Petrology, composition, and age of intrusive rocks associated with the Quartz Hill molybdenite deposit, southeastern Alaska

1979 ◽  
Vol 16 (9) ◽  
pp. 1805-1822 ◽  
Author(s):  
Travis Hudson ◽  
James G. Smith ◽  
Raymond L. Elliott
Keyword(s):  
Biotite Granite ◽  
White Mica ◽  
Mineral Deposit ◽  
Coast Range ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Rock Types ◽  
Low Concentrations ◽  
Intrusive Rocks ◽  
Major Oxide ◽  
Uplift And Erosion

A large porphyry molybdenum deposit (Quartz Hill deposit) was recently discovered in the heart of the Coast Range batholithic complex about 70 km east of Ketchikan, southeastern Alaska. Intrusive rocks associated with the mineral deposit form two composite epizonal to hypabyssal stocks and many dikes in country rocks. The stocks are characterized by a variety of textural rock types varying from equigranular or weakly seriate biotite granite to porphyries with aphanitic or very fine grained and aplitic groundmasses. These rocks contain about equal amounts of quartz, albitic plagioclase, and microperthitic microcline and less than 2.5% biotite. Unaltered rocks contain between 0.2 and 1% CaO, less than 1.7% combined Fe2O3, FeO, and MgO, and 74.4 to 77.7% SiO2. Total alkalis are between 8 and 9%, and K2O/Na2O is about 1.1. The range of major-oxide variation is small, but it is systematically related to lithology. Many trace-elements, including B, Pb, Sn, and Li have low concentrations. Intrusive rocks associated with the Quartz Hill deposit are more albitic and possibly trace-element depleted compared to some other rocks associated with porphyry molybdenum deposits.All observed metallization and alteration is within the Quartz Hill stock. Molybdenite forms fracture coatings and occurs in veins with quartz. Alteration is widespread and includes development of secondary quartz, pyrite, K-feldspar, biotite, white mica, chlorite, and zeolite. Field relations indicate that the stocks were emplaced after regional uplift and erosion of the Coast Range batholithic complex, and K–Ar data show that intrusion and alteration took place in late Oligocene time, about 27 to 30 Ma ago. Data from the Ketchikan quadrangle indicate that porphyry molybdenum metallization in the Coast Range batholithic complex is associated with regionally extensive but spotty, middle Tertiary or younger, felsic magmatism.

scholarly journals Syn-deformational melt percolation through a high-pressure orthogneiss and the exhumation of a subducted continental wedge (Orlica-Śnieżnik Dome, NE Bohemian Massif)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmen Aguilar ◽  
Pavla Štípská ◽  
Francis Chopin ◽  
Karel Schulmann ◽  
Pavel Pitra ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Pressure ◽  
Bohemian Massif ◽  
White Mica ◽  
Gradual Transition ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Rock Types ◽  
Melt Percolation ◽  
T Path ◽  
Textural Changes ◽  
Wide Zone

<h3>High-pressure granitic orthogneiss of the south-eastern Orlica–Śnieżnik Dome (NE Bohemian Massif) shows relics of a shallow-dipping S1 foliation, reworked by upright F2 folds and a mostly pervasive N-S trending subvertical axial planar S2 foliation. Based on macroscopic observations, a gradual transition perpendicular to the subvertical S2 foliation from banded to schlieren and nebulitic orthogneiss was distinguished. All rock types comprise plagioclase, K-feldspar, quartz, white mica, biotite and garnet. The transition is characterized by increasing presence of interstitial phases along like-like grain boundaries and by progressive replacement of recrystallized K-feldspar grains by fine-grained myrmekite. These textural changes are characteristic for syn-deformational grain-scale melt percolation, which is in line with the observed enrichment of the rocks in incompatible elements such as REEs, Ba, Sr, and K, suggesting open-system behaviour with melt passing through the rocks. The P–T path deduced from the thermodynamic modelling indicates decompression from ~15−16 kbar and ~650–740 ºC to ~6 kbar and ~640 ºC. Melt was already present at the P–T peak conditions as indicated by the albitic composition of plagioclase in films, interstitial grains and in myrmekite. The variably re-equilibrated garnet suggests that melt content may have varied along the decompression path, involving successively both melt gain and loss. The 6–8 km wide zone of vertical foliation and migmatite textural gradients is interpreted as vertical crustal-scale channel where the grain-scale melt percolation was associated with horizontal shortening and vertical flow of partially molten crustal wedge en masse.</h3>

