Petrogenesis of the magmatic complex at Mount Ascutney,Vermont, USA

The Ascutney Mountain complex of eastern Vermont, USA, is a composite epizonal pluton of genetically related gabbro to granite intrusives. Nd isotopic data are reported for mafic rocks, granites, and nearby country rock. The parental mafic magma producing the complex 122 m.y. ago had ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr=0.7039, ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd=0.512678 ( _Nd=+3.8) and ¹⁸O=6.1, indicating a mantle source with time-integrated lithophile element depletion. Uniform initial radiogenic isotope ratios for granites, which are undistinguishable from those for the most primitive gabbro, suggest that the granite magma evolved from the mafic magma without crustal contamination and that the increase in ¹⁸O, to about 7.8, is the result of fractional crystallization. Mafic rocks show a large range in initial ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd ratio, from about 0.51267 to 0.51236 ( _Nd= +3.7 to –2.5), which is correlated with elevated ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios and ¹⁸O. These data substantiate the production of mafic lithologies by fractional crystallization of the parental magma accompanied by assimilation of up to about 50% crust. The local country rocks include gneiss and schist and assimilation involved representatives of both rock types. The isotopic and chemical relationships preclude derivation from a single batch of magma undergoing contamination and indicate that a large magma body at depth evolved largely by fractionation with batches of melt issued from this chamber being variably contaminated at higher levels or at the level of emplacement.The Precambrian gneisses of the Chester dome and overlying lower Paleozoic schists have essentially identical Nd isotope systematics which suggest a crustal formation age of about 1.6. b.y. The parental sediments for the schists were apparently derived from a protolith similar to the gneissic basement without appreciable Sm/Nd fractionation.     

Silica diffusion at Ascutney Mountain,Vermont

A suite of pelitic schists from the contact metamorphic aureole around the syenite stock at Ascutney Mountain, Vermont, shows a decrease in the amounts of cordierite, quartz, and andalusite and an increase in pleonaste and corundum as the contact is approached. Whole rock chemical analyses show a distinct SiO₂ concentration gradient from the wall rocks toward the intrusion; however, the syenite has a higher weight percent SiO₂ than the adjacent schists. It is suggested that silica diffused down an SiO₂ activity gradient into the intrusive; other major oxide components were apparently immobile. The diffusion of silica was probably through intergranular fluids, and the amount of silica available for diffusion was governed by the solubilities of cordierite, andalusite, and quartz in the interstitial fluid.     

浙东小雄破火山晚白垩世火山-侵入杂岩成因及岩浆演化

通过对浙东小雄破火山晚白垩世火山岩(流纹岩)-浅成侵入岩(正长斑岩)进行系统的岩相学和地球化学分析,探讨了火山-侵入杂岩的成因及岩浆演化过程.研究表明,小雄破火山晚白垩世流纹岩和正长斑岩经历了不同的结晶分异过程:流纹岩经历了碱性长石+磷灰石+锆石的分异;正长斑岩经历了普通辉石+磷灰石+ Ti-Fe氧化物的分异.流纹岩和正长斑岩的母岩浆均起源于地壳物质的重熔,但各自有相对独立的演化过程,两者非同一岩浆房内某一岩浆连续分异的产物.推测在小雄破火山之下不同深度存在由多个子岩浆房构成的复杂岩浆系统,暗示东南沿海晚中生代火山-侵入杂岩中的侵入岩并不完全代表岩浆房下部的堆晶部分.     

Petrogenesis of the paleozoic magmatic rocks of the Carnian Alps

Summary On the basis of whole-rock and mineral chemistry two main magmatic groups can be established for the Paleozoic Volcanism of the Carnian Alps. High-Ti Volcanics (HTV) and Low-Ti Volcanics (LTV). Spilitization processes have not masked the primary magmatic character. The two groups are characterized by very different trace element patterns and cannot be correlated by a fractionation process. The HTV require an enriched mantle source whereas the geochemistry of the LTV indicates strong crustal contamination. Both magmatic groups are consistent with a major rifting episode. The contamination via assimilation of crustal rocks of the LTV group implies that rifting developed in a continental area.

