Petrological Significance of Zoned Plagioclase in Eldjurti Granite and Mafic Microgranular Enclaves,North Caucasus,Russia

Plagioclase phenocrysts from mafic enclaves and plagioclase from its host granite possess a pat-tern of complex zonation .A plagioclase phenocryst can generally be divided into three parts:an oscillatory, locally patchy zoned core (An47-19),a ring with dusty, more calcic plagioclase (An64-20) and a normally zoned rim composed of sodic plagioclase (An22-3.3). Major discontinuities in zoning coincide with resorption surfaces that are overgrown by the more calcic plagioclase.The cores of large plagioclase phenocrysts from mafic enclaves and host granite show similar zoning patterns and similar compositions, indicating their crystallization under the same conditions .Steep normal zoning of the rims of plagioclases both from host granite and mafic enclaves illustrates a drastic decrease in An content which is considered to have resulted from the continuous differentiation of hybrid magma and efficient heat loss because of the upward emplacement of the residual magma.Wide rims of plagioclases from the host granite against the discrete rims of plagioclases from mafic enclaves indicate that differentiation and cooling lasted much longer in the host granite than in the mafic enclaves.     

大兴安岭五岔沟地区中生代粗安岩中斜长石环带特征及其地质意义

大兴安岭五岔沟地区中生代粗安岩中的斜长石晶体具有多次熔蚀现象并发育环带结构。长石分类图表明斜长石主要是拉长石,其次为更长石和中长石。通过探讨斜长石环带的成因,认为微量元素含量的变化（Fe、Sr、Ba等）可用来判断斜长石反环带的形成机制。最后根据斜长石环带特征和电子探针成分分析,做出斜长石环带间微量元素Fe和Sr随An的变化曲线,得出该区斜长石在其结晶过程中经历了3次岩浆混合作用的结论。     

加勒比海小安德列斯岛弧Kick’emJenny海底火山岩的斜长石成分环带:示踪大洋岛弧岩浆房的演化

我们对采自于加勒比海地区小安德列斯岛弧(Lesser Antilles Arc)Kick’em Jenny(KEJ)海底火山玄武岩中的斜长石斑晶进行了矿物形态和成分分析。利用电子探针(EMPA)和LA-ICP-MS测定了具有环带结构的斜长石斑晶中主量元素的空间分布,同时也利用LA-ICP-MS分析了斜长石中Sr的分布。结果表明,在不同的矿物斑晶中,元素含量均表现出和环带结构相联系的空间分布变化。斜长石斑晶中最主要的结构为韵律环带以及熔蚀结构,所测定的矿物边缘都存在An值从由内向外迅速降低的致密韵律环带,可能反映了快速结晶时的不平衡;而晶体内部的稀疏韵律环带结构是由岩浆填充或对流活动导致的。部分斜长石的熔蚀层An值由内向外升高,反映了高Ca岩浆填充的过程。这说明斜长石斑晶的矿物形态和元素环带可以用来制约俯冲带海底火山岩浆从源区上升到岩浆房再到喷发的复杂过程,包括岩浆演化、熔体多次填充、熔体与结晶矿物之间的反应、以及矿物再熔融等。这对于理解海底火山的喷发以及岛弧岩浆岩的演化有重要意义。     