Geochemistry of cobalt, nickel, chromium, and vanadium in the sediments of the estuary and open Gulf of St. Lawrence

1979 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. 1196-1209 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. H. Loring
Keyword(s):  
Mineral Deposit ◽  
Source Rocks ◽  
Anthropogenic Sources ◽  
Terrestrial Organic Matter ◽  
Lawrence Estuary ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Hydrous Oxides ◽  
High Concentrations ◽  
St Lawrence Estuary ◽  
Local Anomalies

Total Co (3–22 ppm), Ni (4–160 ppm), V (4–168 ppm), and Cr (8–241 ppm) concentrations vary regionally and with textural differences in the sediments of the St. Lawrence estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence. They are, except for local anomalies, at or near natural levels relative to their source rocks and other marine sediments.Chemical partition and mineralogical analyses indicate that small but biochemically significant quantities (2–24%) of the total element concentrations are potentially available to the biota and are most likely held by fine-grained organic material, hydrous iron oxides, and ion exchange positions in the sediments. In the upper estuary, nondetrital Ni, Cr, and V supplied from natural and anthropogenic (Cr) sources are apparently preferentially scavenged from solution by terrestrial organic matter and hydrous oxides and concentrated in fine-grained sediments deposited below the turbidity maximum. In the lower estuary, the fine-grained sediments are relatively enriched in nondetrital V supplied from anthropogenic sources in the Saguenay system. Elsewhere the sedimentation intensities of the nondetrital elemental contributions have remained relatively constant with fluctuations in total sediment intensity.Seventy-six to 98% of the total Co, Ni, Cr, and V is not, however, available to the biota, but held in various sulphide, oxide, and silicate minerals. The host minerals have accumulated at the same rate as other fine-grained detrital material except for some local anomalies. In the upper estuary, detrital V concentrations are highest in the sands as an apparent result of an enrichment of ilmenite and titaniferous magnetite from a nearby mineral deposit. In the open gulf, relatively high concentrations of Ni, Cr, and V occur in sediments from the Bay of Islands, Newfoundland, and probably result from the seaward dispersal of detrital Ni, Cr, and V bearing minerals from nearby ultrabasic rocks.

Geochronology and tectonic settings of Late Jurassic – Early Cretaceous intrusive rocks in the Ulanhot region, central and southern Da Xingan Range

2016 ◽  
Vol 154 (5) ◽  
pp. 923-945 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHANGFENG LIU ◽  
ZHIGUANG ZHOU ◽  
YONGJU TANG ◽  
CHEN WU ◽  
HONGYING LI ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Early Cretaceous ◽  
Tectonic Evolution ◽  
Late Jurassic ◽  
Biotite Granite ◽  
Geochemical Characteristic ◽  
Ne China ◽  
Intrusive Rocks ◽  
Tectonic Settings ◽  
Tectonic System ◽  
Magmatic Event

AbstractZircon U–Pb dating and whole-rock geochemical analysis have been performed on Late Jurassic – Early Cretaceous intrusive rocks of the Ulanhot area, NE China, with the aim of constraining the tectonic evolution of the central and southern Da Xingan Range. Zircon U–Pb dating indicates that Late Jurassic – Early Cretaceous magmatic events experienced four stages at:c.155 Ma;c.144 Ma; 135–130 Ma; andc.126 Ma. Thec.155 Ma magmatic event consists of quartz diorite and granite-porphyryp with the geochemical characteristic of high Sr and Sr/Y or high A/CNK (1.38), implying the primary magma was derived from partial melting of a thickened lower crust which induced the closure of the Mongol–Okhotsk Ocean. Thec.144 Ma magmatic event consists of quartz monzodiorite with the geochemical characteristics of alkaline series, and indicates the delamination of a thickened crust. The 135–130 Ma magmatic event consists of syenogranite and granite-porphyry with characteristics of both I-type and A-type granites, which induced both the subduction of the Palaeo-Pacific oceanic plate and the post-orogenic extension of the Mongol–Okhotsk Orogenic Belt. Thec.126 Ma magmatic event consisted of highly fractionated I-type biotite granite and alkaline series gabbro, marking the end of the Mongol–Okhotsk Orogen, and implying that the study area was controlled by the circum-Pacific tectonic system during this stage.

