Crystallization History of the Upper Layered Series, Kap Edvard Holm, East Greenland

Field studies of the Upper Layered Series of the Kap EdvardHolm Complex indicate that consolidation occurred by accumulationof primocrysts near the floor of the magma chamber; nucleationoccurred continuously near the roof of the chamber and intermittentlynear the base. Over an exposed thickness of 4000 m the plagioclaseshows no detectable cryptic variation, and a hypothesis of combinedliquid and crystal fractionation processes is invoked to explainthis feature. The crystallization history of mafic intrusivesis considered on the basis of available liquidus and soliduscurves for anhydrous and water–saturated magmas.