Search results for "Mafic"
showing 10 items of 126 documents
Granulites and Palaeoproterozoic lower crust of the Baidarik Block, Central Asian Orogenic Belt of NW Mongolia
2017
Abstract Mafic granulite xenoliths are hosted by garnetiferous charnockites in the Archaean to Palaeoproterozoic Bumbuger Complex of northwestern Mongolia, one of the exotic basement terranes in the Central Asian Orogenic Belt. These rocks crystallized at ca. 1850 Ma under granulite-facies conditions (800 ± 27 °C, 6.8 ± 0.6 kbar) in the lower crust and were partly retrogressed to amphibolite-facies during ascent to higher crustal levels as a result of strong deformation resulting in northwest-trending isoclinal folds. The mafic xenoliths are likely derived from gabbroic protoliths, and geochemical, Hf-in-zircon and Nd whole-rock isotopic data suggest these rocks to have originated from pare…
Neoproterozoic Rosetta Gabbro from northernmost Arabian–Nubian Shield, south Jordan : Geochemistry and petrogenesis
2017
An Ediacaran mafic intrusion of south Jordan is a distinctive appinitic igneous rock with a possibly unique texture, characterized by spherical clots up to 40 mm in diameter composed of amphibole cores from which plagioclase euhedra radiate; we call it the Rosetta Gabbro. It is exposed as a small (ca. 750 m(2)) outcrop in the Neoproterozoic basement of south Jordan. A second outcrop of otherwise similar gabbro is located about 400 m to the north of the Rosetta Gabbro, but it lacks the distinctive texture. The Rosetta Gabbro could represent a magma pipe. It intrudes the Aqaba Complex (similar to 600 Ma) granitoids and metasediments of the Janub Metamorphic Complex (633-617 Ma). The gabbro is…
Isothermal decompression history in the “Western Granulite” terrain, central Tanzania: Evidence from reaction textures and trapped fluids in metapeli…
2008
Abstract The Mozambique Belt (MB) of the East Africa Orogen contains large areas of granulite-facies migmatitic gneisses with Archaean and Palaeoproterozoic protolith ages and that were recycled during the Neoproterozoic Pan-African orogeny. The study area is situated along the Great Ruaha River and within the Mikumi National Park in central Tanzania where migmatitic gneisses and mafic to intermediate granulites are interlayered with Neoproterozoic granulite-facies migmatitic metapelites. Mineral textures suggest isothermal decompression, with the peak mineral assemblage comprising Grt–Bt–Ky–Kfs–Pl–Qtz ± Phn ± Ti-Oxide ± melt and amphibolite-facies retrograde assemblage Grt–Bt–Sil–Ms–Kfs–Pl…
The petrology of two distinct granulite types in the Hengshan Mts, China, and tectonic implications
2005
Abstract The Archean to Proterozoic Hengshan Complex (North China Craton), comprises tonalitic and granodioritic gneisses with subordinate mafic lenses, pegmatites and granites. Amphibolite facies assemblages predominate, although granulite-facies relics are widespread, and greenschist-facies retrogression occurs in km-wide shear zones. Mafic lenses, locally abundant, occur as strongly deformed amphibolite (hornblende+plagioclase) boudins or sheets. In contrast to previously published models we find two series of mafic rocks with distinctly different granulite-facies evolutions. In the north of the Complex, relict high-pressure mafic granulites are garnet+clinopyroxene-bearing rocks with a …
Iron mineralogy and aqueous alteration from Husband Hill through Home Plate at Gusev Crater, Mars: Results from the Mössbauer instrument on the Spiri…
2008
[1] Spirit's Mossbauer (MB) instrument determined the Fe mineralogy and oxidation state of 71 rocks and 43 soils during its exploration of the Gusev plains and the Columbia Hills (West Spur, Husband Hill, Haskin Ridge, northern Inner Basin, and Home Plate) on Mars. The plains are predominantly float rocks and soil derived from olivine basalts. Outcrops at West Spur and on Husband Hill have experienced pervasive aqueous alteration as indicated by the presence of goethite. Olivine-rich outcrops in a possible mafic/ultramafic horizon are present on Haskin Ridge. Relatively unaltered basalt and olivine basalt float rocks occur at isolated locations throughout the Columbia Hills. Basalt and oliv…