Amphibolitization of metagabbros in the Scottish Highlands

Abstract Compositions of actinolite, hornblende and cummingtonite, together with pyroxene and plagioclase, are studied in basic intrusions in the Dalradian of north-east Scotland, and the Glen Scaddle complex in the West Moine. Amphibolitization is due to influx of water from the country rocks. Pyroxene compositions are found to have adjusted to the regional metamorphic environment. Owing to the difficulty of diffusion of Al and Si, calcic amphiboles are zoned and commonly contain quartz blebs. Discontinuities in zoning give rise to actinolite-hornblende pairs. Compared with north-east Scotland, disequilibrium is less strong in the Glen Scaddle area: in the latter, plagioclase compositions have been greatly changed, Na partition between hornblende and plagioclase is close to equilibrium, the maximum Al content of hornblende is lower and zoning patterns are more consistent. The Fe/Mg ratio in calcic amphiboles varies with Al content, while approaching equilibrium partition with other minerals. Both zoning patterns and Fe/Mg partition with cummingtonite suggest that Fe/Mg of the calcic amphiboles increases more strongly with increasing (Al^vi+Fe³⁺) than can be explained simply by substitution of Al,Fe³⁺ for Mg on M2. Model reactions for amphibole formation are constructed. Cummingtonite formed at lower chemical potential of CaO than actinolite: Ca was exchanged for Mg,Fe between orthopyroxene-derived and clinopyroxene-derived local systems. Both cummingtonite and actinolite were formed because of kinetic constraints, as intermediate reaction products: actinolite-hornblende pairs represent disequilibrium. This work suggests that many occurrences of actinolite with hornblende, where the minerals are zoned, may also be due to diffusion kinetics.     

Material Transfer and Local Equilibria in a Zoned Kelyphite from a Garnet Pyroxenite, Ronda, Spain

A zoned kelyphite after garnet, from a garnet pyroxenite layer,the Ronda peridotite. Spain, has been studied and the mechanismof kelyphite formation is discussed. The kelyphite is an extremelyfinegrained symplectitic mixture of orthopyroxene, spinel, olivine,plagioclase, and ilmenite. It is concentrically zoned, formingthree mineralogical subzones. They are, from adjacent to a garnetgrain toward a clinopyroxene side, zone I (orthopyroxene+spinel+ plagioclase), zone II (olivine+spinel+plagioclase), and zoneIII (olivine+plagioclase). The analysis of phase equilibriashows that this mineralogical zonation can develop stably asa result of the presence of chemical potential gradients. Onthe basis of microprobe chemical analyses for each zone, materialtransfer across the zone that took place during the kelyphitizationwas quantitatively evaluated, and by locating the initial grainboundary between garnet and clinopyroxene grains and by writingmetasomatic reactions for each zone boundary, a simple dynamicmodel for the kelyphite formation is proposed. The kelyphiteformation probably took place when the host Ronda peridotiteascended from the upper mantle to the crust. It involved a co-operativebreakdown of the garnet and aluminous clinopyroxene, being accompaniedby a material transfer across the zone boundaries. By examiningthe Fe-Mg partitioning between olivine, spinel, and orthopyroxenein the kelyphite and by examining the Al content of the orthopyroxene,an attainment of local equilibrium has been confirmed, and thephysical conditions of the kelyphite formation have been estimatedto be 620–700C and 4–8 kbar.     

The microstructures of microcline from some granitic rocks and pegmatites

Numerical simulations of the growth of a large crystal face of plagioclase in response to an instantaneous undercooling below the equilibrium temperature are presented for model granodiorite and basalt melts with varying water contents. The simulations suggest that the anorthite content of plagioclase decreases uniformly from the composition in equilibrium with the bulk melt as undercooling is increased, and that the water content in the melt has little influence on this result. Comparison of the simulations with sharp compositional changes in natural profiles suggests that undercoolings of tens of degrees C can be rapidly imposed on plutonic phenocrysts. Large changes of undercooling most likely result from chilling of the magma and local convection around growing crystals. The observation in experiments that growth rate does not increase rapidly with increasing water content in the starting melting composition can be attributed to the concentration of water at the crystal face during growth; the action of water to reduce liquidus temperature and undercooling has a greater effect on growth rate than its action to increase transport rates. Even at large undercooling, there is no significant increase in temperature at the interface caused by the release of heat of crystallization.Simulations are presented to illustrate how disequilibrium growth processes due to undercooling can modify the normal zoning profiles expected from fractionation. Assuming that an undercooling is necessary to cause nucleation, normal zoning can result if crystal growth takes place at constant or increasing undercooling, but reverse zoning can occur at decreasing undercooling. Undercooling during growth is controlled by the relative rate of cooling and the rate at which the liquidus temperature is decreased by the accumulation of residual components and volatiles in the melt. Consequently, normal zoning should be promoted by rapid cooling, contemporaneous crystallization of other phases, and absence of volatiles, while reverse zoning should be expected in phenocrysts grown in slowly-cooled melts or in melts where volatiles are concentrated. The zoning patterns found in many plutonic plagioclase crystals suggest that their compositions are in significant disequilibrium with the melt; consequently, they are unsuitable for use in geothermometers.Approximate calculations suggest that the amount of water concentrated at the surface of growing phenocrysts in plutons can promote local convection. Comparison of simulated and observed oscillatory zoning profiles suggests that oscillatory zoning is not explained by a re-nucleationdiffusion model (Harloff 1927), but is readily explained by periodic local convection.     

