Lateral reactive infiltration in avertical gabbroic crystal mush, skaergaard intrusion, east greenland

The Marginal Border Series of the Skaergaard intrusion (East Greenland) crystallized in situ on the vertical walls of the magma chamber. It is subdivided into an outer Unbanded Division and an inner Banded Division. The Banded Division contains abundant centimetre- to decimetre-thick bands dominated...

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Main Authors: Namur, O, Humphreys, M, Holness, M
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: 2013
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author Namur, O
Humphreys, M
Holness, M
author_facet Namur, O
Humphreys, M
Holness, M
author_sort Namur, O
collection OXFORD
description The Marginal Border Series of the Skaergaard intrusion (East Greenland) crystallized in situ on the vertical walls of the magma chamber. It is subdivided into an outer Unbanded Division and an inner Banded Division. The Banded Division contains abundant centimetre- to decimetre-thick bands dominated by fine-grained mafic minerals, with a morphology evolving from almost planar to deeply scalloped and fingered with increasing distance from the intrusion margin. The morphology of these bands is reminiscent of the reaction fronts described in sedimentary basins infiltrated by reactive fluids. We propose that the banding in the Skaergaard Marginal Border Series is produced by chemical disequilibrium resulting from the suction of primitive liquid from the main magma body into the crystal mush, driven by shrinkage of the mush during solidification. Liquid porous flow results in partial dissolution of evolved pre-existing mafic minerals in the mush. This changes the mush liquid composition to one capable of crystallizing mafic rocks with a very minor plagioclase component. Abrupt solidification of this liquid, resulting in the formation of the colloform bands, is explained by supersaturation of some mafic mineral components (e.g. olivine, clinopyroxene, Fe-Ti oxides) in the infiltrating melt. We suggest that the morphological evolution of the colloform bands is a consequence of increasing crystal mush thickness with progressive differentiation. © The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
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spelling oxford-uuid:96fcd7ba-4b2a-401f-a986-038f86bf0da12022-03-26T23:56:37ZLateral reactive infiltration in avertical gabbroic crystal mush, skaergaard intrusion, east greenlandJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:96fcd7ba-4b2a-401f-a986-038f86bf0da1EnglishSymplectic Elements at Oxford2013Namur, OHumphreys, MHolness, MThe Marginal Border Series of the Skaergaard intrusion (East Greenland) crystallized in situ on the vertical walls of the magma chamber. It is subdivided into an outer Unbanded Division and an inner Banded Division. The Banded Division contains abundant centimetre- to decimetre-thick bands dominated by fine-grained mafic minerals, with a morphology evolving from almost planar to deeply scalloped and fingered with increasing distance from the intrusion margin. The morphology of these bands is reminiscent of the reaction fronts described in sedimentary basins infiltrated by reactive fluids. We propose that the banding in the Skaergaard Marginal Border Series is produced by chemical disequilibrium resulting from the suction of primitive liquid from the main magma body into the crystal mush, driven by shrinkage of the mush during solidification. Liquid porous flow results in partial dissolution of evolved pre-existing mafic minerals in the mush. This changes the mush liquid composition to one capable of crystallizing mafic rocks with a very minor plagioclase component. Abrupt solidification of this liquid, resulting in the formation of the colloform bands, is explained by supersaturation of some mafic mineral components (e.g. olivine, clinopyroxene, Fe-Ti oxides) in the infiltrating melt. We suggest that the morphological evolution of the colloform bands is a consequence of increasing crystal mush thickness with progressive differentiation. © The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
spellingShingle Namur, O
Humphreys, M
Holness, M
Lateral reactive infiltration in avertical gabbroic crystal mush, skaergaard intrusion, east greenland
title Lateral reactive infiltration in avertical gabbroic crystal mush, skaergaard intrusion, east greenland
title_full Lateral reactive infiltration in avertical gabbroic crystal mush, skaergaard intrusion, east greenland
title_fullStr Lateral reactive infiltration in avertical gabbroic crystal mush, skaergaard intrusion, east greenland
title_full_unstemmed Lateral reactive infiltration in avertical gabbroic crystal mush, skaergaard intrusion, east greenland
title_short Lateral reactive infiltration in avertical gabbroic crystal mush, skaergaard intrusion, east greenland
title_sort lateral reactive infiltration in avertical gabbroic crystal mush skaergaard intrusion east greenland
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AT humphreysm lateralreactiveinfiltrationinaverticalgabbroiccrystalmushskaergaardintrusioneastgreenland
AT holnessm lateralreactiveinfiltrationinaverticalgabbroiccrystalmushskaergaardintrusioneastgreenland