Petrogenesis of the anorthosite-chromitite association: crystal-chemical and petrological insights from the Rum Layered Suite, NW Scotland

Thirteen Cr-bearing spinels from major horizons of magma replenishment in the open-system Rum Layered Suite have been analysed by X-ray single crystal diffraction and electron microprobe analyses. On the basis of the structural parameters and the chemistry of these spinels the so-called Rum trend, in which Al-content increases at the expense of Cr and Fe³⁺, has been easily recognised. In addition, natural spinels with Fe³⁺ content similar to synthetic spinels on the MgCr₂O₄?CMgFe₂O₄ join have been analysed for the first time. Layers of chromitite, anorthosite and peridotite situated within several cm of one another have yielded different intracrystalline exchange temperatures using an intercrystalline spinel-olivine thermometer. The Rum anorthosite Cr-spinels are interpreted as having crystallised within the cumulus pile following rejuvenation of the crystal mush. Their low Al-content is a function of simultaneous plagioclase crystallisation, reducing the amount of Al³⁺ present for the Cr-spinel. By contrast, Cr-spinels in well-known Archean anorthosites (e.g. Ujaragssuit nunat and Fisken?sset, western Greenland) and Sittampundi (southern India) are very aluminous in composition, attributed to crystallisation of Cr-spinel from high-alumina basalts in lower crustal magma chambers and linked to the control exerted by plagioclase crystallisation on Al content of the melt, in the absence of clinopyroxene crystallisation. The compositional differences between the Rum anorthosite Cr-spinels and the Fisken?sset and Sittampundi Cr-spinels suggest that postcumulus reaction of Cr-spinel and melt to low (800?C900°C) temperatures, as invoked for the Rum crystals, may not have been as important a process in the Archean anorthosites.     

Highly depleted oceanic lithosphere in the Rheic Ocean: Implications for Paleozoic plate reconstructions

The Rheic Ocean formed at ca. 500 Ma, when several peri-Gondwanan terranes (e.g. Avalonia and Carolinia) drifted from the northern margin of Gondwana, and were consumed during the Late Carboniferous collision between Laurussia and Gondwana, a key event in the formation of Pangea. Several mafic complexes ranging in age from ca. 400–330 Ma preserve many of the lithotectonic and/or chemical characteristics of ophiolites. They are characterized by anomalously high εNd values that are typically either between or above the widely accepted model depleted mantle curves. These data indicate derivation from a highly depleted (HD) mantle and imply that (i) the mantle source of these complexes displays time-integrated depletion in Nd relative to Sm, and (ii) depletion is the result of an earlier melting event in the mantle from which basalt was extracted. The extent of mantle depletion indicates that this melting event occurred in the Neoproterozoic, possibly up to 500 million years before the Rheic Ocean formed. If so, the mantle lithosphere that gave rise to the Rheic Ocean mafic complexes must have been captured from an adjacent, older oceanic tract. The transfer of this captured lithosphere to the upper plate enabled it to become preferentially preserved. Possible Mesozoic–Cenozoic analogues include the capture of the Caribbean plate or the Scotia plate from the Pacific to the Atlantic oceanic realm. Our model implies that virtually all of the oceanic lithosphere generated during the opening phase of the Rheic Ocean was consumed by subduction during Laurentia–Gondwana convergence.     

Effect of sea-level lowering on ELA depression during the LGM

Decreases in equilibrium-line altitudes (ELAs) varied geographically during the last glacial maximum (LGM), with a mid-range value of ~ 900 m commonly deduced from altitude ratio and accumulation–area ratio calculations. Sea level, however, was 120 m lower during the LGM, so the ELA lowering relative to sea level would only be 780 m for a 900-m absolute lowering. With a lapse rate of 0.006°C m⁻¹, this implies a 4.7°C lowering of global temperature. It has been argued that this correction for sea-level change is unnecessary, but the logic on which this is based requires adiabatic compression to apply over much longer time scales than is typically invoked. We find that the correction is necessary. In addition, geometric changes in the atmosphere during the LGM, pointed out by Osmaston (2006), could lead to 0.4°C decrease in the average temperature of the troposphere. Additionally, orographic effects could significantly change the snow distribution on mountain masses near sea level.     