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Petrogenese der paläozoischen Magmatite der Karnischen Alpen

Zusammenfassung Auf der Grundlage von Gesteins- und Mineralchemie der paläozoischen Vulkanite der Karnischen Alpen können zwei magmatische Hauptgruppen unterschieden werden: die Hoch-Ti Vulkanite (HTV) und die Nieder-Ti Vulkanite (LTV). Der Prozess der Spilitisation vermochte die ursprünglichen magmatischen Charakteristika nicht zu überdecken. Die zwei Gruppen sind durch sehr verschiedene Spurenelementgehalte charakterisiert und können nicht durch einen Differentiationsprozeß verknüpft werden. Die HTV erfordern eine angereicherte mantle source, während die Geochemie der LTV deutlich auf Kontamination hinweist. Beide magmatische Gruppen sind aus einer rifting Episode hervorgegangen. Die Kontamination der LTV-Gruppe durch Assimilation von Krustengesteinen zeigt, daß das rifting sich in einer kontinentalen Umgebung entwickelte.

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With 8 Figures     

One-dimensional thermal modelling of Acadian metamorphism in southern Vermont, USA

One‐dimensional thermal (1DT) modelling of an Acadian (Devonian) tectonothermal regime in southern Vermont, USA, used measured metamorphic pressures and temperatures and estimated metamorphic cooling ages based on published thermobarometric and geochronological studies to constrain thermal and tectonic input parameters. The area modelled lies within the Vermont Sequence of the Acadian orogen and includes: (i) a western domain containing garnet‐grade pre‐Silurian metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks from the eastern flank of an Acadian composite dome structure (Rayponda–Sadawga Dome); and (ii) an eastern domain containing similar, but staurolite‐ or kyanite‐grade, rocks from the western flank of a second dome structure (Athens Dome), approximately 10 km farther east. Using reasonable input parameters based on regional geological, petrological and geochronological constraints, the thermal modelling produced plausible P–T paths, and temperature–time (T –t) and pressure–time (P–t) curves. Information extracted from P–T –t modelling includes values of maximum temperature and pressure on the P–T paths, pressure at maximum temperature, predicted Ar closure ages for hornblende, muscovite and K‐feldspar, and integrated exhumation and cooling rates for segments of the cooling history. The results from thermal modelling are consistent with independently obtained pressure, temperature and Ar cooling age data on regional metamorphism in southern Vermont. Modelling results provide some important bounding limits on the physical conditions during regional metamorphism, and indicate that the pressure contemporaneous with the attainment of peak temperature was probably as much as 2.5 kbar lower than the actual maximum pressure experienced by rocks along various particle paths. In addition, differences in peak metamorphic grade (garnet‐grade versus staurolite‐grade or kyanite‐grade) and peak temperature for rocks initially loaded to similar crustal depths, differences in calculated exhumation rates, and differences in ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar closure ages are likely to have been consequences of variations in the duration of isobaric heating (or ‘crustal residence periods’) and tectonic unroofing rates. Modelling results are consistent with a regional structural model that suggests west to east younging of specific Acadian deformational events, and therefore diachroneity of attainment of peak metamorphic conditions and subsequent ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar closure during cooling. Modelling is consistent with the proposition that regional variations in timing and peak conditions of metamorphism are the result of the variable depths to which rocks were loaded by an eastward‐thickening thrust‐nappe pile rooted to the east (New Hampshire Sequence), as well as by diachronous structural processes within the lower plate rocks of the Vermont Sequence.     