The Zoned Plagioclase of the Skaergaard Intrusion, East Greenland

The variation in zoning and An-content of plagioclases in theSkaergaard intrusion was investigated using microprobe analysisand optical methods on material from the surface of the intrusionas well as from a drill core from the hidden zone of the layeredseries. The plagioclases display cryptic variation and prominentvariations in type of zoning with structural height: oscillatoryzoned and resorbed plagioclase cores are predominant in thehidden zone, unzoned cores are typical of the lower zone, andplagioclases of the upper zone display skeletal zoning. Thereverse, oscillatory and skeletal zoning of plagioclase coresis ascribed to supercooled crystallization, and not to convectionor other petrogenetic factors. The variations in type of zoningand An-content of plagioclases from the hidden zone suggestonset of convection at the same time in the cooling historyof the intrusion as is indicated by the transition between thetranquil division and the banded division of the marginal bordergroup. A crystallization model is suggested, which accountsfor the observed variations. The variation in An-content ofplagioclases from the hidden zone suggests a limited extensionof some hundred metres of the intrusion at depth.     

In situ characterization of dolomite crystals: Evaluation of dolomitization process and its effect on zoning

Dolomitization is a dissolution–re‐precipitation process which proceeds via micrometre‐scale interface reaction horizons. However, the effect of this fundamental local medium of replacement process on precipitated dolomite crystals is rarely investigated. For this purpose, dolomite samples of Ordovician Boat Harbour Formation carbonates (Newfoundland, Canada) from Main Brook and Daniel's Harbour (about 150 km apart) were studied. The investigation used high‐resolution approaches to carry out imaging and elemental analyses of individual dolomite crystals, including scanning electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy‐based cathodoluminescence, secondary ion mass spectrometry and electron microprobe analysis. The purpose was to better understand geochemical variations across the crystal traverses and their association with dolomite replacement processes and conditions. The scanning electron microscopy‐based cathodoluminescence‐zoning character reveals three major crystal facies. Distinctly (planar boundaries) zoned core and indistinctly zoned core are zoned dolomite crystal facies in burial dolomite from Main Brook. Relatively unzoned crystal facies was identified in that of Daniel's Harbour. Compositionally zoned dolomite crystals are characterized by decreasing Sr, Na, Y and ∑REE but increasing Mn and Fe from core to rim sections. ‘Core to rim’ zoning was not found for major (Mg and Ca) elements. The zoning exhibited by the replacive dolomite crystals is interpreted to be, principally, a result of limited exchange between solutes of the bulk pore fluid and those of dissolving precursor marine carbonate. In tandem with petrographic features, the systematic compositional zoning character demonstrates that the effectiveness of the dolomitization process grades from indistinctly zoned core to relatively unzoned crystal facies via interface reaction horizons. Homogenization of major elements of core and rim sections, seen in distinctly zoned core crystal facies and to a much greater extent in relatively unzoned crystal facies, via a secondary reaction interface, is the first recognized stage of the ‘maturation process’ followed by homogenization of the trace elements seen largely in relatively unzoned crystal facies.     

