Chemical composition of rock-forming minerals in gold-related granitoid intrusions,southwestern New Brunswick,Canada: implications for crystallization conditions,volatile exsolution,and fluorine-chlorine activity

Chemical composition of rock-forming minerals in Appalachian Siluro-Devonian granitoid intrusions, southwestern New Brunswick, was systematically determined by electron microprobe. The mineral chemical data together with petrographic examination was used to test magmatic equilibration and to constrain crystallization conditions, volatile exsolution, and fluorine-chlorine activity of fluids associated with these intrusions. Mineralogical distinction between Late Silurian to Early Devonian granodioritic to monzogranitic series (GMS) and Late Devonian granitic series (GS) rocks is evident, although both are subsolvus I-type to evolved I-type granitoids. Oxidized to reduced GMS rocks consist of quartz, plagioclase (An>10), K-feldspar, biotite, apatite, titanite, zircon, monazite, ± hornblende, ± pyroxene, ± magnetite, ± ilmenite, and ± sulfide. GS rocks comprise quartz, K-feldspar, plagioclase (An<10), mica group minerals, zircon, monazite, apatite, sulfide, ± ilmente, ± magnetite, ± topaz, ± columbite, and ± xenotime. Inter-intrusion and intra-intrusion variations in mineral chemistry are interpreted to reflect petrogenetic processes (e.g., assimilation and fractional crystallization) during granitoid evolution. Although magmatic equilibration among rock-forming minerals are disturbed by subsolidus hydrothermal processes, GMS rocks appear to have higher magmatic temperatures, variable levels of emplacement, a range of (i.e., reduced intrusions 10^−16.7∼10^−13.4 and oxidized intrusions 10^−14.0∼10^−10.5 bars), and relatively low f _HF/f _HCl ratios (10^−3.0∼10^−1.0) in exsolved fluids, compared to GS rocks. Reduced GMS intrusions bear higher gold potential and thus may be prospective targets for intrusion-related gold systems. Electronic Supplementary Material Supplementary material is available for this article at