Unravelling the magmatic system beneath a monogenetic volcanic complex (Jagged Rocks Complex,Hopi Buttes,AZ, USA)

The Jagged Rocks complex is the eroded remnant of the plumbing systems of closely spaced monogenetic alkaline volcanic centres in the southern Hopi Buttes Volcanic Field (AZ, USA). It contains different clinopyroxene populations with distinctive textures and geochemical patterns. In the Northwestern part of the complex, which exposes the best developed system of conduits, most of the clinopyroxenes consist of large- to medium-sized resorbed cores overgrown by euhedral rims (type 1), small moderately resorbed greenish cores with the same overgrown rims (type 2), and phlogopite as an accessory phase. By contrast, in the Southern part of the complex the majority of clinopyroxenes are euhedral with oscillatory zonation (type 3) and are accompanied by minor euhedral olivine. The differences between these mineral assemblages indicate a composite history of crystallization and magmatic evolution for the two parts of the complex, governed by different mechanisms and ascent patterns from a single source at ~ 50 km depth (16 kbar). The Northwest system preserves a high-pressure assemblage that cooled rapidly from near-liquidus conditions, suggesting direct ascent from the source to the surface at high-to-moderate transport rates (average ~ 1.25 m/s). By contrast, the Southern system represents magma that advanced upward at much lower overall ascent rates, stalling at times to form small-volume mid-crustal storage zones (e.g., sills or a network of sheeted intrusions); this allowed the re-equilibration of the magma at lower pressure (~ 30 km; 8 kbar), and led to nucleation and growth of euhedral clinopyroxene and olivine phenocrysts.     

Petrogenesis of a Neoproterozoic magmatic arc hosting porphyry Cu-Au mineralization at Jebel Ohier in the Gebeit Terrane,NE Sudan

The ca. 730 Ma porphyry Cu-Au deposit at Jebel Ohier in the Red Sea Hills of northeastern Sudan represents a rare example of a preserved Neoproterozoic magmatic-hydrothermal system which bears many similarities to major mineral-hosting (‘productive’) Tertiary–Cenozoic porphyries in circum-Pacific metallogenic belts. Petrographic, lithogeochemical and Sm-Nd isotope systematics confirm that the deposit formed in a supra-subduction setting and during the constructional stage of an evolving intra-oceanic magmatic arc. The calc-alkaline melts were sourced predominantly from juvenile reservoirs and received comparatively little input from continental-character material. Comparison with igneous rocks from barren intrusions elsewhere in the region point to the absence of major crustal breaks but indicate that the ore-forming granodiorite-dacite porphyry complex at Jebel Ohier is the result of ‘abnormal’ and prolonged multi-phase arc plutonism. This process involved the formation of relatively hydrous and oxidized melts via the fractionation of magmas, which possibly had ponded at the bottom of the thickening lithosphere for a protracted period prior to their ascent. The tectonic trigger for the emplacement of the productive pluton into a pre-existing volcanic edifice at Jebel Ohier remains unconstrained. Preservation of what is considered the first documented porphyry Cu-Au deposit in the NE African portion of the Arabian Nubian Shield can probably be related to the accretion of the magmatic arc to a stable continental margin within a few million years of mineralization, thus enabling the deposit to escape excessive uplift, erosion and structural dismemberment.     

Fluid infiltration and regional metamorphism of the Waits River Formation, north-east Vermont, USA