Strange attractors in plagioclase oscillatory zoning: petrological implications

Oscillatory zoning in plagioclase crystals from different mixed lava flows cropping out on the Island of Capraia (Italy) has been investigated. An-calibrated profiles from back-scattered-electron images are used as compositional time series of oscillatory zoning. They are analyzed by a qualitative visual method that allows to appreciate at first sight the global structure of the time series and by a quantitative method to reconstruct the attractors associated to the oscillatory patterns, and to calculate the fractal dimension of attractors. Results show that attractors have fractional dimensions, indicating that series are chaotic. In addition, it is evidenced that there is a wide variation in oscillatory zoning in crystals from the same lava flow and that plagioclase populations from the different lava flows differ in the shape of frequency histograms of attractor dimension. The development of oscillatory zoning is simulated by considering a chemically inhomogeneous magmatic mass governed by chaotic flow fields, coupled with chemical diffusion, in which plagioclase crystals grow according to the availability of nutrients in their neighborhoods. Results show that in such a dynamical system plagioclase crystals develop chaotic zoning patterns analogous to those observed in natural plagioclases. This approach allows us to explain the differences observed in plagioclase crystals from the same lava flow and the differences in the shape of frequency histograms of attractor dimensions in the four lava flows.     

浙江雁荡山火山-侵入杂岩的岩浆混合作用——暗色包体中长石环带的证据

浙江雁荡山是中国东南部燕山晚期巨型火山-侵入杂岩带的重要组成部分。对其中央侵入相石英正长斑岩的暗色微粒包体中的斑晶和基质斜长石进行了详细的内部结构和成分分析,揭示了斜长石复杂环带的成因和相关的岩浆作用过程。斑晶斜长石由熔蚀的核部和表面干净的幔部组成,边部包裹有钾长石膜。核部斜长石呈浑圆状或港湾状,内部发育筛状结构,An成分显著低于幔部斜长石,代表来自酸性岩浆房中早期结晶的斜长石捕掳晶。同时,幔部斜长石与自形、表面干净的基质斜长石具有类似的An含量,且两者均含有针状磷灰石的包裹体,应结晶自与暗色微粒包体相应的基性岩浆。长石的复杂结构记录了雁荡山火山-侵入杂岩形成过程中的岩浆混合作用和岩浆演化过程。岩浆混合之后的火山喷发活动,造成岩浆房的压力突然减小,温压条件达到钾长石结晶的区域,在石英正长斑岩的斑晶斜长石和暗色包体中的斑晶与基质斜长石外均形成钾长石膜,构成反环斑结构。     

Kaledonische Intrusivgesteine des Stavanger-Gebietes

An empirical approach has been taken to develop a geothermometer based on plagioclase-magmatic liquid equilibrium. Compositions of coexisting plagioclase and liquid (glass) obtained by electron microprobe analysis of quenched samples from equilibrium melting experiments of natural granitic rocks at water pressures of 0.5 and 1.0 kilobars have been used along with data from the equilibrium experiments of Bowen (1913, 1915), Prince (1943) and Yoder et al. (1957) to calibrate this geothermometer. Applications of this geothermometer to natural occurrences demonstrate that it can provide useful information on temperature of equilibration of coexisting plagioclase and liquid in rocks ranging in composition from basalt to rhyolite. The plagioclase geothermometer is in good general agreement with other geothermometers wherever these are applicable. Where temperatures are known from other sources it can be used to predict the equilibrium compositions of plagioclase in magmas as well as to provide a rough estimate of water pressure.     

