Advances in our understanding of the gem corundum deposits of the West Pacific continental margins intraplate basaltic fields

Recent discoveries over the last decade of new gemfields, exploitation of new and existing deposits, and application of relatively new techniques have greatly increased our knowledge of the basalt-derived gem sapphire–ruby–zircon deposits. In this paper we focus on the Late Mesozoic to Cenozoic intraplate basaltic fields of the West Pacific continental margins. We review advances made in understanding the genesis of these deposits, based on the application of newer techniques. We also critically review existing data on the gem corundum deposits, in order to further refine a model for their origin.In some of the intraplate basaltic fields, corundum-bearing xenoliths have been found showing a range of PT formation conditions from 790 °C at 0.85 GPa to as much as 1100 to 1200 °C at 1.0 to 2.5 GPa. Although most magmatic sapphires contain syngenetic inclusions of columbite-group phases, zircon, spinel and rutile, some contain additional nepheline and K-feldspar, suggesting crystallization from more undersaturated alkaline magma while the Weldborough field of NE Tasmania also contains molybdenite and beryl, suggesting at least some interaction with more fractionated ‘granitic-type’ magmas. There is a large range in PT conditions calculated for the metamorphic rubies (from 780 to 940 °C, through 800 to 1150 °C up to 1000 to 1300 °C). Fluid/melt inclusion studies on magmatic corundums generally suggest that they formed in a CO₂-rich environment from a ‘syenitic’ melt under a range of T conditions from 720 to 880 °C up to 1000 to 1200 °C. Oxygen isotope studies reveal that typical magmatic corundums have values of + 4.4 to 6.9‰, whereas metamorphic corundums from the same basaltic host have lower values of + 1.3 to 4.2‰.Geochronological studies have shown that some fields produced a simple eruptive and zircon/corundum crystallization event while others had multiple eruptive events but only one or two zircon crystallization events. For a few fields, some corundums/zircons crystallized in storage regions and then remained relatively inert for periods of 200 to 400 Ma without significant change before transport to the surface in the Cenozoic. Tectonic studies of the Australian region suggest that many of the corundums crystallized from magmas related to episodic basaltic volcanism in a tectonic regime of extension, associated with the opening of the Tasman and Coral Seas. For the Asian region, the magmatic–polygenetic corundums within the basaltic fields largely crystallized in a tectonic regime of distributed E–W extension, whereas the metamorphic-metasomatic corundums crystallised in a transpressional regime associated with the collision of the Indian Plate with the Eurasian Plate (e.g., [Garnier, V., Giuliani, G., Maluski, H., Ohnenstetter, D., Deloule, E., 2003. Ar–Ar and U–Pb ages of marble-hosted ruby deposits from Central and South-east Asia. Geophysical Research Abstracts 5, 03751; Garnier, V., Giuliani, G., Ohnenstetter, D., and Schwarz, D., 2004. Les gisements de corindon: classification et genese. Les placers a corindon gemme. Le Regne Mineral 55, 7-47; Garnier, V., Ohnenstetter, D., Giuliani, G., Maluski, H., Deloule, E., Phan Trong, T., Pham Van, L., Hoang Quang, V., 2005a. Age and significance of ruby-bearing marble from the Red River Shear Zone, Northern Vietnam. Canadian Mineralogist 43, 1315–1329]).     

