Assimilation and fractionation in adjacent parts of the same magme chamber: Vandfaldsdalen macrodike,East Greenland

The Vandfaldsdalen macrodike, which lies in the Skaergaard region of East Greenland, is a remarkably zoned fossil magma chamber, with a granophyric cap overlying cumulate gabboros. The intrusion is distinctly bimodal, with a large compositional discontinuity at the contact between the gabbro and granophyre. Although the exposed part of the macrodike is in contact with Tertiary basalts and sediments, the granophyre originated by assimilation of xenoliths derived from the underlying Archean basement. Sr and Nd isotopic ratios throughout the cumulate sequence are remarkably similar, indicating insignificant contamination of the gabbro by the granophyre. Modelling of the compositional effects of cooling and crystallization indicate that the cumulate pile resulted from fractional crystallization, with the complicating effects of trapped liquid and post-cumulus fractionation. The uppermost rocks in the mafic part, of the chamber (SiO₂=62%; FeO^*=12.4%) resulted from about 85% fractional crystallization. A transgressive sill of strongly fractionated magma (SiO₂=67%; FeO^*=8.8%) formed from extracted intercumulus liquid that was the result of 90% fractional crystallization of the original magma. Mass-balance indicates that typical granophyre is made up of about 75% dissolved xenoliths, by weight, and 25% mantle-derived basaltic magma. The magmas were not measurably affected by material exchange across the interface between the gabbro and granophyre. This magma chamber evolved by both assimilation and fractional crystallization, but the residual liquids formed by fractional crystallization were unaffected by assimilation. Heat exchange between were unaffected by assimilation. Heat exchange between the two parts of the chamber was obviously important, but there was insignificant material exchange. The inability of fractional crystallization and assimilation to affect the same liquid is related to the dynamic behavior of this particular magma chamber, particularly the buoyancy of granophyre relative to evolving tholeiitic magma.