Pipes of mafic pegmatite in the stratiform Fiskenaesset anorthosite complex, southwest Greenland

Pipes of hornblende gabbro and ultramafite cut across cumulate layering in the lower part of the Fiskenaesset complex. The pipes form irregular networks in which all vertical portions are massive and pegmatitic, whereas some horizontal portions are layered. Two kinds of layering occur: mineral-graded layers formed by precipitation of plagioclase and hornblende, and comb layers formed by the upward growth of tabular hornblende crystals. Alternations of these layers show that magma with plagioclase phenocrysts was flushed through the pipes in pulses, perhaps associated with erratic propagation of cracks and magmatic drilling.