Hydrogeology,Chemical and Microbial Activity Measurement Through Deep Permafrost

Little is known about hydrogeochemical conditions beneath thick permafrost, particularly in fractured crystalline rock, due to difficulty in accessing this environment. The purpose of this investigation was to develop methods to obtain physical, chemical, and microbial information about the subpermafrost environment from a surface‐drilled borehole. Using a U‐tube, gas and water samples were collected, along with temperature, pressure, and hydraulic conductivity measurements, 420 m below ground surface, within a 535 m long, angled borehole at High Lake, Nunavut, Canada, in an area with 460‐m‐thick permafrost. Piezometric head was well above the base of the permafrost, near land surface. Initial water samples were contaminated with drill fluid, with later samples <40% drill fluid. The salinity of the non‐drill fluid component was <20,000 mg/L, had a Ca/Na ratio above 1, with δ¹⁸O values ～5‰ lower than the local surface water. The fluid isotopic composition was affected by the permafrost‐formation process. Nonbacteriogenic CH₄ was present and the sample location was within methane hydrate stability field. Sampling lines froze before uncontaminated samples from the subpermafrost environment could be obtained, yet the available time to obtain water samples was extended compared to previous studies. Temperature measurements collected from a distributed temperature sensor indicated that this issue can be overcome easily in the future. The lack of methanogenic CH₄ is consistent with the high sulfate concentrations observed in cores. The combined surface‐drilled borehole/U‐tube approach can provide a large amount of physical, chemical, and microbial data from the subpermafrost environment with few, controllable, sources of contamination.     

Combined microthermometric and Raman spectroscopic technique to determine the salinity of H2O-CO2-NaCl fluid inclusions based on clathrate melting

Fluid inclusions approximated by the system H₂O-CO₂-NaCl are common in many geologic environments. In order to apply microthermometric data from these inclusions to infer P-T (pressure-temperature) trapping conditions, the composition of the inclusions, including the salinity, must be known. Normally, salinities of aqueous inclusions are determined from ice-melting temperatures obtained during microthermometry. However, when CO₂-bearing aqueous fluid inclusions are cooled they often form a hydrate that incorporates H₂O into the structure, and salinities estimated from ice-melting temperatures are therefore higher than the actual salinity. A technique that combines data from Raman spectroscopic and microthermometric analyses of individual inclusions was developed to determine the salinity of CO₂-bearing aqueous inclusions based on measured clathrate melting temperatures and CO₂ pressures obtained from Raman analyses. In this study, the pressure within inclusions was determined using Raman spectroscopy based on the splitting of the Fermi diad of CO₂, measured at the clathrate melting temperature. The CO₂ densities (and pressures) predicted by the equation developed in this study are in relatively good agreement with previously published equations, except for very low densities and correspondingly low pressures. The combined Raman spectroscopy - microthermometry technique thus provides both the temperature and the pressure in the inclusion at clathrate melting. For inclusions in which the clathrate melts in the presence of CO₂ liquid, the salinity can be determined with a precision of a few tenths of a wt% NaCl, whereas for inclusions in which clathrate melts in the presence of CO₂ vapor the salinity error may be a few wt% NaCl. Applying the method to synthetic fluid inclusions with known salinity suggests that the technique is valid for determining salinity of H₂O-CO₂-NaCl fluid inclusions in which clathrate melts in the presence of liquid CO₂ only or vapor CO₂ only.     

Towards a model for the in situ origin of PGE reefs in layered intrusions: insights from chromitite seams of the Rum Eastern Layered Intrusion, Scotland

The current debate on the origin of platinum-group element (PGE) reefs in layered intrusions centres mostly on gravity settling of sulphide liquid from overlying magma versus its introduction with interstitial melt/fluids migrating upward from the underlying cumulate pile. Here, we show that PGE-rich chromitite seams of the Rum Eastern Layered Intrusion provide evidence for an alternative origin of such deposits in layered intrusions. These laterally extensive 2-mm-thick chromitite seams occur at the bases of several cyclic mafic–ultramafic units and show lithological and textural relationships suggesting in situ growth directly at a crystal–liquid interface. This follows from chromitite development along the edges of steeply inclined culminations and depressions at unit boundaries, even where these are vertically oriented or overhanging. High concentrations of PGE (up to 2–3 ppm Pd + Pt) are controlled by fine-grained base-metal sulphides, which are closely associated with chromitite seams. The following sequence of events explains the origin of the PGE-rich chromitite seams: (a) emplacement of picritic magma that caused thermal and mechanical erosion of underlying cumulate, followed by in situ growth of chromite against the base, (b) precipitation of sulphide droplets on chromite grains acting as favourable substrate or catalyst for sulphide nucleation, (c) the scavenging of PGE by sulphide droplets from fresh magma continuously brought towards the base by convection. Since the rate of magma convection is 10⁵–10⁷ times higher than that of the solidification (km/year to km/day versus 0.5–1.0 cm/year), the in situ formed sulphide droplets can equilibrate with picritic magma of thousands to million times their own volume. As a result, the sulphide-bearing rocks are able to reach economic concentrations of PGE (several ppm). We tentatively suggest that the basic principles of our model may be used to explain the origin of PGE-rich chromitites and classical PGE reefs in other layered mafic–ultramafic intrusions.     