The basal unconformity of the Nanaimo Group, southwestern British Columbia: a Late Cretaceous storm-swept rocky shoreline

2006 ◽  
Vol 43 (8) ◽  
pp. 1165-1181 ◽  
Author(s):  
P D Johnstone ◽  
P S Mustard ◽  
J A MacEachern
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Sediment Supply ◽  
Storm Activity ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Accommodation Space ◽  
Facies Associations ◽  
Intrusive Rocks ◽  
Coastal Cliffs ◽  
Sandstone Facies ◽  
High Sediment

The Turonian to Santonian Comox Formation forms the basal unit of the Nanaimo Group. In the southern Gulf Islands of British Columbia, the Comox Formation nonconformably overlies Devonian metavolcanic and Jurassic intrusive rocks and is interpreted to reflect a rocky foreshore reworked by waves and ultimately drowned during transgression. The nonconformity displays a relief of metres to tens of metres. Basal deposits vary in thickness, as does the facies character along the several kilometres of paleoshoreline studied. In the study area, three distinct but related environments are expressed, typical of a complex rocky shoreline with headlands and protected coves. Crudely stratified conglomerates represent gravel-dominated fans characterized by debris-flow processes, building out from local coastal cliffs and gullies directly onto the rocky shoreline. Fine-grained basal units represent shoreline environments protected from higher energy shoreline processes, presumably in small embayments. Sandstone facies associations reflect storm-dominated shoreface environments. The unusual thickness and coarseness of these shoreface intervals suggest a combination of increasing accommodation space, proximal and high sediment supply, and high frequency and energy of storm activity. This, in turn, suggests that the majority of the shoreline was exposed to the full effects of large, open-ocean storms. This interpretation differs from most previous models for the lower Nanaimo Group, which suggest that deposition occurred in more sheltered strait or bay environments.

Mineralogical and Isotopic Characteristics of Sodic-Calcic Alteration in the Highland Valley Copper District, British Columbia, Canada: Implications for Fluid Sources in Porphyry Cu Systems

2020 ◽  
Vol 115 (4) ◽  
pp. 841-870 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Byrne ◽  
Robert B. Trumbull ◽  
Guillaume Lesage ◽  
Sarah A. Gleeson ◽  
John Ryan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Source ◽  
White Mica ◽  
Late Triassic ◽  
Supporting Evidence ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Porphyry Cu ◽  
Mineral Assemblages ◽  
Alteration Minerals ◽  
External Water ◽  
Host Rocks

Abstract The Highland Valley Copper porphyry Cu (±Mo) district is hosted in the Late Triassic Guichon Creek batholith in the Canadian Cordillera. Fracture-controlled sodic-calcic alteration is important because it forms a large footprint (34 km2) outside of the porphyry Cu centers. This alteration consists of epidote ± actinolite ± tourmaline veins with halos of K-feldspar–destructive albite (1–20 XAn) ± fine-grained white mica ± epidote. The distribution of sodic-calcic alteration is strongly influenced by near-orthogonal NE- and SE-trending fracture sets and by proximity to granodiorite stocks and porphyry dikes. Multiple stages of sodic-calcic alteration occurred in the district, which both pre- and postdate Cu mineralization at the porphyry centers. The mineral assemblages and chemical composition of alteration minerals suggest that the fluid that caused sodic-calcic alteration in the Guichon Creek batholith was Cl bearing, at near-neutral pH, and oxidized, and had high activities of Na, Ca, and Mg relative to propylitic and fresh-rock assemblages. The metasomatic exchange of K for Na, localized removal of Fe and Cu, and a paucity of secondary quartz suggest that the fluid was thermally prograding in response to magmatic heating. Calculated δ18Ofluid and δDfluid values of mineral pairs in isotopic equilibrium from the sodic-calcic veins and alteration range from 4 to 8‰ and −20 to −9‰, respectively, which contrasts with the whole-rock values for least altered magmatic host rocks (δ18O = 6.4–9.4‰ and δD = −99 to −75‰). The whole-rock values are suggested to reflect residual magma values after D loss by magma degassing, while the range of hydrothermal minerals requires a mixed-fluid origin with a contribution of magmatic water and an external water source. The O-H isotope results favor seawater as the source but could also reflect the ingress of Late Triassic meteoric water. The 87Sr/86Srinital values of strongly Na-Ca–altered rocks range from 0.703416 to 0.703508, which is only slightly higher than the values of fresh and potassic-altered rocks. Modeling of those data suggests the Sr is derived predominantly from a magmatic source, but the system may contain up to 3% seawater Sr. Supporting evidence for a seawater-derived fluid entrained in the porphyry Cu systems comes from boron isotope data. The calculated tourmaline δ11Bfluid values from the sodic-calcic domains reach 18.3‰, which is consistent with a seawater-derived fluid source. Lower tourmaline δ11Bfluid values from the other alteration facies (4–10‰) suggest mixing between magmatic and seawater-derived fluids in and around the porphyry centers. These results imply that seawater-derived fluids can infiltrate batholiths and porphyry systems at deep levels (4–5 km) in the crust. Sodic ± calcic alteration may be more common in rocks peripheral to porphyry Cu systems hosted in island-arc terranes and submarine rocks than currently recognized.