A model for garnet and plagioclase growth in pelitic schists: implications for thermobarometry and P-T path determinations

Numerical models of the progressive evolution of pelitic schists in the NCMnKFMASH system with the assemblage garnet + biotite + chlorite ± staurolite + plagioclase + muscovite + quartz + H₂O are presented with the goal of predicting compositional changes in garnet and plagioclase along different P-T paths. The numerical models support several conclusions that should prove useful for interpreting the P-T paths of natural parageneses: (i) Garnet may grow along P-T vectors ranging from heating with decompression to cooling with compression. P-T paths deduced from garnet zoning that are inconsistent with these growth vectors are self-contradictory. (ii) There is a systematic relation between garnet and plagioclase composition and growth such that for most P-T paths, garnet growth requires plagioclase consumption. Furthermore, mass balance in a closed system requires that as plagioclase is consumed the remaining plagioclase becomes increasingly albitic. Inclusions of plagioclase in the core of garnet should be more anorthitic than those near the rim and zoned matrix plagioclase should have rims that are more albitic than the cores. Complex plagioclase textures may arise from the local variability of growth and precipitation kinetics. (iii) A decrease of Fe/(Fe + Mg) in a garnet zoning profile is a reliable indicator of increasing temperature for the assemblage modelled. However, there is no single reliable ΔP monitor and inferences about ΔP can only be made by considering plagioclase and garnet together. (iv) Consumption of garnet during the production of staurolite removes material from the outer shell of a garnet and may make recovery of peak metamorphic compositions and P-T conditions impossible. Low ‘peak’temperatures typically recorded by staurolite-bearing assemblages may reflect this phenomenon. (v) Diffusional homogenization of garnet affects the computed P-T path and results in a clockwise rotation of the computed P-T vector relative to the true P-T path.     

浙江普陀花岗杂岩体中的石英闪长质包体：斜长石内部复杂环带研究与岩浆混合史记录

浙江普陀花岗杂岩体包含若干石英闪长质包体,该类包体中存在三种不同类型的斜长石:正常环带的斜长石、筛孔构造的斜长石和酸性斜长石为核的“反环带”斜长石。根据斜长石的环带构造特征和成分分析,认为本区的岩浆演化过程大致如下:下部基性岩浆注入到上覆酸性岩浆中并进行混合作用,酸性岩浆中已结晶的富钠质斜长石晶体进入偏基性的混合岩浆中,部分熔融形成筛孔构造;随着端员岩浆的进一步混合,富钠质斜长石晶体与中性混合熔体仅形成粗糙的边界,而保留原先构造特征;同时混合岩浆可以直接结晶出正常环带斜长石,呈单颗粒或以膜的形式包围其它环带构造的长石。本文还通过与平潭甬闪辉长岩杂岩体内筛孔斜长石的对比,认为斜长石的环带构造和成分可以反映岩浆源区特征和岩浆演化历史。     

Magma Replenishment as Revealed by Textural and Geochemical Features of Plagioclase Phenocrysts in Subduction-Related Lavas

Various petrographic features and geochemical characteristics indicative of disequilibrium are preserved in plagioclase phenocrysts from basaltic to andesitic lavas in East Junggar, northwest China. These characteristics indicate that they crystallized in a magma chamber, which was replenished by less differentiated and high-temperature magmas. The petrographic and geochemical features of the plagioclase phenocrysts are interpreted to record responses to changes in temperature, composition and mechanical effect during magma replenishment. Distinct rare earth element(REE) patterns between cores and rims of the same plagioclase crystal suggest derivation from two end-member magmas. From core to rim, plagioclase phenocrysts commonly display sharp fluctuations of anorthite(An) content up to 20, which either correspond to reverse zoning associated with ovoidal cores and resorption surface(PI), or normal zoning with euhedral form and no resorption surface(P2). Plagioclase crystals with diverse textures and remarkably different An content coexist on the scale of a thin-section. Cores of these plagioclases in each sample display a bimodal distribution of An content. From core to rim in PI, concentrations o f FeOT and Sr increase remarkably as An content increases. During magma replenishment, pre-existing plagioclase phenocrysts in the andesitic magma, which were immersed into hotter and less differentiated magmas, were heated and resorbed to form ovoidal cores, and then were overgrown by a thin rim with much higher contents of An, FeO~T and Sr. However, pre-existing plagioclase phenocrysts in the basaltic magma were injected into cooler and more evolved magmas, and were remained as euhedral cores, which were later enclosed by oscillatory zoned rims with much lower contents of An, Sr and Ba.     