Proposals for improvement of Annex I of Directive 92/43/ EEC: Central Italy
2021
The main purpose of the 92/43/EEC Habitats Directive is to contribute to the conservation of biodiversity, understood as habitat types and species of the flora and fauna of the European Union. To achieve this goal, natural and semi-natural biodiversity as a whole must be recognized and included in its annexes. As for the conservation of biotopes, named habitat types, Italy is unfortunately lacking as it the Annex I does not include important ecosystems that are typical of its territory, rare for biogeographical reasons or threatened. Therefore, the opportunity to identify a first list of significant habitats for central Italy is discussed here. For each of the new proposed types (new habita…
Petrogenetic evolution of metabasalts and metakomatiites of the lower Onverwacht Group, Barberton Greenstone Belt (South Africa)
2019
A well-preserved sequence, by Archean standards, of mantle-derived metabasalts and metakomatiites forms large parts of the lower Onverwacht Group of the Barberton Greenstone Belt (South Africa). To elucidate the origin of mafic and ultramafic rocks from this 3.55 to 3.45 Ga sequence, we present a comprehensive geochemical dataset including major and trace elements as well as Lu-Hf and Sm-Nd isotope compositions for a variety of metavolcanic rocks. These include metabasalts of the amphibolite-facies Sandspruit and Theespruit Formations as well as metabasalts and metakomatiites of the lower greenschist-facies Komati Formation. Based on their incompatible trace element patterns, the basalts of…
Petrology of mafic lavas within the Onega plateau, central Karelia: evidence for 2.0 Ga plume-related continental crustal growth in the Baltic Shield
1998
The Onega plateau constitutes part of a vast continental flood basalt province in the SE Baltic Shield. It consists of Jatulian-Ludikovian submarine volcanic, volcaniclastic and sedimentary sequences attaining in places 4.5 km in thickness. The parental magmas of the lavas contained ∼10% MgO and were derived from melts generated in the garnet stability field at depths 80–100 km. The Sm-Nd mineral and Pb-Pb whole-rock isochron ages of 1975 ± 24 and 1980 ± 57 Ma for the upper part of the plateau and a SHRIMP U-Pb zircon age of 1976 ± 9 Ma for its lower part imply the formation of the entire sequence within a short time span. These ages coincide with those of picrites in the Pechenga-Imandra b…
Geochemistry, petrogenesis and tectonic setting of the Samothraki mafic suite, NE Greece: Trace-element, isotopic and zircon age constraints
2009
Abstract The Samothraki mafic suite in the north-eastern Aegean Sea, Greece, is an ‘in situ’ magmatic complex comprising gabbros, sparse dykes and basalt flows and pillows cut by late dolerite dykes. We have determined the age of the complex by SHRIMP zircon geochronology of a gabbro as 159.9 ± 4.5 Ma (i.e. Oxfordian; early Late Jurassic), which precludes any correlation with the so-called Lesvos ophiolite further south (253.1 ± 5.6 Ma; Latest Permian). Six distinct, hitherto unrecognised, geochemical groups have been identified among the basalts and dolerites of the Samothraki mafic suite on the basis of trace-element and Nd–Sr isotopic characteristics. All groups show the presence of an e…
The Gabal Gerf complex: A precambrian N-MORB ophiolite in the Nubian Shield, NE Africa
1995
We report geochemical and isotopic data for tectonically dismembered units of the Cabal Gerf mafic-ultramafic complex, the largest Neoproterozoic (Pan-African) ophiolite in the Arabian-Nubian Shield and located near the Red Sea in the border region between Egypt and the Sudan. The complex consists of basaltic pillow lavas, sheeted dykes, isotropic and layered gabbros and an ultramafic melange, all in tectonic contact along thrust sheets. Major- and trace-element data, including REE, for the pillow lavas and sheeted dykes are indistinguishable from modem high-Ti N-MORB. Chemical variations in the various rock types can be ascribed to fractionation and accumulation involving olivine, clinopyr…