Carboniferous palaeogeography of the Yarrol and New England Orogens,eastern Australia

During the Carboniferous Period the Yarrol and New England Orogens comprised an active depositional margin east of cratonised parts of Australia. Patterns of deposition within the orogens were probably controlled by dextral shear systems believed responsible for tectonism and the positions of the various depositional elements (volcanic chain, shelf, slope and basin, pull‐apart troughs and graben), and global changes in sea level. These patterns are illustrated by a series of non‐palin‐spastic palaeogeographic reconstructions.

In the Early Carboniferous, similar patterns of deposition existed within the western volcanic chain, marine shelf, and eastern slope and basin provinces of both orogens. Sediments were deposited in two cycles. They range from volcanic fluvial and marine sandstone to siltstone, mudstone and turbidites. Complex depositional patterns within shelfal regions are shown in detailed palaeogeographic reconstructions.

This uniform pattern changed during the latest Visean and Namurian, with the uplift of the New England Arch, subsidence of a non‐marine graben (Werrie Trough) to the west, and development of a new shelf in the east. The Werrie Trough received volcanics as well as fluvial and glacigene sediments, and the shelf marine sandstone and siltstone. The Yarrol Orogen was unaffected by tectonism but there was a change in provenance.

Late in the Carboniferous the Yarrol Orogen was restructured by the intrusion of granitoids into the former volcanic chain, and development of the Yarrol and North D'Aguilar Troughs as probable pull‐apart basins. In the New England Arch, deformation and metamorphism were followed by intrusion of S‐type granitoids. A comparable episode of deformation and metamorphism affected the southeastern part of the Yarrol Orogen at the end of the Carboniferous Period. This partial cratonisation of the mobile zone was a prelude to widespread basin formation during the Permian Period.     

Contact metamorphism of pelitic,psammitic and calcareous sediments in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales

Contact metamorphism has been recognized along a 4 km wide belt adjacent to the shallow‐dipping eastern margin of the Arthursleigh Tonalite, an Early Devonian pluton of the Marulan Batholith, eastern New South Wales. In Ordovician psammitic and pelitic rocks three zones of progressive contact metamorphism range from muscovite + biotite + chlorite assemblages in the outer zone to K‐feldspar + cordierite assemblages adjacent to the pluton and in metasedimentary xenoliths. Retrograde phenomena include extensive replacement of metamorphic minerals by ‘sericite’ and chlorite. Calcareous metasediments adjacent to the tonalite typically contain assemblages of quartz + calcic plagioclase + ferrosalite + sphene, or wollastonite + calcite + diopside with minor grossularite and vesuvianite. Thermal effects in volcanic rocks along the western margin of the pluton are confined to recrystallization of the groundmass.

The regional geology indicates confining pressures of approximately 1 kbar at the time of emplacement of the tonalite. Contact metamorphic temperatures were estimated from two‐feldspar geothermometry to attain a maximum of approximately 590°C for rocks in the innermost zone of the aureole and 700°C for the xenoliths. Fluid compositions attending progressive contact metamorphism were water‐rich (Xco₂<0.2) and, during cooling, these fluids probably account for the extensive retrograde hydration observed in the aureole.     

Magmatic history and parental melt composition of olivine‐phyric shergottite LAR 06319: Importance of magmatic degassing and olivine antecrysts in Martian magmatism

Several olivine‐phyric shergottites contain enough olivine that they could conceivably represent the products of closed‐system crystallization of primary melts derived from partial melting of the Martian mantle. Larkman Nunatak (LAR) 06319 has been suggested to represent a close approach to a Martian primary liquid composition based on approximate equilibrium between its olivine and groundmass. To better understand the olivine–melt relationship and the evolution of this meteorite, we report the results of new petrographic and chemical analyses. We find that olivine megacryst cores are generally not in equilibrium with the groundmass, but rather have been homogenized by diffusion to Mg# 72. We have identified two unique grain types: an olivine glomerocryst and an olivine grain preserving a primary magmatic boundary that constrains the time scale of eruption to be on the order of hours. We also report the presence of trace oxide phases and phosphate compositions that suggest that the melt contained approximately 1.1% H₂O and lost volatiles during cooling, also associated with an increase in oxygen fugacity upon degassing. We additionally report in situ rare earth element measurements of the various mineral phases in LAR 06319. Based on these reported trace element abundances, we estimate the oxygen fugacity in the LAR 06319 parent melt early in its crystallization sequence (i.e., at the time of crystallization of the low‐Ca and high‐Ca pyroxenes), the rare earth element composition of the parent melt, and those of melts in equilibrium with later formed phases. We suggest that LAR 06319 represents the product of closed‐system crystallization within a shallow magma chamber, with additional olivine accumulated from a cumulate pile. We infer that the olivine megacrysts are antecrysts, derived from a single magma chamber, but not directly related to the host magma, and suggest that mixing of antecrysts within magma chambers may be a common process in Martian magmatic systems.