Petrology of the Blue Mountain Complex, Marlborough, New Zealand

Blue Mountain is a central-type alkali ultrabasic-gabbro ringcomplex (1?1?5 km) introducing Upper Jurassic sediments, Marlborough,New Zealand. The ultrabasic-gabbroic rocks contain lenses ofkaersutite pegmatite and sodic syenite pegmatite and are intrudedby ring dykes of titanaugite-ilmenite gabbro and lamprophyre.The margin of the intrusion is defined by a ring dyke of alkaligabbro. The plutonic rocks are cut by a swarm of hornblende-biotite-richlamprophyre dykes. Thermal metamorphism has converted the sedimentsto a hornfels ranging in grade from the albite-epidote hornfelsfacies to the upper limit of the hornblende hornfels facies. The rocks are nepheline normative and consist of olivine (Fo_82-74),endiopside (Ca₄₅Mg₄₈Fe₇-Ca₃₆Mg₅₅Fe₉), titanaugite (Ca₄₀Mg₅₀Fe₁₀-Ca₄₄Mg₃₉Fe₁₇),plagioclase (An_73-18), and ilmenitetitaniferous magnetite, withvarious amounts of titaniferous hornblende and titanbiotite.There is a complete gradation between end-iopside and titanaugitewith the coupled substitution R_y^+z+Si(Ti⁺⁴+Fe⁺³)+Al⁺³ and asympathetic increase in CaAl₂SiO₆ (0?2-10?2 percent) and CaTiAl₂O₆(2?1-8?1 per cent) with fractionation. Endiopside shows a small,progressive Mg enrichment along a trend subparallel to the CaMgSi₂O₆-Mg₂Si₂O₆boundary, and titanaugite is enriched in Ca and Fe⁺²+Fe⁺³ withdifferentiation. Oscillatory zoning between endiopside and titanaugiteis common. Exsolved ilmenite needles occur in the most Fe-richtitanaugites. The amphiboles show the trend: titaniferous hornblende(1?0–5?7 per cent TiO₂)kaersutite (6?4 per cent TiO₂)Fe-richhastingsite (18?0–19?1 per cent FeO as total Fe). Biotiteis high in TiO₂ (6?6–7?8 per cent). Ilmenite and titaniferousmagnetite (3?5–10?6 per cent TiO₂) are typically homogeneousgrains; their composition can be expressed in terms of R⁺²RO₃:R⁺²O:R₂⁺³O₄. The intrusion of igneous rocks was probably controlled by subterraneanring fracturing. Subsidence of the country rock within the ringfracture provided space for periodic injections of magma froma lower reservoir up the initial ring fracture to form the BlueMountain rocks at a higher level. Downward movement of the floorof the intrusion during crystallization caused inward slumpingof the cumulates which affected the textural, mineralogical,and chemical evolution of the rocks in different parts of theintrusion. The order of mineral fractionation is reflected by the chemicalvariation in the in situ ultrabasic-gabbroic rocks and the successiveintrusions of titanaugite-ilmenite gabbro and lamprophyre ringdykes, marginal alkali gabbro and lamprophyre dyke swarm. Aninitial decrease, then increase in SiO₂; a steady decrease inMgO, CaO, Ni, and Cr: an initial increase, then decrease inFeO+Fe₂O₃, TiO₂, MnO, and V; almost linear increase in Al₂O₃and late stage increase in alkalis and P₂O₃, implies fractionationof olivine and endiopside, followed by titanaugite and Fe-Tioxides, followed by plagioclase, hornblende, biotite, and apatite.Reversals in the composition of cumulus olivine and endiopsideand Solidification Index, indicate that the ultrabasic-gabbroicsequence is composed of four main injections of magma. The ultrabasic rocks crystallized under conditions of high PH₂Oand fairly high, constant P_O2; P_H2 and P_O2 increased duringthe formation of the gabbroic rocks until fracturing of thechamber roof occurred. The abundance of euhedral amphibole inthe latter injection phases suggests that amphibole accumulatedfrom a hydrous SiO₂ undersaturated magma when an increase inP_O2, stabilized its crystallization. Plutonic complexes similar to Blue Mountain are found withinand beneath the volcanic piles of many oceanic islands, e.g.Canaries, Reunion, and Tahiti, and those intruding thick sedimentarysequences, as at Blue Mountain, e.g. the pipe-like intrusionsof the Monteregian Hills, Quebec.