Abstract The Siluro-Devonian Waits River Formation of north-east Vermont was deformed, intruded by plutons and regionally metamorphosed during the Devonian Acadian Orogeny. Five metamorphic zones were mapped based on the mineralogy of carbonate rocks. From low to high grade, these are: (1) ankerite-albite, (2) ankerite-oligoclase, (3) biotite, (4) amphibole and (5) diopside zones. Pressure was near 4.5kbar and temperature varied from c. 450° C in the ankerite-albite zone to c. 525° C in the diopside zone. Fluid composition for all metamorphic zones was estimated from mineral equilibria. Average calculated χ_co2[= CO₂/(CO₂+ H₂O)] of fluid in equilibrium with the marls increases with increasing grade from 0.05 in the ankerite-oligoclase zone, to 0.25 in the biotite zone and to 0.44 in the amphibole zone. In the diopside zone, χ_CO2 decreases to 0.06. Model prograde metamorphic reactions were derived from measured modes, mineral chemistry, and whole-rock chemistry. Prograde reactions involved decarbonation with an evolved volatile mixture of χ_CO2 > 0.50. The χ_CO2 of fluid in equilibrium with rocks from all zones, however, was generally <0.40. This difference attests to the infiltration of a reactive H₂O-rich fluid during metamorphism. Metamorphosed carbonate rocks from the formation suggests that both heat flow and pervasive infiltration of a reactive H₂O-rich fluid drove mineral reactions during metamorphism. Average time-integrated volume fluxes (cm³ fluid/cm² rock), calculated from the standard equation for coupled fluid flow and reaction in porous media, are (1) ankerite-oligoclase zone: c. 1 × 10⁴; (2) biotite zone: c. 3 × 10⁴; (3) amphibole zone: c. 10 × 10⁴; and diopside zone: c. 60 × 10⁴. The increase in calculated flux with increasing grade is at least in part the result of internal production of volatiles from prograde reactions in pelitic schists and metacarbonate rocks within the Waits River Formation. The mapped pattern of time-integrated fluxes indicates that the Strafford-Willoughby Arch and the numerous igneous intrusions in the field area focused fluid flow during metamorphism. Many rock specimens in the diopside zone experienced extreme alkali depletion and also record low χ_CO2. Metamorphic fluids in equilibrium with diopside zone rocks may therefore represent a mixture of acid, H₂O-rich fluids given off by the crystallizing magmas, and CO₂-H₂O fluids produced by devolatilization reactions in the host marls. Higher fluxes and different fluid compositions recorded near the plutons suggest that pluton-driven hydrothermal cells were local highs in the larger regional metamorphic hydrothermal system.     

Petrogenesis of the Greenhills Complex,Southland, New Zealand: magmatic differentiation and cumulate formation at the roots of a Permian island-arc volcano

A Permian (~265 Ma) intrusive complex which formed as a magmatic feeder reservoir to an immature island-arc volcano is fortuitously exposed in southern New Zealand. Known as the Greenhills Complex, this intrusion was emplaced at shallow crustal levels and consists of two layered bodies which were later intruded by a variety of dykes. Cumulates, which include dunite, olivine clinopyroxenite, olivine gabbro, and hornblende gabbro-norite, are related products of parent-magma fractionation. Both primary (magmatic) and secondary platinum-group minerals occur within dunite at one locality. Using the composition of cumulus minerals, mafic dykes and melt inclusions, we have determined that the parent magmas of the complex were hydrous, low-K island-arc tholeiites of ankaramitic affinities. Progressive magmatic differentiation of this parent magma generated fractionated melt of high-alumina basalt composition which is now preserved only as dykes which cut the Complex. Field evidence and cumulus mineral profiles reveal that the magma chambers experienced turbulent magmatic conditions during cumulate-rock formation. Recharge of the chambers by primitive magma is likely to have coincided with eruption of residual melt at the surface. Similar processes are inferred to account for volcanic-rock compositions in other parts of this arc terrane and in modern island-arc systems.     

Metamorphic P-T paths from calcic pelitic schists from the Strafford Dome, Vermont, USA

Metamorphism of the Gile Mountain Formation and Waits River Formation in the Strafford Dome and Townshend-Brownington Syncline in east-central Vermont records two nappe-style events, D1 and D2, followed by doming. D1 formed a muscovite + biotite ± ilmenite schistosity subparallel to compositional layering, SO, and was followed by heating to garnet grade. The temperature and pressure at the end of D1 are estimated to be c . 450 C and 6-8 kbar. D2 variably crenulated and folded S1 during a nearly isothermal pressure increase of 1-2 kbar, calculated from compositions of garnet, which have inclusions trails with progressive crenulation and rotation of the S1 fabric. Similar P-T paths are computed for most of the area, suggesting that the later schistosity developed during emplacement of a regional nappe 3-6 km thick. There is a general lack of D3 (dome-stage) microstructures.
Near the Strafford-Willoughby Arch, staurolite and kyanite overgrew S2 in pelites, and plagioclase with increasing X _An overgrew S2 in calcic pelites, reflecting post-D2 heating to a maximum of 550-600 C. Metamorphic pressures at the end of D2 are fairly constant on the west side of the dome, indicating minor dome-stage uplift. In contrast, pressures at the thermal peak of metamorphism decrease by more than 4 kbar east of the dome. The observed pattern of isotherms and isobars is mainly the result of post-metamorphic, differential uplift and unroofing.
Finally, a minor, retrograde metamorphism produced the assemblage albite + epidote + K-feldspar + muscovite + chlorite, with grade increasing east toward the Connecticut River.     

