Major element composition of the Loch Coire migmatite complex,Sutherland, Scotland

Analyses of Moine metasediments and migmatites in the Loch Coire area of northern Scotland are used to delineate the fields of composition of the major rock groups. An assessment is made of the relative merits of the hypotheses of isochemical metamorphism and metasomatism in the genesis of the migmatites. Within the migmatites the Fe/Fe ratio is constant, a feature not shown by the metasediments. This is interpreted as evidence of permeation of the migmatites by metasomatising fluids. Granitic sheets which are common in the migmatites have a very variable and predominantly sodium-rich composition more easily reconciled with metasomatism than a simple magmatic or anatectic origin. Attention is also drawn to the sodic nature of the large mass of Loch Coire granite which occurs in the centre of the migmatite area and the possibility is considered that the uprise of sodic magma provided sodium-rich fluids for permeation of the rest of the complex.