Rejuvenation events recorded in alkali feldspar from the Tuolumne Intrusive Complex

<p>Zoned minerals preserve information about their growth conditions, by changing their composition as function of temperature, pressure and melt composition. By carefully looking at a zoned minerals we can determine characteristics of the main stages of the evolution of magmatic systems.</p><p>We study alkali feldspar megacrysts from the Tuolumne Intrusive Complex in California, with the aim of deciphering chemical signatures of rejuvenation events. We characterize the chemical zoning of alkali feldspar using X-ray tomography, BSE imaging, EDS-SEM analysis and LA-ICPMS analysis along profiles. We use hierarchical clustering based on major and trace elements to objectively identify compositional groups for each chemical profile. By reducing the complexity of chemical zoning to one dimension (i.e. cluster number) we can trace the evolution of the conditions of growth and identify rejuvenation events.</p><p>Alkali feldspar megacrysts (up to 20 cm in size) from the Cathedral Peak unit of the Tuolumne Intrusive Complex occur predominantly disperse and only make between 8 - 12 % of the total crystal population. They are mostly homogeneous in major element, and markedly oscillatory zoned in trace elements such as Ba, Sr, and Rb. Using hierarchical clustering we identify four different chemical groups within the alkali feldspar crystals. Each chemical group is repeated multiple times in a single crystal. Overall the crystals show a decreasing trend of Ba towards the rim. Extended alkali feldspar crystallization would lead to a depletion of Ba in the melt and consequently to the growth of low Ba-zones of alkali feldspar. In some crystals the sequence of decreasing Ba is repeated twice. We propose that this reflects melt recharge in a melt-rich magmatic system.</p>