during continental breakup above the Palaeogene Iceland plume. The lavas show little or no sign of crustal contamination and the limited variation in La/Sm and Cu/Pd ratios can be interpreted to reflect mantle source composition and melting processes. Numerical modelling indicate that the low-Ti series formed by F~20% melting in a columnar melting regime from a slightly depleted upper mantle source with a relatively normal S-content (~180 ppm S). In contrast, the high-Ti series formed by much lower degrees of melting (F~6%) in a spreading-related, triangular melting regime from a relatively S-poor (~100 ppm S) source. The low-Ti suite was S-undersaturated at the stage of melt segregation from a shallow mantle source due to the high degree of melting. In contrast, the high-Ti suite probably formed from a S-poor source where some low degree melt batches were S-saturated at the stage of deep segregation in distal parts of the triangular melting regime. This suite shows a geochemical high pressure garnet-signature and adiabatic decompression could therefore have played a role in keeping the mantle-derived S in solution before Fe-enrichment related to fractional crystallisation also increased the S-capacity of these melts. An erratum to this article can be found at     

Trapped intercumulus liquid in the Main Zone of the eastern Bushveld Complex, South Africa

Lateral variations in the amount of trapped intercumulus liquid in the Main Zone of the eastern Bushveld Complex are constrained by new Sr-isotopic, whole-rock and mineralogical data from three profiles that are separated laterally by ca.100 km and represent thicknesses of 551–1,127 m of Main Zone gabbronorites below the Pyroxenite Marker. An analysis of the An-contents (100×Ca/(Ca+Na)) of plagioclase cores within the Thornhill (north), Roossenekal and Stoffberg (south) profiles show similar systematic, up-section variations from An₆₆ to An₅₉. In contrast, both the An-contents of bulk plagioclase separates and the Mg-numbers (100×Mg/(Mg+Fe_T)) of orthopyroxenes show pronounced lateral variations from Thornhill (An_67-61; Mg#_67-61), through Roossenekal (An_64-58; Mg#_64-55) to Stoffberg (An_59-55; Mg#_59-50). These mineralogical variations are interpreted to be the result of reaction between cumulus minerals and an increasing amount of trapped liquid from north to south. Modelling of the trapped liquid shift of orthopyroxene compositions suggests that the amount of trapped liquid in the cumulates increased from near 0% at Thornhill, through 10–30% at Roossenekal to 30–45% at Stoffberg. A two- to eightfold southward increase in whole-rock concentrations of P, Ti, Y, Zr and Ba is consistent with the trapped liquid model. However, the 14-fold increase in Rb from Thornhill to Stoffberg is too great to be accounted for by trapped liquid alone, but can be explained by local assimilation of partial melts of the country rock. Constant initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr isotopic ratios of Main Zone plagioclase separates (0.7081–0.7085) in all the three profiles do not preclude assimilation of adjacent basaltic to rhyolitic country rock with initial ratios between 0.6924–0.7096. The southward increase in the amount of trapped liquid is ascribed to an increased cooling rate by enhanced heat loss and partial assimilation of country rock xenoliths in the distal cumulate sequence at Stoffberg. Electronic Supplementary Material Supplementary material is available for this article at and is accessible for authorised users.     

The behaviour of platinum-group elements in basalts from the East Greenland rifted margin

. The continental flood basalts of the East Greenland volcanic rifted margin were extruded during continental breakup above the ancestral Iceland mantle plume at 55 Ma. Three distinct magma types, the low-Ti, high-Ti and very high-Ti series (LTS, HTS and VHTS respectively), are found intercalated in the ~6-km-thick Plateau Lava sequence. Incompatible trace elements indicate that the LTS are derived from a more depleted mantle source compared to HTS and VHTS. The LTS is characterised by increasing Cu (105 to 248 ppm) and Pd (7 to 24 ppb), constant Cu/Pd ratio (~10,000), and decreasing Ir (1.1 to <0.05 ppb) and Ru (1.8 to <0.3 ppb) concentrations during magmatic differentiation (16 to 7 wt% MgO). The constant Cu/Pd ratio reflects silicate- and chromite-dominated fractionation without concurrent segregation of sulphide. S-undersaturated differentiation is also indicated in the HTS, which also displays increasing Pd (6-16 ppb) and decreasing Ir concentrations (1 to <0.05 ppb) during differentiation, and the Cu/Pd ratios for the entire series average 21,000. However, some HTS samples have elevated Cu/Pd ratios (up to 33,000). Cu/Pd ratios in the HTS do not correlate with MgO, and this is interpreted to reflect varying Cu/Pd ratios of HTS parental magmas rather than S-saturated differentiation. During S-undersaturated differentiation of the LTS and HTS, Pt/Pd ratios decrease from 1.3 to 0.11 and 1.1 to 0.2 respectively, which indicates that Pd is much more incompatible than Pt during S-undersaturated differentiation. The VHTS consists exclusively of highly evolved samples with low MgO (6.6-6.1 wt%) and Pd/Ir ratios 98-228. Here, Cu/Pd ratios increase from 17,500 to 35,000 with decreasing Cr concentrations which indicate that these magmas experienced silicate fractionation with concurrent segregation of sulphide. The LTS represent melting of a depleted source and show high PGE concentrations and constant Cu/Pd ratios during S-undersaturated differentiation. Melting of a normal depleted upper mantle source generates S-saturated melts (MORB), and the depleted LTS source is therefore considered an extraordinary S-poor component within the ancestral Iceland plume. Of the three series, the VHTS contain the largest contribution from enriched mantle portions. The VHTS have similar PGE but much higher Nb concentrations for instance compared to the most evolved LTS and HTS samples, indicating that the enriched source contributes Nb but not PGE.