内蒙古天和永玄武岩成因：岩相学与矿物学分析

天和永地区南北向出露的小面积单层碱性玄武岩,岩石中出现至少三种矿物共生组合关系。所有岩石均以橄榄石作为主要斑晶矿物,大颗粒环带橄榄石斑晶中心镁值为89．5,边缘镁值为70．3,小颗粒环带橄榄石镁值46．2～78．9。粒径最小的橄榄石聚集体和散布的基质橄榄石均无明显环带,前者镁值67．4～68．1,后者镁值65．5—72．1;单斜辉石由相对高钛高铝贫硅的散布柱状辉石和相对低钛低铝富硅的聚集粒状辉石组成,前者形成于低压快速淬火环境,镁值65．1—77．1,后者形成于富含挥发份的低压低过冷度环境,镁值77．7～78．0。所有单斜辉石均以次透辉石为主,个别为深绿辉石;斜长石以包含结构产出为主,为相对偏酸性的中长石An=33．7～37．4,CaO含量低与早期大量单斜辉石结晶有关。由于残余岩浆内K,0和Na20含量富集且极不均一,晚期结晶的长石同时出现了高钠长石、K-高钠长石（歪长石）和K-透长石;钛铁氧化物多数为晚期结晶的细粒基质矿物,少量以0．3ram左右的斑晶和橄榄石斑晶中的包裹体形式存在,可归属为钛铁尖晶石（Usp）-磁铁矿（Mt）固溶体系列,晚期逐渐向贫铝、铬和富钛方向演化。由于以上各种造岩矿物的晶出,导致残余岩浆形成的火山玻璃向贫镁、铁、钙和富铝、钾方向演化,火山玻璃的全碱含量变异趋势与全岩类似,均和SiO2含量无明显相关性,火山玻璃具有响岩和粗面安山岩成分特征,K2O／Na2O值变化大0．68～1．61,均为钾玄岩系列,Na2O含量依然呈现宽区间特征,是天和永玄武岩由钾质过渡到钠质的主要原因。天和永玄武质岩浆从地幔运移到地表仅需5小时-5天,大颗粒斑晶橄榄石和小颗粒基质橄榄石生长仅需几小时到几天,前者形成无须深部岩浆房停留,后者近似晚期岩浆快速淬火时间。高镁橄榄石斑晶与残余岩浆的扩散平衡时间约42天～252天。深部结晶的橄榄石在运移途中和地表流动过程中缺乏足够的时间和适宜的动力学条件而无法离开岩浆体系。全岩与火山玻璃间缺少中间过渡成分,呈两个相对集中的端元组分存在亦由晶出矿物无法离开岩浆体系所致。天和永玄武岩的成岩时间尺度远小于同化混染和岩浆分异的时间尺度,是岩浆作用过程未能明显影响其不均一原生岩浆性质的主要原因。因此,岩浆作用的某些物理过程分析是认识岩浆起源与岩浆作用过程及其对火成岩多样性的贡献的重要方面,同时对于理解和约束岩浆作用的某些化学过程也是十分有益的。     

花岗岩研究的误区——关于花岗岩研究的思考之五

本文在对花岗岩四大基石(混合作用、结晶分离作用、构造环境和源区)问题分析的基础上,指出花岗岩研究存在的三大误区: (1)不恰当地仿效玄武岩的理论和研究方法,忽视了花岗岩的复杂性。(2)不恰当地用板块构造学说解释大陆花岗岩问题。板块构造是地球演化到一定阶段的产物,并成功解释了与板块边界相联系的岩浆活动,但是,它不能解决主要来源于大陆的花岗岩的地质问题。(3)太过重视花岗岩的地球化学研究而忽视了对花岗岩基础地质的研究。作者指出,地球化学方法在花岗岩中的使用应当是有限制的,花岗岩研究陷入误区是我们缺少扎实的基础研究、对板块构造的理解不深和对花岗岩复杂性认识不足等三个方面的原因造成的。文中还批评了学术界存在的人云亦云的奴性思想,指出它严重地阻碍了我们的创新思维,是当前亟待改进和克服的。     

Origin and evolution of alkali basaltic magma in the Okinawa Trough

I~IOXThe Okinawa Trough is an extending back--arc basin between the East China Sea Shelf andthe Ry'Ukyu Island Arc of Japan. There are widespreadly distributing acid pumice in the troughand a little basalt just in some area of the extending center. There have been some detailed rePOrtsabout the mineralogy and petrochemical feature of the subalkali tholeiite and alkali trachyte in thetrough (Zhai and Gan, 1995; Li et al., 1997; Qin and Zhai, 1988). This paper mainly reportselectron mic…     