DENSITIES OF METAMORPHIC ROCKS

Geophysics ◽  
1971 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 690-694 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott B. Smithson
Keyword(s):  
Metamorphic Rock ◽  
Granite Gneiss ◽  
Biotite Granite ◽  
Metamorphic Rocks ◽  
Upper Crust ◽  
Rock Density ◽  
Rock Types ◽  
Crystalline Crust ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Few Data

Although metamorphic rocks comprise a large part of the crystalline crust, relatively few data concerning metamorphic rock densities are available. In this paper, we present rock densities from seven different metamorphic terrains. Mean densities for rock types range from [Formula: see text] for biotite granite gneiss to [Formula: see text] for diopside granofels. Mean rock densities for metamorphic terrains range from 2.70 to [Formula: see text]. Rock density may decrease in the lower part of the upper crust. Most mean rock densities for metamorphic terrains fall between 2.70 and [Formula: see text]; the mean density of [Formula: see text] commonly used for the upper crystalline crust is too low.

Formation of the hour-glass structure in augite

1969 ◽  
Vol 37 (288) ◽  
pp. 472-479 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. F. Strong
Keyword(s):  
Glass Structure ◽  
Coarse Grained ◽  
Crystal Face ◽  
Thin Sections ◽  
Rapid Crystallization ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Rock Types ◽  
The Common

SummaryA study of augite in over three hundred thin sections of mainly alkalic rocks permits the distinction of two main types of hour-glass structure. The common ‘swallow-tailed’, sometimes skeletal augite crystals are found in the fine-grained groundmass of many rock types, and it is suggested that rapid crystallization alone accounts for their formation. Hence, this type of hour-glass structure has been called ‘quench hour-glass’. The hour-glass structures of larger augite crystals of porphyritic and coarse-grained rocks are commonly described as hour-glass ‘zoning’, as they result primarily from compositional differences between the different sectors. These were formed under conditions of relatively slower cooling than the ‘quench hour-glass’, and thus cannot be explained in the same way. They are thought to have formed by a process involving adsorption of impurities on a particular crystal face so as to impede growth of these faces, producing an initial skeleton of hour-glass form, which is completed by later crystallization of augite richer in FeO, Na2O, TiO2, and Al2O3. This hypothesis also explains the patchy zoning of other augite crystals, casting doubt on some petrogenetic interpretations of such zones as core zones.

Almandine garnet phenocrysts in a ~1 Ga rhyolitic tuff from central India

2008 ◽  
Vol 146 (1) ◽  
pp. 133-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
SARBANI PATRANABIS-DEB ◽  
JUERGEN SCHIEBER ◽  
ABHIJIT BASU
Keyword(s):  
Central India ◽  
Mineral Chemistry ◽  
Triple Junctions ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Mineral Inclusions ◽  
Major Oxide ◽  
Shale Formation ◽  
Igneous Zircon ◽  
Compositional Variability ◽  
Lower Crustal