Structural characterization of labradorite-bytownite plagioclase from volcanic,plutonic and metamorphic environments

The transmission electron microscope and the electron microprobe are used to characterize calcic plagioclase (An₆₅ to An₈₅) from a variety of geological environments. The cooling histories of samples from volcanic, plutonic and metamorphic environments are estimated and the transformation and exsolution sequence is inferred from observations in the transmission electron microscope. Several distinctive textural modifications occur depending both on bulk composition and cooling history. (1) Exsolution occurs in increasingly calcic bulk compositions upon slower cooling, and the coexisting phases are An₆₆ intermediate plagioclase and An_85–90 P¯1, c=14 Å plagioclase in the sample from the metamorphic environment, (2) the morphology of b antiphase boundaries (APBs) in An₇₅ to An₈₅ plagioclase changes from smoothly curving (rapid cooling and calcic compositions) to zig-zag (slower cooling or sodic compositions). (3) The concentration of defects in the intermediate plagioclase superstructure changes from a high density in rapidly cooled plagioclase to a lower density in slowly cooled plagioclase. In all plagioclases except for the rapidly cooled, volcanic specimens there is evidence in images and diffraction patterns for short-range ordered domains with P¯1 symmetry. The observations allow the microstructure of a single zoned plagioclase to be used as an indication of the geologic environment under which it cooled.     

Zoning in columbite-tantalite crystals from the granitic pegmatites of the Eräjärvi area,southern Finland

Electron microprobe analyses of zoned columbite-tantalite crystals from the granitic pegmatites of the Eräjärvi area in Orivesi, southern Finland indicate wide compositional variation within the series FeNb₂O₆-FeTa₂O₆-MnNb₂O₆-MnTa₂O₆, especially in specimens from thin pegmatite dikes.Most crystals show gentle progressive zoning characterized by small-scale variations in the major elements. Where the compositional variation is large, backscattered electron images indicate oscillatory or patchy zoning or various replacement textures.The zones in oscillatory zoned crystals are usually 1–50 μm in width, exceptions reaching 50–120 μm. The wider zones often consist of a group of very narrow subzones of only slightly different composition. Zoning is due mainly to the compositional variation in Ta and Nb. In two of these crystals, the oscillations in Mn follow the strongest oscillations in Nb content.Patchy zoned crystals exhibit corroded cores of early columbite-tantalite, surrounded by later zones enriched in Ta. The mottled appearance of such crystals results from two or more successive replacements. Replacement tongues or network-like replacement textures are typical in the rims of some crystals.The zoning of the columbite-tantalite is related to the complex crystallization history of the pegmatite dikes. The main factors controlling oscillatory zoning are considered to be the growth dynamics of the crystals, the concentration and diffusion of the main elements, and the successive flows of the magma in an intrusion channel. The generation of a corrosive supercritical vapor phase at the end of magmatic crystallization caused resorption, patchy zoning and the replacement of the columbite-tantalite.     