冲绳海槽玄武岩中中酸性残余熔体研究及其岩石学意义

与洋壳有关的酸性岩由于对了解幔源岩浆的演化以及判别古老蛇绿岩套及其构造位置的重要意义而倍受岩石学家和构造地质学家的关注。本对发现于冲绳海槽玄武岩基质中的中酸性到酸性残余熔体进行了详细研究，它们提供了幔源玄武岩浆结晶分异形成酸性岩浆的直接证据。在细小的基质矿物间分布有一种玻璃质的残余熔体，其成分随距冷凝边距离(L)的增加而越来越酸性。在SiO2对Na2O K2O图解上，残余熔体的投影点从玄武岩到英安岩均有分布，反映了一个连续的演化系列。在AFM图解上，残余熔体表现出与Thingmuli火山岩系列类似的拉斑玄武岩系列的演化趋势。我们的研究表明：残余熔体的演化受结晶分异作用控制。在早期结晶阶段，辉石的结晶起主导作用，结果造成残余熔体中SiO2、Al2O3，Na2O的迅速增加，FeO、MgO、CaO迅速降低。在晚期结晶阶段，斜长石成为主导结晶相，导致残余熔体中Al2O3，Na2O的迅速消减。Al2O3、Na2O从增加到降低的转变出现在SiO2=62％左右。在L=27．5mm处，85～90％的基质岩浆已发生了结晶作用，导致残余熔体中SiO2含量达到69～70％，而且此处还新出现了一种富FeTi的氧化物。该玄武岩中残余熔体和基质矿物的成分及演化特征分别与Thingmuli火山岩系列中酸性端元的组成相似，在也佐证了Thingmuli火山岩系列是幔源岩浆结晶分异的产物.     

Origin of composite dikes in the Gouldsboro granite, coastal Maine

Composite dikes, consisting of aphyric basaltic margins and phenocryst-rich rhyolitic interiors, cut the Gouldsboro granite of coastal Maine at many localities. Limited hybridization (exchange of crystals, commingling, and mixing) occurs in most of the dikes and indicates that the two magmas were contemporaneous with emplacement of rhyolitic magma following closely in time the initial emplacement of the basaltic dike. Petrographic characteristics and geochemistry indicate that the source of the rhyolite was resident magma in the Gouldsboro granite magma chamber. The composite dikes formed when basaltic dikes ruptured the Gouldsboro magma chamber, permitting partly crystallized magma from the margin of the chamber to flow outward into the center of the basaltic dikes. Field relations of similar composite dikes in other areas (e.g., Iceland, Scotland) are consistent with this model. A second type of composite dike (silicic margins with chilled basaltic pillows) commonly cuts mafic intrusions along the Maine coast and probably formed when a granitic dike ruptured an established chamber of mafic magma, permitting resident mafic magma to collapse downward into the still Liquid granitic dike. Most composite dikes have probably formed when a magma chamber was disrupted by a dike of contrasting magma rather than by tapping a stratified magma chamber.     

金沙江下游白鹤滩水电站岩体结构的建造特征

拟建的白鹤滩水电站的坝基为峨眉山玄武岩。峨眉山玄武岩由火山熔岩类、火山碎屑熔岩类、火山碎屑岩类和沉积火山碎屑岩类所组成。火山熔岩又可划分为斜斑玄武岩、块状玄武岩和杏仁状玄武岩;火山碎屑岩包括集块岩、火山角砾岩以及凝灰岩;而沉积火山碎屑岩类则由沉火山角砾岩和沉凝灰岩所组成。不同类型岩石的结构构造、矿物成分和形成环境不同,导致它们的岩石力学性质和工程性能也不相同。块状玄武岩、斜斑玄武岩和沉积火山碎屑熔岩的抗压强度和抗风化能力都比较大,因而具有很好的工程地质稳定性;杏仁状玄武岩、火山碎屑熔岩的抗压强度稍低,但抗风化能力很好,因此也具有较好的工程地质稳定性;而火山碎屑岩包括火山角砾岩、凝灰岩的抗压强度和抗风化能力都很低,往往形成岩体中的软弱夹层,工程地质稳定性较差。     