AbstractWe report on the newly discovered almandine garnet phenocrysts in rhyolitic ignimbrites (Sukhda Tuff) in the Precambrian Churtela Shale Formation of the Chhattisgarh Supergroup in central India. SHRIMP ages of igneous zircon from the ignimbrites range from 990 Ma to 1020 Ma. These ignimbrites exhibit characteristic eutaxitic texture with compacted curvilinear glass shards with triple junctions. Quartz (commonly embayed; bluish cathodoluminescence) and albite (altered but retaining ghosts of twinning) are common phenocrysts; others are apatite, ilmenite, rutile, magnetite, zircon, monazite and garnet. There are no metamorphic or granitic xenoliths in the ignimbrites. Garnet grains occur as isolated broken isotropic crystals with sharp or corroded boundaries in a very fine-grained groundmass of volcanic ash that consists principally of albite, quartz, magnetite and glass. They do not have any systematically distributed inclusions. A few have penetratively intergrown phenocrysts of apatite, ilmenite, rutile and zircon, which we interpret as subophitic texture. Extensive SEM-BSE imaging of more than 100 grains and electron microprobe traverses across about 30 grains showed no zoning or systematic compositional variability. Common (metamorphic) garnets are usually zoned with respect to Fe–Mg–Mn and typically have mineral inclusions. We infer, therefore, that these observed garnets are not metamorphic xenocrysts. The average major oxide composition of analysed garnets from five different horizons within the Sukhda Tuff, spanning approximately 300 m of the stratigraphic section, have very small standard deviation for each element, which is suggestive of a single magmatic source. Phenocrysts of quartz, including those in contact with coexisting garnets, show blue scanning electron CL, indicating rapid cooling from high temperature; this suggests that adjacent coexisting garnets are not slowly cooled restites. We conclude, on the basis of texture, mineral chemistry and absence of any indicative xenoliths or xenocrysts, that these almandine garnets (Al78.7Py12.3Gr7.4Sp1.6) are phenocrysts within the Sukhda Tuff. Almandine of such composition is stable under high pressure. We infer that almandine crystallized at lower crustal depths in a magma that ascended very rapidly and may have erupted explosively.

scholarly journals Crack-enhanced weathering in inscribed marble: a possible application in epigraphy

2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-202
Author(s):  
Stylianos Aspiotis ◽  
Jochen Schlüter ◽  
Kaja Harter-Uibopuu ◽  
Boriana Mihailova
Keyword(s):  
Raman Spectroscopy ◽  
Penetration Depth ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Coarse Grained ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
X Ray Diffraction ◽  
Western Turkey ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Rock Types ◽  
Micro Cracks

Abstract. Raman spectroscopy has been applied to check if there are detectible material differences beneath the inscribed and non-inscribed areas of marble-based written artefacts, which could be further used to visualize lost or hardly readable text via suitable mapping. As a case study, marble segments with ∼ 2000-year-old inscribed letters from Asia Minor (western Turkey) and marble gravestones with 66 ± 14-year-old inscriptions from the cemetery of Ohlsdorf (Hamburg, Germany) have been subjected to Raman spectroscopy, as well as to complementary X-ray diffraction, wavelength-dispersive electron probe microanalysis, and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, to thoroughly study the effect of different environmental conditions, grain size, and inscription age on the nature and penetration depth of marble alteration. The results demonstrate that environmental conditions rule over the type of dominant weathering changes, which are carotenoid molecular inclusions produced by lichen and amorphous carbon for marbles from Hamburg and Asia Minor, respectively. The alteration is much stronger in medium- and coarse-grained than in fine-grained marble, but it is suppressed by letter colouring. In the absence of letter colouring, the weathering-related products in both ancient and modern engraved marbles are more abundant beneath than away from the engraved areas, and the penetration depth is larger due to the enhancement of fissures and micro-cracks around the inscribed areas. We show that the Raman intensity ratio between the strongest peak of the weathering-related product (ν(C=C) ∼ 1520 cm−1 for carotenoids or the G peak ∼ 1595 cm−1 for soot-like carbon) and the strongest peak of marble (CO3 stretching near 1087 cm−1) can serve as a quantitative marker to indirectly map the lateral distribution of cracks induced during the inscribing process and hence can potentially be used to trace lost text on vanished marble inscriptions. This approach can be applied to other rock types, but further studies are required to identify the corresponding autochthonous weathering-related products.

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