Zoning of phosphorus in igneous olivine

We describe P zoning in olivines from terrestrial basalts, andesites, dacites, and komatiites and from a martian meteorite. P₂O₅ contents of olivines vary from below the detection limit (≤0.01 wt%) to 0.2–0.4 wt% over a few microns, with no correlated variations in Fo content. Zoning patterns include P-rich crystal cores with skeletal, hopper, or euhedral shapes; oscillatory zoning; structures suggesting replacement of P-rich zones by P-poor olivine; and sector zoning. Melt inclusions in olivines are usually located near P-rich regions but in direct contact with low-P olivine. Crystallization experiments on basaltic compositions at constant cooling rates (15–30°C/h) reproduce many of these features. We infer that P-rich zones in experimental and natural olivines reflect incorporation of P in excess of equilibrium partitioning during rapid growth, and zoning patterns primarily record crystal-growth-rate variations. Occurrences of high-P phenocryst cores may reflect pulses of rapid crystal growth following delayed nucleation due to undercooling. Most cases of oscillatory zoning in P likely reflect internal factors whereby oscillating growth rates occur without external forcings, but some P zoning in natural olivines may reflect external forcings (e.g., magma mixing events, eruption) that result in variable crystal growth rates and/or P contents in the magma. In experimental and some natural olivines, Al, Cr, and P concentrations are roughly linearly and positively correlated, suggesting coupled substitutions, but in natural phenocrysts, Cr zoning is usually less intense than P zoning, and Al zoning weak to absent. We propose that olivines grow from basic and ultrabasic magmas with correlated zoning in P, Cr, and Al superimposed on normal zoning in Fe/Mg; rapidly diffusing divalent cations homogenize during residence in hot magma; Al and Cr only partially homogenize; and delicate P zoning is preserved because P diffuses very slowly. This interpretation is consistent with the fact that zoning is largely preserved not only in P but also in Al, Cr, and divalent cations in olivines with short residence times at high temperature (e.g., experimentally grown olivines, komatiitic olivines, groundmass olivines, and the rims of olivine phenocrysts grown during eruption). P zoning is widespread in magmatic olivine, revealing details of crystal growth and intra-crystal stratigraphy in what otherwise appear to be relatively featureless crystals. Since it is preserved in early-formed olivines with prolonged residence times in magmas at high temperatures, P zoning has promise as an archive of information about an otherwise largely inaccessible stage of a magma’s history. Study of such features should be a valuable supplement to routine petrographic investigations of basic and ultrabasic rocks, especially because these features can be observed with standard electron microprobe techniques.     

Kinetics of a garnet granulite reaction

It is necessary to understand the mechanisms of disequilibrium reactions in metamorphic rocks in order to (1) model the rate of reaction in response to changing state variables during tectonic process, and (2) interpret the assemblages of natural disequilibrium samples in terms of tectonic history. A sample was selected from an area of known tectonic history to examine in detail and document the kinetics of reaction. The sample preserves evidence of the garnet granulite to gabbro transition.Orthopyroxene and anorthite coronas around garnet and orthopyroxene rims around clinopyroxene are textural observations suggesting the overall reaction: garnet+clinopyroxene+quartz+plagioclase(matrix) orthopyroxene+ anorthite (corona). The disequilibrium nature of reaction is evident from compositional zoning of garnet, some zoning of clinopyroxene, and difference between corona anorthite (An₉₀) and matrix plagioclase (An₃₅).Several texturally-distinguished microenvironments in a single thin section were investigated to determine how components were redistributed during reaction; T and P are assumed to have been the same throughout. The compositional data are best explained by a partial equilibrium model in which orthopyroxene, garnet rims, Fe-rich clinopyroxene, and a hypothetical intergranular fluid approach equilibrium and are not in equilibrium with reactant garnet cores and matrix plagioclase. Corona texture suggests that intergranular diffusion had some effect but the composition data indicate that it was not rate-limiting. The fact that garnet rim compositions are nearly in equilibrium with product phases (with respect to Mg-Fe partitioning) suggests that diffusion in garnet can be considered a rate-limiting reaction step. Combining the differential equation of zoning for this system with mass and volume balance equations of reaction enables one to predict the density change with time by numerical integration.I conclude that comparison of core compositions of zoned minerals in high-grade rocks is meaningful only if a compositional plateau is preserved that can be proven not to be altered by diffusion. Diffusion in pyroxene is apparently too fast at high grade to make relict pyroxenes useful tracers of metamorphic conditions. The rim composition of zoned phases depends on the relative rate of reaction and internal diffusion; the approach of the rim of a reactant phase to equilibrium with products is a measure of the degree to which intragranular diffusion is rate-limiting. In general, this work supports reaction models that assume that intergranular diffusion is rapid and that interface kinetics or intragranular diffusion are usually rate-limiting factors.Reactions controlled by diffusion in garnet are slow geologically. Tectonic hysteresis can be produced because garnet can form in granulite assemblages more rapidly than it is consumed with changing heat flow. The rate of gabbro-garnet granulite transition depends on whether plagioclase reacts by zoning or separate product grains nucleate.     