Petrogenesis of the Bondla layered mafic-ultramafic complex,Usgaon, Goa

The Bondla mafic-ultramafic complex is a layered intrusion that consists predominantly of peridotites and gabbronorites. A chromitite-pyroxenite-troctolite horizon serves as a marker to subdivide the intrusion into two zones. The Lower Zone displays gravity stratified layers of chromite that alternate with those of olivine, which up-section are followed by olivine+pyroxene-chromite cumulates. The Upper Zone comprises gabbroic rocks that exhibit uniform layering. On the basis of modal and cryptic variation exhibited by the minerals this zone can be subdivided in to several lithohorizons starting from the troctolites at the base to gabbronorites and leucogabbros at the top. The junction between the two zones is marked by the distinct reversal in cryptic variation exhibited by the chromites and pyroxenes. The peridotite chromites contain higher Al₂O₃ and lower Cr₂O₃ than those from the chromitite above. Similarly clinopyroxenes from pyroxenite and troctolites are more magnesian that those from the peridotites stratigraphically below them. The complex in general is characterized by a gabbroic mineral assemblage in which both Ca-rich and Capoor pyroxenes coexist and displays a Fe-enrichment trend providing evidence of evolution from a contaminated tholeiitic magma. The rocks are characterized by low-TiO₂; Ni, Cr and V, show negative correlation with Zr whereas the large ion lithophile elements (LILE) are positively correlated and the Nb/La ratio varies from 0.4–0.6. These characteristics are consistent with a low-TiO₂ sub-alkaline tholeiitic magma that may have been modified by fractional crystallization and successive injections of more primitive melts in the magma chamber. The complex evolved in a periodically replenished magma chamber that consisted of two separate but interconnected sub-chambers.     

藏南太昭地区早侏罗世岩浆岩的形成机制和构造动力学过程

藏南地区冈底斯岩基是长期构造岩浆作用的产物,保存着与洋-陆俯冲和陆-陆碰撞作用相关的构造动力学过程的丰富记录,是揭示深部岩石圈物质组成及其长期演化特征的重要岩石探针。太昭地区发育高Na/K比花岗岩（组一）和低Na/K比花岗岩（组二）,另外,在距离太昭不远的巴松措地区发育一套辉长岩-闪长岩。本文以组二花岗岩为主要研究对象,开展与其他二套岩体的对比研究：（1）组二花岗岩的形成年龄为190~194Ma,与组一花岗岩为同期岩浆作用;（2）同位素组成方面,组二花岗岩的Nd-Hf同位素组成（ε_Hf（t）=-7.2~-2.5;ε_Nd（t）=-4.1~-3.7）略高于组一花岗岩,Sr同位素（⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr（t）=0.7061~0.7070）比值略低于组一花岗岩,而与巴松措中基性岩相近,这也暗示组二花岗岩的源区不同于组一花岗岩,是由受熔体交代的弧下地幔物质部分熔融作用产生的基性岩浆分离结晶的产物,而组一来源于中下地壳古老基性岩部分熔融;（3）地球化学组成方面,组二花岗岩的Al₂O₃、CaO、TiO₂、FeO^T、MgO、Sr、Sc等元素组成与SiO₂含量呈负相关关系,但Na₂O、Rb、Nb、Ta等元素组成与SiO₂含量呈正相关关系,表明组二花岗岩是较原始的基性岩浆经历角闪石和斜长石的分离结晶作用的产物,并且在岩浆向高硅演化阶段经历了钾长石的分离结晶作用。综合以上分析,本文认为太昭地区这两组花岗岩形成于新特提洋板片向北俯冲作用相关的构造背景。

