Sulfide Petrology of Spinel and Garnet Pyroxenite Layers from Mantle-derived Spinel Lherzolite Massifs of Arieg`, Northeastern Pyrenees, France

Pyroxenite layers in the orogenic spinel lherzolite massifsof Ari?ge are porphyroclastic textured and range in compositionfrom spinel websterite to garnet clinopyroxenite. Each pyroxenitetype forms individual layers or occurs as part of compositelayers in which the Opx/Cpx and Sp/Gt ratios decrease from marginsto core. They are interpreted as crystalline segregations separatedby flow crystallization from continental tholeiites en routeto the surface. The primary magmatic phases consist of Al-richpyroxenes, together with a minor amount of spinel, which startedto crystallize at 1400?C and 20–22 kb pressure; the pyroxeneshave locally survived plastic strains and subsolidus rccrystallizationsand now occur in the form of clinopyroxene and orthopyroxenemegacrysts displaying unmixing features. Although the differentiated silicate liquid was fully expelledduring the flow crystallization process, the layered pyroxeniteshave concentrated the highly incompatible elements S and Cuand locally display significant chalcophile platinum-group elementenrichment (Pd, Pt). Cu and S behave coherently over the wholerange of pyroxenite composition; their highest concentrationsare found in the thinnest websterite layers or at the marginof composite layers. Microscopic investigation of 214 polishedthin sections shows these elements to be present as accessoryCu-Fe-Ni sulfides interstitial among the silicate phase or formingdiscrete bodies included in the relic pyroxene megacrysts. Allthese features indicate the presence of a sulfide liquid, immisciblewith the silicate magma, during the crystallization of the layeredpyroxenites. Sulfide liquid immiscibility probably occurredin response to thermal contrast between the pyroxenites andthe cooler surrounding peridotites. It is proposed that the megacryst-hosted sulfide inclusionswere trapped as linear arrays arranged on host megacryst growthplanes. Due to the slow cooling and complex unmixing historyof the megacrysts, these arrays have been transformed into coarse,isolated sulfide inclusions by subsolidus migration and spheroidizationprocesses. They started to crystallize at T = 1200?C as monosulfidesolid solution (MSS), probably coexisting with a minor amountof Ni- and Cu-rich sulfide liquid down to r=900?C. The reconstructionof the bulk chemistry of each individual inclusion reveals significantbetween-inclusion variations of Cu/Ni+ Fe and Ni/Fe ratios,which would result from strain-induced immobilization of theseliquids. On cooling, the high-temperature MSS has decomposedbelow 230?C into Ni-rich pyrrhotite, nickeliferous pentlandite,chalcopyrite and minor pyrite. The post-magmatic history ofthe interstitial sulfide grains was not unlike that of the inclusions,except at near-surface temperatures where the primary sulfidesresulting from unmixing of MSS have been partly altered intosecondary sulfides by serpentinizing aqueous fluids. In spite of these post-magmatic alterations, the inclusionsand the interstitial sulfide phases are remarkably homogeneousas regards their bulk Ni/Cu ratio, which is close to 3. Thisvalue is characteristic of sulfide separated from primary ratherthan partially differentiated tholeiitic melts. It is thus concludedthat the continental tholeiite parent to the layered pyroxeniteswas saturated with sulfides when it left its mantle source regioaIn this aspect, it would not be different from MORBs which containsimilar sulfide compositions. In both cases, sulfide fractionationcannot be ignored in models for chalcophile trace element fractionationduring initial evolution of these magmas.