Composition and genesis of inner-contact syenites of the Khasurta quartz syenite-monzonite massif, western Transbaikalia

Autor: I. V. Burdukov, T. T. Vrublevskaya, A.A. Tsygankov
Rok vydání: 2007
Předmět:
Zdroj: Petrology. 15:184-209
ISSN: 1556-2085
0869-5911
Popis: The paper reports data on the geological structure, mineralogy, and geochemistry of inner-contact syenites of the Late Paleozoic Khasurta quartz syenite-monzonite massif in western Transbaikalia. The rocks of the massif intrude Cambrian terrigenous-carbonate deposits transformed (depending on their composition) into apodolomitic magnesian spinel-fassaite skarns or plagioclase-quartz-biotite-cordierite hornfels that replaced amphibole-biotite schists. The skarn zone does not exceed a few dozen centimeters in thicknes. The inner-contact zone of the intrusion a few dozen meters thick consists of leucocratic medium-grained pyroxene syenites, which consist of coarsely perthitic K-Na feldspar (90–95 vol %) with plagioclase (An 40–46) cores, zonal clinopyroxene (up to 5–7 vol %), and sphene (up to 3–4 vol %). The inner-contact syenites differ from all other rocks of this massif in having the highest alkalinity and elevated concentrations of SiO2 and the lowest contents of CaO, MgO, and FeO. The mineralogical composition of the inner-contact syenites makes them similar to skarn-related metasomatic rocks (Korzhinskii, 1948), but the pyroxenes of these rocks contain melt inclusions homogenizing at 1100°C, a fact testifying to the magmatic genesis of the rocks. The results of our research indicate that the inner-contact syenites were formed with the assimilation of the host dolomites by the syenite melt. The enrichment of the inner-contact syenite melt in CaO and MgO and a significant increase in its liquidus temperature due to CO2 dissolution (Jahannes and Holtz, 1996) facilitated the crystallization of calcic plagioclase, pyroxene, and magnetite. The fractionation of these minerals resulted in the enrichment of the residual melt in SiO2 and alkalis, mostly K2O, and this subalkaline residual melt produced that K-Na feldspar, which is the predominant mineral of these rocks, and sphene. Excess CO2 drastically suppressed the H2O activity in the melt and thus hampered the crystallization of amphibole and biotite in the inner-contact zone of the intrusion. Mass-balance calculations indicate that dolomite assimilation was not very extensive and did not exceed 1: 10.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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