Insight into the origin of gabbro-dioritic cumulophyric aggregates from silicic ignimbrites: Sr and Ba zoning profiles of plagioclase phenocrysts from Oligocene Ethiopian Plateau rhyolites

The Were Ilu ignimbrites are unlike other Oligocene rhyolites from the Ethiopian continental flood basalt province, in that they consist of plagioclase (An_19–54), augite, pigeonite and Ti-magnetite, instead of anorthoclase, sodic sanidine, aegirine-augite and ilmenite. The minerals occur as (micro-)phenocrysts isolated within a glassy matrix or forming gabbroic and dioritic cumulophyric clots. Plagioclase is partially re-melted (sieve-textures with infilling glass). It is zoned with sudden changes in composition. However, the bulk zoning is normal with An-rich core (An_45–54) and more sodic rim (An_19–28). Ba and Sr concentration profiles of two plagioclase phenocrysts show a bulk rimward increase with compositions ranging from 250 ppm to 1,060 ppm and from 400 ppm to 1,590 ppm, respectively. The matrix glass has low CaO content (0.1–0.5 wt.%), a peralkalinity index of 0.79–1.04 and average Sr and Ba contents of 48±22 and 525±129 ppm, respectively. Geochemical modelling of Ba and Sr zoning profiles of plagioclase, based on experimental constraints, suggests that the cumulophyric clots can be derived from fractional crystallisation associated with limited assimilation (8 wt.%) from melts slightly less evolved than their rhyolitic matrix glass. These clots are not witnesses of intermediate magmas allowing the Daly Gap to be filled, but are cumulates differentiated from rhyodacitic melt. This indicates that parental magmas were stored in crustal magma chambers where they differentiated before being erupted at the surface.     

Pre-eruption history of phyric basalts from DSDP legs 45 and 46: Evidence from morphology and zoning patterns in plagioclase

Phyric basalts recovered from DSDP Legs 45 and 46 contain abundant plagioclase phenocrysts which occur as either discrete single grains (megacrysts) or aggregates (glomerocrysts) and which are too abundant and too anorthitic to have crystallized from a liquid with the observed bulk rock composition. Almost all the plagioclase crystals are complexly zoned. In most cases two abrupt and relatively large compositional changes associated with continuous internal morphologic boundaries divide the plagioclase crystals into three parts: core, mantle and rim. The cores exhibit two major types of morphology: tabular, with a euhedral to slightly rounded outline; or a skeletal inner core wrapped by a slightly rounded homogeneous outer core. The mantle region is characterized by a zoning pattern composed of one to several spikes/plateaus superimposed on a gently zoned base line, with one large plateau always at the outside of the mantle, and by, in most cases, a rounded internal morphology. The inner rim is typically oscillatory zoned. The width of the outer rim can be correlated with the position of the individual crystal in the basalt pillow. The presence of a skeletal inner core and the concentration of glass inclusions in low-An zones in the mantle region suggest that the liquid in which these parts of the crystals were growing was undercooled some amount. The resorption features at the outer margins of low-An zones indicate superheating of the liquid with respect to the crystal.It is proposed that the plagioclase cores formed during injection of primitive magma into a previously existing magma chamber, that the mantle formed during mixing of a partially mixed magma and the remaining magma already in the chamber, and that the inner rim formed when the mixed magma was in a sheeted dike system. The large plateau at the outside of the mantle may have formed during the injection of the next batch of primitive magma into the main chamber, which may trigger an eruption. This model is consistent with fluid dynamic calculations and geochemically based magma mixing models, and is suggested to be the major mechanism for generating the disequilibrium conditions in the magma.