Pliocene and Quaternary regional uplift in western Turkey: the Gediz River terrace staircase and the volcanism at Kula

Along the upper reaches of the Gediz River in western Turkey, in the eastern part of the Aegean extensional province, the land surface has uplifted by 400 m since the Middle Pliocene. This uplift is revealed by progressive gorge incision, and its rate can be established because river terraces are capped by basalt flows that have been K–Ar and Ar–Ar dated. At present, the local uplift rate is 0.2 mm a⁻¹. Uplift at this rate began around the start of the Middle Pleistocene, following a span of time when the uplift was much slower. This was itself preceded by an earlier uplift phase, apparently in the late Late Pliocene and early Early Pleistocene, when the uplift rate was comparable to the present. The resulting regional uplift history resembles what is observed in other regions and is analogously interpreted as the isostatic response to changing rates of surface processes linked to global environmental change. We suggest that this present phase of surface uplift, amounting so far to 150 m, is being caused by the nonsteady-state thermal and isostatic response of the crust to erosion, following an increase in erosion rates in the late Early Pleistocene, most likely as a result of the first large northern-hemisphere glaciation during oxygen isotope stage 22 at 870 ka. We suggest that the earlier uplift phase, responsible for the initial 250 m of uplift, resulted from a similar increase in erosion rates caused by the deterioration in local climate at 3.1 Ma. This uplift thus has no direct relationship to the crustal extension occurring in western Turkey, the rate and sense of which are thought not to have changed significantly on this time scale. Our results thus suggest that the present, often deeply incised, landscape of western Turkey has largely developed from the Middle Pleistocene onwards, for reasons not directly related to the active normal faulting that is also occurring. The local isostatic consequences of this active faulting are instead superimposed onto this “background” of regional surface uplift. Modelling of this surface uplift indicates that the effective viscosity of the lower continental crust beneath this part of Turkey is of the order of 10¹⁹ Pa s, similar to a recent estimate for beneath central Greece. The lower uplift rates observed in western Turkey, compared with central Greece, result from the longer typical distances of fluvial sediment transport, which cause weaker coupling by lower-crustal flow between offshore depocentres and eroding onshore regions that provide the sediment source.     

1998 Eruption at Volcán Cerro Azul, Galápagos Islands: I. Syn-Eruptive Petrogenesis

The 1998 eruption of Volcán Cerro Azul in the Galápagos Islands produced two intra-caldera vents and a flank vent that erupted more than 1.0×10⁸ m³ of lava. Lava compositions changed notably during the 5-week eruption, and contemporaneous eruptions in the caldera and on the flank produced different compositions. Lavas erupted from the flank vent range from 6.3 to 14.1% MgO, nearly the entire range of MgO contents previously reported from the volcano. On-site monitoring of eruptive activity is linked with petrogenetic processes such that geochemical variations are evaluated in a temporal context. Lavas from the 1998 eruption record two petrogenetic stages characterized by progressively more mafic lavas as the eruption proceeded. Crystal compositions, whole rock major and trace element compositions, and isotope ratios indicate that early lavas are the product of mixing between 1998 magma and remnant magma of the 1979 eruption. Intra-caldera lavas and later lavas have no 1979 signature, but were produced by the 1998 magma incorporating olivine and clinopyroxene xenocrysts. Thus, early magma petrogenesis is characterized by mixing with the 1979 magma, followed by the magma progressively entraining wehrlite cumulate mush.Editorial Responsibility: M.R. Carroll