     

Petrogenesis of picrites from the Caribbean Plateau and the North Atlantic magmatic province

We studied the petrography, mineralogy and geochemistry of picrites from three different regions: the island of Curaçao which forms part of a Cretaceous oceanic plateau; Iceland, an active hot spot on the mid-Atlantic ridge; and the early Tertiary volcanic margin off the coast of Greenland, which formed during the rifting that created the Atlantic ocean. Using the compositions of olivine phenocrysts and relations between MgO and FeO, Al₂O₃ and Ni, we estimated compositions of parental liquids and the proportion of accumulated olivine in each rock. Picrites from Curaçao formed mainly from a liquid with 12 wt.% MgO and they contain up to 55 wt.% excess olivine in the form of phenocrysts. A small proportion of more forsterite-rich olivine grains are xenocrysts from a more magnesian source. Picrites from Iceland formed from a slightly less magnesian liquid but one with also about 12 wt.% MgO and they contain both olivine and plagioclase in the accumulated assemblage. Picrites from the Greenland volcanic margin formed from a liquid that was distinctly more magnesian, with up to 20 wt.% MgO. In some of these rocks the proportion of accumulated olivine was minimal and in these the whole-rock composition is roughly equivalent to the liquid composition. The picrites from the three areas formed under different conditions and through contrasting melting processes. The Curaçao picrites derive from pooled liquids formed through moderate degrees of melting at moderate depths beneath a relatively old and thick oceanic lithosphere. Iceland picrites, on the other hand, formed through advanced fractional melting of mantle that ascended almost to the base of the crust at the mid-ocean spreading center. An unusual combination of relatively high concentrations of incompatible trace elements and high MgO indicates that the Greenland picrites formed by relatively low degrees of melting at greater depths in the mantle.     

Open-System, Sub-Volcanic Magmatic Evolution: Constraints on the Petrogenesis of the Mount Brome Alkaline Complex, Canada

The Mount Brome alkaline complex of southern Quebec (Canada)comprises gabbroic to silica-oversaturated and -undersaturatedfelsic rocks which have variable initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Ndratios: 0.70345–0.70431 and 0.51270–0.51258, respectively,in mafic lithologies (gabbro, nepheline diorite, and biotitemonzodiorite); 0.70353–0.70403 and 0.51270–0.51263in silica-undersaturated felsic units (pulaskite and nephelinesyenite); and 0.7051–0.7115 and 0.51262–0.51259in silica-oversaturated nordmarkite. Negatively correlated ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Srvs. ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd trends for the various rock types appear toconverge at the composition ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr = 0.70345 and ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd= 0.51270 (_Nd = 4.3). This suggests that all rock types sharea common parental magma composition, either through derivationfrom a single batch of liquid, or (more probably) through twoepisodes of melting of the same depleted mantle source region.Delta ¹⁸O ranges from + 5.5 to + 8% and is broadly correlatedwith radiogenic isotopes and bulk composition. Isotopic, and major and trace element compositions suggest thatfractional crystallization (FC) of the parental magma at deeplevels produced evolved magmas, apparently without significantcrustal contamination [FC without assimilation (A)]. Duringascent and emplacement into the upper crust, these magmas thenevolved by simultaneous crystal fractionation and country-rockassimilation (AFC). Within both basic and felsic rocks thereis a clear relationship between silica saturation and degreeof contamination. Indeed, the oversaturated nordmarkites owetheir origin to assimilation of siliceous country rocks by acritically undersaturated magma. More generally, it seems likelythat this type of process is the normal mode of origin for coexistingquartz and nepheline syenites in many sub-volcanic alkalineigneous complexes. Additionally, such complexes would be likelyto develop by punctuated FC and AFC processes throughout theirpetrogenetic history.     

