Zoning of phosphorus in igneous olivine |
| |
Authors: | Margaret S Milman-Barris John R Beckett Michael B Baker Amy E Hofmann Zachary Morgan Meghan R Crowley Daniel Vielzeuf Edward Stolper |
| |
Institution: | (1) Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA;(2) CRMCN, CNRS, Campus de Luminy, Marseille, 13288, France;(3) Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA |
| |
Abstract: | 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. |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|