The Northeast Kingdom batholith,Vermont: magmatic evolution and geochemical constraints on the origin of Acadian granitic rocks

Five Devonian plutons (West Charleston, Echo Pond, Nulhegan, Derby, and Willoughby) that constitute the Northeast Kingdom batholith in Vermont show wide ranges in elemental abundances and ratios consistent with major crustal contributions during their evolution. The batholith consists of metaluminous quartz gabbro, diorite and quartz monzodiorite, peraluminous granodiorite and granite, and strongly peraluminous leucogranite. Contents of major elements vary systematically with increasingSiO<₂ (48 to 77 wt.%). The batholith has calc-alkaline features, for example a Peacock index of 57, and values for K<₂O/Na₂O (<1), K/Rb (60–350), Zr/Hf (30–50), Nb/Ta (2–22), Hf/Ta (up to 10), and Rb/Zr (<2) in the range of plutonic rocks found in continental magmatic ares. Wide diversity and high values of minor- and trace-element ratios, including Th/Ta (0.5–22), Th/Yb (0–27), Ba/La (0–80), etc., are attributed to intracrustal contributions. Chondrite-normalized REE patterns of metaluminous and relatively mafic intrusives have slightly negative slopes (La/Yb_cn<10) and negative Eu anomalies are small orabsent. The metaluminous to peraluminous inter-mediate plutons are relatively enriched in the light REE (La/Yb_cn>40) and have small negative Eu anomalies. The strongly peraluminous Willoughby leucogranite has unique trace-element abundances and ratios relative to the rest of the batholith, including low contents of Hf, Zr, Sr, and Ba, low values of K/Rb (80–164), Th/Ta (<9), Rb/Cs (7–40), K/Cs (0.1–0.5), Ce/Pb (0.5–4), high values of Rb/Sr (1–18) low to moderate REE contents and light-REE enriched patterns (with small negative Eu anomalies). Flat REE patterns (with large negative Eu anomalies) are found in a small, hydrothermally-altered area characterized by high abundances of Sn (up to 26 ppm), Rb (up to 670 ppm), Li (up to 310 ppm), Ta (up to 13.1 ppm), and U (up to 10 ppm). There is no single mixing trend, fractional crystallization assemblage, or assimilationscheme that accounts for all trace elementvariations from quartz gabbro to granite in the Northeast Kingdom batholith. The plutons originated by mixing mantle-derived components and crustal melts generated at different levels in the heterogeneous lithosphere in a continental collisional environment. Hybrid rocks in the batholith evolved by fractional crystallization and assimilation of country rocks (<50% by mass), and some of the leucogranitic rocks were subsequently disturbed by a mild hydrothermal event that resulted in the deposition of small amounts of sulfide minerals.     

Lacustrine records of post‐glacial environmental change from the Nulhegan Basin,Vermont, USA

The sedimentary records of Nulhegan Pond and Beecher Pond in the Nulhegan Basin of north‐eastern Vermont were analyzed to yield a history of environmental change since the latest Pleistocene. Shoreline landforms indicate that part of the Nulhegan Basin was inundated by Glacial Lake Nulhegan (GLN), which was impounded behind a dam of glacial sediment. Outwash derived from stagnant ice forms the bottom 176 cm of the Nulhegan Pond core. Fine‐grained inorganic sediment deposited between 13.4 and 12.2k cal a BP is interpreted as a deep‐water facies representing GLN, while coarser sediment from 12.2 to 11.8k cal a BP records draining of the glacial lake. Rapid, simultaneous increases in organic matter and biogenic silica signal the onset of productivity following the Younger Dryas. Beecher Pond formed c. 11.3k cal a BP through surface collapse over a buried ice block; buried stagnant ice may have persisted in the vicinity of the pond into the early Holocene. From 8.9 to 5.5k cal a BP, sediment in both lakes became coarser and richer in aquatic organic matter, suggesting a low‐water phase in which previously deposited lacustrine sediments were reworked and the littoral zone shifted basinward. Low water levels at this time are consistent with other records from Maine and southern Quebec, but contrary to records from ～325 km to the south. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Petrogenesis and tectonic setting of the peralkaline Pine Canyon caldera, Trans-Pecos Texas, USA

The Pine Canyon caldera is a small (6–7 km diameter) ash-flow caldera that erupted peralkaline quartz trachyte, rhyolite, and high-silica rhyolite lavas and ash-flow tuffs about 33–32 Ma. The Pine Canyon caldera is located in Big Bend National Park, Texas, USA, in the southern part of the Trans-Pecos Magmatic Province (TPMP). The eruptive products of the Pine Canyon caldera are assigned to the South Rim Formation, which represents the silicic end member of a bimodal suite (with a “Daly Gap” between 57 and 62 wt.% SiO₂); the mafic end member consists primarily of alkali basalt to mugearite lavas of the 34–30 Ma Bee Mountain Basalt. Approximately 60–70% crystallization of plagioclase, clinopyroxene, olivine, magnetite, and apatite from alkali basalt coupled with assimilation of shale wall rock (M_a/M_c = 0.3–0.4) produced the quartz trachyte magma. Variation within the quartz trachyte–rhyolite suite was the result of 70% fractional crystallization of an assemblage dominated by alkali feldspar with subordinate clinopyroxene, fayalite, ilmenite, and apatite. High-silica rhyolite is not cogenetic with the quartz trachyte–rhyolite suite, and can be best explained as the result of  5% partial melting of a mafic granulite in the deep crust under the fluxing influence of fluorine. Variation within the high-silica rhyolite is most likely due to fractional crystallization of alkali feldspar, quartz, magnetite, biotite, and monazite. Lavas and tuffs of the South Rim Formation form A-type rhyolite suites, and are broadly similar to rock series described in anorogenic settings both in terms of petrology and petrogenesis. The Pine Canyon caldera is interpreted to have developed in a post-orogenic tectonic setting, or an early stage of continental rifting, and represents the earliest evidence for continental extension in the TPMP.     

Petrogenesis of Ordovician magmatic rocks in the southern Chiapas Massif Complex: relations with the early Palaeozoic magmatic belts of northwestern Gondwana

The recent discovery of Early Ordovician S-type granites in the southwest of the Chiapas Massif Complex adds a new perspective to the Palaeozoic history of the Maya block, inasmuch as no rocks of such age had previously been reported in this region. New geologic mapping west of Motozintla, Chiapas, revealed pelitic to psammitic metasedimentary successions (Jocote Unit) intruded by granitoids and metabasites. The Jocote Unit is unconformably underlain by the newly defined Candelaria Unit, which comprises deformed calc-silicate rocks and interlayered folded amphibolites. The Candelaria Unit is the oldest rock succession so far recognized in the southern Maya block. We used laser-ablation multicollector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) U–Pb dating to determine the ages of the rock, yielding Early Ordovician (ca. 470 Ma) and Late Ordovician (ca. 450 Ma) ages.

Major and trace element geochemistry, as well as Nd and Sr isotope data, suggest that folded amphibolites of the Candelaria Unit are mantle-derived and are probably related to rifting. The Early Ordovician bimodal magmatism of the Jocote Unit is more strongly differentiated; it reflects crustal contamination and volcanic-arc chemical signatures. A granitic stock (Motozintla pluton) intruded the area in the Late Ordovician. Its geochemical composition indicates less crustal contamination and a mixed signature between volcanic-arc and within-plate settings. Magmatic rocks analogous in age and chemical character crop out in the Rabinal and the Altos Cuchumatanes areas of Guatemala, suggesting the existence of a semi-continuous Ordovician magmatic belt from Chiapas to central Guatemala. Similar but somewhat younger granites also occur in the Maya Mountains of Belize, suggesting that magmatism migrated in the Silurian from the Chiapas–Guatemala belt towards the Maya Mountains.